Among the more demanding hardware-wise games and the more lenient indie games a new market is being born.

With hardware and software, with processors like core i3 and i5, and windows 7 and 8 coming, most older software (games for example) for older systems isn't working anymore, or only barely work, which leaves the less powerful systems with gaps in their leisurely offer.

A person can argue that indie games can take the spot available, still most indie games are trying their own thing and aren't looking to occupy the place of more musculated productions.

So what of it?

I think a new market of less demanding, probably less expensive games is being born of war between the old software and new hardware.

Among the more demanding hardware-wise games and the more lenient indie games a new market is being born.

With hardware and software, with processors like core i3 and i5, and windows 7 and 8 coming, most older software (games for example) for older systems isn't working anymore, or only barely work, which leaves the less powerful systems with gaps in their leisurely offer.

A person can argue that indie games can take the spot available, still most indie games are trying their own thing and aren't looking to occupy the place of more musculated productions.

So what of it?

I think a new market of less demanding, probably less expensive games is being born of war between the old software and new hardware.

I really don't think the "casual" gaming market is anything new; neither are technically demanding games for that matter.

@ThePaleKing said:

I really don't think the "casual" gaming market is anything new.

It isn't casual. I meant less demanding hardware wise, not "casual".

Aren't people with crappy PCs who like real, substantial games usually console gamers?

@Zithe said:

Aren't people with crappy PCs who like real, substantial games usually console gamers?

The ones that can afford it. ahah

Yeah, you may be disregarding the uni student demographic there! Bangin' PCs aren't always an option regardless of your preferences.

So what you're basically saying is that you think there's a market for more traditional "gamerly" games for lower specs? What kind of genres would you consider as constituting that?

@Jeust said:

@ThePaleKing said:

I really don't think the "casual" gaming market is anything new.

It isn't casual. I meant less demanding hardware wise, not "casual".

So, a Source game.

@thebexexpress said:

Yeah, you may be disregarding the uni student demographic there! Bangin' PCs aren't always an option regardless of your preferences.

So what you're basically saying is that you think there's a market for more traditional "gamerly" games for lower specs? What kind of genres would you consider as constituting that?

To know the genres specially it would need a deeper study, still some of the genres disreguarded by the more demanding games in my opinion are: action, sci-fi, horror, thrillers, first person shooters...

I guess people are putting out stuff like Serious Sam: Double D, which is a tie-in to a "musculated" game that shares some similar sensibilities. Do you mean that kind of thing?

@zaglis said:

@Jeust said:

@ThePaleKing said:

I really don't think the "casual" gaming market is anything new.

It isn't casual. I meant less demanding hardware wise, not "casual".

So, a Source game.

It's a solution. Still someone needs to work the Source. :P

@thebexexpress said:

I guess people are putting out stuff like Serious Sam: Double D, which is a tie-in to a "musculated" game that shares some similar sensibilities. Do you mean that kind of thing?

Yeah, for example. :)

I think games on the pc are covering a wider variety of hardwares because of the slowing of the pc graphics business. People don't have the money to buy new graphics cards like they maybe once used to, but they don't have to anymore anyway, a lot of new games seem to be runable on old crappy hardware. Lets face it, with consoles being as popular as they are, and people having less money to spend on upgrades, there's less people to sell graphically intensive games to so it's in a companies interest to make them run on everything.

@WildFloyd said:

I think games on the pc are covering a wider variety of hardwares because of the slowing of the pc graphics business. People don't have the money to buy new graphics cards like they maybe once used to, but they don't have to anymore anyway, a lot of new games seem to be runable on old crappy hardware. Lets face it, with consoles being as popular as they are, and people having less money to spend on upgrades, there's less people to sell graphically intensive games to so it's in a companies interest to make them run on everything.

Still few high budget games run on Intel graphic cards or on lower end laptop video cards, and most of the ones that could do, don't because they don't run the newer hardware and Windows.

I think you're dismissing indie games to easily. They're essentially filling the void, rather than trying to compete with the big budget games.

@Inkerman said:

rather than trying to compete with the big budget games.

That's the thing. There isn't a more cheaper to create, maybe cheeper to sell, selection of games that compete with higher productions. Games like Torchlight, that compete with the heavy weights like Diablo 3.

What I find kind of sad is that the anger about old PC devs who've moved on hasnt led to new PC devs that want that style back. You see Dave talk about this, he understands BioWare is done with making Baldur's Gate, but he still wants it... But there are no young devs making that, or even a 'inspired by' style of game. Which is kind of crazy, with all the negative press and comments by people who feel 'betrayed' by the evolution of 90s PC devs, you'd expect there to a 'retro' field of late 90s games. Maybe it's just a matter of time, we're still in the early 90s platformer and 16-bit RPG retro era.

@Brodehouse said:

What I find kind of sad is that the anger about old PC devs who've moved on hasnt led to new PC devs that want that style back. You see Dave talk about this, he understands BioWare is done with making Baldur's Gate, but he still wants it... But there are no young devs making that, or even a 'inspired by' style of game. Which is kind of crazy, with all the negative press and comments by people who feel 'betrayed' by the evolution of 90s PC devs, you'd expect there to a 'retro' field of late 90s games. Maybe it's just a matter of time, we're still in the early 90s platformer and 16-bit RPG retro era.

