The Internet has been credited with many things, and blamed for many more. Sometimes it gets both credit and blame in the same sentence, which is hard to top. Think of porn if you want the textbook example of this phenomenon. Internet access equals ubiquitous porn and this helps drive technological innovation (because apparently everyone wants to see people doing it in high definition); but on the downside, all those streaming HD hard core movies are chocking bandwidth for everyone else and the kids of today know way too much about sex way too early.

One of the biggest innovations to hit casual gaming is the ability to download games. Instead of being stuck with the one or two basic games that may have shipped on your PC, there are web sites that compile hundreds of options. Many are free, while even the versions that are for sale are inexpensive and often have free demo levels. While some of these games have become increasingly complex and now rival console-based games in terms of flashy graphics, sound effects and even animations, you still have a huge selection of good old play and walk away or arcade style games. They’re just prettier than Minesweeper ever was.

Okay enough about porn (see, it does dominate everything about the web, even articles on video games). I wanted to touch on the growing trend of casual gaming. There’s no argument that the concept has been around for years, or decades, actually. Who doesn’t remember playing Minesweeper or the infamous Solitaire on their PC at work? These were classic casual games that shipped on virtually every PC sold. The appeal of these games is that you can fire them up in seconds, play the game (without having to read through a 50 page user manual) and shut it down.indoor kids playground