Actually you just proved my point.  The Box 360 is doing best in the United States.  As an American, I can testify that the typical mindset of the American pop culture is to jump on the most hyped current trend, i.e. the Xbox 360.  Nothing wrong with in and of itself.  And of course more of the big name multi-platforms games will sell well and on the Xbbox 360 because of the previous reason stated.  But again as a hardcore gamer, numbers themselves at this point in this gen serves very little purpose.  And also as a hardcore gamer, the Xbox 360 sales numbers are not impressive knowing the direction Microsoft is going.  Microsoft themselves said, for instance, that they were going after the Wii market with Kinect.  Of course this is in regards to motion gaming which most hardcore gamers have little to no regards for.  And of the 77 PS3 games I have, 54 of those are either PS3 exclusives or the better multi-platform titles of some reason or another.  As a hardcore gamer, it's very probable that I've done more extensive research than the casual as well as core gamers.  Therefore when it comes to the multi-platform games, I've picked the ones that are better on the PS3 as well as the ones that suit me not counting the exclusives that are on the PS3.  It wasn't because of the pop culture American mindset.  My opinion is different of the masses, but it doesn't discount the FACT that the masses is Microsoft's target audience which caters more to them than hardcore and core gamers.  As I've stated in a past thread, it would be more impressive if Microsoft had focused its resources on more hardcore games (the smaller target audience) of the action/adventure and platforming genre while obtaining the same sales that Kinect (the casual larger audience) had given them if there wasn't a Kinect.

Going by your assumptions, the impressive 9 or so attach ratio that 360 had a few years ago wouldn't make any sense, people buy games that are appealing to them, just because COD applies to both the casual and hardcore gamers does not in fact make it a casual. FPS genre as a whole had always been considered a hardcore market, just because COD has emerged and manages to captivate such large sales doesn't necessarily mean that it's now a game for casuals as a whole, every console has people that only play a few hours of the said game - FIFA, COD, Wii Sports, Just Dance w/e. Judging by the tie ratios of games per console, 360 has barely few of those, or if there are en masse, then the hardcore gamers must have considerably more games in order to balance the imbalance that would be created by people who only have 3/4 games as you so insinuated.

Despite it appearing so, COD is far from casual, as many people still play it and most do it competitively, some even make a living from it - by playing it for extensive hours to create videos for the community on YouTube.

Really the whole "FPS is for casuals" is one big pile of bullshit, I don't even know how we got here in the first place, taking into account that it all started from sales.

If that FPS is for casuals is in fact true according to some in this thread, then PS3 is as much of a casual console as 360 looking at the top selling games that are found there, and if FPS is casual, then so is Sport, Racing, Platformers just as much is Dancing, Music games w/e.

JimmyDanger is also wrong. Being "core" or "casual" has absolutely nothing to do with how much money you waste on it. It's all about how serious you are about gaming.

Core gamers consider gaming a big hobby of theirs. Casual gamers tend to enjoy gaming, but don't necessarily call it a hobby (but that doesn't mean they don't!).

Core gamers play a variety of genres, and usually like to branch out to multiple systems if they can afford to. They have little loyalty to a certain system or franchise - they're perfectly willing, maybe even happy, to get into the "rival" franchise of their favourite game. Casuals are happy with only a few genres, if not only a few games, and are content to own a single system per generation, sometimes two. They also rarely have loyalties, but only because they don't care so much.

Core gamers don't necessarily spend a lot of time gaming every single day, or even every week, but they'd usually like to, and are capable of spending entire days gaming regularly. Casual gamers will oftentimes play for a couple hours and decide that's enough for now.

Core gamers tend to be into niche titles and genres, picking up odd games that 90% of the gaming community has scarcely even heard of. Casual gamers will only pick up popular titles and/or titles that catch their eye in the game store.

You can be a "core" gamer and stick solely with games from the previous generation. You can be a "casual" gamer and own 20 brand-new games every year.

That, and many of you people are forgetting a classification that was used before "core" was coined. There IS a difference between "hardcore" and "core". A "hardcore" gamer is something of a cross between a core and casual gamer. They love gaming like a core gamer, but stick to only a genre or two, tend to only own games IN that genre and only be GOOD at games in that genre, but will play for a much longer time than the usual casual, perhaps even longer than the typical core gamer. They tend to have extreme loyalties to their systems and/or franchises. Most Call of Duty, Halo, and Battlefield players fall into this category. Same with WoW players (rather, ESPECIALLY WoW players). System fanboys tend to fit in here.

So, to recap:

-Core gamers consider gaming a big part of their life
-Core gamers like a large variety of genres
-Core gamers are capable of gaming for hours upon hours on end
-Core gamers like unpopular games
-Core gamers will play just about anything with few loyalties
-Core gamers, if they can, will own a LOT of games and systems

-Hardcore gamers consider gaming a big part of their life
-Hardcore gamers like very few genres, perhaps even very few games
-Hardcore gamers are capable of gaming for hours upon hours on end
-Hardcore gamers tend to only like popular games
-Hardcore gamers have strong loyalties to systems and/or franchises
-Hardcore gamers will own few systems and few games, but tend to have a lot of merchandise related to them

-Casual gamers enjoy gaming, but don't consider it a big part of their lives
-Casuals gamers like very few genres, perhaps even very few games
-Casual gamers prefer to only play for a little while
-Casual gamers tend to only like popular games
-Casual gamers will play just about anything with few loyalties
-Casual gamers will own few systems and few games, with little merchandise related to them

Core gamers are people who spend lots of hours in a day (more than 2 hours non-stop) playing games. Gaming is often solitary, withe the exception of online friends.

Casual gamers are people who spend a small portion of their day gaming (less than 1 hour non-stop). Gaming is something done between activities or as an activity with friends and family in the same room..

Neither group is more or less relevant to gaming. Both have influence and are an important market to game and device manufacturers.

Attach ratio? You lost me.

I wasn't saying FPS's are for casual gamers only and I doubt other people are as well, it's just a genre that is popular amongst casual gamers. I don't know if I made this point, but it's the gamers that are casual, not the game, I play Call of Duty and I'm definitely not a casual gamer, but I would go as far as saying the majority of Call of Duty players are casual gamers.

As for PS3 being just as much as a casual console, you pointed out sales. If you exclude the Call of Duty games, the top 10 games for the PS3 and the Xbox 360 are pretty different, but that has been bought up so many times in other threads so I don't really need to say anything about it.

Some of those genres are as casual as FPS but many others aren't.

Message me if you want to say anything else because this is going off topic.

Happy new year guys.

Again... that won't happen even without adjustments (with these PS3 will be ahead by 500k or more).

Whether or not the 360 beats the PS3 in sales, it is having a great year and doing awesome in the U.S. Just imagine if they lowered their cost by $100 for the next holiday.

We spend more time fighting about sales than congratulating other consoles on their achievements and contributions to gaming. This console war seems endless.

Do you honestly believe that?  I don't so I don't blame you for laughing.  Who said that the Xbox 360 is exclusively a casual's console if that's what you are saying?  Not I.

yeah like europen high-class wine shooter-Killzone right?

you guys don't know what is normal gamers?