Punk Rebel Ecks said:

Half of the time, the complaints of "motion controls being bad" was simply gamers being too lazy to master them.

More than half in my experience.

OoT, the GOAT, the citizen kane of gaming.  Nothing will match the excitements of experiencing all new gameplay mechanics in a 3D world in ways we could not dream of. Not only that the design is still unmatched, the pacing perfect, the game still a blast to play. It was the perfect storm.

Edge is right. That generation lasted SO FUCKING LONG. Especially since the Wii U shat the bed to the point where it didn't feel like we got a legitimately new console until 2013. That would make it 7 years since the PS3 launch and 8 since the 360! That's almost two generations!

And being honest, it certainly felt like it. Dividing the generation from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to to 2013 really paints a different picture on all the consoles.

The Xbox 360 started off very strong. Not only did it start to pull every game announced from the PS3 (sans MGS4) to being multiplatform, but it had quality exclusives of its very own. And thanks to its familiar archetiture, it was almost always the preferred console to play multiplatform games on. And the fact that it was cheaper than the PS3 made "Wii60" a popular combo for people. Unfortunately, once the new decade arrived things started to change. Microsoft no longer gave a shit about exclusives, and many of the existing exclusives the console had went to PC and were often far superior (The Last Remnant). On top of that Microsoft also went down the casual route with Kinect. The difference is, is that there was no "Wii Sports" for it, but despite that it sold well...for a year or so. From the start of that generation to 2009, it was a no brainer to buy 360 if you were a console gamer, but after that...ehh it really just became a multiplat platform, to which even that lost its edge thanks to developers finally getting the hang off the PS3. Unfortuantely, that's also when that generation really started to kick it into high gear.

The Wii is sort of a travesty. There was so much promise with the system. Motion controls revolutionizing gameplay to tailoring fun and engaging games for non-gamers to play and enjoy. The result was only a half fulfilled promise at best. Outside of Skyward Sword, SSX Blur, and the beyond late release of Rodea: The Sky Soldier I can't really think of too many games that fulfill the promise of the former. As for the latter I can think of..........nothing? Taking that out of account the system wasn't nearly as bad as people said it was. From 2006 to 2009 there wasn't too much of a shortage of quality games for the system. Super Mario Galaxy, No More Heroes, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, House of the Dead: Overkill, and Zack and Wiki just to name a few. Add in the Virtual Console and you have a pretty unique and fun platform. It also helped that...well prior 2010, that generation was pretty mediocre. I mean, here's a test, name your top 10 games of that generation and I can guarantee you almost all of them came out either during the 2010s or at the very twilight of the 2000s. Uncharted 2/3, The Last of Us, Dark Souls, Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, etc. This of course isn't to say that there weren't any quality games that came out before that, far from it. But the previous generation definately seemed more bottom heavy than previous ones, especially if you consider how fucking long it was.

Now unfortunately, for the Wii, after 2009 the system basically died. After it's second stream of games culminated to the excellent New Super Mario Bros. Wii, it wouldn't be until halfway into the next year the Wii would get another killer game with Super Mario Galaxy 2. After that, there was Donkey Kong Country: Returns. And after that...the system was essentially a zombie. Nothing really worthwhile would come out until Skyward Sword which was arguably the weakest mainline Zelda entry out there. What hurts so much about this is that this was the same time that Nintendo became insanely conservative about what games they chose to bring over from Japan. Quality titles like Another Code R were left in Japan and Europe, while games like Zangeki no Reginleiv were left in Japan. But what really stung was the lack fo releases for games like Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. This led to fans taking action with Project Rainfall which resulted in the games being brought to North Ameirca. And the result was each of these games far outperforming expectations, which is crazy considering the Wii was on lifesupport then. Unfortunately, this wasn't just Nintendo. Even third parties were relectuant to bring some quality games on the Wii. Such Spike Chunsoft's 428: Shibuya Scramble and most notably Square-Enix's Dragon Quest X. The good news is that Nintendo has learned their lesson as they bring over pretty much everything now. It's worked out well too seeing that Xenoblade 2 is now a million plus seller with America ironically being the biggest market by far.

But to get to the point before I ramble some more, the Wii basically was on life support in the 2010s when it came to quality software, and this is precesiely when all of its rival platforms began to explode. I remember defending the console vigrously in 2000s, but once the 2010s reached...ehh? I mean there wasn't much really coming out for it. The Wii started off as a phenomenon and ended as a little more than a joke. I would also like to add that while the lack of HD made sense in 2006, by the end of its life in 2012 it was insane to not have HD support. If there was any console in modern times that need a "Pro" addition that uped the resolution of the console it would have been the Wii.

