Topic: What un-asked for or unwanted games have you recieved as gifts?

[Stratos]

I was talking with a friend who got a crappy kart racer from a friend for Christmas and I got to wondering: what 'casual' gifts have you gotten from family and friends? Why did they give them to you and how did they turn out? Were you surprised at the enjoyment you got out of them if any?

I got Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge for DS one year. Pretty fun but I would have never bought it.

How about broken games? I know one year my Dad bought me Mechwarrior4and all of it's add-ons and expansions only to discover my computer couldn't run the whole thing.

I'm sure a number of people have some funny gifts they've received over the years 'because they are a gamer'.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 from my sister.

played it for 5 minutes and never picked it up again.

[Stratos]

I played the first one at a friends house and it was kinda odd because everyone there was all excited to play it and said how fun it was but I was bored in minutes.

[Mop it up]

I was talking with a friend who got a crappy kart racer from a friend for Christmas

Are you talking about me or somebody else? Also, I don't like the implication that "casual" means "bad". I'm sure you could find a better word to go there, like "questionable".

Last year I got Thrillville: Off The Rails for the Wii, which I had not heard of before that. It was a couple of months before I actually played it, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. The best way to describe it would be like Roller Coaster Tycoon, only you can play all the attractions in your theme park. The management aspect is pretty simple and straightforward, so the focus is on playing the games. They are more fleshed-out than I thought, such as overhead shooters, side-scrolling brawlers, motorbike races, and more, so some of them reminded me of old NES games. I ended up completing it 100%.

[noname2200]

Also, I don't like the implication that "casual" means "bad". I'm sure you could find a better word to go there, like "questionable".

The problem is that the term is almost universally used as a euphemism for "piece of crap." Some exceptions exist, such as PopCap games, but usually when someone calls a game "casual" they basically mean "shovelware." Perhaps this isn't unjustified: most "casual" games are me-too titles that were clearly made on a small budget by a D-List team. This is in contrast to the average "hardcore" title, which is a me-too game made on a unnecessary budget by a bloated team.


Anyhow, to answer the titular question, it had to be Mickey's Speedway on the GBA.

[BlackNMild2k1]

When I think shovelware, I think cash in crap that wasn't worth the time it took me to know what it was.

When I think casual, I think easy to play, no investment required gaming.
games like Tetris, Bejeweled, Wii Sports, scrabble, madden.

[NWR_insanolord]

I've got the people around me trained pretty well; I haven't gotten a game as a gift that I didn't explicitly ask for since I was a little kid. Sure, that takes the fun of a surprise out of it, but that seems like a necessary evil.

[Mop it up]

Perhaps this isn't unjustified: most "casual" games are me-too titles that were clearly made on a small budget by a D-List team.

I don't think it is justified, I have a similar problem with the usage of "party game" as a derogatory term. This is what "casual" is:

When I think casual, I think easy to play, no investment required gaming.
games like Tetris, Bejeweled, Wii Sports, scrabble, madden.

I'm going to do my part in ridding the word of its negative connotation.

[King of Twitch]

Not even you could clean up Madden's reputation.

[Kairon]

Also, I don't like the implication that "casual" means "bad". I'm sure you could find a better word to go there, like "questionable".

The problem is that the term is almost universally used as a euphemism for "piece of crap." Some exceptions exist, such as PopCap games, but usually when someone calls a game "casual" they basically mean "shovelware." Perhaps this isn't unjustified: most "casual" games are me-too titles that were clearly made on a small budget by a D-List team. This is in contrast to the average "hardcore" title, which is a me-too game made on a unnecessary budget by a bloated team.

In the PC downloadable industry, it has a whole different meaning. "Casual" in that sector means Hidden Object Games, Match 3 Games, Time Management Games, Word games, Light Sim and Adventure Games... yeah, like Popcap. Actually, some of these PC franchises have crossed over to the Wii and DS platforms, like Mystery Case Files, Women's Murder Mystery Club, Cake Mania, Escape From The Museum, and even Cate West: The Vanishing Files, to name a few. In fact, this "Casual" PC genre is seeing hundreds of new games a year (most of them, admittedly, very much clones within their genres), with a typical consumer of a 35 yr old, 45 yr old + woman.

...

Just wanted to chime in to show an alternate meaning for the word casual outside the strict confines of hardcore console gamerism.

[broodwars]

Well, I received both Dead Space Extraction and New Super Mario Bros. Wii this Christmas.  I'd consider both of those games "casual" by comparison to my usual outings, one being a fairly simple rail shooter and the other being...well...a Mario 2D platformer.

