Isn't it always delightful when you make a well-reasoned and logical argument, only to have the next part of the discussion take place entirely devoid of any consideration for it?
DTG, your personal concept of "hardcore" seems to revolve around difficulty, specifically in the sense that you value higher levels of it over anything else. Would it be unrealistic to say that your primary model for gaming values revolves around a particular game, such as, say, Metal Gear Solid 4?
Anyway, the key point I'm making here is that your definition of "hardcore" remains yours and yours alone. There are plenty of people who would call MGS games not "hardcore", because it doesn't have, for example, super-refined combat gameplay or slick motion-centric controls. Others would say it isn't "hardcore" because the story drags down the flow of gameplay. Still others would venture that it isn't "hardcore" because it doesn't involve any player-guided character growth.
Not a one of those reasons is wrong, for the people who claim them, because "hardcore" depends entirely on the values which the person declaring themselves "hardcore" hold in high esteem (frequently to the exclusion of all others).
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
