Back when Sony called the Wii an impulse buy something that should have been pointed out was that (pretty much) every console purchase is an impulse purchase; I know very few adults who planned to purchase a console outside of the christmas season. The reason why (inspite of having released good games) we haven't seen the sales of the PS3 take off is that it it far too expensive of a system for people buy for one game that they want. As long as the PS3 is $600 don't anticipate many games selling more than a million units or for PS3 sales to increase dramatically (outside of the christmas season).

You clearly don't know what you're talking about. First of all the Euro has never ever been worth .75$ and didnt excisted before 2000. The PS2 was 1300 gulden (gulden was our valuta) in our country that's about the same as 550 euro and the PSone was 1050 gulden, that's a little less than 500 euro.

Like i said I don't know how the situation in America or Japan was during the launch. But in europe nothing much has changed compared to the last 2 generations. So I'll pass that first sentence of yours right back at ya.

 I don't know. I wouldn't imagine a hardcore game being picked up by a non gamer who proceeds to beat the game. Mario and sonic my baby sis has put her hands on and she can go through the game. If you talk about core gamers are you reffering to core audience's? Because hardcore and core do not really go hand in hand. A core audience for a console could represent a majority while chance are hardcore are still in the minority. 

Hardcore and casual games are not defined by gameplay but by target audience(although the target audience will define the gameplay, that's why there is alot of confusion about this because people are making assumption based on gameplay when they really need to look at the underlying goal = appealing to a specific audience). For example if I make a documentary about The American Civil War, and I say it's only for hardcore civil war buffs. Then it means only they will apprecieate the details I'm going to cover. Or at least they'll be the majority of fans. So in gaming, there are games that are designed to appeal to people who love games and play them all the time, and people who play casually here and there. But you see Mario is both. If mario wasn't for both then technically the hardcore audience shouldn't be excited about it, but lets face it they are. Show me a hardcore gamer that wasn't excited to see Super Mario 64 in action. There aren't many, therefore it appeals to hardcore gamers, but it has a casual appeal to. Casual gamers typically like games that aren't to hard, that are accessable, and that often have an iconoclassic appeal, Mario has that. There fore many nongamers have shown interest in Mario. So mario games and Sonic games are hard to define, because they appeal to both audiences equally.

The Euro was intorduced in 1999 it was used for accounting purposes and bank transactions like the type a major corporatin would use. It was published for public use in 2002. The Euro was never at 75 cents but did hold and and maintain a low of 82 cents in 2000 spiking to 96 cents in january of 2001 than dropping back to 83 cents a few months later. It is now worth over the american dollar and ahs remained that way for a few years. But the Euro was driving a lot of the corporate economies in europe even if you didn't spend that.(well except the british LOL)

Y'now I agree with Foo for the most part but I still think it has to do with acclimation of games. God of war is easier than gran turismo.... to a gamer but for people who are not gamers both are equally as hard. And this is something I continously see over and over. God of war is easily accessable but the puzzles and structure of the maps have down right stumped people and I had to rethink about what makes games easier for some and harder for others. After careful and several disscussions I would like to think that this is one of the things that truley seperates hardcore from casual.

I think the reason I stick to this point is because it seems as if games aimed for supposed "hardcore" have elements that we are instantly familiar with and then turns up the notch on a few other things, may it be puzzles, gameplay or boss battles. So while a small acclimation to changes or the deeper understanding about the tweaks in the rules is what may pause a "hardcore gamer" the Casual gamer is still stuck on understanding the initial problems or limitations of the world. These are things that can be gotten over by experience and a typical repetiton of concepts applied to problem solving.

Now let me step back for a bit because I will agree that Most mario and sonic games are easy but not all are. I am pretty sure mario 64 and sunshine (even though aimed for a newer crowd) are not cakewalks for new/casual gamers. But I do not seek to offend but I see learning curve and "difficulty" as a large part of the defining line between casual and hardcore gamers with very small exceptions.

