I'd like to to say this is my final blog about the Wii, but....

As any regular reader of my posts (think are a couple. I think.) can attest, I have lameted on the Wii several times and how it has changed the way games are played and indeed thought about by the general public, but there is one other thing I have yet to comment on: how it has changed how I look at myself.

You see I dont consider myself a mega hardcore gamer, certainly I dont count frames in Street Fighter 4 or compete in Gears of War 2 tournaments, but I am a hardcore or 'Core' gamer. Much has been made of Nintendo forgetting the core gamer so I dont want to get into that here, what I want to talk about is how my perception of what a hardcore gamer is has changed.

Jeff, Ryan, Vinny and Brad, the all knowing overlords of the very site you are reading are what I used to consider mega hardcore gamers, great at playing games (Jeff is able to take on japanese guys at street fighter for gods sake!) with massive collections of games and systems built up over the years. I imagine thier apartments are lined around the walls with shelfs upon shelfs of games, like some loot filled cave of secrets. A truely hardcore gamer place to be.

However, the Wii has created an interesting phenomeon, one which seems to be creating a whole new cave of secrets, except this one has wooden swords and cups and crowns made of iron. You see every single person I know who owns a Wii and isnt a true core gamer has a massive selection of games for it. Many more than I have and I have a Wii, a PS3 and a 360, and that has changed how I percieve a core gamer.

Its not just about how big your gaming collection, as I used to believe, but about how much you actually 'game'. My soon to be sister in law has three times the number of games for her Wii than I do across all of my consoles and handhelds, yet I believe between her and her boyfriend they have actually completed about 2 games. Admittedly some of this is to do with most of the games being mini-game compilations, but the still it is possible to 'complete' them, to unlock every mini game.

A core gamer, i.e., myself, has to distinguish themselves in other ways, instead of saying 'looking at my collection, I am king!' they have to be on sites like this, actually knowing about games and have an opinion based on somewhat of critique of the game in question. They must also complete games, maybe not every game they own, but certainly alot of them, and then move on. It seems this new 'Wiicore' (see what i did there?) play the same few games over and over, keeping the ones they dont like alot in reserve, rarely moving on except when they see a knew game that is cheap.

Cheap is why this became the phenomen it is, Wii games are simply cheaper than others, and therefore people can afford to buy two or three for the same price as they would a 360 or PS3 title.The Wiicore simply gobble up the cheap mini game compilations, despite the fact they are probably medicore games, and so thier collections swell, yet the people have no idea about the games they are playing.

That is where my perception of the hardcore/core game has changed, rather than being someone who plays more games than everyone else, they have to player fewer, better games for longer and actually know what they are talking about. The fact that my soon to be sister in law has 30 games and I have less than ten means nothing, because mine are titles such as Gears of War 2, GTA IV and Littlebigplant and The World Ends With You.

What do you think dear readers? are the Wiicore a good or a bad thing? how is your collection and what do you consider yourself, Wiicore or hardcore?

As any regular reader of my posts (think are a couple. I think.) can attest, I have lameted on the Wii several times and how it has changed the way games are played and indeed thought about by the general public, but there is one other thing I have yet to comment on: how it has changed how I look at myself.

You see I dont consider myself a mega hardcore gamer, certainly I dont count frames in Street Fighter 4 or compete in Gears of War 2 tournaments, but I am a hardcore or 'Core' gamer. Much has been made of Nintendo forgetting the core gamer so I dont want to get into that here, what I want to talk about is how my perception of what a hardcore gamer is has changed.

Jeff, Ryan, Vinny and Brad, the all knowing overlords of the very site you are reading are what I used to consider mega hardcore gamers, great at playing games (Jeff is able to take on japanese guys at street fighter for gods sake!) with massive collections of games and systems built up over the years. I imagine thier apartments are lined around the walls with shelfs upon shelfs of games, like some loot filled cave of secrets. A truely hardcore gamer place to be.

However, the Wii has created an interesting phenomeon, one which seems to be creating a whole new cave of secrets, except this one has wooden swords and cups and crowns made of iron. You see every single person I know who owns a Wii and isnt a true core gamer has a massive selection of games for it. Many more than I have and I have a Wii, a PS3 and a 360, and that has changed how I percieve a core gamer.

Its not just about how big your gaming collection, as I used to believe, but about how much you actually 'game'. My soon to be sister in law has three times the number of games for her Wii than I do across all of my consoles and handhelds, yet I believe between her and her boyfriend they have actually completed about 2 games. Admittedly some of this is to do with most of the games being mini-game compilations, but the still it is possible to 'complete' them, to unlock every mini game.

A core gamer, i.e., myself, has to distinguish themselves in other ways, instead of saying 'looking at my collection, I am king!' they have to be on sites like this, actually knowing about games and have an opinion based on somewhat of critique of the game in question. They must also complete games, maybe not every game they own, but certainly alot of them, and then move on. It seems this new 'Wiicore' (see what i did there?) play the same few games over and over, keeping the ones they dont like alot in reserve, rarely moving on except when they see a knew game that is cheap.

Cheap is why this became the phenomen it is, Wii games are simply cheaper than others, and therefore people can afford to buy two or three for the same price as they would a 360 or PS3 title.The Wiicore simply gobble up the cheap mini game compilations, despite the fact they are probably medicore games, and so thier collections swell, yet the people have no idea about the games they are playing.

That is where my perception of the hardcore/core game has changed, rather than being someone who plays more games than everyone else, they have to player fewer, better games for longer and actually know what they are talking about. The fact that my soon to be sister in law has 30 games and I have less than ten means nothing, because mine are titles such as Gears of War 2, GTA IV and Littlebigplant and The World Ends With You.

What do you think dear readers? are the Wiicore a good or a bad thing? how is your collection and what do you consider yourself, Wiicore or hardcore?

I think Resident Evil 4 worked very well on the Wii.