The last good console generation...

[Koopa64]

Most people seem to have a cut-off time for the oldest they will go concerning games, but what about recent generations of video games? Where do you guys think the turning point of mediocrity began?

 

My personal vote goes to:

 

Sixth Generation (PS2GCXbox)

 

Why? Because the graphics were reasonably good but not trying to look realistic (and fail at it too, like the 7th gen), there was little online interaction at this point (no DLC or updates) and there were many games I played that I ended up loving, unlike the 7th gen again. Simply put, this generation of systems was somewhat modern, but not too modern. The 7th gen is far too reliant on an internet connection (modern). Too much modernism is killing video games. Too much complication, too much internet requirement, dlc, updates, drm, corporate greed, far too generic and sterile, etc... The list goes on and never stops. The 7th gen for me is the turning point of the downhill spiral into a wasteland. 6th gen, IMO, stands as the last good video game generation.

[Rex Dart]

I don't see how Black, Killzone Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, etc weren't trying to look realistic. They just... weren't that great representing it at 320x200 or whatever that crap PS2's resolution was. Anyways, there's nothing wrong with the current generation so they get my vote.

[xg4bx]

I think part of my loss of infatuation with gaming this gen is that I've started paying too much attention. Even last gen I enjoyed gaming more because id get my copy of egm in the mail or go to the store to see what's out and that was the extent of my gaming knowledge. Now I feel like I know too much and not to sound naive but it feels like I totally lost the "wonder" I had in the hobby.

 

I enjoyed last gen more because there were simply more choices. There were games for every niche and I used to love discovering hidden gems. Now really the only things on the shelves are the next wannabe AAA blockbuster, there's nothing left to discover or seek out. Games just had more personality.

 

I still like playing games (maybe just out of sheer momentum with the hobby) but id take a ps2 with copies of black,freedom fighters,the suffering or sub rebellion any day.

[Reaperman]

PS2/XBOX/GC for me.

 

PS3 might be the newest console I buy. I'm certainly done with the 'buy everything' each generation that I have done up until this one.

I feel as though I'm not in very many developer's target markets anymore, and I don't like what hardware/software producers are doing to their customers this generation. Worrying about it could take years off of my life, and it's just not worth it.

 

I'll probably just end up buying a convertible and puttering around in that for a while. The money I've already saved on gaming has paid the wife's car off quite early.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Reaperman

[Austin]

I still enjoy the most recent generation, but the last generation (XBOX/PS2/GC/DC) was the last one where I was really impressed and intrigued by the content put out. This generation feels like it's more of the same, with less of the experimental efforts going on in the physical retail sector.

[Christophero Sly]

I have no idea what you're even talking about.

[Emehr]

My interest peaked last generation, too (DC/GC/PS2/Xbox). It's also the last generation where I own all of the big 4 consoles (albeit the Xbox came after the party was over). I'm sitting out most of this generation. If it weren't for the Wii I wouldn't be partaking at all. Everything else just seems like it has stagnated. And now that consoles are online they just seem too much like a computer. Patches, DRM, bugs, updates, DLC. No thanks!

 

I am slightly interested in the Xbox 360 just to see what I'm missing out on, but the reliability issues keep me at bay. Anyone know if they more or less nicked that problem with the slim?

 

So yeah, last gen was good. But if we're talking great, I'd have to go with the Genesis/SegaCD/SNES/TG16/NeoGeo/Lynx/GameGear era.

[Itchy Koala]

Sixth gen

[Tr3vor]

By far it would be the xbox/NGC/PS2 era...

 

 

 

[Red 5]

I think this gen is great. Mass Effect, Gear of War, Dragon Age, Oblivion, Fallout, Halo, Uncharted 2, Zelda on Wii, Bioshock, Batman Arkham Assylum, Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain, Super Marion Galaxy, Fable, Call of Duty, etc.

 

Great games coming like Portal 2, LA Noire, Crysis 2, Deus Ex, new Zelda, Last guardian, Batman Arkham Assylum 2, coming soon,

 

I think as some people grow older, they become more jaded and nostalgic about what they think is good. Then there is the other extreme (me) who are 40 but will still be grabbing the 3DS at launch because if it's video games, and it's new, I must have it, and I will find a way to love it. I think the added peripherals of this gen made for some fun party games too. Kinect is fun when people come over, and wii has been the party / everybody can play system since launch. I am loving this gen.

 

But hell, I love every gen...

 

Atari is my youth.

