My view is this: those of us that are dedicated gamers and have been for a long time are few. Game companies need to make enough profit to justify the "true gamer" titles not always selling so well. So there is a mountain of shovelware in the store, a new version of Madden every year, and quality suffers in the "mass-market" titles. YOU don't have to buy them. There are also quite a few good titles that aren't "hardcore", but yet kill time or add a little variety to your day. I don't think it makes me any less of a hardcore gamer if I happen to like puzzle quest. I get the EA NASCAR titles because I am a fan and I like to race. If Papyrus was still making NASCAR sims, I would probably be getting those instead. Back when I was heavy in space combat games on the PC, I was using a Gravis Phoenix, which is still the biggest honkin' joystick I've seen, and 48 button programable. This was back when games were written for DOS, and you had to manually manage your autoexec.bat and config.sys files to run some titles (Old-schoolers know what I'm talking about). I know hardcore. I am not going to bash casual gamers for buying a Wii just to swing a remote at a TV. I tried it, its fun, I can't fault people for getting them. My wife wants one. If she does, she'll probably play Wii sports for a few months and move on. Its not my cup of tea, although No More Heroes looks interesting.
Not every game has to have depth, nor does every game need to reinvent the wheel. Most of the titles that interest me do have one or both of those qualities, but when time is a factor (like at work), a decent set of mini-games, or puzzle quest on my PSP can help pass the time (I'm fortunate to work in a place that I can do that when it's slow). It doesn't make me hardcore, doesn't make me casual, just a gamer.
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