FF7 was a case of perfect marketing and timing in the gaming world. It showed off FMV's not yet known to be capable on systems, and had a storyline that appealed to both the casual RPG gamer and the hardcore obsessed that could sink their teeth into it.

But I digress. Gamecube and N64 suffered from a case of terrible media storage and advertising. The games released for those systems were crazy fun and interesting, but sadly not enough people whom could have bought them did. Part of this is because of the generation of "gamers" that grew up with these systems , whom now can spend freely (and do) on games and accessories attached to big paychecks, were once broke kids that couldn't convince their parents why a Nintendo system was worth the cash. Sony came into the race with a brand name that appealed to adults, media that was widespread (CD's and DVD's, respectfully) , and games that had the "It" factor.

I think hardcore and casual definitions do not apply to older systems. Back then people just wanted to play video games. (back then...god , I never thought I'd sound so old being born in the mid 80's). For what its worth, I think the hardcore vs casual debate started back in 2000 or so in MMO's, and the term/concept spread like wildfire.

As a current Microsoft 360 owner, I couldn't be happier that the Wii is doing as well as it is now. It's great for the market, and especially great for gaming. I remember having invested in an Xbox and PS2, I used to head over to my friends house whom had a gamecube, and pretty much every game he had was an instant classic. Anyone who played Viewtiful Joe or the original Metroid Prime were experiencing diamonds in the rough. If nintendo had only done what it did with the WIi, and make a system earlier that appealed to the mass public, we'd be talking about the GC like we do of the Wii.

Nostalgia train out

Maybe "casual" and "hardcore" weren't used to describe consoles in the N64 gen but looking back now, the N64 seems terribly "hardcore" from my perceptions. Not sure about other people though. There were just so many classics on the N64.

This.

And No not really,this gens "hardcore" was last gens "mainstream" that was accused of killing gaming.

It's a bunch of bullshit labels used an excuse to create a elitist cast system to seperate gamers.

Now correct me if I'm wrong - but there was nothing particularly "hardcore" about FF7. It was just really popular.

@khuutra
no I just meant that ff7 was a hardcore game that practically sealed Sony's dominance of the n64 era.

At the time, that isn't what "hardcore" meant, and even given that we're talking about more modern anti-"casual" propaganda, FF7 was not exceptionally "hadcore" in the library of the PS1, or even compared to Nintendo's first-party offerings of the time. FF7 refuting the idea that the PS1 was not any more hardcore than the N64 is a bit... well, it's just off.

no, i agree. I'm not saying it was any more hardcore than any other game. I'm just saying that it was a very complex, involving game which just so happened to be one of the biggest games of the entire gen.

In my personal opinion the N64 was just as good a console as the PS1 and having a disc based and cartridge based console gave gamers the best of both worlds

PS1 mastered racing and RPG

N64 mastered FPS and platformers

Both produced excellent adventure games

TheConduit

Proudly the owner of

N64 and PS1

Gamecube and PS2

Wii and PS3

Every console has something it does better

PS1 just really held it down, I don't think the n64 really compares to the likes of MGS1, FF7,8,9, Gran Turismo, Tekken, tony hawk, res evil, sf:alpha, silent hill, and like a hundred other games which made their first appearance on ps. I don't know how many games have started on n64 and GC that are as big name as those were.

Big names don't have anything to do with being hardcore in any sense that that word is used.