Nintendo is my teens

Genesis / SNES is my college years

Saturn / N64 was that weird time between college and officially growing up. Roomates, illegal activity and Mario Kart made up many a Saturday.

PS1 / Dreamcast when I finally grew up and got married

Xbox and PS2 living the DINK life

360 PS3 and Wii family, house, playing with the kids.

 

It's AAAAALLLL good.

[nathanallan]

I wanted to go for the 4th but there are too many games that I like on the sixth. Has anyone noticed that you spend about as much for an Xbox/PS2 game as you do a Genny or SNES game? I also took that into consideration.

[xg4bx]

My interest peaked last generation, too (DC/GC/PS2/Xbox). It's also the last generation where I own all of the big 4 consoles (albeit the Xbox came after the party was over). I'm sitting out most of this generation. If it weren't for the Wii I wouldn't be partaking at all. Everything else just seems like it has stagnated. And now that consoles are online they just seem too much like a computer. Patches, DRM, bugs, updates, DLC. No thanks!

 

I am slightly interested in the Xbox 360 just to see what I'm missing out on, but the reliability issues keep me at bay. Anyone know if they more or less nicked that problem with the slim?

 

So yeah, last gen was good. But if we're talking great, I'd have to go with the Genesis/SegaCD/SNES/TG16/NeoGeo/Lynx/GameGear era.

 

I think the reliability problems are solved, I haven't heard squat about the new slim units dying.

[A_Locomotive]

My interest peaked last generation, too (DC/GC/PS2/Xbox). It's also the last generation where I own all of the big 4 consoles (albeit the Xbox came after the party was over). I'm sitting out most of this generation. If it weren't for the Wii I wouldn't be partaking at all. Everything else just seems like it has stagnated. And now that consoles are online they just seem too much like a computer. Patches, DRM, bugs, updates, DLC. No thanks!

 

I am slightly interested in the Xbox 360 just to see what I'm missing out on, but the reliability issues keep me at bay. Anyone know if they more or less nicked that problem with the slim?

 

So yeah, last gen was good. But if we're talking great, I'd have to go with the Genesis/SegaCD/SNES/TG16/NeoGeo/Lynx/GameGear era.

 

I think the reliability problems are solved, I haven't heard squat about the new slim units dying.

 

I've only heard one complaint about the new ones and thats from my super nit picky friend who claims the drives are louder(I can't really hear a noticeable difference).

[GKC]

I was going to say the 5th but the Dreamcast and NGC pushed me over the edge to pick the 6th generation. The Dreamcast was the last system which had graphics so much better than the systems before it that it made me say 'wow' when I played it. Code Veronica, NFL 2k, Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi are some of the games that kept me busy. The Gamecube is just good old Nintendo. If you like Nintendo games then there is no reason anyone wouldn't like the NGC.

 

DLC and on-line gaming isn't for me so I haven't really been able to get into this generation of systems. Even though these things can find their roots in generations before it, ISTM that this current generation where these things took off. Another thing that soured me was going through my 4th xbox 360 after the RROD. This isn't to say I haven't found any games I don't like this generation. The Call of Duty games were pretty good mindless fun and I put a lot of hours into Red Dead Redemption.

Edited March 16, 2011 by GKC

[+wood_jl]

I think it's a toss-up, between 6th and 7th. I voted 6th, since it's the last one you can FOR SURE OWN YOUR GAMES - and because this is, after all, a retro-site.

 

You can mostly OWN your games on the 7th, but it's becoming increasingly less-attractive (to me) as it moves more to a rental (for the life of the console, life of the servers, or life of the hard drive in the console) aspect.

 

Installing Gran Turismo (taking significant time) and then downloading scads of bug-fixes and updates and necessitating an internet connection.....vs.....putting the Gran Turismo 4 disc on your PS2 and turning it on.

[JamesD]

The latest gen. I favor the games over the older systems.

 

I never even owned a console until the PS2 though the first console games I owned were a few PS1 titles I picked up cheap which I played on an emulator.

I always saw computer gaming as better and only after the PS2 slimline was available in silver did I actually buy a console.

There were just too many good discount titles to ignore it at that point and I had spent a lot of time with some friends dungeon crawling with Champions.

Then I bought a 360 and the PS2 has pretty much sat gathering dust.

 

Since then I bought a Famiclone and a few games but I haven't really gotten into it.

Too many Zelda me too games and only a handful of games I've played have any appeal to me.

