The top 10 best selling games in the U.S. in 2014 are...

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At least the list for all of 2014 is hardcore but 2 games (Can you spot the two non hardcore games).

December on the other hand had 3 non hardcore games in the top 10!

...ugh. I find this list depressing, just like the current definition of "hardcore". It being amazingly predictable doesnt help one bit.

Just... ugh. Looking at that reminds me of why I normally dont follow lists/stats of this sort of thing.

And I've played...none. Maybe if this was a list from 1994, I'd have something more productive to talk about.

It's impressive that Nintendo was able to release a game at the very end of 2014 and still make the list, with a game that's only on two consoles, as opposed to five, six, or seven.

Yeah. Smash Bros is one of the only possible games that could ever manage something like that... says something about just how loved that series is.

And fortunately that game turned out absolutely fantastic. Well, that's my opinion on the game, at least. Most seem to agree from what I've seen. Even the AI is interesting to fight this time around (and thus the single-player modes remain entertaining); normally I never, ever say that about a fighting game, as typically even on the highest levels, fighting-game AI seems dumber than a sack of hammers once you hit a certain level of skill.

My only gripe: The Balloon Fight stage isnt on the Wii U version. I love that stage (and the game it's from). I end up liking the 3DS stages overall more than the Wii U stages, but.... argh, the CONTROLS. The Wii U version plays wonderfully for me.... so long as I'm using the specific controller I"m using. But I dont have that option on the 3DS version...

My expression upon seeing COD and Destiny...

A funny fact about today gaming community is that i've heard A LOT of bad things about games like Destiny or CoD like how in the end they are just generical games with simply more of the same of what we have had from this genre in the last few years and, still, the generics, full of bugs, lacking of real content games like those ones are selling absurdly. It's so sad.
But thank God that at least Smash Bros made it's way to the list.

The main hardcore market needs their Call of Duty and EA Sports fix.
They aren't bothered by content and some bugs.
Shooters are still widely popular because it appeals to North American gun culture.
Also this list is almost identical in Canada, Australia, NZ and the UK.
These 5 English speaking countries (U.S. included) make up 60% of the video game consumers.
Mainland EU isn't big on video gaming and prefer PC gaming outside of France.

At least Nintendo games can still chart...!

The term 'hardcore' in gaming used to refer to a hard game... nowadays the so-called 'hardcore' games consist of 1/3 clicking through cinematics, 1/3 of hiding in cover while your life is regenerating and 1/3 of thinking what's for dinner while mindlessly mowing down hordes of enemies ingeniously programmed to make it as unlikely as possible that they kill you.

EXACTLY. Couldnt have put it better myself.

Argh. And it drives me up the wall! So many of the "hardcore" players out there wouldnt know a real hardcore game if it bit them on the rear!

I could show TONS of examples of games out of my own collection that would qualify as TRULY hardcore. I have so many of them now and my idea of difficulty has gotten really warped as a result (is why I always ramble on about alot of games these days being too easy). And when it comes to multiplayer, I can absolutely trash most opponents in the fighting games that I'm into (Guilty Gear, BB, Persona, Smash).

But oh, right, I FORGOT, I dont play Call of Duty, and I own more than two games! I must be a casual gamer!

Just.... argh!

Some games nowadays are just insultingly easy. Take Uncharted 2 for instance; it very unsubtly points you to the journal when you're near an area where you have to solve a puzzle, and it even directs you to the page where the solution is all laid out on a silver platter. Not too mention the regenerating health and the fact that it's impossible to die during the climbing parts (which makes it boring as hell and completely superfluous).

I'm not saying every game should be like Battletoads, but at least offer me somewhat of a challenge. A couple of my favourite games of all time are all moderately difficult: Resident Evil 1 & 2 (so much better than the botched abortion that is part 6), Final Fantasy VII & VIII, Super Monkey Ball, Double Dragon 2, Die Hard Trilogy, Mega Man X, Castlevania 4, Twisted Metal etc.

Since you mentioned multiplayer fighting games, I'm a fairly well known player in the SF community. Fighting games are just so rewarding to get good at because they require so much more skill than FPS games, which are only about map knowledge and reflexes. Fighting games are about strategy, match up knowledge, mind games, reflexes, pattern recognition, execution and having a good grasp of many minute things such as frame data. If Call of Duty is kindergarten, then Virtua Fighter is Ivy League.

I would have been very surprised if CoD wasn't on the list.