I think the big problem is too many people assume we can lump people in those two categories. I myself play games about every day. I can easily sit around and play two hours in a row(longer if I was able to) for all intents and purposes I am a hardcore gamer. But upon getting Tony Hawk Project 8, I had a really difficult time with the game and the trick mechanics. I've really come to the conclusion the game is specifically designed for hardcore gamers. Now as I've said, I am a hardcore gamer. But the problem is I'm not a Tony Hawk Hardcore gamer. The tony Hawk trick mechanics are a beast of their own. And I have found too often the requirements of that game are so rooted in the heavy mechanics that without having played earlier renditions I feel quite inadequite. I feel more or less that alot of these long running franchises are too deeply rooted into their own world, leaving all the late adopters on the outskirts, even ones that are hardcore. So I think and hope that alot of the older franchises start to rethink how new people to the franchise can have fun. I think the franchise that has done this better then any other is Burnout. Burnout has varying gameplay modes that allow anyone casual or hardcore, familiar or unfamiliar to have a satisfying experience with their titles. Tony Hawk should have different modes that simply focus on different simple elements of the game. Like a multiplayer mode with a set amount of time where your focus is to see who can raise the biggest hospital bill. But no, instead the focus is simply on the laborous tricks that new ones and casual players give up on.

Particularly with the Wii opening the door to a new audience, the gaming world has to open up these franchises to all players, they can't afford to say, "this is a hardocre game", they have to say, "no matter who you are there is something in this game for you" That really should be the mindset, and the lines between casual and hardcore should be blurred even further. The fact that it's hard to distingush Mario as I have mentioned earlier is a perfect example of blurred lines, and I don't think anyone would argue Nintendo's success in doing such. 

Nintendo is stronger than last gen because of a numer of things, the key ones are:

1. They have a hardware that sells in all region, and it sells fast.
2. They are different, a Nintendo with an orginal GamePad with ubergraphics would have totally failed. Why chose the consol manufactorer that totally failed delivery any good amount of games last time?
3. They have new franshises that sells really well combined with old ones (Wii Sport and Zelda)

The number 1 gives the userbase that 3rd parties want, number 3 drives sales for 1 to be created.

The only reason I would like Sony to fail is that I don't want a consol price of 600 USD to be standard, if that become tha case I would leave consol gaming.

Now I do think that FF and MGS will sell a lot of consols, I am not that sertain for the untried games simple because of the price tag.

Brilliant! I agree with you fully about what is needed to blur the lines but notice what I was saying about problem solving. Y'see gameplay is one of them. But I have seen way to many gamers paly a game like god of war and a shooter like doom and aske questions like "where do I go next?" or "how do I open this door?". I am talking about things we get as people who have played games for so long that we can guess the flow and direction of the stage based on subtle clues or just know the typical shooter puzzle of getting a key or beating an enemy to continue on. Those things are so basic I find myslef mystified that I can catch the hints yet other people cannot.

To get over the hurdle of difficult gameplay I would say the Wii takes the award home with that. I will call you a hardcore gamer if you really don't understand the questions I am refering too. Seriously I am around alot of novice and casual gamers and I get question that brings me back down to earth about how something can be confusing if you are not used to it.

I guess I would put an example like this a hardcore first reaction to the first ninja gaiden would be more along the lines of.." woah! this boss/enemy is hard".... while a more casual gamer's first reaction would be " hey! I can run on the Walls. Oh.. now I understand how to get over there."

Edit: And I am not sure if the term hardcore vs. casual can be attributed to those complaining about the difficulty of contra and/or DMC. 

I love going off topic. This is now the "What is a hardcore gamer?" thread.

You can find so many examples of games that can or can't be hardcore. For example, I think WoW is not an entry level game. It's complicated, requires many hours, involves a huge world and story line and you can put it on your resume next to your Excel and Word skills. However, I've seen many examples of people, that have never played videogames in their life, get on WoW and play it 24/7 and nothing else. Is that a hardcore game? Yes. Is that a hardcore gamer? Yes.

Like fooflexible's example, he is having trouble with a hardcore game, yet he's a hardcore gamer. I think any game can be hardcore. Take for instance....Pac Mac or Miss Pac Man, take your pick. I am sure that most people here would say this is not a hardcore game. It's very easily accessible, kid friendly, cartoony, and ingeniously simplistic. I consider myself to be hardcore gamer, yet I have trouble getting to the damn melon stage on this game. Then there are "hardcore" gamers that can survive for hours on one quarter. Tell me that this person is not a hardcore gamer.