Plus I hate the tiny controllers.

 

Really, I hated the direction the gaming market took after with the intro of the NES.

Fighting games, scrolling shooters with hundreds of bullets and over the top bosses... and on a PC I could play Doom, Quake, Tomb Raider, etc... as time went on.

I got turned off to PC gaming after running into too many compatibility issues and the introduction of Steam and online control of your gaming.

[+Ransom]

To me, the last of the truly great console generations was the Colecovision/5200/Vectrex generation (second, I guess, by the scale used in this survey).

 

The last generation with something worth playing, so far, is the PS2 generation.

 

I haven't found anything compelling enough in the current generation to be worth the start-up money.

[Petran79]

One important factor that defines whether I will like a console are arcade games. Remember you can not sit at home the whole day playing games, you have to get out and...play arcade games too.

 

There was a 10 year gap where i did not own any console at all, yet visited the arcades for fun.

 

Till the 5th generation arcades were ok, but after the 6th generation when arcades became console ports and far fewer i felt something was missing.

 

Now online console play totally substituted arcade games.

 

While i'd like to choose 6th generation too since i enjoyed ps2 and dreamcast, the golden age, objectively speaking and admitted by most video game historians, is till 1985

[DracIsBack]

NGC ... DLC ... ISTM ... RROD.

 

Speak in english, dude ...

 

Friggen acronyms ...

[GKC]

NGC ... DLC ... ISTM ... RROD.

 

Speak in english, dude ...

 

Friggen acronyms ...

 

LOL

 

acronyms

 

SNES...NES...SMS...Sega. Yup Sega is an acronym it counts

[Rex Dart]

I have no idea what you're even talking about.

 

Just somebody complaining about how they don't like games until they become "retro".

[Mord]

My vote goes to the PS2/Xbox/GC era as well. It was the last generation that didn't make me loathe it enough to willingly delay my adoption of it until 5-6 years after it began. Current gen has every chance of being the very last gen I bother buying into. After that I'll be:

 

1. Focusing on playing through the huge backlog built up.

 

and

 

2. Playing more miiiinecraft. (Which is easily going to suck up enough time that I probably won't even notice the next gen start. )

[DracIsBack]

SNES...NES...SMS...Sega. Yup Sega is an acronym it counts

 

Ha - Service Games no?

 

 

To be fair though, Nintendo let their own brand be referred to by acronyms too.

 

Examples:

 

http://www.nintendo....s/nes/index.jsp

http://www.nintendo....ernes/index.jsp

http://www.nintendo..../virtualconsole

 

-----------------------------

 

Still don't know what the heck ISTM is ...

[Rex Dart]

At least he said NGC instead of GCN - a proper acronym instead of a codename. We don't call the gameboy a DMG now do we?

[Hyper_Eye]

I've only heard one complaint about the new ones and thats from my super nit picky friend who claims the drives are louder(I can't really hear a noticeable difference).

 

That's crazy. When I switched to a slim it was so quiet in comparison that I had to put my ear next to it and make sure the fans were working. It is much quieter. The drive is also fairly quiet but when the fans are so quiet the contrast might seem greater. The HDDVD addon was always much quieter than the 360 drive so I always used it for DVD's to have a better viewing experience but now I just use the 360's drive because there isn't any difference. When it comes to games I just install them to the hdd when I intend to play through one. With a 250GB HDD why not? Then it spins the disc only at boot and then the drive becomes silent for the remainder of the game. My fan used to completely drown out anything but the sound system but now I can barely hear it and my projector is the loudest ambient noise in the room. The projector is not very loud in low power mode but it is much louder than the slim. Anyway, in conclusion, noise is a check in the positive column for the slim by a lot. I have had no problems with my slim which I purchased on the weekend of release. It still runs like the first time I powered it in.

 

As for the poll, I love all the generations that could be picked but I think last generation was the peak for game developers. Game studios are all being acquired by larger and larger behemoth companies that are in the business of turning out the same game year after year. There are definitely some great games this generation but I think the previous generation had a lot more innovation. I also think the online aspect of the Xbox was the perfect online formula. It provided just what was needed to have a great online gaming experience. The only thing I really like more about this generation is the full support of HDTV displays and the extended console life. The last generation could have had a few more years in it, at least the Xbox could have. It really felt premature when it was discontinued.

 

I enjoy my Xbox, PS2, GC, and DC still on a very regular basis. As matter of fact, I have been playing Steel Battalion most of this week.