Nintendo to Core Gamers: We Have Not Entirely Forgotten You

Nintendo's casual game-oriented presentation at E3 left a lot of core gamers underwhelmed. ("Core gamer" is a rather fuzzily defined term, sometimes used interchangeably with "hardcore gamer," that generally refers to gamers who prefer epic games like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Super Mario Galaxy over simple pick-up-and-play titles like Rayman: Raving Rabbits or Carnival Games.)

There were enough complaints about the focus on simple, family-friendly titles like Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music to inspire Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to apologize for the dearth of "big titles." "If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers," Iwata said, "it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means."

It's hard to know how seriously to take Nintendo's promises though. Nintendo seems to want to redefine core gaming to include the very games core gamers are underwhelmed by.