This post only makes you look bad and exactly what you say hardcore gamers are, please.

Why because it doesn't praise ms?

The insinuation that only Sony appeals to hardcore console gamers is laughable. A "hardcore" console gamer will find plenty of appealing software on any current system, if they are "hardcore" enough to do some actual research.

First off i agree with Veknoid.

Second off, no. It is poorly written and ignores many facts inlcuding that the casual market has paid off not to mention that MSFT and Nintendo also has a heavy harcore crowd.  Then they ignore that Sony has tried with casuals as well but hey the move doesnt exist right ;)  in fact the new PS eye for PS4 doesnt exist right?  Lets just ignore that kinect and the Wiimote has been succerssful. Lets also ignore that MSFT and Nintendo hardcore titles has been a raging success.  Oh and lets also ignore that 3rd party has also sold better on the X360 and Nintendo.  Lets just ignore facts and voice our opinions as if they were facts.

And that is why. Somini is starting to be well known on this site for putting out poorly written opinion pieces and overly negative articles in the last few weeks.  maybe he should write his own instead of searching for them.

Actually it is the first thread Ive commented in his threads.  My other comment towards him was in my thread.  Go through my post history and notice that ive ignored his threads all together.  And yes I stand behind what I said.  He has clearly been looking for these type of articles and all it is doing is making this site look bad for having articles like this on it.  

Newsflash: The "winner" of every console generation has succeeded by having a healthy software library that appeals to both the "hardcore" and casual / expanded gaming audience that only buys a handful of games each year, if that. The NES did this, as did the SNES the following gen.

Both previous Sony consoles owe a great deal of their success to the non-core gaming audience as well, who bought up PSOnes for games like Frogger, Spyro, and WWF/WCW, and same thing for PS2, where the casuals bought it up for Madden, Guitar Hero, and The Matrix on DVD.

And obviously the Wii took this trend to a whole 'nother level this past gen. Now the next gen is underway, and the console that successfully appeals to the expanded audience with more mass-market friendly options and multimedia functionality will emerge victorious.

Sorry for the late response -- haven't had the chance to reply until just now.

Your comment is well-meaning, I'm sure, but it doesn't make much sense. If we go by the logic implied by it, none of us can ever make critical statements about any group, genre, or organization.

By creating a dichotomy between "hardcore" and "casual" gamers, the author is inviting criticism. I'm allowed to share my experience with self-described "hardcore gamers," aren't I? I'm allowed to call something elitist or condescending without the insult being directed back at me, right?

If you've interacted with hardcore gamers who are open to new things, respectful of amateur game enthusiasts, and not overly-protective of the image they display to the world, then please feel free to disagree with me. But don't throw away my entire sentiment with a sarcastic comment like the one above.

Could you elaborate on that? Are you saying I'm immature, parochial, and elitist?

Couldn't I say the same for your post? It makes you look bad and exactly what you're implying about me implying about hardcore gamers?

I'm glad my post stirred such enthusiastic responses, but I'm not happy they were directed at my tone and not at my message. Fight me on substance not on style, please.

Yup and most Hardcore Gamers are on Xbox 360 playing on Xbox Live and NOT on Psn.

Ps3 players = living of brand name

Xbox players = Hardcore guys that spend 24/7 on a game they want to be good, thats why only Xbox enters in Pro Competitions like MLG, ESL and more... Ps3 is left in the Dust.

Pc Players = Most Hardcore guys on the freaking Planet.

So Xbox is in the middle, Ps3 cant be hardcore with that online and ZERO competition around the globe and Pc is a true hardcore platform.

Microsoft did right in turn their focus to Casual Audience, Hardcore Gamers are a niche these days, there are alot but Casual Gamers are gazilions.

"Leaving Sony as the sole console developer to tend to hardcore gamers now."

I'll let someone else decide which of these two is the case:

1) I am not a "hardcore gamer."
2) Nintendo is not tending to my needs as a "hardcore gamer."

One of them must be true, because if I am one of these hardcore gamers the article speaks of, and Nintendo fulfills my gaming needs, that would make the above statement incorrect.

Either way, I can't be bothered to worry about it myself. You guys worry about it while I inform Ubisoft that despite exceeding 6.5 million sales, Just Dance 4 was a colossal failure because the casual bubble has burst.

PS, I find several of the article's suggestions downright offensive, including but not limited to:

• The suggestion that attempting to expand the market is some kind of insidious ploy that will ultimately damage the industry, and that the industry should try to stay small and niche and not try to appeal to any audience other than *barf* "hardcore gamers."
• The suggestion that the Wii was the first such attempt to expand the market, ignoring that Sony did the very same thing with the PS2 by selling it as a DVD player to customers who otherwise wouldn't have been interested in a gaming console, and even before that, Nintendo doing the same with ROB and the NES.
• The suggestion that the "casual gamers" migrating en masse from consoles to mobile devices is somehow to blame for the financial troubles of THQ, Square Enix, EA, and other companies, and not those companies' own poor financial decisions and out-of-control spending.
• As always, the suggestion that the entire gaming market -- nay, the entire world -- can be split cleanly into two demographics not plainly defined by any tangible means (e.g., gender, nationality, income, age, etc.), but by abstract qualities, vague details no one can agree on, leading to contradictions and misunderstandings.

Here is one such contradiction -- the article suggests that Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the first Wii U game that might appeal to "hardcore gamers." I infer that New Super Mario Bros. does not, then, appeal to "hardcore gamers." Yet it also states that the "casual gamers" have no brand loyalty and aren't interested in console gaming any more -- well, you could have fooled Mario, whose games have been selling pretty well -- consistently well -- for a long time. Mario is still selling, so which is it, is Mario hardcore or is the casual audience still around?