The question is flawed, since the Wii itself has been a big indicator of just how muddled the term "hardcore" has become. There's what i'd consider the true hardcore, who seem to view it as just as viable as anything else, and then there's the "hardcore" who like Counter-Strike. Whereas it used to mean "enthusiast", it's become a description of those who simply seem to like the same thing over and over. I think it simply comes down to how long something's been around.

As for the implementation, both sides can come up with perfectly valid quibbles about it. Some games use the Wiimore poorly, but i don't see that as a specific sign of it being a gimmick. CastleVania's controls suck balls too, and that's now considered a classic. All throughout the history of gaming, developers have had problems creating controls that don't blow, and if they still sometimes have problems with implementing the current hardcore-preferred controllers, then i don't see how the sky is falling for the Wiimote.

Personally, i'm all for something that potentially allows more intuitive controls and more dynamic player actions. I'm pretty tired of it all coming down to the addition of more buttons which allow static, canned responses.