Top 10 Ways to Tell if a Game is Hardcore

The ten best ways to tell if a game can be considered "hardcore".

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

If the game is exclusive to PS3,its hardcore.If its on Wii or 360,its casual.

[DDP]

or xbox360

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

Hmm? Xbox 360? I never heard of it :/

[Hixon4Life]

sorry, buddy. the xbox360 is far more hardcore than the ps3. pwned.

[MGOelite]

1 word to undermine your arguement hixon.

avatars

[DevastationEve]

never heard of x360...that's okay, 29mil+ already have.

you'll be number 30,000,000 in no time ;)

[thebudgetgamer]

HOW???

ApocalyPS3
one day i would like to be that person.

:)

[DDP]

What a hilarious article. I hate when people feel the need to distinguish between hardcore and casual games. Also, the part about N4G being obsessed with Killzone 2 is right on the money.

[Sexius Maximus]

If you are a fanboy, you're not "hardcore." Passing on MANY fantastic games because of brand loyalty doesn't make sense to me anyway. But I'm neither casual nor hardcore, I just game whenever I feel the need, whatever that makes me, so be it. I do have to say though...what wrong with guns and boobies?

[Dark General]

Hahahahahaha a nice dose of satire.

[rambi80]

Opinions of an anonymous author aren't worth anything.
Maybe the author should grow a pair

[Smacktard]

OH GOD

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE

It's beautiful. And oh-so-true.

[RKRigney]

It's nice to see that the N4G guys are willing to admit that it is true ;D Good article, OW.

[vickers500]

Old Wizard's top 5 requirements for a good game.

1. Must have been made 10+ years ago
2. Has to be from Nintendo
3. Must be 2 dimensional
4. Cannot be mature
5. Has to include a plumber

This guy just thinks he is superior to everyone else because the only games he plays are from the 90's or earlier. Rejecting anything new and limiting yourself to old games does not make you cool, nor does it make you a "real" gamer, Old Wizard. And thinking that you are superior because of that, simply makes you a douchebag.

(though you are correct about n4g and killzone 2)

[Morbius420]

It seems n4g is more obsessed with Halo than KillZone.

[rockleex]

Depending on how much depth there is to the game. How hard the learning curve is. Etc.

Casual games are like Pong or Wii Sports, not much depth there.

"Casual games" and "casual gamers" have existed before the Wii even began development. Yet some people seem to think its all a conspiracy to attack the Wii.

No. The truth is that the Wii just has a lot more casual games and casual gamers.

[LJWooly]

Actually Morbius, it would seem the 360-owning population of this site is obsessed with Halo... so needless to say, we don't see much Halo obsession here.

[Son of Odin]

i hate when people say the wii has no hardcore games. there are plenty of hardcore wii games. just look at super smash brothers.

[gersh]

Are you guys joking when you say Super Smash Bros is hardcore?

[Son of Odin]

hardcore gamers are pretty much all losers.

[Fishy Fingers]

And posting comments on a gaming website is the epitome of cool yes?

Casual, hardcore... its rubbish. You either play games or not. If I put 10 hours a day in Wii sports what am I casual or hardcore? Or perhaps I play COD4 a few hours a week?

Surely its more to do with your interest level (time spent) in games rather than your genre/platform of choice.

[Volvobug]

any game on the wii is not hardcore.

[Hixon4Life]

you fail.

[eat_shorts]

VolvoBug u fail, trying playing Super Smash Bros Brawl with friends its better than most "hardcore" games.

[Insanium]

OBJECTION!

Hardcore gamers have no friends.

[kesvalk]

^ you have a point there...

but really, the hardcore/casual thing, is just stupid...

[MountainMaverick]

not this debate again.

[MountainMaverick]

one thing i agree with 100% with the article on is n4g taking killzone 2 way too far.

[Shane Kim]

Well you should try the game first and see how awesome it is instead of blindly agreeing with an atricle.

[Swedenborg]

this article is full of fail.

