This generation has produced the overall best crop of games ever. Period.

I get your point and agree with it.  A huge pile of games are labeled hardcore are anything but.  They include more of the three Bs (blood, breasts, and beasts) and less gameplay.  500 cutscenes artificially lengthen a miniscule product.  Then they add an online portion to the game where you play the same 5 levels over and over and call that additional content. 

No thanks.  I'll stick to my all gameplay games like Donkey Kong Country Returns. 

Finally, someone who can formulate themselves properly. These game are turning away from "hardcore" rather than becoming more "hardcore" in order to appeal to a broader audience.

Well, yes, but that all depends on semantics. That's why it's been pretty much required to put the word "hardcore" in quotes on the internet for the past few years. We've never effectively segregated the various ideas of "hardcore" in a way that distinguishes between the big RPG completionist gamer (the guy who catches all 500 plus Pokemon for breakfast, then goes on to clear out Oblivion with all its expansions by days' end), the guy who can clean out DKCR Mirror Mode with ease and who tears through Super Meat Boy with his eyes shut, and these dudebro gamers who just want to play FPSes and rave about Nathan Drake's "half-tuck."

All of these are hardcore, but as far as describing games go, the dudebro segment has captured that definition, hence the quotes

At the OP

I fully respect your point of view but my issue with 'hardcore' gaming is a lot of it is still quite childish and immature. Very few games blow my breath away or have me overcome with emotion or even make me laugh. Gaming by it's very nature and with the existing technologies at hand cannot give us the equivalent of say Dersu Uzala or Amelie

I dont see the problem in modern games, its just an opinion thing, IMO this generation has given us great games.

That's probably just about as precise as it can be put. I agree. I chose to use the quotes for good measure for once.

The adherence of this belief is one of the problems you are trying to address.  Oh, the irony.

Truth.  Also, titles such as the Katamari series, Siren series, BlazBlue series, Valkyria Chronicles, and the Disgaea series win because of gameplay.  Like a previous poster said, Japan needs to lead the charge again.

I agree with you, gamers today like more graphics than anything else even if its more style than substance. They also like to play the same games over and over again. I remember the old days where there were less sequels and more original games which is totally opposite to where we are today. Of course, I dont mind having a sequel every now and then but it sucks that most developers make 1 game and then go on to make 3 sequels. Thats the main reason I love my ds so much because it gets so many unique games with original gameplay ideas.