While many video games, even very good ones, are not particularly engaging for onlookers rather than players, others offer cinematic experiences that are best shared with as many friends as possible, preferably using an HDMI projector or other large-scale display, according to gaming news site Kotaku.
The site's Stephen Totilo writes that "last year, I noticed that Assassin's Creed II and Uncharted 2 … drew my wife's attention and have heard from others who have said their significant others have been caught up watching one or both of those games."
Totilo spoke recently with a level designer for next month's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, who said told him that, while the spectator's experience wasn't something that game designers consciously took into account, he too had noticed that some games provided a more interesting spectacle than others, regardless of overall quality.
Advances in gaming and display technology could be poised to create a Renaissance in casual gaming, experts say, with more motion-capture controls and detailed graphical experiences available to infrequent gamers.
