And here we are, standing like donuts and waiting to be swallowed by angry policemen, wondering all day long why the fuck more and more publishers and developers are running away from hardcore gaming. And when I say running, I have in mind a level 10 Loladin being chased by a bunch of bloodthirsty level 70 Tauren Warriors.

Technically speaking, why the hell would YOU, as a developer, produce a super-duper Panzer General for the brutal wargaming communities, when you know your income will be close to zero? Sure, that game will be purchased by a couple of thousands old dudes who still haven’t forgotten what a real game looks and feel like, but today, when gaming means business, that is not enough.

So why wouldn’t you just make a Panzer General Solitaire, replacing the long hours of tactical thinking with some good ol’ card game with tanks and guns (all of them American, of course), that must win against another bunch of tanks and guns (all of them Arabian, Russian, Vietnamese, or any other nation that the US would like to… disappear)? A card game that even my all-knowledgeable grandma could play, while taking a break from her usual moaning that her leg hurts? There sure are more grannies out there than casual gamers, that’s for sure.

A recent report from the research firm Interpret has revealed that, in the US, two out of three people aged between 12 and 65 have played casual games in 2007, with an average of 5.1 hours per week played. According to the study, that’s like… 740 million hours spent on gaming, which surpasses other almost-as-cultural activities, like, let’s say, reading. Revenue-wise, Interpret estimates that games like EA’s Pogo, and other accessible stuff like that, will add an income of about 700 million dollars till 2010. Not as much as 40 billion dollars, like the whole gaming industry, but still, it’s about casual, low budget games, not some big-ass title which sucked an investment of 10 million dollars faster than any Taiwanese prostitute would suck you dry.

The Stick of Joy scoop.