Is "Causal Gaming" Ruining Gaming?

Sorry for the delay, Spring Break and laziness kicked in. In this opinion piece I am going to give my thoughts on so called “casual gaming” and what it is doing to the gaming industry as a whole. These are my opinions and should be taken as such; I would also love to hear what you have to say so feel free to leave a comment.
Okay let’s get started, in 2006 Nintendo released their Wii console and it quickly became a huge hit, dominating the console market and leaving Xbox and Playstation in the dust. The Wii is a completely interactive console that uses a “Wii Remote” and “Nun chuck” to allow for motion control. The console is marketed as more of a “family” gaming console with a lower price tag (at least at first, now the Xbox 360 Arcade is actually cheaper) and more games that target a younger audience and that parent’s can play with their children. This massive surge in sales meant that some people who weren’t buying game consoles before were buying the Wii and gaming was entering more households. With this new wave of gamers came the phenomena that many now call “casual gaming.” This is the term that long time gamers called the people who simply bought a Wii or only played music games like Guitar Hero. These “casual” gamers became a huge market and soon Playstation and Xbox began to make more games catered to these gamers. This has been generally negatively received by the “hardcore” gamers who play more adult games and have been playing for longer. Many say that this trend is ruining gaming but I couldn’t disagree more.
While it is true that this “casual” gaming has taken the industry by storm it has only helped to make gaming more universally accepted. Plus many of these players get into gaming and “graduate” to the more adult consoles. Plus games like Guitar Hero are actually really fun; it’s a nice change of pace from the flood of first and third person shooters on the market today. “Hardcore” gamers still have plenty to look forward to; Gears of War, Resident Evil, Halo, Call of Duty, and other franchises will continue to churn out games along with new games that may turn into franchises themselves (crossing my fingers for a Ghostbusters franchise)
It is my opinion that the Wii will eventually turn out to be simply a fad, it will be loved by those who have it but they probably won’t want to buy a “Wii 2” or whatever Nintendo release next. These “casual” games will simply help to make gaming more mainstream and hopefully that will lead to the growth of the industry, either way gamers can choose and the more adult titles will continue to come out so “hardcore” gamers will have nothing to worry about.
If you noticed I put parenthesis around casual and hardcore gamers because I really don’t believe this is a real distinction, there are simply different markets; the 13-30 year olds who play the T and M rated games and the 0-12 year olds and their parents who play the more family friendly games. I don’t think the amount of time you spend playing video games or the more you know about them should really be a basis for grouping people, we all play video games for our own reasons and on our own schedules.
So in conclusion, this “casual gaming” trend is nothing to worry about in fact give some of the games a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how fun and addicting they can be.