Worst gen ever?

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

Nope, I think the last generation was the worst. There was nothing new besides a few things. However, this generation offers a lot of new content that will expand our horizons for gaming.

As long as the GEN doesn't have real-time events, I'll be okay :)

Yes, I think this gen is the worst. Everything is trying to be so lifelike and I play games to escape reality, not be reminded of it. I understand that some are not lifelike at all, but even those are not that fun.

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

istuffedsunny

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

istuffedsunny

Unless you're a stockholder in a first party, I don't see why multiplatform games would bother you. Of course, I'm just a gamer...

No. Personally I think the PS1,Saturn,N64 generation was the worst. Yeah it introduced 3D but took almost the whole gen to get it right,and it never reached its potential untill last gen.mattykovax

My thoughts exactly. Yeah, it was exciting that games were suddenly moving closer to "virtual reality," but it pretty much set the industry back to the Atari 2600 days, as developers spent the entire generation trying to figure out how to make the games look good, play well, and what to do with the camera. The next generation refined 3D games so much (especially in terms of frame rates and character/camera control) that many of those N64/PSX/Saturn games are difficult to go back to.

[QUOTE="mattykovax"]No. Personally I think the PS1,Saturn,N64 generation was the worst. Yeah it introduced 3D but took almost the whole gen to get it right,and it never reached its potential untill last gen.CrashMan09

My thoughts exactly. Yeah, it was exciting that games were suddenly moving closer to "virtual reality," but it pretty much set the industry back to the Atari 2600 days, as developers spent the entire generation trying to figure out how to make the games look good, play well, and what to do with the camera. The next generation refined 3D games so much (especially in terms of frame rates and character/camera control) that many of those N64/PSX/Saturn games are difficult to go back to.

Last gen was kind of lacking in terms of leaving big mark,

but it was full of great sleeper hit gems.

Best gaming gen for me was PS1 era followed by SNES era. PS2 era, I'd give them a tie with NES era.

So far this era has yet to leave really big mark, nor had many sleeper hit gems. So far, only great thing that happened in this gen is fighting game revival with online matches.

At current rate, if things don't pick up then I'd say DS might be the system that shined most in this gen.

That doesn't mean that the PSX gen was bad...it means it was the pioneer of a new type of VG. 3D had never been tried, so it would take some time to get it right.sayyy-gaa

First of all, I didn't dismiss the entire generation as "bad." I simply said that, with the industry going to through the growing pains of trying to adapt to a new format, the games suffered. So, in comparison to the two console generations book-ending the N64/PS1 era, it was indeed the "worst."

If anything, that means the DC/PS2/Xbox/GCN era was a bad gen by that definition because it added absolutely nothing new.sayyy-gaa

By what definition?

What you're saing is that every generation that didn't re-invent the way video games were played is "bad."

No. Personally I think the PS1,Saturn,N64 generation was the worst. Yeah it introduced 3D but took almost the whole gen to get it right,and it never reached its potential untill last gen.mattykovax

I was thinking - the THANKFULLY short era of SegaCD / and games were trying to become lifelike by using filmed actors and u clicked which direction they go. Remeber that?? :cry:

I love realism, so I'm one happy camper.

No, pre-NES 8-bit gen was the worst. The vast majority of games were crap, graphics didn't really improve, sound never really improved, and overall the whole industry was basically stagnant until the mid-80's.

That said, I'd also agree with the poster who said the 32/64 bit gen was the worst. It was like gaming's puberty in that it was a very awkward transition. The only reason a lot of the games we played back then were bearable is because we weren't used to anything better. Fighting the game's controls just as much as the AI was a fact of life and muddy, blocky graphics were impressive simply because they weren't 2D.

Here we go again. How many threads are there like these, bashing the current gen. If you think its that bad, sell your current gen machine and continue to play the old games.

I don't understand the OT's point of "playing people online instead of making IRL friends". If thats important to you, then make more IRL friends.

Personally, I think playing people online adds to gaming competition, rather than just playing with your friends, you can play people all over the world to see how good you really are.

DLC - yes this does have some bad content and, in some cases, rip off the consumer. However, the up side is that you can buy a game for $10 whilst you're waiting for a AAA title to come out.

Seriously, I don't see why people continue to bash this gen.

Last gen was waaaaaay worse.

I don't agree with any of your points, although I do think this is one of the worst gens ever. But i'd give the #1 spot to NES era and earlier. Outside of Nintendo developed games, there was ALOT of garbage. The average game was garbage.

I don't just mean graphics, which i'm not even counting. The gameplay for alot of these games was terrible. Games were brutally hard. Hard to the point where I don't even think the developers could beat them. And it wasn't hard because of some super intelligent AI that could outsmart you. The games just threw impossible obstacles. The only concept of good gameplay was being impossible to beat. Most of these games can't stand the test of time. The ones that can were published by Nintendo 90% of the time.

[QUOTE="istuffedsunny"]

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

CarnageHeart

Unless you're a stockholder in a first party, I don't see why multiplatform games would bother you. Of course, I'm just a gamer...

No kidding, right? I have a game for my 360, which is also on PS3, how does that lessen the inherent quality of the game? This generation is bulging at the seems with quality releases, especially on the digital front. I have over seventy games downloaded to my 360, and I can't think of any of them that focus on realism. The only games that seem to do that are racing sims like Forza and Gran Turismo. Do you wanna make an argument for Halo being uber realistic? I mean, what's not realistic about shooting midget aliens who throw glowing glue bombs? I'm not sure how 'Splosion Man, Marvel versus Capcom 2, Secret of Monkey Island HD, Fat Princess etc. are so realistic that it ruins them. Actually I take that back, Secret of Monkey Island is totally realistic, I was just vacationing there last week. Game is dead on, friggin' pirates.

