plants vs zombies, peggle, crayon physics deluxe

i guess we have tetris, columns, puzzle bobble et al originally, and then much more importantly flash - and flash games particularly - for the rise and rise of games you can launch, play for ten minutes, and then quit whilst happy with the whole experience a couple of times a day. the rounds are usually short and the puzzles are easy but gratifying.

the three i mentioned in the thread title are three of my favourite games of this type - i encountered the jacko zombies in PvZ last night and nearly pissed myself laughing. and crayon physics is barely a game - it's basically an ambience that makes you smile while giving you some puzzles to solve. the crack-ish nature of the way you play these things seems to have lead to a lot more people playing games than used to (peggle being the most crack-ish one i know). and that's just on PC - it seems the wii has basically evolved into a machine geared to casual gaming and minigames and shit even if that wasn't the developers intention. the DS port of the flash game zookeeper is more crack. it's all very interesting.

what are people's thoughts on 'casual gaming'?

PvZ was brilliant, but it has very limited replay value. Peggle has stolen my life for about 3 years now, the ipod version meant I didnt realise whenever i was traveling for about 6 months.

some of the ones on adultswim.com are good but I rarely play this type of game. I need something more involved, if only slightly. The amateur surgeon games on adult swim are actually great imo.

popcap seem to be the best at this, they seem to have a grasp of the sort of game that meets the criteria i mentioned in the OP.

  On 8/1/2009 at 1:24 AM, Dirty Protest said:

PvZ was brilliant, but it has very limited replay value. Peggle has stolen my life for about 3 years now, the ipod version meant I didnt realise whenever i was traveling for about 6 months.

yesss, i totally agree about peggle. it's amazing, i'm never bored anymore.

At my last workplace, the teacher's office had peggle loaded on all the computers. I played the shit out of that game.

If I had a credit card I'd be playing that on the iPod right now instead of wasting time on here.

i'm so glad i saw this thread

i played peggle on the xbox 360, and it was super-addicting, i just now purchased it for my ipod, awsome!!!

  On 8/1/2009 at 2:36 AM, kaini said:

popcap seem to be the best at this, they seem to have a grasp of the sort of game that meets the criteria i mentioned in the OP.

Def. Zuma is such an addicting game

i wish watmm arcade was still around.

that heliboarding ski game (flash) was really fun, though the fun varies depending on your keyboard. seemed like on some keyboards if you hold down multiple arrows it turns off the previous arrow, which messed me up on that game.

my favorite short game is Super Stardust HD. if anyone plays this game and has some tips for me, i'm all ears (eyes).

i thought i was hot shit when i got 95 mil and then i saw people getting a billion zillion hundred four on it

  On 8/3/2009 at 10:23 AM, Adjective said:

i wish watmm arcade was still around.

that heliboarding ski game (flash) was really fun, though the fun varies depending on your keyboard. seemed like on some keyboards if you hold down multiple arrows it turns off the previous arrow, which messed me up on that game.

 

my favorite short game is Super Stardust HD. if anyone plays this game and has some tips for me, i'm all ears (eyes).

i thought i was hot shit when i got 95 mil and then i saw people getting a billion zillion hundred four on it

I'm considering bringing back the Arcade - I think there's a version compatible with this board now.

RE: Superstardust HD - totally agree, although I wouldn't consider this "casual" gaming as it's pretty hardcore shooter action. As for tips... well, what are you having trouble with specifically, or is it just a matter of you wanting to get the highest score possible? If that's the case, then keeping your multipliers up (x10) by staying alive (easier said than done), and if you boost through enemies/points icons, you will get MUCH higher scores than just picking them up as-is. Also getting the bonus "countdown" asteroids (all of them) will yield higher scores as well.

Man, now I want to go play some SSDHD!