Otherwise, though, I'm pretty good now at making sure I get exactly what games I'm looking for under the Christmas tree.  When I was a kid, I wasn't so fortunate...though I can't remember any particularly lousy games from way back when except for this bad Basketball Sim I got once for Easter because my mother mistook it for NBA Jam (which I wanted).

[Kairon]

Well, I received both Dead Space Extraction and New Super Mario Bros. Wii this Christmas.  I'd consider both of those games "casual" by comparison to my usual outings, one being a fairly simple rail shooter and the other being...well...a Mario 2D platformer.

2D Mario is casual? T_T

Actually, I think it's been AGES since anyone's gifted me a videogame (aside from Secret Santas, they don't count). But even then, the games they gifted when I was young were almost always from my letters to Santa. *sighs wistfully* I remember asking for F-Zero X in that letter.

[broodwars]

Well, I received both Dead Space Extraction and New Super Mario Bros. Wii this Christmas.  I'd consider both of those games "casual" by comparison to my usual outings, one being a fairly simple rail shooter and the other being...well...a Mario 2D platformer.

2D Mario is casual? T_T

Well, it's "casual" to me in the sense that I throw it in, spend an hour or two a day just doing stuff, and then I shut it off and move on to something else.  I may even be watching a show on my laptop or listening to a podcast while I do it.  It's not a game I can play in "hardcore gamer mode" where I just plow through it in a marathon until I've gotten every single thing, completing immersed in the experience.

[Mop it up]

I would argue that Mario games have always been "casual", further evidence that the term isn't synonymous with "bad games".

[Kairon]

Well, under that definition, I've just given a younger cousin a "casual" game for his combined Birthday-Christmas (he was born on the 21st I think?).

[Mop it up]

Ugh, I hate it when people do that combined birthday-Christmas present stuff on me. I don't even get to use my birthday as an excuse to get presents. And that "present" is usually money or a gift card anyway. But I guess if you're talking about New Super Mario Brothers Wii then that is something special enough to be a combo present.

[Kairon]

*angry face*
*sad face*
*defensive face*
*sad face*
*My wallet is empty face*
*sad face*

[NWR_insanolord]

If we're going to have a discussion about what constitutes a casual game, I'd like to chime in with my argument that there is no such thing. Casual isn't a type of game; it can be a type of gamer or a descriptor of how one plays something, but it is independent of any one game. Any game can be casual and any game can be hardcore, it depends on who is playing it.

[BeautifulShy]

If we're going to have a discussion about what constitutes a casual game, I'd like to chime in with my argument that there is no such thing. Casual isn't a type of game; it can be a type of gamer or a descriptor of how one plays something, but it is independent of any one game. Any game can be casual and any game can be hardcore, it depends on who is playing it.

My thoughts exactly.To the letter.

[Mop it up]

I don't consider "casual" to be a type of game, but rather one that was designed for the "casual" gaming mood. That doesn't mean that a "casual" game can't be played with a "hardcore" mood, nor does it mean that a "hardcore" game can't be played "casually". But there are games designed for one or the other.

If this were a spoken conversation, that'd be a lot of air quotes.

[KDR_11k]

People don't gift me games that I didn't write down for them.

I would argue that Mario games have always been "casual", further evidence that the term isn't synonymous with "bad games".

I would argue that term is a load of bollocks. According to the Steam genre catalog the Atari 2600 was casual.

[Stratos]

Perhaps I chose a poor phrase. I could have better chose 'what games have you gotten that you didn't ask for or didn't want?'

I didn't necessarily mean bad games. I meant more games you didn't want or expect to get and how those games turned out on the fun/entertainment/enjoyment scale for you.

[Kairon]

I didn't ask for Earthbound. WITH PLAYER'S GUIDE.

BEST.CHRISTMAS.EVER.

My brother asked for a Gameboy and he got a GameGear.

... we made it work. A Shining Sword game, Ristar... we made it work.

[Mop it up]

When I was younger, my parents didn't really deviate from my list very much. If they did, then it was always clothes, though I was the only one in my family who liked to receive clothes. They wouldn't try to buy me a videogame if it weren't on my list. It is only recently that I have started to get a game for which I didn't ask, as my sister insists on buying me one by her own accord and not by picking from a list or something like that. Everyone else knows that I'm very particular, so that's why I now get money and gift cards.

[Kairon]

Actually, my Mom is a GREAT videogame shopper. I threw a tantrum and cried in the store when she bought me lemmings for the SNES. As soon as we got home, I was hooked. From then on I never questioned her shopping ability.