impur1ty said:
How do I tell if a game is hardcore? Is it pornographic?
This pretty much sums up what I was going to say.
Hardcore isn't a style (unless it's that hard core grunge style, then never mind this) - it's the way you play a game. If you perform speed runs of a specific game, no hit runs, least item runs, most item runs, etc, or play competitively, then you're playing that game to a hard core extent. At the same time, if you play the game just to have fun, and that's all, then it's casually. That's about it. No game is more hard core than the next. Certainly, there are games that are easy to play to a hard core extent - games that suck you in and make you want to do hard core things to them (stfu), but there aren't any games that are specifically hard core, unless you NEED to play them to a hard core extent to enjoy the game, and even then, it could be argued that the game can still be played casually.
Unless of course, the lines have become so insubstantially blurred that "Hardcore" now means "mainstream." If that's the case, I'm pretty depressed about the entire situation. Or I guess, Hardcore now means blood, sex, money and violence, but if that's the case, we could just call it rap.
If you're talking about which hand held has the most submersible and competitive games, then I'd dare say it would be the DS, in my opinion. Pokemon's advanced competitions are pretty intense. That and Tetris DS is still one of the best games to submerse yourself into, and can be played to incredibly competitive intent.
War of the Lions might suffer from slow down, but does the the original? (If played on the PSP)