What generation of gaming marks the end of "retro gaming"

I'm trying to get a grasp on what generation retro gaming ends and modern gaming begins. Is the PS2/Xbox/GCN gen modern or retro? If it's retro, I feel old...

I'd say the generation before the popularity spike of online gaming and digital distribution. So the 6th generation.

For me retro is three generations behind the current and beyond. Here's how I'm currently breaking it down:

Retro - PS1, Sat, N64 and beyond

Classic - DC, PS2, PS3, GC, Wii, XB, 360

Modern - PS4, X1, Wii-U

Next Gen - Obvious

I'd say after there is a huge industry-wide change in games, the consoles before the change become retro. For example, when 3D games became the norm in the 5th gen, all the 2D consoles became retro. I'd say the next huge change came last gen with HD gaming and the online gaming revolution, so I'd say the consoles of the 6th generation and earlier are retro.

Well, my definition is if a console has been out of production or hasn't had a new release for at least a year.

I would say N64/PS1/DC. But I guess you could argue PS2/GC/X1 imo.

@psx2514: Retro video game consoles as I understand them are console generations that are no longer manufactured majorly like the Wii and Gamecube, PS2 and the original Xbox, and older. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are no longer Sony's or Microsoft's main consoles, but they are still in production, so they are current consoles.

Hm, well retro usually refers to games before they became 3d. So we're talking side scrollers from the early 90's and 80's and stuff like that...

But a more recent definition could be anything that looks dated.

So the oldest games that kind of pass for "modern" would be half life 2 and doom 3 - which came out around 2004.

So, you could perhaps say that anything pre 2004 is retro.

I always felt the Sega Saturn was the first relevant modern console so that gen with the PS1 and N64.

7th gen consoles are already retro to me. =P

I refuse to believe that anything released in the 21st century is "retro".

Isn't "retro" a shifting boundary? In 10 years the PS3 will be retro.

I think anything from the Ps1, Saturn, and N64 generation on back is retro.

Snes, when we jumped from 2d to 3d.

to me retro gaming is more often than not about SNES and older system but I do think that the PS2/GC/Xbox are part of the retro gaming as well. One thing for sure, PS3/X360 aren't retro at all.

The PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation was the last "retro" generation as that was before console gaming got ruined by all this DLC/season pass bullshit.

I really miss the good old days of gaming when you actually got a complete game for a complete price.

If I could have seen the direction that console gaming was headed in ten years ago I would have switched to PC gaming a long time ago.

To me only the current gen of the time (right now it's the 8th gen) and the previous gen (the 7th right now) don't count as retro. Anything that comes before the previous gen I consider being retro, that would be the 6th gen and back (PS2, XBox, GC).

And once the next gen comes about (the 9th) then the 7th gen will become retro too.

6th Generation and before that, Gen 5-4-3-2-1.

I consider PS1 and N64 to be retro.

The PS2, Cube, and Xbox still feel somewhat modern.