What the Hell is a Hardcore Casual Gamer?

I am what you could probably call a Hardcore Casual Gamer.Try as I might, I can never be really good at games.

I blame this for my late entry into gaming- we could never really afford expensive toys like the Colecovision, Intellivision or whatever-vision there was at the time when I was a kid. I had to make do with whatever was at hand- or fill the back of my notebooks with ‘Shooting Stars’ pen-flicking battles. Nope, by the time I could get my own gaming systems and games at will, I was already working. By this time, my time for hard-wiring my reflexes to gaming skills had long past.

But no matter that I’m no longer a kid. Actually, the way things are, games and gaming aren’t really kids’ stuff anymore. The average gaming system and requisite games are far beyond the allowances of normal, non-pensionado younglings. Videogames, these days, are a serious hobby for the mature adult. Many games have content that shouldn’t really be seen by kids, especially those titles that enjoy budgets that often surpass those of many Hollywood movies. Nope, game companies don’t make games for kids. They make games for guys like me. The Hardcore Casual Gamer.

I’m a guy who just LOVES games. I love graphics and the steady progression visual panache has evolved from the blocky abstract animated figures of yesteryear to the photorealistic digital superstars of Now-Gen’s games. I appreciate stuff like a game’s story, script, characters and histories. I’ve followed the careers of longtime gaming characters like an obsessed fan stalking some teen dream.

Ask me to name the Ten Commandments, or the Twelve Disciples. I’ll probably make mistakes a lot. Ask me the Character Roster of Tekken, Streetfighter II (all the hunnerd variations), Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter or DOA, and I can recite them without batting an eye. I found myself more attracted to digital divas and polygon princesses rather than live sex symbols. But then, considering how actresses, TV stars and models are so digitally-altered and photoshopped these days, who can really say what is REAL or Artificial?

I freakin’ love games so much, it’s no longer funny. It’s serious money and time I’m throwing into this hobby, and for what? All for eye and mind candy. Well, it’s better than becoming a chain smoker or alcoholic, I guess. In that light, I guess I have it good.

So stay a while and listen. Gaming has never been this amazing and wondrous, in all the History of Mankind. You probably don’t appreciate games as much as I do, but after reading this blog a bit, maybe a bit of my zeal will rub off on you. Or not. In any case, it should be fun. Because that’s what games are all about.

Lock and Load.