Also, a good bit of adult gamers play online because it's not so easy to get people together to play videogames, the logistics when me and most of the people I know work fourty plus hours a week and have families etc. just doesn't work out. It's easier to hop on Live or PSN later that afternoon or night and squueze in a hour or two, meeting other like minded people and adding them to my friend list is just a pleasant bonus.

Worst gen? Not sure. Most disappointing? Absolutely.

Mainly due to the fact that all 3 companies really had a good shot at claiming the best system and blew it. Microsoft? Expanded their genres, gained more support and improved xbox live and threw away their shot with crap hardware. Sony dominated 2 generations, and by all accounts could have ridden in this gen on name alone, but less support mainly caused by the price of their console cost them. Nintendo despite being the clear weakest of the three had a grand scale opportunity to close out this gen as the clear cut winner, but catered too much to one end of the gaming spectrum to the other.

Other than that TC, I would somewhat agree with you that this gen is one of the worst, but not for the reasons you have outlined in your post. If there's anything that I find disappointing, its the relentless outpouring of mini-game compilations and casual games that have contributed nothing other than to further create this massive cultural divide between the hardcore and the casual. Despite what the media tells you, its not bringing more people into gaming. Yes, they're interested in games that don't require a lot of skill like Wii Sports and Carnival Games, but are they expanding their tastes into some of the more traditional stuff? Even with the Wii's success, there are lots of people who still see videogames as a kids hobby, and as long as that remains to be the case, our industry can never be as liberal as far as artistic expression on sexual themes is concerned.

This gen has been very dissapointing.

My real beef is too many damn sequels and not enough developers taking chances. Other than that, it's had its ups and downs.

I was playing inFamous the other day, dangling from a power line, launching bolts of energy with my free hand at enemies several dozen feet belowwhen it hit me:

What games allow us to do is nothing short of miraculous.

This generation has afforded us some truly mind-blowing experiences and yet all I read and hear are a bunch of whiny gamers talking crap and tearing down the hard work of others.I've been playing games since their inception and the medium only continues to improve, allowing for some incredibly diverse and layered experiences unlike anything people could have even fathomed twenty years ago.

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

istuffedsunny

I was playing inFamous the other day, dangling from a power line, launching bolts of energy with my free hand at enemies several dozen feet belowwhen it hit me:

What games allow us to do is nothing short of miraculous.

This generation has afforded us some truly mind-blowing experiences and yet all I read and hear are a bunch of whiny gamers talking crap and tearing down the hard work of others.I've been playing games since their inception and the medium only continues to improve, allowing for some incredibly diverse and layered experiences unlike anything people could have even fathomed twenty years ago.

Grammaton-Cleric

This is the best technology wise, however the people who play are typically the worst. I'm personally sick of the 11yr old ethugs and plain morons commiting stupidity on most MMO's. I'd have a high body count if I could actually face these *beep*s in real life. All I can say is, most of the MMO players are due for a good a$$ kicking for their online behavior. If they saw me in real life, there is a 100% chance they would NOT say to me what they type. Sick of the "ur mom", "L2Pnoob", "U suc *insert cussing 12 yr old word*".

Other than that, the games are good for the experience of PvE, PvP, and world emerging. Not only are the games better, but now in this age, you don't have to worry about anyone using dialup, not having a good graphics card or enough RAM, etc. Only thing I can complain about in addition is that many MMO's don't have good class balance in PvP.

this gen is somewhat dissapointed me, im not sure why, maybe as I get older , it takes more to impress me, or maybe games really have gotten worse, but something has been lost, at least thats what I feel

there are still good games, but not as many

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"]

[QUOTE="istuffedsunny"]

Anyone else think this is the worst gaming gen yet? There's so much focus on realism, lots of exclusives go multi despite what their developers and those "Only on..." stamps imply, people playing online instead of attempting to make IRL friends, and last but certainly not least--probably the biggest downfall of gaming as far as I'm concerned--DLC. Do you agree, and if not which do you think was the worst gen for gaming?

ViewtifulScott

Unless you're a stockholder in a first party, I don't see why multiplatform games would bother you. Of course, I'm just a gamer...

No kidding, right? I have a game for my 360, which is also on PS3, how does that lessen the inherent quality of the game? This generation is bulging at the seems with quality releases, especially on the digital front. I have over seventy games downloaded to my 360, and I can't think of any of them that focus on realism. The only games that seem to do that are racing sims like Forza and Gran Turismo. Do you wanna make an argument for Halo being uber realistic? I mean, what's not realistic about shooting midget aliens who throw glowing glue bombs? I'm not sure how 'Splosion Man, Marvel versus Capcom 2, Secret of Monkey Island HD, Fat Princess etc. are so realistic that it ruins them. Actually I take that back, Secret of Monkey Island is totally realistic, I was just vacationing there last week. Game is dead on, friggin' pirates.

Yeah, the guy's whole post was baseless, but I figured I'd focus on the most ridiculous part of it.

I've been gaming 32 years and I agree with you and Grammaton that there is an amazing amount of great stuff out there.

Its hilarious that some people twist themselves into knots trying to find reasons to whine. 'I enjoyed games like Tomb Raider, RE and MGS back when I played them, but if I had known how much better gameplay, game design, camerawork and graphics would be a decade later I would have known how much they sucked and laughed contemptuously at them!' :roll:.