How do you know what a hard core gamer is gonna do? You dont know for sure what anyone will do. Each person makes their own mind up.
Plus in less than 6 months there wont be a choice. XP will be off the market then and Vista will be the only choice. So either get used to it now or get used to it later.
First off not everyone is a hardcore gamer and there are quite a few more people that game casually and wont spend 2g's on a rig to run vista, which is why vista is failing because maybe they are only targeting a market where people have money to spend on an expensive rig, secondly thats the worst attitude ever, just because vista will inevitably be forced down our throats by a monopolizing company like Microsoft does not mean we have to surrender and go out to buy vista, many people will still use xp if they do not fix vista up a bit more, just because vista will only be available doesn't mean people will automatically buy it if it means its inferior
As for your post of a 1000 dollar computer can run vista, well maybe it can but can you game as well on it if you had xp on the same 1000 dollar rig? i think not there will still be a major frame drop especially on the lower end rigs