According to IGN we are all just kidding ourselves when we call ourselves Hardcore Gamers. I'm not sure exactly what IGN thinks a hardcore gamer is; but apparently they no longer exist.
I know lots of people who have all ready finished both Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 and they don't work in the press. I think that's pretty hardcore. I know a bunch of folks that have taken their characters in World of Warcraft from 0-70 in about 2 weeks; that's pretty hardcore as well.
I've been playing World of Warcraft, Grid, Ninja Gaiden 2, and just starting Metal Gear Solid 4. So much that I haven't had time to write this blog or my World of Warcraft blog. I think that's pretty hardcore.
The fact that Gametrailers, X-PLAY, Gamepot, IGN, and 1UP seem obsessed with
the Wii and Nintendo DS are not signs that the Hardcore Gamer is dead just that they are no longer being represented by the Gaming Press as a whole.
The fact that people play PC games and make mods for years and years after a game comes out is another sign of the Hardcore being alive and well. But there is only one PC gaming magazine on the market now to represent those people.
Rather it is Gaming Journalism in the mainstream that has decided to pull up their plots and go home. It seems that there can be 25 magazines about which dog, house, car, or kind of clothes to buy but when it comes to gaming magazine there are FAR TOO MANY. Even though gaming as a whole far outsells even the movie industry as far as yearly revenue.
So IGN should look to yourselves for the death of the Hardcore Gamer not the world of gaming. Because there are plenty of Hardcore gamers out there and most the folks playing World of Warcraft that have multiple level 70 characters should be all the evidence anyone needs of that.
