Why isn't Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz considered hardcore?

[Sullla]

Fastrabbit09 said:
question:

if they had released monkeyball on ps360, but replaced the monkey with a demon and the ball with a metal spiked cage...and everywhere u rolled, a path of blood was left...and instead of collecting bananas u collected body parts...but beyond that used the same level designs (updated to look like they came straight from hell of course) so it was still hard to beat...would it have been considered 'hardcore' by 'gamers'???

what if they added in unnecessary fmv sequences between every few levels to give it a 'story'?? AAA?

Sadly, the answer is almost certainly "yes". Super Demon Bloodball would likely be called a hardcore game, and praised for its difficulty and deep gameplay by the same people who currently dismiss it as casual trite.

I've really enjoyed some of the responses in this thread, as they've made it absolutely clear how ridiculous and arbitrary the whole "hardcore" label really is. As far as I can tell, this seems to be the definition of hardcore:

• Games on the 360 and PS3 are hardcore. Games on the Wii are not.
• Games that feature graphic violence and sexuality are hardcore. Those that lack them are not.
• Games that *I* play are hardcore. The games (and genres) I don't like to play are not.

None of this has anything to do with a game's complexity, difficulty, or gameplay. These factors are usually cited as what separates the hardcore from the casual, but when you dig deeper, you realize that there's little more than fanboy prejudice at work. How else can painfully difficult and complex games keep getting labeled as casual? Sadly, even professional reviewers are guilty of the same biases as Internet fanboys...