I preferred the definitions by editor-from-site-I-can't-remember guy. Basically he had people boxed up as:

1. Hardcore gamers. The people who follow the news, get consoles when they're new (probably the only people who buy consoles before the first price drop), buy lots of games. Most of us are here.

2. Casual gamers. Think gaming is "cool", but only own three games, and two of those have names beginning with "Grand Theft". Buy the winning console when the price drops enough, and there are enough games the regular guy finds appealing.

3. Kids. Have no money, and play what they can convince their parents to buy for them. Eventually graduate into another group. Soriku and Leo are probably in the process of moving to group one.

4. Expanded audience. Haven't touched a game in their lives before, but are now intriqued by the Wii and DS. Everyone's grandpa or uncle that loves Wii Sports, or Brain Training.

The NES, SNES, N64, and GC only really breached groups 1 and 3. The Playstations were the right machine at the right time, and became a success with group 2 as well. Now the Wii and DS are working to keep all those people happy, and tap into group 4, while the 360 and PS3 have expanded nothing, and significantly decreased their appeal to group 2.

If someone has the original article handy, I would much appreciate it being reposted.

I believe "casual" is a buzz word created either by marketing departments or game reviewers. It happened because videogames grew a lot in poularity, more genres were created, and those that felt videogames being stolen from them by newcomers needed a distinction between themselves and the newbies. There is no casual as there is no hardcore. I've seen over 5 or 6 different definitions thus far in this topic. They're used by people who want to eleveate themselves above others. It's just like the word "poser". Jealous people need ways to bring down others because they felt they have more rights to something because they got there first.

 That's what Soriku's saying

 Leave it to Soriku to take a compliment as an insult...

I agree with the original post completely and I've always used the terms as so. It seems that suddenly in the gaming world every thing Wii is 'casual' and everything else is 'hardcore'

Soriku:

I can't believe this threas died so soon! I am thinking about openning one with similar topic...
Any thoughts would be very welcome

Long after the hardcore clones have been forgotten Nintendo will be written in stone as the most innovative, creative and therefore successful game company to have ever existed.

Though under appreciated critically, apart from its marketable economic success, Wii fit, Nintendogs, Brain Train, etc will be known as THE most important shifts in game culture in early 21st century entertainment.

We seem to forget that 'casual' games with peripheral interactivity were never previously so efficiently attached to the games they are made for.

Its not the balance board, its Wii fit that makes it a success. Less so but in a general sense the wiimote is another example.
Likewise Brain training and Nintendogs, the stylus is nothing without the ingenuity of the software.

I think most people are going to be ignorant and use the word for whatever they want. That way people can continue with poor communications rather that stick with a common language of understanding.