OK jr, since you are new here (you are not that other Hoffman, right?), I'm going to explain to you what is a hardcore gamer.
Hardcore gamers are gamers that don't care about graphics (shocking, I know) nor sound quality (also shocking) or any of that stupid shit. Hardcore gamers are incredibly specific gamers that will only care for pixel perfect games. Also they only especialize mostly in one specific genre. There can't be a master of all game genres, it doesn't exist; some hardcore gamers will specialize in
2D shooters, others in RTSs, others in platformers, and so on. Also, they spend A FUCKING LOT of time playing games, like 25 hours a day (shocking!).
Popular games like Halo, Smash Bros, Mario Kart (same category, shocking), COD, Uncharted, GTA, etc etc, are not hardcore, those are
mainstream. Gamers that play that games, are merely mainstream gamers, or hardlycore gamers. Anyone playing mainstream games and telling everyone he is hardcore is like Justin Beaver or Miley Cirus saying they are rockers.
Posers.
You can practice a lot one of this mainstream games, and be an expert on it, and maybe you will be a great gamer in that specific game, but then you'll go to youtube and realize that any of those dudes uploading videos would kick your ass.
The reason why we gamers can play a lot of games, is because games today are easy as shit. Anyone can beat any game today, any of the mainstream ones at least. It's not a matter if you can beat it, it's a matter of how long it's going to take me.
Last point, you can't say PS3 is for hardcore gamers, if anything, that would be the PC. In consoles, games frequently dip below 30 fps, and the same games on PCs can mantain easily a framerate above 60fps (without expensive PCs, mind you (shocking!)). The resolution of most console games are sub 720p (shocking!), and on a PC you can reach much larger resolutions. FPSs on consoles suck because of playing with a gamepad, and you can plug a 360 or Sega Saturn GamePad on any PC, so PC wins that fight. Even the DS setup for shooters is hundreds of times better than a gamepad (shocking!).
So yeah, you are definitely wrong, poser!
(I'm not a hardcore gamer, I'm content with enjoying the few games a get to play, I once won a local (national) contest on Smash Bros Melee and that's about it for my hardcore history, and I'm sure I've played far more games than you, and I consider myself hardly hardlycore).