Sony: We've Captured The Hardcore

[Doug]

That statement proves you aren't a gamer. You're a Sony fanboy brown noser prick. "You don't like what I like, THEREFORE YOU ARE NOT REAL" is from the big book of fundamentalist sayings.

Have you ever played a Team Ico game?
Clearly after making that comment you haven't & just want to jump on the "let's insult to make up for a lack of argument" bandwagon.

I played - and loved - both ICO and SotC.

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

Thanks. I'm glad there are some sane people on this thread still.

 

[GloatingSwine]

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

 

[John Funk]

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

Precisely. If you limit the definition of "hardcore" to "People who play Team Ico games" (Team Ico being a Sony developer) then you make Sony's claim of "We have the hardcore" true almost by default. That's like saying "hardcore gamers have a PS3."

Whereas there are many, many types of hardcore gamers. PC gamers: within those, FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, MMO players - Hey, you aren't a hardcore gamer until you've experienced the thrill of downing a 25+ man raid boss. You've got your fighting gamers (you wanna tell JWong and Daigo they're not hardcore, now?), you've got your people who love Western games, Adventure games, whatever.

There are simply so many different and varied types of games - and types of gamers - to make such a simple blanket statement like "You aren't a hardcore gamer if you aren't looking forward to Team Ico's third game." It's blind and stinks of myopic devotion to the brand in question.

 

[Doug]

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

Precisely. If you limit the definition of "hardcore" to "People who play Team Ico games" (Team Ico being a Sony developer) then you make Sony's claim of "We have the hardcore" true almost by default. That's like saying "hardcore gamers have a PS3."

Whereas there are many, many types of hardcore gamers. PC gamers: within those, FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, MMO players - Hey, you aren't a hardcore gamer until you've experienced the thrill of downing a 25+ man raid boss. You've got your fighting gamers (you wanna tell JWong and Daigo they're not hardcore, now?), you've got your people who love Western games, Adventure games, whatever.

There are simply so many different and varied types of games - and types of gamers - to make such a simple blanket statement like "You aren't a hardcore gamer if you aren't looking forward to Team Ico's third game." It's blind and stinks of myopic devotion to the brand in question.

Thanks - you've managed to sum up my point of view on Mazty's and Indigo's statements better than I could. Its fanboy myopia to the Nth degree.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Speaking as a "Hardcore" gamer AND a PS3 owner...

No Sony... you haven't "Captured the hardcore" we're just the only people who buy your console.

 

[Doug]

Sony: "Yes, we got you, you little dollar sign shaped bastards."

LOL, reminds me of the pictures of the Wii printing money

 

[John Funk]

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

Precisely. If you limit the definition of "hardcore" to "People who play Team Ico games" (Team Ico being a Sony developer) then you make Sony's claim of "We have the hardcore" true almost by default. That's like saying "hardcore gamers have a PS3."

Whereas there are many, many types of hardcore gamers. PC gamers: within those, FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, MMO players - Hey, you aren't a hardcore gamer until you've experienced the thrill of downing a 25+ man raid boss. You've got your fighting gamers (you wanna tell JWong and Daigo they're not hardcore, now?), you've got your people who love Western games, Adventure games, whatever.

There are simply so many different and varied types of games - and types of gamers - to make such a simple blanket statement like "You aren't a hardcore gamer if you aren't looking forward to Team Ico's third game." It's blind and stinks of myopic devotion to the brand in question.

Thanks - you've managed to sum up my point of view on Mazty's and Indigo's statements better than I could. Its fanboy myopia to the Nth degree.

Anytime.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Trico, and I'll definitely get it when it comes out.

But if a magic genie gave me a choice between Trico and Diablo III - which of them I wanted to have in my hands to play right at this moment?

Dude, not even a contest

 

[spyrewolf]

Actually, they get it, you don't. The have captured all of us, and you can't escape it. Two words, dude - Team Ico. You cannot not play their next game and still be considered hardcore, you simply cannot do it. Of course, the Pub Fund thing isn't likely to hurt.

As for the casual gamers, all these things have a rudimentary balance issue. A casual gamer is looking at the benefit they get from an object with a single function - see the success of the Iphone. So, they need something so unbelievably cute that it actively forces people to buy the Ps3.

I agree with your second point about casual gamers, but I don't understand the first point. How does playing a game affect your "hardcore" status? It's almost as if you're suggesting that certain actions (for example playing Nintendogs) can speak for a lack of hardcore-ness, but wouldn't playing such games mean you are only that much more hardcore because you want to give EVERYTHING a shot?

No, I'm saying it is a staple of the lifestyle in itself. Like, you can't be a film afficianado and snob without seeing Gone with the Wind.

you mean team ico hasn't put guns in their game so if you play it you are teh ghey.....

