If Hardcore Gaming = Spiderman 3, count me casual haha

So all I have to do is spend $600 and I am hardcore? So easy. I will get my 6 year old niece one too so she can be hardcore.

If you're rich, you're hardcore.

Well, it's all an illusion. You ask 10 different people, you'll get 10 different answers on the definition of a hardcore/casual gamer. That being said, yes, there are some buying differences. Movie liscence games exist because of casual gamers. Certain series exist because of hardcore gamers, like Harvest Moon. The most successful games sell to both. Examples include Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, and Mario. And, to answer your question, yes, I believe hardcore gamers are the first to jump aboard the next gen and sell the first couple million consoles each gen.

I've broken well over ten controllers in my life through various fits of rage. I broke four on the PS1 alone.

I don't know what constitutes hardcore or softcore, but I do know that I never spend on anything that isn't games-related. I don't buy clothes, because I figure that money would be better spent on something related to games. Hence, my father used to buy clothes for me when I was a teenager, and my wife buys clothes for me these days, both for the same reason: They can't stand seeing me look like a bum.

I don't have nearly the time I'd like to play games now (job and family come first) but whatever little time I can spare tends to go towards gaming. I guess that's being pretty passionate about games.

Therefore, I think hardcore gamers will spend more per capita, but there are many more softcore gamers out there who combined spend more than the minority of hardcore gamers as a whole. 

I would consider myself a hardcore gamer, but not necessarily by the total time I spend playing games each week. Everyday that I work I usually play for about 2-3 hrs, but on at least one of my days off it can be up to 12 hrs or more.

As for your question or reference about game ownership, I generally never own more than 3-4 new games at a time(released within the last 6 mos) this doesn't include classics on my NES or N64, etc, or new favorites like FFXII, that I'll keep to play again, because I usually only play one game at a time. I also trade in games that do not have replay value, IMO, like FEAR, pretty quickly so that I can get the most back for them.

 But I won't go out and buy just any game, I am much more concerned over quality and not novelty, and with this generation it is getting more important than ever with the rising prices of gaming and other entertainment.

PS. I haven't pirated any games since I was a broke-ass teenager and couldn't afford even shareware or the PC that I "creatively aquired" parts to put together ;)

From my experience its the other way around. Hardcore guys WANT the hard copy because they are hardcore after all. The ones who pirate are usually average joes who dont really care about gaming that much to justify paying for them. Pirates also usually fall under the category of poor (thus nothing would have sold to them anyway) and young high school - college kids who again wouldnt have money to pay for the games anyway. Pirating is not as big of a deal as companies and security folks want you to believe. If 99% of the pirates couldnt pirate, they still wouldnt buy the game becuase they cannot afford to plus many games became huge because of pirating. Blizzard is a prime example. If WCII/SC weren't pirated like bunnies in heat, they would be a no-name 3rd party company today. Same can be said of some musicians. Metallica is the prime example there. If people didnt record and distribute their work early in their career, they would have never gotten anywhere which is why so many hardcore fans were pissed when metalica sided with the RIAA a few years back. Fun times.

Hardcore gamers usually buy less games because they are more selective (and take advantage of sales and such) thus most of the money is with the average joe who tends to buy on impulse. Impulse is what sells games like "Spiderman 3" and look how many those sold...

 madden, need for speed, godfather.

 pretty decent games, not great but one can live with them. 

You ain't hardcore. You ain't got nuttin' on me!

My PC which I only use for games cost me $2100 - looks like you are $1500 less hardcore than I am. You're not even one-third as hardcore as I am!