You may find surprising that even the webmaster of this site has fell victim of these simpler yet entertaining games. Splinter Cell and NFS:HP2 are two titles currently occupying some space on my disk however I haven't been playing those lately... call it lack of time or whatever you want, instead a small and funny game called "Tennis Critters" has been getting most of my attention.
The New York Times has a lengthy article about the simple pleasures and growth of casual & mobile gaming, I found this post over at Slashdot which I found quite interesting, perhaps I'm not the only one...
Trends show that 'more and more people are playing simpler, quieter types of electronic games on the Web, cellphones and hand-helds.' The growth in lighter, less time- and resource-intensive games is spurred by the ability to play anytime, anywhere, as much as the rising development costs and production times for a traditional game. A wireless game can cost $40,000 and take a few months to develop, while full-fledged PC and console games can cost $5 million to $10 million and take years to deliver.