Nintendo and the Decline of Hardcore Gaming

angry tapir writes "Chris Jager from GoodGearGuide argues that the rise of casual gaming means near-certain death for hardcore gaming. The sales of casual 'party-friendly' games are massively outstripping the sales of classic hardcore games, and the makers of other consoles are taking note of Nintendo's success in attracting non-traditional gamers to the Wii and DS. There is evidence that Sony and Microsoft are both trying to tap into the casual market, and it's only a matter of time before hardcore gaming goes the way of the Nintendo PowerGlove." Of course, the trend toward casual doesn't just involve Nintendo — World of Warcraft's success (and the huge effect it's had on the MMO genre) is often credited to its focus on casual gamers. While it's not unreasonable for game studios to want all players to see all of the game's content, perhaps there's a better way of catering to the more hardcore players than tacking on difficulty modes and "do it the hard way" achievements.

Where there's a will...

[cjfs]

... there's a way.

I'll switch to min-maxing Slashdot if it comes to it.

Ah! Troll mod! Rerolling...

VG Cats

[jevring]

This very issue was addressed on VG cats in the last strip [vgcats.com]

Re:Wait, what?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like someone got himself pwnd in pvp...

Casual is the new hardcore

[meist3r]

What we once dubbed a "hardcore" gamer was someone that played all kinds of games for hours and hours on end while everyone else was doing "real" things (as these fools called them). Nowadays everyone's a gamer. It's casual to have two or three consoles and play a couple of hours every week. That is what the hardcore used to do, they were only hardcore because everything was vastly more expensive and skill was involved. There are still hardcore gamers but they're outdone by the mass of casual players that live up to the level of former hardcore. I think we should think of new distinctions. I, for one, call the people that play only Wii Fit and Samba de Amigo TWATS for example.

Re:Wait, what?!

[SL Baur]

Sorry, but if you're writing an article claiming that casual gaming is ousting hardcore titles, you don't pick the world's most notorious timesink as supporting evidence.

I've played World of Warcraft every day for over the past two and a half years and there is NO WAY I am addicted. Nope. No chance at all.

(Oops, gotta run, guild raid on Ulduar coming up in 10 minutes)

Re:And what exactly IS hardcore?

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever you say, noob.

Re:And what exactly IS hardcore?

[Gleng]

I agree. I own a PS3 and a Wii (alongside many other consoles, from the Atari 2600 upwards), and I seriously think that Mario Kart Wii is one of the most temple-throbbingly diabolic games that's ever existed. It's worse than NetHack for actively wanting you to fail.

It's referred to as Sweario Kart in our household, and I recently discovered that the Wii Wheel is rather more aerodynamic than you'd think after I was blue shelled on the finish line during an online race.

I'm not allowed to play it when my wife's at home anymore. :(

Re:Does not follow.

[Anonymous Coward]

a ball of human flesh expanding at the speed of light

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!

Re:Wait, what?!

[Opportunist]

2 and a half years?

NOOB!

Re:WoW is NOT casual gamer friendly!

[Anonymous Coward]

the game actually complains when you miss a day

Yeah, but not if you never go back. I missed a day, and I didn't feel like being complained at, so I missed another day, and now it's months later and it'd just be awkward.

I think it's probably got the hint by now. Sorry Wii Fit, it's over.

Re:Where there's a will...

[Anonymous Coward]

I find the limiting factor in how hardcore a player I can be is by how sore my ass gets from sitting and playing. This works out to about 3 hours. WOW is literally a pain in the ass.

Re:Where there's a will...

[edittard]

Most people think an apostrophe means "look out, here comes an S". You seem to to think it means "oops, you just missed one".