I don't like categorizing people or tagging them "casual", "hardcore" in general, yet if I had to give a definition about "hardcore", it would have nothing to do with the popular choices.
- People gaming for ages Many people have been playing Tetris for ages, my dad plays Age of Empires 2 for exactly 11 years, nothing else
- People who play mature games Many gamers only play CoD or PES, weekends only, and own nothing else on their system of choice
- People who buy lots of games A friend of mine owns just a DS and ~50 (puzzle and casual) games and his favorite game is Bratz
- People who blame Wii Fit or live in Australia The Ghost of RubangB and Rolstoppable are among the most "hardcore" people I know
- People who hate the Wii, the waggle and the millions of casuals they brought to their turf No, the word you're looking for is "gaming press"
So what do I, really think, stands as "hardcore"? Pretty simple, my friends; the people that have purchased this underappriciated gem and played through it. Instead, most of the so called "hardcore" line up for their preordered copy of MW2 for another fragfest...
Buy this game, and endure through it. You'll die. A lot. But you'll learn from it and become a better player. Just like the games of old. It's been a while since I played a game I couldn't put down for more than 8 hours. MW2 is for wusses 
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