Daily Archives: June 10, 2011
Hardcore Gamers A Major Misconception
This argument of hardcore versus casual has gone on long enough! As someone that has been actively involved in video gaming for 21 years I'm calling BS.
The hardcore gamer is a relatively new term. However too often the term is a misnomer. We had the term gamer back in the day. It was the people that were gaming nuts. The guys/gals that bought way too many games and emerged themselves in gamer culture. The harder the game the better. Games didn't hold your hand back in the day. No sirre. There was none of this auto save crutch. Hell game saves didn't exist at one time in the gaming world…..
Originally games were seen as being something only for kids. Everyone had a Nintendo and all videogames were simply referred to as Nintendo games.
Ah the glory days of having to slap and blow on a cartridge to make it work. Now a days we know that's a bad idea, but back then, we just knew it worked. Around this time is when the dreaded puzzle games 1st appeared. A little Tetris now and then is cool, but generally speaking puzzle games are not my bag. Now we had an extremely small user base that would buy one copy of Tetris and be perfectly content with their NES or GB. Not me and many others. We craved new worlds to explore, new enemies to defeat and fresh challenges. At this time the misnomer hardcore still had not made it's mark on the gamer lexicon.
Take a magic mind trip forward and we are standing outside with a crowd eagerly awaiting the ungodly over hyped Wii. Now let's get something straight. Shovel ware has existed for over three decades now!!!
The comedic value in this picture is the truth it holds. Atari had so over saturated the market with crummy games the industry imploded and was breathing it's last breath. Nintendo introduced a seal of approval and video games were saved!!! Or were they. With the immense popularity of the NES came tons of flat out bad games. Licensed cash ins, rushed buggy unplayable turds like TMNT. Hmm so the industry was not so different back in the day….
Now we have some people so wrapped up in calling everyone and everything casual or hardcore. Essentially both titles are misnomers. For example that guy/gal that only buys GH, RB or COD and only once a year is what I would consider a casual gamer. Someone that plays for 15 minutes, that prefers Facebook, and puzzle games I'll give ya casual on that. However don't even attempt to label us true OG Nintendo fans as casual. Actually I like truly "hardcore" games. Give me explicit difficult titles all day. I'm down for some Ninja Gaiden start to finish. I'm not going to play only COD or any other single series for that matter.
For some odd reasons we have people that are missing out on great gameplay experiences simply because they label everything and don't give anything a chance. My favorite is the people that think Wii is simply and only a childrens console. I challenge you to make it all the way through Donkey Kong Country Returns. That game makes Ninja Gaiden look like a walk in a park. However people don't know this because they refuse to even acknowledge the game due to their own self inflicted tunnel vision.
It's a shame but those people with this odd video game prejudice are the only ones missing out. I'm happy the VG industry went mainstream. I'm not happy that the sheople mindset has set in and we actually have fanboy factions creating walls and dividing people and gameplay experiences. Mostly from personal bias, sometimes from flat out blind hate.
Since Nintendo created a casual buzz and helped cement these unnecessary lines I blame them. In addition I blame Matt Casamassina and Mark Bozon of IGN fame. Both over used the word "hardcore" to the point of not being able to put out a single article without including it. Ironic considering Matt went on to work for Apple, and let's be honest folks. It doesn't get anymore casual than cut the rope, doodle jump, and angry birds.
I'm going to step down off my soap box now. Think about what we discussed. If you got beef or agree feel free to e-mail us at staff@guerillatron.com
