The difference between casual and hardcore games

Ive witnessed a lot of differing views on what is a hardcore game and what is a casual game. Many people would say nintendo games are generally casual, while the other companies, sony and microsoft, produce hardcore games (usually fps/M rated) I dont believe hardcore games are determined by:
-graphics
-blood/gore
-guns+explosions
-company/console
-art style(cartoony or realistic)

I would expect to see these characteristics in a hardcore game:
-Difficult(requires skill a non-gamer could not replicate/you die...A LOT)
-Deep(not easy to "jump in to"/holds many hours of gameplay)
-Strategic(requires the player to actually think/you find yourself getting stuck on a difficult boss or puzzle)
-ungracious(doesnt give hints or hold your hand/may require the player to discover certain mechanics on their own)

now to me, a lot of nintendo games seem to have these characteristics(loz MM is very hard and originally as a kid took me 3 years to beat and it took me a year to beat it recently(i got all masks but not even close to doing everything in the game) yet i beat black ops in one night without even thinking.I especially think a lot of older games seem to show characteristics of what i think a hardcore game is, which is probably why i love the virtual console on the wii shop channel(just got chrono trigger mon. this game is amazing i cant believe i didn't play it earlier!)

This is my list off the top of my head, feel free to add to it or tell what you think the difference between a hardcore and casual game is.