Seriously.  When I have kids, they're gonna have to play a couple games in each generation in chronological order, so they can really respect what the actual big leaps in gameplay were and are.

The game is a casual game. However, it is one of those games that is so solid of a game that both casual mass and the smaller core gamers play. GTA is no different than Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, or The Sims. It is a casual game that attracts both sides of the coin, kinda a bridge game if you will.

It is not something that is a bad thing as I think you seem to think it is.

I don't have the same thought into what a casual and hardcore game is. To me, a hardcore game is one that is difficult basically to the point of pulling out your hair and screaming in agony. Games like Ikaruga, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Contra 4, Super Monkey Ball, Guitar Hero, Guilty Gear and Ninja Gaiden fit this bill.

A casual game is just easier to play through. I have no restrictions past that. If I don't need to completely concentrate my energies and basically memorize enemy positions and practice for weeks to get even remotely good at the game then it's casual.

Gaming was on the whole much more hardcore back in the day, as most games hold your hand and pat you on the back the entire experience nowadays, instead of the pimp slap games like Super Mario: The Lost Levels, Ghosts N Goblins, TMNT, Castlevania, Mega Man and many others gave you in the old days. In many games, your reward for not fucking up once was your ability to simply continue on. It was required for you to become good. Now imagine something like Bioshock nowadays instead of placing you in a Vita Chamber everytime you die simply gave you 5 lives and 3 continues, with the wonderfully hard position of having to start completely over if you can't beat it. That's what hardcore is.

Most games are casual... Mario, Zelda, Wii Sports, GTA, Gran Turismo, Halo, Call of Duty, Madden, Guitar Hero, Final Fantasy, etc. All of these games and basically most other games that have any signifficant amount of sales have a primary audience of "casual" gamers. Casual gamers being people who know very little about games past what they see on TV.

Believe it or not, 90% of gamers are casual on all platforms. 60% of PS3 owners don't even know their console has blu-ray. Do you really think these people are "hardcore" or even "core" gamers. Hell no. They are people who went "Oh cool, that thing plays Madden and GTA give me one of them!"

Gamers are casual. This is an industry populated by people who treat it as a casual hobby. People who walk into a Gamestop and buy something because it looks fun, or because it had some totally awesome commercial on TV a week ago. This is the majority of GTA players, the majority of Mario players, the majority of every single popular game in existence. The majority of gamers on all platforms know little to nothing about video games. The people who bought GTA in the first day may not be by majority casual, but the other 8 million people who are going to buy the game over the next 2 years sure will be mostly casual.

This is our industry folks. Reviews don't matter. Your opinions don't matter. Crying on a forum about one system being casual, gimped, kiddy, etc. doesn't matter. What determines sales and popularity of 95% of big games is nothing but hype, commercials, and and the popularity of the console the game is on.

Deal with it.