[insane_cobra]

Well, first of all, it's wrong to lump different products of the same brand line together (PlayStation 2 + PlayStation 3 and Xbox + Xbox 360). Just because a previous console had a plenitude of games of one type, doesn't mean its successor will follow in the same footsteps. Case in point, SNES was the RPG platform of choice three generations ago, but in the following generation most RPG developers migrated to PlayStation and not Nintendo 64.

Secondly, the syntagm "casual games" is nowadays mostly used to label small-ish games in the vein of Zuma Deluxe or Bookworm Adventures, usually distributed over the Internet as shareware (or a form of distribution resembling shareware). At the moment, the PC is by far the best platform for those kinds of games.

But I know that's not what you had in mind when you started this thread so let's see...

Originally Posted by Litrick

there are a lot of games associtated with the playstation brand which cater to casual gamers. Such as dexter, ratchett and clank, crash bandicoot, singstar, Gran turismo, tekken and a whole bunch of just pick up and play games.

That's true, those are well known Sony-related brands. However, Microsoft has high quality substitutes for most of those games (Kameo, Conker, Crash Bandicoot is a multiplayer franchise now, still no Microsoft's answer to SingStar, Forza Motorsport 2, Dead or Alive...). Nintendo perhaps doesn't have equals for all of those franchises, but they do have a huge number of games appealing to the more casual crowd which are more or less unique to their platforms (Pikmin, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Cooking Mama, WarioWare, Wii Sports, Brain Training...).

the playstation does also have its fair share of RPGs/simulations too, the system has the best variety in my opinion. This is probably due to the playstation 2s huge sucess and the sheer amount of development for the system.

PlayStation 2 did, PlayStation 3 doesn't. Right now, there are more upcoming RPGs for the Xbox 360 than for the PlayStation 3, both of the western and the Japanese variety.

But i think importantly the sony brand as seen as not a geek brand like microsoft, so the demographic for PS is inherently more casual. I can see this amoung the people i know who own consoles. Everyone at my work who has a console has an xbox (with a few exceptions), and i work in IT. Yet most people i know who are not IT geeks own a playstation or a nintendo. (with a few exceptions)

That's true, over the years Sony has been doing a much better job of making their products appear cool to common consumers. But Microsoft is slowly improving the image of the Xbox brand and, again, Nintendo completely rules its own segment of the market (kids and family entertainment, whereas Sony mostly caters to older teenagers and young adults).

xbox? - xbox and xbox 360
To me this is slightly less a casual gaming system than the playstation, the xbox seems to attract PC gamers, with the majority seeming to be FPS games. I guess microsoft as a software company just doesnt really cater to casual gaming.

Like I said, that's true to some extent, but it's important to make that distinction I talked about earlier. Compared to the Xbox, the Xbox 360 is already more appealing to people who are neither PC nor FPS gamers. Microsoft is doing a good job of diversifying their portfolio, but they'll have to do a much better job of communicating that to consumers. They also need more games like SingStar or Nintendogs, but they promised we'll be seeing a lot more of those come holidays 2007 and onwards.

with its biggest titles being things like command and conquer.

Come again?

But a good example of the xbox demographic is the failure of Kameo. This game was so amazing. still amoung the best graphics on 360, huge oppurtunity for exploration, but really just great platforming/action gameplay.

Kameo wasn't a failure, although it wasn't a huge success either. But not all launch games manage to achieve stellar sales, especially when they belong to the genre not particularly appealing to expected early adopters of the platform.

I cant think of another game like it on 360? and i dont beleive a sequel is being made.

Kameo will almost certainly get a sequel eventually. As for other similar games, there haven't been that many (Lego Star Wars 2, Bionicle Heroes, TMNT, Sonic the Hedgehog, Meet the Robinsons), especially high quality ones, but it's even worse on the PS3. In the coming months the Xbox 360 will be getting Rayman Raving Rabbids (supposed to come out tomorrow?), Crash of the Titans, Beautiful Katamari Damacy, Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal and Banjo Kazooie 3, at the very least. Again, more than the PS3 will.

But I agree the Xbox 360 is in a dire need of some great platformers, it just doesn't make much economical sense to introduce a huge amount of them too early, when the platform is still not at the price point appealing to the majority of fans of those games (kids and families). Both Microsoft and Sony have a bit of a problem there because their consoles are still too expensive for average consumers. Microsoft is going to be able to resolve that problem a lot sooner, though.

nintendo? - wii
To me this platform is all about casual gaming, which is great.
but... i just cannot bring myself to buy a wii.. to me it is just a last gen console (it is slower than a xbox) with a gimmicky controller which is innacurate and doesnt really add much to games once the novelty is gone. it also annoys me that i cant run it in HD.

That's fine, but we're not talking about you, we're talking about the whole market, right? And as far as the mainstream is concerned, the Wii is currently the most desirable next gen console. Having all the upcoming releases in mind, it will probably remain on its throne, at least for this particular segment of the market (more casual audiences).