Team Ico have made some of the game industry most renowned games, Shadow of the colossus is a hardcore game, because try explain to you mum or girlfriend thats right, press l1 to lock on to the colussus, then circle to see where the weak point, whilst you are locking on with l1 and circle pressed move the left analog stick to home in on the weakpoint on the colossus..... their brains will explode. just because a game has artistic merits doesn't make it any less hardcore, plus it has time attack modes as well... i totally disagree with you on Sotc points.

as for sony and its casual audience, ps2 had a ton of casual games, but i dunno if they are gonna be able to get that market back from nintendo this generation. they should still release their casual games, but don't try dominate it it just wont work. nintendo has blasted that market into orbit

 

[irishdelinquent]

*growl*

God dammit, this stupid "hardcore" nonsense again! How about we all just play bloody video games, enjoy them, and forget the stupid labels?! If I like to play Wii Sports and Gears 2, am I not a "hardcore" gamer? If I've been playing games for almost 16 bloody years, does that not make me a "hardcore" gamer, regardless of what games I play?! Some of the greatest moments I had with my Gamecube were not while playing Melee, or Wind Waker, or even Metroid Prime; it was while playing the Simpsons Hit and Run.

Oh, and Sony? Bite me. Haven't you learned not to be so pretentious yet? When you make claims like "capturing the Hardcore audience", you stick your foot further in your mouth.

 

[Doug]

Spoiler: Spoilered to reduce length

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

Precisely. If you limit the definition of "hardcore" to "People who play Team Ico games" (Team Ico being a Sony developer) then you make Sony's claim of "We have the hardcore" true almost by default. That's like saying "hardcore gamers have a PS3."

Whereas there are many, many types of hardcore gamers. PC gamers: within those, FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, MMO players - Hey, you aren't a hardcore gamer until you've experienced the thrill of downing a 25+ man raid boss. You've got your fighting gamers (you wanna tell JWong and Daigo they're not hardcore, now?), you've got your people who love Western games, Adventure games, whatever.

There are simply so many different and varied types of games - and types of gamers - to make such a simple blanket statement like "You aren't a hardcore gamer if you aren't looking forward to Team Ico's third game." It's blind and stinks of myopic devotion to the brand in question.

Thanks - you've managed to sum up my point of view on Mazty's and Indigo's statements better than I could. Its fanboy myopia to the Nth degree.

Anytime.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Trico, and I'll definitely get it when it comes out.

But if a magic genie gave me a choice between Trico and Diablo III - which of them I wanted to have in my hands to play right at this moment?

Dude, not even a contest

Heheh, yeah. I'm not denying the Ico games are unique and interesting, and if I ever get a chance to play them, I will do so. I was against these myopic idea of what a gamer is - i.e. "only sony fanboys are hardcore dude!"

Diablo was never one I took part in myself, but the Icewind Dales I played, the Fallouts I played and enjoyed alot, even with the horrible bugs and EU specific ones. Command and Conquer was definitely a definiting game, even though times have moved on - I'd say Sins of a Solar Empire is prehaps the new definiting game for the RTS in a way Supreme Commander doesn't really manage (its fun and all, but ultimately, it boils down to 'Total Annihilation 2 with a plot' ).

 

[nova18]

I really wouldnt say that Sony has captured the hardcore players, more that they have started to regain more and more of their fanbase.

I feel sorry for Sony, if their console wasn't released into a failing economy, it could have actually done a lot better for its self.

Plus, have they not seen Rocky, the underdog never talks big, they leave that up to the big boys and then end up destroying them in the last round. Watch some movies Sony

 

[Doug]

*growl*

God dammit, this stupid "hardcore" nonsense again! How about we all just play bloody video games, enjoy them, and forget the stupid labels?! If I like to play Wii Sports and Gears 2, am I not a "hardcore" gamer? If I've been playing games for almost 16 bloody years, does that not make me a "hardcore" gamer, regardless of what games I play?! Some of the greatest moments I had with my Gamecube were not while playing Melee, or Wind Waker, or even Metroid Prime; it was while playing the Simpsons Hit and Run.

Oh, and Sony? Bite me. Haven't you learned not to be so pretentious yet? When you make claims like "capturing the Hardcore audience", you stick your foot further in your mouth.

To most of us, hell yeah! To the 'Sony Defence Force', you only are a 'hardcore' gamer if you've played the 2 Team Ico games. Its sad really.

 

[nathan-dts]

Actually, they get it, you don't. The have captured all of us, and you can't escape it. Two words, dude - Team Ico. You cannot not play their next game and still be considered hardcore, you simply cannot do it. Of course, the Pub Fund thing isn't likely to hurt.

Indigo, I've never played a Team Ico game. What the frack does this make me?

Wait, you have never played Shadow of the Collosus or ICO?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Oh Sony PR...

Always worth a good laugh. Didn't Nintendo proclaim this a long while back, and have it bite them in the ass? Do they really think someone who only 'casually' plays games is going to fork over $400 for the console and $60 for a shovelware title.

You'd think they would go after a better business model.

Its really sad when the company is damaging their own console, and it is a good console. I'm starting to wonder what the group at Microsoft is worried about. Just let the Sony guys talk and they'll likely kill their system faster than anything MS can put out.

 

[Deathsong17]

Sony sound increasingly desperate with every press release, just how much money did the TV and MP3 player departments blow last year?

Besides Killzone, Devil May Cry and Ratchet, what PS2 originating franchises have they put on the PS3 so far?

