Gamers and posers.

There are a lot of us who describe ourselves as a hardcore gamer. We use this term to set ourselves apart from everyone else, who I can only assume are labeled by us as softcore gamers. Maybe not, but many of us look down on people who are not self proclaimed hardcore gamers or that we think of as posers. But many of those who claim to be hardcore are, in fact, not.

I actually hate this term "hardcore gamer".



Am I a "core" gamer? Yes. Nintendo can count on me to buy the newest Poke'mon, Mario, and Zelda games. Microsoft can assume I'll be looking into the next Halo and Gears of War. Burnout Paradise made me a regular customer of EA, assuming they ever release another Burnout. Sega can rest assured that I will buy the next episode of Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

However, there's a lot about me that make many people scoff at my gamer status. When it came down to deciding between Call of Duty: Black Ops and Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirby won. Actually, it didn't come down to those two games as I was never considering even playing Black Ops. I'm very happy with that decision. In fact, I stopped paying attention to what Activision is doing over a year ago. I was looking forward to Modern Warfare 2 as much as I'm looking forward to contracting a bad case of HIV. I like Brain Age. Mario Kart 64 is my favorite racer. Metroid Prime is my favorite FPS. Even the fact that I'm looking forward to Skyward Sword and catching them all (again) is enough to make many who claim to be the hardcore giggle.

I'm here to tell you that my Puzzle Questing, Pac-Man buying, 1 vs 100 missing, Mario Party 7 loving wife fits the title of core gamer better than most people describing themselves as hardcore.

Every CoD game has been a solid experience. Every CoD is also the same game as it's predecessor with graphics overhaul. Every God of War is excellent (I'm told).  Every God of War (I'm told) is also much of the same button mashing that you've already seen. Even games that I enjoy very much do little with each subsequent release to do anything other than more of the same thing, such as Halo.

Kirby's Epic Yarn is a solid, innovative game. No, you cannot die. That doesn't make it any less challenging. I've owned the game for a few months now and still have not completed it. Its theme is childish. It is a solid, challenging platformer.

Super Mario Galaxy and it's sequel are two of the best games released this console generation, if not the best two. It has plenty of colorful scenery; it has odd looking characters; it has silly noises and costumes. That doesn't make it any less a truly great, innovative, and challenging game.

World of Goo is... it's... well... just go play it. If you let the silliness of that genius game get in the way of you being immediately addicted, then you need to seriously question whether or not you fulfill the title of hardcore gamer.

If you don't like a game because you don't like a game, that's fine. I don't like Call of Duty. That doesn't make them any less of great games. I don't care much for Little Big Planet, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize it as the amazing game that it is. I don't like Madden, but that... well, okay that's a bad example. But not liking something because you've written it off as being "casual" or not hardcore doesn't make you hardcore. It makes you ignorant and stupid.

Let's get away from these labels that do little to progress gaming as a culture. All games have their place in the gaming world. Except Superman 64. What was up with that hot mess?