Whenever I see a Nintendo fan tell us HD gamers that hardcore gaming is going the way of the dodo, we should all quit or jump off a cliff, I take a look at their gaming collection and, suprise suprise, it's fall of hardcore games. This has happened every time. Never has a rea casual gamer told me that hardcore gaming should die. It's a selfish thing to do really, casual gamers couldn't care less what we play.

So, why are hardcore gamers telling hardcore gamers that we are dieing out? Surely not, right? Ask a Nintendo fan what his top 5 games he/she has ever played and they will reply with some combination of Zelda/Mario - hardcore franchises. You see, this is all getting a bit too much for me to understand at this point.

 Now, I've played a few casual games on my Wii. Wii Sports and Play are a blast for about 10 minutes. They're great for short bursts of gameplay. So why aren't these games on Nintendo fans best ever games lists? Because they're not. Far from it. They have no depth, no point beyond a few minutes of fun with your friends and family. This is what casual gaming is and no matter how many times Nintendo fans may pretend they want it, deep down they don't.

There are far more casual gamers with a Wii than hardcore gamers. Nintendo doesn't have or want to cater for you specifically any more. The new Zelda will not be anything like OOT, WW or TP. For better or worse, Nintendo will stop aiming any of their games at hardcore players.

So, ask yourself this Nintendo fans, how much did you enjoy Wii Music? Did you enjoy it enough for Zelda and EVERY other Nintendo franchise you love to be on the same intellectual level? Because this is what you're all claiming. I suggest you think about it.

Or maybe some people don't care to put extra labels. Maybe some people are just happy with the term gamer.

Show me one iota of evidence that Nintendo fans are calling for an end to "hardcore gaming" (which by your def includes Mario and Zelda).

There are fans, and then there are fanatics. No reasonable gamer would want to limit their options or the enjoyment of others by wishing a game genre/group dead.

The enthusiast consumer may not be the only child of the family anymore (if only because of sheer numbers), but it's never going to be ignored, eliminated or forgotten. Anyone should be able to see that by looking at stuff like comic books, movies etc.

No-one is seriously asking for this to happen (and it won't); it's just said by those who think that the sky is falling.

Hardcore gamers are telling themselves that. We're just laughing at them.

As for Wii Music, yes, it's more intellectually stimulating than Zelda, Gears of War, or any other game that has won "GoTY".  That's why you'll find it in schools as a teaching aid, whereas you won't find Killzone.

Thanks for letting me know what I'm claiming.

Do you feel big for knocking over that huge straw man you just made?

There is no such thing as "Hardcore" or "Casual" games there are only insecure people who try to use videogames to define who they are.

Maybe because 'hardcore' is a terrible word. They are not trying to 'dumb down the experience' at all. All that Nintendo is trying to do is make gaming accessible to a wider audience. You yourself said that Nintendo fans' favourite games tend to be the Marios, Zeldas, Metroids, Smash Bros.', etc.

All that Nintendo is doing is placing a lower barrier to entry in these games. Take Metroid, for instance. The concept of aiming a gun by pushing a stick in an arbitrary direction is understandably foreign and confusing to people who, until this point, haven't played many games. However, everyone understands pointing and shooting. That game received high scores from both core gamers and people who don't game much but are getting into it.

Zelda and Wii Sports Resort--swing the Wii remote like a sword, have the character swipe with their sword accordingly.

Mario Galaxy--spin the Wii-mote to have Mario do a spinning attack

Smash Bros--press a direction and a button to do an attack in that direction.

None of these games are considered 'casual' by anyone (except maybe Sports), and yet the casual gamer can easily pick them up in a couple of minutes and have a good time.

There's a difference between a 'casual' game (also a terrible term), like the fantastic Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids, and a badly made game like Wii Music. However, musicians that I've spoken to say that Wii Music is a much better music tool than say, Rock Band.

Really, it's some of the idiotic third party developers who think 'casual=stupid'.