[raztad]

yes and no. Yes cause clearly they are trying to exaggerate their points to make them funny, and no because some people, actually, could be relating hardcore to games like Gears or KZ2.

The most hardcore games are RPGs. Simple as that. You need to be consistent, to spend lot of hours of your social life leveling up your character and going on through the story. Hardcore should be understood as seriously dedicated to finish a game not matter the long, not matter the challenge.

Hardcore shouldnt be translated as mature. Any DS powered kid :) could obviously be more hardcore than me, because I need to work , need to enjoy my social life, girlfriend, etc etc, but then I spend my little to none free time in MATURE games, some with dark theme as KZ2, some with mature narrative as Heavenly Sword, GTA, Folklore and sometimes, to refresh things a bit and get some pure fun Ratchet&Clank and Burn Zombie Burn. Now that I think about it, Im not hardcore but either casual, like me surely most mature players fall in some middle ground between those two.

[Trevorthenerd]

no it speaks the truth

[PrimordialSoupBase]

This article is retarded. Killzone 2 is the best game ever made. Period. This is FAIL.

FAIL

FAIL

FAIL

[The_Zeitgeist]

Killzone 2 is a great game...Awesome even. Best ever? NO WAY DUDE!
Here are 3 games better.

Bioshock
Fallout
Doom 3

[PrimordialSoupBase]

This article fails in so many ways.

[Kriller]

How is the PS3 more hardcore than the wii?

[JDPGamer2002]

funny stuff

[Stoneroses6300]

Old-Wizard has once again proven why they are the best cynics on the entire internet. This is a hilarious jab at all the terrible games that come out year after year. I love these guys! Anyone who writes fail isn't intelligent enough to get the sarcasm.

[cranium]

If it's sarcasm, it's hilarious. But if it isn't, it is pathetic.
It seems to be sarcastic from my point of view..

[cliffbo]

number 1 should be: you own a PS3

[Nineball2112]

LOL...

Funny, funny stuff. Snark at it's best!

[Jinxstar]

I still feel that ninja Gaiden Sigma was one of the most hardcore games ever made. Wolverine Adamantium Rage was Hard core as hell... Earthworm jim 1... Plenty of games not FPS or TPS that are Hardcore out there...

[onijutsu]

to all the people who are agiung about what is hardcore and what isn't.

That is not the point of the article, its about the perception of what is hardcore from the perspective of the average air-headed gamer.

[typikal82]

I thought they were talking about Gears of War lol

[grantps3]

seriously, wii is casual. 90% of wii games are basicly 40 dollar mini games.

that article is stupid.

and killzone 2 deserves the credit that it is given

[TheBand1t]

Battle Toads is pretty hardcore.

[bigjclassic]

Since someone needs to anyways. None of those make a harcore game, and sadly those types of gamers are the majority of the HD console owners.

[MurderFace]

this is a really bad article

[AIRB0RNE GRUNT]

all he did was mention killzone 2 at the end and people start calling the article fail. he never even offered an opinion on kz2.

[SeraphimBlade]

because God knows they can't write real ones, hi-yo!
also, rather unimaginative. But I am enjoying seeing people's comments proving their point!

[Omega4]

No. 1 is deep

Thought they were talking about Halo till I got to No. 3

[ChickeyCantor]

As a gamer i will decide wether something is hardcore or not,
thank you.

[bardler]

That was really funny. Good job.

[tiamat5]

I don't get it. Battle Toads,Bionic Commando, Mario 3, Mega Man and the Ninja Turtle Games and were none of these things. Does that make them any less hardcore then they were? The problem with game publishers is that they have forgotten how to make games in-between, especially Nintendo. It's either ponies, flowers and rainbows or blood, swearing and gore.They figure that lots of gore, swearing and nudity makes them hardcore. It doesn't. I makes them look childish.It's like a kid finding his parents' adult DVDs watching them and repeating every thing he hears without even understanding what half the things he says means

[ChickeyCantor]

Have a bubble.

