It doesnt necessarily mean difficult, violent, M rated, or involve guns.  I believe most people on this site are hardcore Nintendo players. Oxymoron? Its a casual system company! Like I said, it has nothing to do with the above mentioned ideals.  Also on topic, a hardcore WoW player is someone who plays and loves the game and most likely the company that made it. So whenever I mention hardcore, Im speaking of the people that play and love the games they play. So in essence, anyone, whether they have a Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360 of any age or gender has to ability to be a hardcore gamer in my opinion. In essence I could say that I believe there are millions of hardcore Mario party players.

I think someone who plays and enjoys games is a a "gamer".
I think someone who plays games ALOT and enjoys them ALOT is "hardcore", like its their primary hobby. Like me :)

Nintendo a casual game company? Zelda, Mario, Metroid were always complex games, full of riddles and playtime. I think Nintendo is an old-styled hardcore-game company. In the recent they try some casual stuff: Brain Training, Wii Sports. But the main games are hardcore. Some think cinematic games like MGS or FF are hardcore, but they are more casual, than old-style hardcore games from the past. But, I agree to the main essence of your post.

It means a person who uses commas properly.

I absolutely agree with you Eugene.

I'm a hardcore female gamer then. I love games a lot and play games a lot. I'm probably game addicted. I consider myself a hardcore Nintendo and Playstation gamer, since I own from both I hardly own a Mature game, in my 400+ collection of games, probably 1 or 2 games only, which are Mature.