I think Ben Cousin's talk yesterday was simultaneously the most important talk of the conference and also not very well attended. Judging by the attendance and some of the questions, I don't think what he was saying was popular, but I do think he has a lot of well reasoned points worth considering.

On the other hand, I'm not convinced the shift is all doom and gloom. If you view things as a zero sum game, it's possible that these high-convenience low-quality games may force the more expensive but also better produced games into niche markets. On the other hand, it could work in other ways. Maybe these games lower the barrier to entry for being a gamer, opening new markets. Maybe once these non-traditional gamers realize they like games, they may also start to play more traditional games along with this new format of games. Or maybe not. I have no idea, it's hard to tell, I'm just not totally convinced that this new style of games has to be a threat.

I do wish more people had attended yesterday though, because it seems like the industry as a whole doesn't really take social games very seriously yet. Right now I get the impression that it's viewed as branding and marketing opportunity, rather than a legit medium in of itself.