Sony is trying to stay the course with what exactly?

The PS3 design philosophy and general strategic mentality. The Vita shows that they're still thinking that way, though Vita was certainly launched smarter than the PS3

i thought the casual/hardcore thing was more connected to software than hardware?

Sort of. It's about the strategy you pursue with the hardware you offer, as i don't doubt Microsoft's nextbox will be roughly as strong as Sony's machine, but Microsoft is going to put Kinect 2.0 out there face-forward, whereas Sony is going to pitch Orbis in a similar manner as they have with Vita, or so i believe. The point i was trying to make is that with Microsoft being less "Xbox360-ish" it's not going to devolve into a simple "us versus them, hardcore versus casual" mentality, because Microsoft largely will keep things more complex. Nintendo too, to a lesser extent, as i'm sure they're going to make more extensive efforts to make sure they at least stay in the multiplat loop going forward.

well we'll see, although i think its a little too early to make statements like that

Most of these terms only came around when Nintendo turned their company around and was successful with the Wii. No one was saying these things last gen when Sony had the weakest console and released their eye "toy". Lets be real here there are definately double standards in this so called fanboy console war. I believe people should be able to say what they want its all entertainment at the end of the day anyway.

Can someone give a short version of the OP?

Nice list. The only problem I have is with the Casual/Hardcore section.

I agree that any game can be played casually or hardcore, but we have different viewpoints on casual and hardcore games. I think it is possible to have casual and hardcore games. I think casual and hardcore define the way the game is played, and the type of gamers that most often play them. I would say a hardcore game is typically much more violent than a casual game. I would say Super Mario Galaxy is a casual game. While it can be played in a hardcore manner, most of the people that play it do so casually. That's why I call it a casual game.

I would say that games that are hardcore try to attract a more mature audience, which goes along with why the games are more violent. I would say hardcore games generally are more complex in nature, requiring more strategic gameplay, planning ahead, or maybe more emotional influence. I would say these things in general describe a hardcore game.

This part I quoted sounds so totally f****ing familiar.

You even use  Call of Duty , Wii Sports and Just Dance lololol

I did the exact same thing!



What people dont understand is that Angry Birds a so called Casual games is nothing else  than the HARDCORE GAMES of the late 80s and early 90s were.

Angry birds is even a little bit more complex than some of those games.  And just because it has NO competitive multiplayer people call it casual  FAIIIL!!!

They also argued that Call of Duty is a hardcore game but just dance is NOT. And when I asked them WHY? BOTH GAMES CAN BE PLAYED EXTENSIVLY AGAINST OTHER PEOPLE SO THEY HAVE COMPETITIVE MODES. They were silent.

You can play EVERY game competitively you could write down your scores or try to reach a higher level or be faster in completing it.
HELL there was the 89 movie The Wizard where Savage played SMB3 against other people  all having seperate NES systems.  YOU CAN MAKE EVERYTHING competive if you want. So EVEERYTTHING IS HARDCORE and MAKES the term HARDCORE USELESS.

There is no CASUAL GAMES or HARDCORE GAMES. The only difference there is is:  ACCESSIBLE GAMES AND NON ACCESSIBLE GAMES.  Some take more time to be played like complex roleplaying games where you have to chose a race class  god haircolor whatever. And then there is stuff like  Mario bros or Tetris etc.

I for myself dont play phone games because they mostly have no story and most of them are not really complex. PLUS I will never pay for any kind of DIGITAL content. Im all for PHYSICAL. But sometimes I play a few free games i have on my phone like Breakout / Alleyway  clones-

So called hardcore gamers cant give anyone a real definiton what hardcore games are. Just let 10 hardcore gamers sit down at a table and let them come up with a definition   and dont give them something to drink before they are done   you will see them die of thirst lol