Ever quick to cotton on to this fact, software manufacturers have realised that they no longer have to disguise derivative drivel; there's a positive market for it. This attitude comes right from the top. In an article in Edge (issue 75, September 99) from the Develop 99 conference, Peter Holman of Sony Computer Entertainment is quoted as saying: "PlayStation owners are no longer hardcore gamers by any stretch of the imagination, and are therefore unwilling to persist with games they can't understand or prove too difficult. The common rule is to make sure your game's first two levels can be played by anyone..."

Where Sony lead, others are bound to follow.

Is this a clear signal to dumb down games? Many think so, and a growing resentment is brewing among hardcore gamers that the Casual Gamer is to blame for a so-called avalanche of sequels and clones, the like of which we've never seen before. If most players aren't expected to progress beyond the first few levels, where's the incentive to make the rest of the game any good? Indeed, some recent big releases have seemed guilty of this, and Driver springs instantly to mind as a good example of a game that runs out of steam after a great start. Hardcore gamers are starting to get worried, it seems, that they are being forgotten, or even outnumbered, in the scramble for bigger profits.

Here are a few quotes lifted from the Future Gamer Forum:

"As a real 'hardcore' gamer, I don't know if anyone else agrees, but I think that the PlayStation has (or will) destroy the games market. Since the PlayStation made games more 'cool', it has attracted the monster known as the Casual Gamer. These creatures will spend £40 a year buying FIFAs and Tomb Raiders every year, even if they're the same as last year... Because there are so many of them buying this shit, developers know it sells so won't make original games." (Olly.)