Thus you explained why fighting games and JRPGs don't sell well.

People in general don't like to play difficult games.

Games like Call of Duty, Destiny, and Halo fill a primal need to kill things.

Yep.

And this is why I tend to stick to PC & indie games and avoid the funky hell outta more mainstream stuffs, as easy games just put me to sleep.

Doesnt help multiplayer games that much either; I find that players that are really used to easier games tend to make for weak opponents in... anything. Or they end up just giving up, which for me is the most irritating part of fighting games, as I cant count the number of times I've fought against someone, only to have them stop playing entirely. Just.... ugh.

Although i'm a very very very bad player at fighting games I have to agree with you. I LOVE to watch good people playing Smash Bros, Persona, SSFIV, Mortal Kombat and games like that because of how much skill it is required to be good at fighting games. I just can't keep up with: remembering all my moves, think in the order that I should use them to combo, think when it's safe to use what and ALSO pay attention to my opponent to see/predict/counter him. It's way too much to my brain and my reflexes! xD
I myself am very driven by the game experience as a whole. I played some games just because of the gameplay and i've played games just because of the story, for me what matter is what the game tries to do and how good it actually do it without being too generic or just "more of the same".
The Last of Us is a good example of a game that I played just for the experience of how well it makes me feel that tense atmosphere that it had, I LOVE the indie game Journey because of how magic and unique the two hours required to beat the game is and there is also games like Bayonetta 2/Zelda ALBW that I play entirely because of its action elements and how stupidly good and well polished the gameplay is.
Having some kind of original elements and content and doing whatever it tries to do well is what attract my attention on games nowadays and it's why, for me, most of the games of that list doesn't deserve to be there.

Oh, and Mysery/Icyclan do you guys have youtube channel or a stream?

I do have a Youtube channel, yes. Most of what I put up there is random bullet-hell shmup runs that I've recorded.

My best couple of examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uON3zty3-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdDRj0XklQU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuOQBL1T2o8

Well, those are the most impressive of the group at any rate. The Dodonpachi DOJ Death Label one is probably the next most impressive (it's also the hardest one to follow, as it's the game that moves fastest of the group), and then also the Deathsmiles "Jitterbug" boss fight. That one in particular got alot of views for who knows what reason. I do so many shmup vids as it's one of the genres I'm best at; pretty much my main talents are a couple of things: reacting/processing absurdly fast, and tracking a huge number of things all at once. Problem is that I"m not all that good at much else, hah. Put me in an FPS and most of what you'll see are me managing to explode myself alot, or something.

There's also the LittleBigPlanet bullet-hell bosses I put together. Other than all that, there's some random things that I threw in just... because. A few have commentary.

It's been awhile since my last video as my blasted SD card reader randomly ate one of the cards and died. I might go get another one at some point this week as it's been bugging the heck outta me, particularly since there's a particular game right now that I'd like to get videos of.



But yeah, I agree with you, watching impressive displays of skill can be very fun and awesome. I've seen tons of different shmup runs of different games, and super high scoring runs of old (and thus usually very difficult) arcade games also impress me alot.

What tends to impress me the most though: amazing FPS skill. It's a genre I'm often not all that fond of.... I love "Doom" style games but dont like playing the recently-popular "modern military" style ones... but holy heck, watching high level competitive players in that genre... I dunno how they do half that stuff. See, when *I* try it, well... it turns out that reflexes and tracking/processing dont add up to a damn thing if you CANT HIT ANYTHING. Or havent the foggiest sense of "tactics" in a game like that. Far as I'm concerned, "tactics" for me is the same thing I do in Doom, which is to charge at things, yell "BLAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!! !! !", and either shotgun or just punch them. That's me being tactical. I do the same in fighting games, which works most of the time. Doesnt work in modern FPS games though, hah. But yeah, just.... I dunno how those guys do some of the totally loopy kills that they manage. Often they'll get like, 12 in a row before dying once, and just.... yeah, wow. And the teamwork and strategy on display, I also often dont know how they know where to go and what to do at any given time.

Oh, and anything from the "moba" genre, if you know what that is. I like that genre, but I'm still new to it, so am easily impressed by the very high skill level of tourney players. They put in soooooooo much time to be able to do that loopy stuff.


Also totally agreed on the game list bit.... those mostly really are lacking even the tiniest shred of original ideas, or even good execution in most cases. Just.... ugh. It's a craptastic list, it really is.... but TOTALLY expected.