Who the hell is hardcore?

I am not sure I even know what “hardcore gamer” means. Am I the mythological hardcore gamer? I keep reading the reviews/comparisons of the three consoles, and they say things that hardcore gamers care about and what they don’t.  Did I get the 360 as early as I could? Yup. Do I spend more time than the average person playing and spend more on games? You betcha.

But here is the part that I don’t get, it is my hobby right? Wouldn’t it make sense that I spend more than the average, and play game more than the average? But I swear that if they saw me they would lump me in as a hardcore gamer. Are there hardcore TV watchers? What about hardcore model train guys? Since I am hardcore, do I need a tattoo?

Most of this mild annoyance comes from the differences people attribute to the Wii vs the PS3 and Xbox 360. “Normal” people will like the Wii because TV remotes aren’t scary. Really? Did you tell my mom that? On/Off, channel up and down, volume up and down are all she cares to try out.  But wait, won’t I hate the Wii since I have a 360 and love my HD graphics. I might. But does that exclude me from normal? (Hint: I readily admit I am not normal, but hardcore is a pill that I have yet to swallow)  And why would only hardcore people care about how good a picture looks? Isn’t the big trend in gifts this year flat screen HD TVs? While most people aren’t on them yet, I think most normal people wish they had one.

And as a side note, I am interested in the Wii, mostly for the retro titles. But I can’t bring myself to get one yet. It’s just something about telling people I work with what I did last night. I work and children’s hospital and if they hear me say that I played with my Wii for a few hours last night I might get fired.

So last night I went into Co-op for a few hours in Gears, and randomly matched with some guy to help me through Act on Insane. I did better without him. Oh well. Maybe tonight. I am right at the part where the 2nd berserker jumps out at you.

I also popped in CoD3. Its not a bad game. Its not gears though. I may not be motivated enough to go through the campaign, not even on easy.  I will try out the multiplayer though, despite what I have heard about it. My wife tinkered a bit on Viva as well. I think she is already getting bored with it. Not that shocking really. She’s not hardcore enough for Viva.