Yeah, I agree. That's what I was talking about. There are a lot of possibilities in these kind of games, still it goes largely unoticed. It's kind of crazy.

The market is totally there. I wonder if people are just focusing on the biggest numbers. There's still plenty of people out there who would love the stuff you're talking about, me totally included. One of the obstacles is trying to find all these lost souls, to get through their cynicism and show them their kind of games are out there. I imagine it's not easy to find them; they don't come when you wave an assault rifle at them.
 
And I wonder if people actually equate this with casual. It totally isn't. Hardware has nothing to do with game complexity. 
 
@Brodehouse: Well put!

I think what you are trying to get at are the influx of indie games that seem to permeate the digital distribution stores we all have come to know and love. I don't know that this is a new genre, but a result from the demand to have more digestible material at a more proper price point. Not every game can be a $50 or $60 game. Nor can every game have a single player, multiplayer, and co-op experience all rolled into one. So what you are seeing isn't really a new genre, but rather an evolution of the gaming market in general--especially on the pc. I'd prefer to buy Rock of Ages at this point than buy Space Marine (especially given the awesome sales the digital distributors have from time to time), for the mere fact that it has a unique style and doesn't cost all that much. The games will answer to the market, and the market currently says give me innovative stuff at a cheaper price. The games will still fit into their respective genres. And really, to categorize the games into genres is to fall in line with what humans tend to do—see patterns in things where patterns don’t actually reside.

Well, I for one would welcome the hell out of it.

@mrhankey said:

I think what you are trying to get at are the influx of indie games that seem to permeate the digital distribution stores we all have come to know and love. I don't know that this is a new genre, but a result from the demand to have more digestible material at a more proper price point. Not every game can be a $50 or $60 game. Nor can every game have a single player, multiplayer, and co-op experience all rolled into one. So what you are seeing isn't really a new genre, but rather an evolution of the gaming market in general--especially on the pc. I'd prefer to buy Rock of Ages at this point than buy Space Marine (especially given the awesome sales the digital distributors have from time to time), for the mere fact that it has a unique style and doesn't cost all that much. The games will answer to the market, and the market currently says give me innovative stuff at a cheaper price. The games will still fit into their respective genres. And really, to categorize the games into genres is to fall in line with what humans tend to do—see patterns in things where patterns don’t actually reside.

Yes, but that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a market directed to the low spec hardware, not one paralel or dictated by lower prices, but one with the same complexity in terms of gameplay to the more important releases, but directed at less demanding hardwares. Indie for now is a paralel market to the mainstream. I'm talking about mainstream games with lower requirements. A market targeted to the cheaper hardwares.

@guiseppe said:

Well, I for one would welcome the hell out of it.

Me too. My laptop would thank it. ahah

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

@ninjakiller said:

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

What about a damn nice laptop? Do you see the market? :p

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Jeust This is nothing new. Codemasters built their business on the budget software model in the 80s as did other companies in the peak of the Commodore 64 era. The Indie scene is just reinventing that experience.

I'm not saying that. I mean there don't seem to a lot of attention to the gap that has been opening between the old titles with low hardware requirements and the new low spec hardware that has been flooding the market. Most of those old games are a pain to get it to work, if they are able to work at all, and most of the new games are meant or able to be played only by medium to high end computers, with leaves the low end segment with little to choose from. I'm arguing that there is a market to explore in that segment, for less powerhungry games.

@ninjakiller said:

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

What about a damn nice laptop? Do you see the market? :p

@ninjakiller said:

@Jeust said:

@ninjakiller said:

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

What about a damn nice laptop? Do you see the market? :p

Laptop....for...gaming?

Games that have the conscience that many of the laptops in use are crap performance-wise. ^^

@Jeust: I feel at some point I misread your original post(I thought we were talking about genres for some reason) , and I agree with everything you say, but I guess I'll add that I do not think this is really going to change the landscape of gaming all that much. If anything your biggest sellers will still be your AAA games. Although, it will be nice to see some of these more accessible, indie games become the darling of the media spotlight. (e.g. Giantbomb focusing a lot of attention on Supergiant Games "Bastion").

@Jeust said:

@ninjakiller said:

@Jeust said:

@ninjakiller said:

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

What about a damn nice laptop? Do you see the market? :p

Laptop....for...gaming?

Games that have the conscience that many of the laptops in use are crap performance-wise. ^^

I have a 3 year old MSI laptop and it still runs new games pretty well ( outside of new vegas), and I dont mind dropping 1500 on another knowing how long it will last me this time.

Most developers are still sticking to/haven't moved on from DX9, so there shouldn't be THAT much of a barrier to people wanting to play more demanding games.

@RobbleWobble said:

@Jeust said:

@ninjakiller said:

@Jeust said:

@ninjakiller said:

What? If you can scrape together $900 you can build a damn nice rig. You don't need a ton of cash for a nice system that will last you 2-3 years.

What about a damn nice laptop? Do you see the market? :p

Laptop....for...gaming?

Games that have the conscience that many of the laptops in use are crap performance-wise. ^^

I have a 3 year old MSI laptop and it still runs new games pretty well ( outside of new vegas), and I dont mind dropping 1500 on another knowing how long it will last me this time.

Most developers are still sticking to/haven't moved on from DX9, so there shouldn't be THAT much of a barrier to people wanting to play more demanding games.

The problem isn't the DX it uses, but the fact that many have Intel video cards, or others low end.