[TheBand1t]

Battle Toads was definitely the hardcore of the hardcore, to be sure. :) IMO

[Timesplitter14]

You don't know the meaning of hardcore until you've seen this

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[JDPGamer2002]

killzone 2 is the best game ever!

[TheBand1t]

You guys do realize this is satire, right?

[goflyakite]

I'll I saw was a pretty bad attempt at comedy.

[Samus2080]

lighten man

[JDPGamer2002]

great great article.

[BigSwede]

If they made games in Swedish...then they'd be hardcore.

[ClSmooth]

Why would n4g allow a article that makes fun of it to be posted here?

[itani]

Hardcore gamers have completed Killzone 2 on Elite lol.

[patterson]

Bravo to the author of this article.
I agree 100%

This gen has sucked with all the damn shooters and their crappy fans.
"Hardcore" haha pttthptt! I spit on you.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want the genre to go away because there's a place for it, but damn let's get some variety!

[Timesplitter14]

"10. Has to be either a first person shooter, or third person shooter"

I RAGED HARDER THAN THE FIST OF THE NORTH STAR

and then I realised it was just a joke. Thank goodness. Great article, full of truth and win.

[OldWizard]

epic

[OldWizard]

nice

[PS360PCROCKS]

If it was meant to be funny I don't get it? lol...Oh well I'm not fat in the slightest, I work out, I have no acne and I like this site most of the time so whatever guess my few hours a week playing games after work makes me hardcore. lol

[kaveti6616]

Every few days I see posts by evidently delusional people who somehow think that articles written by gamers about video games need to have some kind of journalistic quality. WTF? HAHAHAHAH. Are you guys kidding? Most articles on N4G are, and you guys should all learn to accept this, going to be biased and opinionated. The author of said article will probably prefer one console over another and will probably be offering his opinion about a particular game, console, or company. He or she may want to sound objective in the article but it will seem clear to many that the article is obviously not a scientific case study.

Posters need to realize this already because they seem disillusioned every time they see a flame bait article approved on N4G. Obviously, it's going to get approved because this site was not designed to be objective. And so what if the article offends a "certain group" of people. I'm tired of hearing these backlashes against others for making generalizations. Stop getting so easily offended you chumps. It's supposed to make you laugh, not cry out in shame. And for the most part, I think the author is right.

Even though not all people who play such games as Killzone 2 or Halo 3 are destined for loneliness and excessive amounts of acne, the article is a good way of advising people to not take games so seriously or else they might forget that they have real lives to attend to. And it also reaffirms my point that people who are fanboys, who play only certain games simply out of brand loyalty or fear of persecution, are not TRUE gamers. A true gamer appreciates all forms of games even if he doesn't like them. I prefer to play games with blood in them but I still love games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Rayman and Zelda and Little Big Planet. As long as the game is fun it doesn't need to have violence. Gore and strong language are a poor substitute for the lack of good gameplay in shooter games.

[peeps]

I can tell it's not a serious article etc but my thoughts.

Basically for me, a hardcore game is a game that has a good learning curve, a game thats hard at first but over time you get better at it and there is always room for improvement. It's just always a lot more fun and it also increases the gap between players so you can really tell who is good. Take a game like Call of Duty 4, the game is great, but the learning curve isn't all that good. it seems that anyone can go online and be good, but then every so often you will find a really stand out player.

Then if you look at a game like UT or QUAKE, you play them online and instantly you can get a good idea of the skill levels of each player in the room. I'm kinda rambling but hope that makes sense. I want games with learning curves! but it seems developers realise that there are more 'casual' gamers out there and so their games need to be accessible to all, usually meaning there isn't much of a learning curve.

[McLuvn]

pixel junk is more hardcore than K2

[mmike855]

Very entertaining article. Except for the Killzone 2 slander, notable especially if you have had time to play the game and experience the mechanics, which are, relative to the genre, unique (motion controlled sniper, interesting classes, badges, ribbons, Lightning gun!