Dr. Jesper Juul, author of The Casual Game Revolution and Half-Real is interviewed in this show. He is a Danish game researcher who is currently a Visiting Assistant Arts Professor at the New York University Game Center. As a casual gamer myself, I was fascinated to find this book and required my students to read parts of it. The shift in the gaming industry spoken of in this book is evident at the Game Developers Conference. Not only is casual gaming front and center in the family room on the Wii but also on every mobile device from iphones to ipads and their like. Thus casual gamers typically don’t play for long stretches of time, but rather while on the subway or waiting in line at Safeway. In this show we’ll learn how casual games are actually reconnecting people to their gaming experiences in childhood as well as converting even the most unlikely populations, such as the elderly, into gamers.

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