The blurring of the lines between casual and hardcore gamers has created a new type of gamer, the so called “Mid-Core Gamer”. As Wikipedia defines “A core or mid-core gamer is a player with a wide range of interests and enthusiast toward creative and diverse games, but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamer
This wide range of games and genres available on each console creates a large number of possibilities for gamer classifications. Even handheld game consoles can be host to casual and hardcore video games. Take into consideration the Gameboy Advance, and specifically two games, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Pokemon Emerald. One could argue that Super Mario Bros. 3 is a casual game, which doesn’t require much gaming knowledge to play, and offers playability in which the gamer can leave for an extended period of time, and still understand the objectives of the game, to get to the right side of the screen. Pokemon Emerald however, can be argued to be a hardcore game, because of the time and effort needed to successfully play the game, as well as the effort it takes to get back into the game upon returning from an extended break. These two levels of gaming are present in a console marketed for kids, and further blurs the lines between casual and hardcore.
Nintendo’s next console, the Wii U, is marketed for these “Mid-Core” gamers, who favor creativity and have wide ranges of interests in games and genres.
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