The Williams/Midway Collections have good titles of old arcade titles to pick up and play. They've got the older collections of games like Defender and Sinistar, racing collections with some of the Rush series and Thunder series, and two newer ones, Pinball Hall of Fame and Midway Treasures 2. Midway Treasures 2 is probably the best, with this line-up there's at least 2 or 3 to really get into, although there are some turds (Kozmik Kroozr, Pit Fighter, Wacko, Spy Hunter 2, Primal Rage).

APB
Arch Rivals
Championship Sprint
Cyberball
Gauntlet 2
Hard Drivin'
Kozmik Kroozr
Mortal Kombat 2
Mortal Kombat 3
NARC
Pit Fighter
Primal Rage
Rampage World Tour
Spy Hunter 2
Total Carnage
Timber
Wacko
Wizard of Wor
Xenophobe
Xybots

(of course if you can't find the titles, there's always XBLA and MAME)

I actually know where you're coming from here DSGamer, and it's why I balance my gaming between "hardcore" fare (anything with actual campaigns and such) and games that are just fun for the pure fun of it (games like Puzzle Quest, Burnout, just about anything on the Wii, whatever, that are just pure fun for the enjoyment of the experience).

That's why I said analog was fine too. I would tend to agree with this sentiment. Problem is most of my analog activities tend to be reading serious books, working out, etc. There may be an answer in here that has absolutely nothing to do with games.

I always go back to 2d Mario when I get tired of modern games trying to make fire come out of their arses. When I just want to play. Sure, there were some wicked and time consuming secrets to ferret out, and some levels might be a bit of a beggar later on, but the first, third and fourth games, as well as New Super Mario Bros.

Garry's Mod and The Sims are the very definition of just playing, because there are no goals other than any you may set for yourself.

More structure pure play games are, I would say, Crackdown and Burnout: Paradise. They're the kind of games I put on when I just want to sit back, listen to some music, and just run or drive around doing whatever. This style of play even lends itself to finishing the campaigns in both of those games. For instance, in Crackdown the only thing to do is run, jump, and blow things up. Finishing the campaign requires just running, jumping, and blowing things up. And if you fail, no big deal. You just spawn at a weapons depot and continue running, jumping and blowing things up with no penalty and the option to ignore what you were trying to do earlier and simply go somewhere else to run, jump, and blow things up. It's the most relaxing and mellow over-the-top super-power-fueled explosion-filled open-world action game about killing the crap out of everything forever that I've ever played.

And if you forget about playing Burnout: Paradise like an obsessive compulsive "must do everything" gamer, it actually becomes quite enjoyable. You try a race and if you fail you just forget about it and keep driving until you stumble across something else you feel like doing. It's the most relaxing and mellow high-speed over-the-top destruction-loving arcade racing game I've ever played.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is also perfect for this, unless you're like me and you are obsessed with collecting everything the game has to offer and beating all the Challenges. I've never been an Achievement whore on the 360, but I'm a Challenge whore in Brawl.

Finally, a classic. Tetris.

For analog activities, I usually turn to writing. But I usually do it on the computer, so it's not analog at all. Recently, much of my down-time has been occupied by coming here and posting inane one-liners.

wait... now you sold your PSP again? didn't you just buy another one like 3 weeks ago?

Ay caramaba.

The first rule of Sims Snuff Club is, you don't talk about Sims Snuff Club!

gotcha

If you mean just games that you can pick up for a few minutes or an hour, have fun, and then set down:
Rhythm games are great for this. Rock Band, Guitar Hero, That one on Steam that eludes me even though it has been one of the biggest games of the year so far...Audiosurf that's it.
These games are fun for 3 minutes, or 3 hours.

Any game where you can save anywhere. Even the most hardcore PC RPG like The Witcher or Oblivion touting 80+ hours of gameplay, you can do a quest or two in a half hour, save, and then do something else. STALKER also is good for this.

Lighter MMOs. I am renewed in my vigor for Mythos. And it may just be the early game, but I can rattle through 4 quests in a half hour, get a new piece of gear or level up. If they can keep that level of reward up, Mythos will go far. I really got fed up with WoW because the rewards once you get into your mid 60's, I quit at 66, you get very few rewards. I would play for maybe 10 hours over a few days, would not level and would not get a new piece of gear, just a few more hours on the treadmill. But 1-64, WoW has good rewards and with the new leveling, life is a lot easier for casuals.

I would put DiabloII in this category as well. Maybe an hour or so each day, you will get through 3 or 4 quests, get to a new zone, new gear, probably a level each day as well.

I would like to steer you away from puzzle or classic arcade games. These are hardcore games in disguise. Unless you want to play the same 2-3 levels in Geometry Wars or Hexic, for 20 minutes at a time, you will be pouring huge hours in to beat high scores and get further and further into the game. These are casual because of simplicity, but are designed for long sessions. Games like Tetris are designed for you to play on a 5 hour plane trip, not 5 minutes at a time.

I like the look of Switchball. I may pick that up tonight. In addition to other analog stuff like finding a fluff book to read instead of what I've been reading for the past 6 months. I've been reading graphic novels, dystopian literature and technical books. Hell I just got done reading Maus. That's why I think there are larger things I can probably do. I guess while I was doing those things I was also looking out for games to play that were not hardcore. Thanks for all the advice, though, and keep it coming.

Switchball is one of the best games on XBLA that no one played, imo. Try the demo and you'll likely find yourself buying it within ten minutes. The game is so gorgeous and relaxing. It's also neat that you can play every level either timed (race for bronze, silver & gold medals) or simply run without the timer on (no penalty) so you can just relax and concentrate on puzzle solving.

The important thing, I think, is not to force it. Do what you want to do with the time you have to yourself.

Find the things that interest you without putting too much thought in to it. Otherwise it's not really any different than what you're trying to take a break from, yes?

Hoop and stick?

I could use something like this myself, haven't quite the motivation needed for something more complex at the moment.

I still pick up Quake 3 from time-to-time for a bit of a bot deathmatch, or if I want something more recent, I'll do the same with UT2k4 or free-and-open-source shooters like Nexuiz. In my younger, PC-only days, that was almost exclusively how I played FPS games -- I never went online, though I did LAN a bit, and the single-player campaigns never grabbed me. I couldn't tell you how much time I spent railing Eraser bots on The Edge, though. I don't think I actually finished a "PC" FPS until I picked up BioShock on the 360.

Other favourites include the Civ games: Civ 4 is great fun to just pick up and play, and on the easier levels I find it very relaxing, just playing to build a nice empire and peacefully co-exist with the AI players. Almost as good is Freeciv, which is open-source and will run on just about anything. Shooters are a good option, too -- Ikaruga on XBLA is an absolute bargain, as is Rez HD.