I know this is somewhat random... but why bother about hardcore-ness talk when you can follow the path of manly-ness? I'm one of the few followers of this theory, and it's all about gaming for fun!
My best example is instead of competing with someone for the best "skillz", show them that you can make them rage by abusing cheap tactics and stuff in games.
With that said, Modern Warfare 2 is a really manly game (akimbo shotguns, running around with speed perks knifing everyone, etc.). You can be manly in Mega Man X too, if you play without getting the armor upgrades and everything! 
Random game thought :
Why is Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 getting so much hate? We finally get a real game and they're not even satisfied... I'm starting to hate the gaming community so f****** much...
