360 casual EA sports titles now outselling PS3+PS2 versions combined

[BoardBonobo]

I always pictured the difference between 'hardcore','mainstream', and 'casual' as:

Hardcore = buys the best kit no matter how much it costs, and then maybe only one genre of game but plays them to death.

Mainstream = buys the most affordable kit, and dabbles in most genres of games but not too deeply.

Casual = buys low cost but usable kit, maybe plays the odd game when some friends come around or if they are bed ridden with flu.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Hardcore -> B3D, FPS, GeOW, Halo, M+K/B, 8800GTX, Bioshock

Um... Whats with everybody thinking FPS games are hardcore? The FPS genre, is after racing, the most sold genre on both the PS3, X360, Xbox and PS2. Halo is not hardcore, GeOW is not hardcore. Bioshock, neither of us have a clue about whos buying atm. Sales numbers alone tell you that FPS cannot be for the hardcore crowd only, unless you think 40% of the PS2 owners are hardcore.

Mainstream -> FFXIII, MGS3, DMC, IGN, NFS, GT4, Dead Rising, Metroid Prime, EA Sports, WOW

Metroid is mainstream? The first title sold 3millions, the second one barely reached a million and a half (GeOW sold 4million..) on a console with a 20 million userbase, yet this game is mainstream and Halo 1 & 2 (15?? million combined) is hardcore.

Casual -> Wii sports, Nintendogs, Brain Training, Uno, Solitaire, Zuma, MSN Games

But then again i'm sure many wouldn't agree with these definitions..

Your right, i completely disagree with them.

Hardcore: MMORPGs (- WoW), "uber"-realism FPS games, real racing sims like GTR 1 & 2 (no, any incarnation of GT is not a real racing sim), strategy games (both RTS\TS)

Mainstream: General FPS gaming (most sold genre after racing on the PS2. Most sold genre on the X360, most sold genre on the PS3, do not try and tell me FPS games are hardcore). RPGs, racing games, GTA style games. Sports games.

Casual: Sports games, GTA style games, racing games. Anything that gets enough advertising on TV really.

The biggest difference between the groups IMO, aren't what they play but how they play it. Casuals rarely play for very long, and very often play mostly when they have a friend over. Whereas the mainstream gamer plays longer, and often harder games, maybe even online. Hardcore players play even longer, own more games, mostly play alone, and they often strive to "best" a game.

 

[Corwin_B]

There is also the "social gamer". The kind that bought a console as a replacement for Trivial Pursuit. They don't play much alone, but the console is often used with friends and family. Games played could include Wii Sports/Play (obviously), Buzz and Singstar (both are very popular PS2 franchises in Europe), Donka Konga, Mario Party...

 

[zed]

Ain't that the truth! Perhaps B3D does need an official glossary?!

yep look at the 'Using the SPU's to do AA' thread
some ppl are saying that 'blurring is AA'

 

[fearsomepirate]

I think classifying a "hardcore gamer" purely by game type doesn't work. There are people who play Halo because it's what everybody plays ("Mainstream Gamers"), and there are people who obsessively play Halo for hours every weekend because they have to be the best ("Hardcore Gamers").

I'd beware of anyone who plays only PC games trying to make definitions. They generally go something like "Real Gamer = PC Gamer, Pretend Wannabe Gamer = Console Gamer," mainly so they can still have self-respect after being destroyed by their little brothers in Halo 2.

 

[MrFloopy]

yep look at the 'Using the SPU's to do AA' thread
some ppl are saying that 'blurring is AA'

I remember when 3dfx was talking about VSA-100, a lot of people claimed AA was just blurring

FYI a blur can count as AA for TRC purposes in some cases.

 

[Scott_Arm]

If I was going to come up with any definition of hardcore vs casual, I'd say it would be based strictly on the number of games played and the total time spent playing games. If all you do is sit around playing oldschool emulator games, and flash games on the internet, you're still a hardcore gamer. You've made gaming a huge part of your life. If you pick up the new Final Fantasy game whenever it gets released, but that's all you ever play, you're not really a hardcore gamer. You're just a Final Fantasy fan. I'm not passing judgement on either of those. I'm not an elitist and I don't frown upon or look down on people that have other things to do.

Since these are not the common ways the terms are used, I avoid them altogether. The way the hardcore gamer seems to be represented a lot of the time, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. It seems like a lot of people with an obsession so intense that they begin to miss the point- escapism and fun. All they want to do is maintain familiarity and the status quo. You know, the kind of people that get mad if they change the colour of James Bond's hair.

Back to the point, sports gamers in general can fit into either casual or hardcore, the way I see it. Sports games are not inherently hardcore or casual. So the only interest in this story is whether the 360 is becoming the standard sports platform, not whether casuals are moving to the platform.

 

[Kfyh]

I always though Madden was a categorised as a football game.

BTW if you are interested in the various subgroups of gamers, Gamespot has a good writeup of a NPD Report.

NPD basically breaks up gamers into 6 groups

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173525.html

To think that 2% of the market accounts for 65% of the titles sold in the quarter, something doesn't seem right there. 40 hours a week playing video games, that's like a full time job.

 

[Phil]

True enough, but I think if the 360 is to be a console that wins the west (NA+Europe), as it clearly cannot win the east, North American developers will be the bedrock of that. And there's no bigger NA developer than EA.

They might be "winning" in the NA, but I'm not so sure about Europe...

Also, it selling more on the Xbox360 isn't that much of an accomplishment given it (still) has a larger marketshare. With the PS3's high price, it still appeals to more hardcore gamers than it would to the casuals. Not all that many hardcore gamers really give a damn about EA games IMO (not in Europe at least).

 

[Cryect]

To think that 2% of the market accounts for 65% of the titles sold in the quarter, something doesn't seem right there. 40 hours a week playing video games, that's like a full time job.

Hmm, check your math they only account for 16% of total game sales as far as I can tell. Yes, and hardcore gamers are a little on the extreme side.

 

[jb]

Also, it selling more on the Xbox360 isn't that much of an accomplishment
given it (still) has a larger marketshare.

Yee but last year wasn't it the PS2 version that ended up selling the most copies? And the install base of PS2+PS3 >> Xbox360's so the fact that its sold more having a smaller install base is kind of interesting...

 

[Afrikan]

Yee but last year wasn't it the PS2 version that ended up selling the most copies? And the install base of PS2+PS3 >> Xbox360's so the fact that its sold more having a smaller install base is kind of interesting...

well if you watch any of the recent EA commercials and blink for a second, you might think that *this* EA game is only available for the 360.......

Microsoft is doing a Great job of Marketing this gen and an even better job of viral marketing at that..........