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"Hardcore" could typically mean that they are only good at one game because it's all they play to truely master it and become the king of their domain/server.

That said, your friends prolly rule at games like CounterStrike and such, so why would they have even heard of something like Advanced Wars on the DS if their busy being hardcore at something else?

Does that mean the DS and AW do little to represent an alternative mainstream channel for gaming because 3 out of 10 hardcore gamers don't know what AW was?

Nope, it doesn't.

Mainstream gaming is simply the notion that I can go into any brick and mortar and pick up a game for my DS, through a mainstream distribution channel.

I think it's a little easy to misconstrue industry terminology.