Nintendo should copy Sony

[Veknoid_Outcast]

There is a difference between  a casual and a hardcore gamer. Super Mario is a pick up and play game that doesnt involve control scheme difficulty but rather the difficulty is based on the course you are to walk through. Depending on the difficulty you choose is the level at which you will play. Easy is generally the casual setting. Most games now have a casual setting because casuals in most cases just want an experience and not an overcomplicated challenge. They want a slight challenge if one at all. A hardcore gamer will play mario to death on the hardest setting finding the ins and outs of the game. Mario was not created to attract hardcore gamers, but I am sure there are setting the core gamer can set to play a harder setting. Mario attracts mostly women/children and alot of people grew up with it. What game do you think my mother thought was the only acceptable game to buy for me with the Nintendo when I was really young? Mario. Would she have bought me any of the Sony exclusives? Hell no, unless it was Crash or Spyro. The only chracters my mother knew about were Mario, Donkey Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog. I dont disagree that a hardcore gamer will play any game at all, theres no doubt about that, but hardcore gamers are more defined by the way they play games rather than just their voice in variety. If they are passionate gamers variety is a given. Theres a reason Nintendo is after the PS3/360 crowd and its because they offer something Nintendo doesn't in their games. Even after selling nearly 100 million consoles they still lacked a proper core fanbase. They could sell their third party core titles for anything.

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But don't you think you're sliding dangerously into elitism with these definitions? Control scheme difficulty seems like an arbitrary criterion for "hardcore." As does an audience made up of women and children for "casual."

It seems like your definition of hardcore gamer is one who plays serious games in a serious way. I guess my definition of a hardcore gamer is one who knows the industry, plays all the games, can write and speak about video games with authority, and makes video games his or her hobby. Casual video gamers are those who enjoy playing games, but know less about who made the game, less about genres and sub-genres, spend less money and energy looking for and buying games.

But I don't think someone who elects "normal" over "hard" difficulty is precluded from the hardcore community. Video game investment is not the same as video game skill.