The PS3 is a facsinating tale. People forget this, but leading up to 2006 the system expected to dominate everything. The PS2 was an unstoppable juggernaut, and to put things into perspective, America and Canada were the only countries in the entire WORLD where its competitors could put in so much as a dent into its success. For reference the Xbox failed in Japan and struggled in Europe (relative to the American success) and the Gamecube did even worse in Japan and Europe than it did in North America. Sony owned the world and the PS3 was expected to continue that successs. Final Fantasy XIII, Devil May Cry 4, Assassin's Creed, Blazblue, Resident Evil 5, Virtua Fighter 5, and Metal Gear Solid 4. These were some of the big hitter games that were announced for the PS3 as EXCLUSIVES. Unfortunately, for Sony it turns out that Microsoft was courting these games. And the infamous $599 pricepoint was too much for people to bear. After a lackluster launch, the system really struggled and everything was ported to the Xbox 360. What's worse is that the few exclusive titles it had, sans few exceptions like Metal Gear Solid 4 (not really this game also sucked people are just in denial) weren't really up to snuff. I mean I haven't played Resistance but everything I have heard about it was that it was mediocre at best. Nintendo grabbed the PS2's casual market, while Microsoft grabbed the hardcore market. Sony was left with just diehard fans and the niche market of people who wanted both a gaming console and a Blu-Ray player in one.

However, Sony focusing on exclusive titles paid off. Toward the end of the 2000s they were building a nice porfolio of exclusive games. Uncharted 2, Demon's Souls, Metal Gear Solid 4 (not really), and Little Big Planet were titles that turned heads. And the 2010s is when things really kicked it into high gear with Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, Ni No Nu Kuni, and God of War III were some games that defined the system. By the end of the generation I would find it really hard to recommend the Xbox 360 over the PS3. Being that the PS3 was essentially a 360, but with exclusive titles as well. It kind of reminds me of the SNES vs Genesis war. In which, by general consensus, the Genesis had the upper head toward the first half of the generation thanks to a huge library of quality games, but the SNES eventually won it out thanks to high quality exclusives and developers releasing titles on both platforms.

Saying all fo this though, I feel that the system that had the biggest change was the PC. Now to get started, let's assume that PC's "generation" of that erm...generation began when the Xbox 360 launched. Steam just launched one year ago. Let that sink in, Steam was ONE year old. PC gaming was a very different landscape. People still bought physical copies. Console ports were rare, often performed like Devil May Cry 3, and came months if not years after the consoles release. The platform was dominated by FPSes, strategy, and sim titles. And the peak of indie gaming was Darwinia.By the end of the generation Steam didn't just dominate PC gaming, it WAS PC gaming, arguably stronger than it is today. Independent titles made more waves than games being released by big publishers. And console releases were day and date with the standard being that they were smooth as butter. What's more is that now EVERYTHING was on PC. Japanese games that didn't even have a PC version in Japan were being ported over to the PC for the sake of releasing day and date with the Western console versions. Modern PC gaming wasn't only achieved during the previous generation it was also seeded, birthed, and fully developed.

What blows my mind out of all of this though, is that if you count the Wii U as when this generation began, we are less than two years away from reaching the point where the previous generation was when it ended. Maybe it's my age but it certainly doesn't feel as long. But with shit like this, it wouldn't surprise me if this generation lasts even longer than the previous one and I'll end up eating my words.

gamingeek said:

Guys Warframe is up on switch. It's free 😊 and has motion control aiming. Looks great and plays like super fast 3rd person Halo with sword melee too. Also all the missions I played were single player and did I mention, it's free? Well yeah.

May download it later.  I’m close to finishing RDR2.  It’s been over four weeks and I’m now near the end.  I’d love to know how much time I put into the game.

edgecrusher said:

Nice write up Punk.

PC Gaming improved the most out of any sector IMO last gen. Just because it became so much more user friendly than it used to be. What is too bad though, is you don't see mega PC exclusives anymore like you used to. Stuff like Crysis or Dragon Age Origins when they launched. You can get some insane tech on the PC today, but there's really nothing that utilizes it to its full potential. There's no "can it run Crysis?" game out there for PC. Which is a shame because I can only imagine what could be done if a really talented dev truly pushed cutting edge PC tech to the max. The closest I can think of would be Cyberpunk...and even that game has to be designed with (apparently) current gen consoles in mind.

Yeah that was the biggest casualty of PC gaming. PC gaming went from PC gaming to essentially a "Super Console". Which is good because now PCs have virtually every game released on them, but on the other hand there aren't many games being tailored solely for the platform. I was lucky enough to experience Crysis when it was hot (i.e. the last big cutting edge PC game). Playing that game in 2008 felt like I was playing a game meant for the PS4. That being said, it's not really surprising why big PC exclusives died out. Game budgets absolutely exploded last generation as well. $20 million was considered not only AAA in 2006, but "worryingly big". Today that's cost of "AA" development. Game's exclusives to platforms are now strictly a first party thing outside of flash in the pan exceptions.

edgecrusher said:

Nice write up Punk.

PC Gaming improved the most out of any sector IMO last gen. Just because it became so much more user friendly than it used to be. What is too bad though, is you don't see mega PC exclusives anymore like you used to. Stuff like Crysis or Dragon Age Origins when they launched. You can get some insane tech on the PC today, but there's really nothing that utilizes it to its full potential. There's no "can it run Crysis?" game out there for PC. Which is a shame because I can only imagine what could be done if a really talented dev truly pushed cutting edge PC tech to the max. The closest I can think of would be Cyberpunk...and even that game has to be designed with (apparently) current gen consoles in mind.

Sounds like it deteriorated the most to me.

I finished playing through the story modes in Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle for the Switch this weekend. It’s quite a fun fighting game with some interesting characters in it. Some characters I’m familiar with others I’m not but they are all interesting.