Im hardcore on the weekends
but casual during workdays

Yes, I also apply this system.

For genres, I consider those incredibly hard (a.k.a. easy for people at the time) NES/Arcade games like Battletoad and R-Type hardcore. Fighting games come right in that category too.

For companies themselves, I would consider both Konami and Capcom the definition of hardcore gaming. They are the kings at making incredible games that require lots of skills and reflexes to complete!

I mean c'mon, if anyone here can't beat Contra without using the Konami code, you're not hardcore, k thx bay! =P

Yay ive been hardcore since 1992. My system is can you get 172 platinums on PGR2, if so you are hardcore bordering on a freak. Im sure many, many, many self proclaimed hardcore gamers would call me a casual gamer. Maybe I am...Who knows, personally I couldnt give a  @$^* 

Ironically, now that I am getting old (24) I find myself reading about games more than playing them.
While I certainly have an interest in games, I feel like I am so busy with real world relationships and activities that I am kind of forced into the role of "casual gamer". It's pretty bizarre.

I think the term "hardcore gamer" is bandied about too often these days. Usually, people who refer to themselves as hardcore gamers are actually just graphics snobs.

To me, a hardcore gamer is someone that appreciates good games on any platform, and doesn't allow their bias to cloud their appreciation of good gameplay. Hardcore gamers just want to play games, period. They have an itch that one console or platform or PC or publishing house alone can't scratch.

A casual gamer, to me, is someone that just wants a pick up and play experience for a few hours a month, and is looking at a minimal investment.

There are people who can't beat Super Maro Brothers 3? I just think people call themselves hardcore gamers because it makes them feel better about when they play games so it doesn't seem to themselves they are wasting there time on pure amusment. Any game they don't like is then deemed "Casual" because if they were also hardcore it would bruise their egos.

I consider everyone on this forum hardcore, because anyone who participates in video game discussion online is hardcore in my book.

I used to be a hard core gamer, but not any more. I still play video games, though, but perhaps I am more of a game collector now.

I find that a lot of these "hardcore" gamers only label themselves that as a defense mechanism towards the "casual" gamer. I mean that people who have spent their entire lives playing games need something to distance themselves from someone who has only started playing recently. It seems to a pride thing in a lot of cases and a way to make themselves feel better with the influx of new gamers. Its just the term confuses me, i know someone who considers himself a hardcore gamer despite only ever owning the Xbox consoles, having never played a Mario game and having a library of games that consist of only FPS' and racers. That to me means that he has missed out on so much and i could never consider someone with such a closed mentality to be a hardcore gamer.