Siren?

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Actually, they get it, you don't. The have captured all of us, and you can't escape it. Two words, dude - Team Ico. You cannot not play their next game and still be considered hardcore, you simply cannot do it. Of course, the Pub Fund thing isn't likely to hurt.

Indigo, I've never played a Team Ico game. What the frack does this make me?

Wait, you have never played Shadow of the Collosus or ICO?

Nope, never owned a PS2 in fact.

 

[AceDiamond]

Actually, they get it, you don't. The have captured all of us, and you can't escape it. Two words, dude - Team Ico. You cannot not play their next game and still be considered hardcore, you simply cannot do it. Of course, the Pub Fund thing isn't likely to hurt.

Indigo, I've never played a Team Ico game. What the frack does this make me?

Universally agreed to be not a gamer.

Well, considering that I've never played a Team Ico game either, I suppose that I'm not enough of a gamer to have written this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/op-ed/5266-Guest-Columnist-Spacewar-A-Journey-Into-Gaming-History].

Never mind that it's right there on the server in front of you, describing a game older than nearly all of the people on this site. I suppose that I don't know enough about games to write that. Or reviews about games like Frontier: Elite II, et cetera.

I'm talking about shared eperiences that define our subculture - this shared active belief within the mediums constant evolution. Those works are effectively the mandatory readings, and remain active staples for its understanding.

Indigo, just because you slam together a bunch of $10 words and somehow form a sentence out of them does not mean you're right. In fact, you are so wrong. Games by Team ICO are not "mandatory reading". If they were, we'd be told to look at them and then develop games like them (protip: they don't, that would homogenize the market and cheapen the value of the other games. That's why I'm glad there hasn't been a sequel to Portal so far, it's just that damn amazing.). There is no "mandatory reading" to be a gamer. Claiming that someone isn't a gamer unless they've played *title goes here* means one of two things

1. It's hyperbole being used to convince someone they should at least give it a try.
2. It's browbeating being used by a fanboy who can't admit when he's in way over his head.

I'll give you a hint as to which one you are. It's not the first one. Maybe if you said it a bit nicer, and not spent time twisting people's words via your quote editing, someone would be inclined to listen to you. But really, at this point I find it a miracle anybody that isn't a brand-fundamentalist of Sony like yourself even does.

I have never played a Team ICO game. I own a PS2. It's just something that never happened for me. And now it's never going to because you decided to use it as a benchmark for the standards that you dictate as if you get a say in what makes a gamer and what doesn't. Nice job breaking it, hero.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

And even then, like fix-the-spade said, Sony's relying too much on previous franchises. So in reality they don't have many hardcore PS3 fans, just PS1 ans PS2 fans who've made the jump to PS3 to still play their favorite franchises.

LittleBigPlanet is a past franchise? Resistance is a PS2 franchise? InFamous, Heavy Rain, Fat Princess, Uncharted, and Valkyria Chronicles are all past franchises?

I know I'm being picky, but Heavy Rain, while not a sequel to Fahrenheit, is still the second game in that genre made by Quantic Dream, which is pretty much turning into a franchise.

And I can't wait for it.

 

[Bullfrog1983]

Myeh. It is pretty insulting to be "captured" if you're a hardcore gamer. They certainly have bungled the job of catching me though, since I've never had the console or anything. I find it more insulting to be referred to as an "install base" because it makes you sound like some kind of computer program rather than a person. Either way, until Sony makes the bold move of asking a reasonable price for their console I'm pretty much inclined to ignore them.

 

[xLANKYx]

But to say something as foolish and narrowminded as "you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Team Ico games" is just kind of nauseatingly sycophantic. That'd be like me saying "Hey you aren't a hardcore gamer unless you play Diablo II."

It's a definitional game.

Some people want what Sony say to be true, so they're coming up with an arbitrary definition of "hardcore" which makes it so.

I would say that a "hardcore" gamer is someone who spends a large amount of their free time and income on the hobby of gaming, no matter what type of games they actually spend that time playing. 8 hours of peggle a day makes you a hardcore gamer. Owning every single expansion for The Sims and playing it all the time makes you a hardcore gamer.

Precisely. If you limit the definition of "hardcore" to "People who play Team Ico games" (Team Ico being a Sony developer) then you make Sony's claim of "We have the hardcore" true almost by default. That's like saying "hardcore gamers have a PS3."

Whereas there are many, many types of hardcore gamers. PC gamers: within those, FPS gamers, RTS gamers, RPG gamers, MMO players - Hey, you aren't a hardcore gamer until you've experienced the thrill of downing a 25+ man raid boss. You've got your fighting gamers (you wanna tell JWong and Daigo they're not hardcore, now?), you've got your people who love Western games, Adventure games, whatever.

There are simply so many different and varied types of games - and types of gamers - to make such a simple blanket statement like "You aren't a hardcore gamer if you aren't looking forward to Team Ico's third game." It's blind and stinks of myopic devotion to the brand in question.

+1

ive allways found it both funny & sad when i see fanboys (of ALL types) preaching there "faith".