Unfortunately, due to its close proximity to the Develop Conference, I didn't get to make it over to Casual Connect in Seattle this year. Which is a shame; I found last year's event an invaluable way to get a better understanding of what the casual players in the games market are up to, refresh my contacts book, and visit Seattle. (Plus, Microsoft's now-defunct Gamefest was on at the same time just down the road; so, two for the price of one.)

EA's official opening of a new casual studio today might seem like a run of the mill publisher announcement. At a time when casual customers are driving games industry growth, it's no surprise to see the publisher's Pogo.com team expand. But what is interesting about this latest news is how this move stands as another example of the 'casualisation' (for want of a better word) of the core games industry.

I’m sure that in the minds of some, the industry’s recent widening and shift towards a broader content is regarded cynically and that the label ‘casual’ is akin to a dirty word – representative of cheaper, low-end games that have been sparked by the Nintendo Wii and DS and are sure to evaporate once we enter the next hardware cycle. They're wrong, though.

A hot topic which has dominated conversations amongst the casual set for some time has been games for social networks. And the rush of companies looking to own that area has been a very public affair.

So beginning a column about the recent launch of the 3G iPhone and its supporting App Store requires, I guess, some kind of accusation that if you don't know what I'm talking about you're living under a rock or some other dank place. But let's skip the preamble and get to the point: although populated with great content, I've been left a bit wary by the launch of the iPhone games despite starting out, last Friday, as an eager reporter thinking it might herald the next big thing.