Of course there is only one way to make a perfect in angry birds, but in mario kart also, there is also one trajectory possible to optimize your lap. All the mechanics in mario kart are tought for casuals ( like the fact that the last one in the race will pick up god tier items) except for one, the skid, accessible to a 8 yeas old but wich permit to auto-improve.

In an other registry, look at the customization of the cars in gran turismo 3 (dunno about later ones).  There is still only one good trajectory in this one, but you have a lot of choices to make in a race, one of the most important being "Do I change the tire now or on the next lap ?". For example you can choose to spend a few more laps with used tires, making you slower but making you gain a few seconds, etc. That adds a strategic thinking to the all.

There are core mechanics in gran turismo that you will only master after spending tens or hundreds of hours playing. In mario kart, you've mastered all mechanics after 10 hours. Improving is just grinding by replaying over and over the same races.

This. Considering Mario/Kirby/DK as core games is questionable imho. True, those games do have a core appeal but a lot of their sales come from casuals a well. And besides, how does he explain WiiU's slow start? At 30K a week it's obvious that a lot of people were driven off by Wii's poor last years, and software sales clearly suggest that those people are mostly core gamers.

Why is it false? Just saying "It's false" does not make it true.

Logically and from what I have seen, the Wii did push away the hardcore gamers.

I represent the opposite end of the scale; for me, as a core gamer, the Wii was a return to form for Nintendo after the disappointment of the Gamecube, and I never once regretted getting it.

Overall, the numbers suggest Nintendo they gained more than they lost as far as core gamers go.

Only the skid? How about turbo start+wheelie, using inverted drifting to do multiple turbos in a long corner without losing the driving line, mini turbo+ wheelie, jump tricks...

And that would be the case In a world where you race alone, hitting other racers is banned, and item management doesn't exist.

Choices in Gran Turismo doesn't matter because the AI is ridiculously slow, specially since part 3 where you can buy HP upgrades for race cars and the AI doesn't use them, or just use way better cars than the ones the AI use (btw, what happened since GT1? why all the AI-controlled road cars are stock?) but I have to admit that they tried by forcing you to race with a crippled car by not letting you change the oil (GT3) or repair the chassis of your car (GT4) between races in a championship (dat realism).

the real hardcore machines n64 gc and neo geo behind the nes.

Those games are in the lists of all three platforms, so if you remove them you have to do it from all of them. At the end, the result is the same, the Wii has as many (or more) core games as previous Nintendo systems, which is what the article is about.

I see some people keep getting confused with Wii and Wii U.

Edit - Ajimbo! TheJimbo! I mean, 1234 posts!

What are hardcore gamers at all ?
Are they those kind of gamers who only plays M-rated games, with lots of gore, violence, offensive language and sexual references ?
Or are they those who enjoy videogaming in every possibility of gameplay that can be offered, independent of style, cathegory, rating or device, then spending more time and money with several consoles ?

The "myths" here can be verified by these two very different approaches of what a "core" gamer can be .

Fairly pointless article where the premise is flawed from the start. The argument I see most is not that the Wii "lost" core gamers but that better offerings for core gamers could be found elsewhere (PS3, 360 & PC). These consoles don't exist in a vacuum and any analysis needs to take into account the competition.

Also, did no one else notice the absence of Goldeneye in the N64 list? That's just wrong. Look at the attach ratio of Goldeneye; that game made the N64.

A hardcore gamer is someone who play games hundreds of hours to master it.

Have no other definition in mind