Gamers might soon be seeing less violence, gore and action genres in their Video Games, with game companies realizing the mass appeal of non-violent video games.

With the Nintendo Wii and DS's ever-climbing success, more makers have been thinking of aiming for general audiences.

Video game makers have long talked of reaching past hard-core gamers who revel in bloody action and tense drama and appealing to a larger swatch of society with video games for young and old, women and men alike. But for the most part, the talk has been a lot of unfulfilled promises.

Now the industry finally seems ready to chase after the mass market in earnest, offering lighter fare that plays on music, dancing, trivia, brain exercises and silly mini-games. The new titles, with their simple interfaces and short learning curves, have the potential to draw in new and lapsed players who traditionally have avoided more serious interactive games.

The recently completed E3 video game conference, long a hard-core gamers' event, was notable for its shift in tone with less blood, action and frenetic game play and more content devoted to simple fun for the entire family.

Some of the biggest names in the industry, like Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Nintendo, went out of their way at the conference last week to establish their casual gaming credentials. Electronic Arts, in particular, devoted almost its entire news conference to its mass-market lineup of games.

The trend has been building for some time, but it crystallized in the last year with the breakaway success of the Nintendo Wii console and the Nintendo DS handheld gaming device. Both machines have eschewed powerful graphics for fun game play.

Miss Razz via sfgate.com »