Sno

The end-of-the-generation retrospective megathread.

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I think the most fascinating story of the previous generation is the rise and fall of the Wii. When it first launched, it was a smash success and practically impossible to find in stores. And that demand continued for years. Granted some of that was Nintendo's inability to figure out how to make enough of the things, but the persistent, heavy demand was there. Wii Sports was pretty much mass market game design perfection and literally everyone and their mom wanted to play it. Microsoft and Sony both rushed to get in on the action with the Move and Kinect (and Sony's last minute addition of gyroscopes in the dualshock). But then slowly it became clear that the simplified controller and meager hardware specs meant hardly any games would be ported from the other two consoles and all those moms never bought any other games so, aside from some shitty party and fitness games, third party support dried up and Nintendo could only put out its big franchise games so quickly. By the end of the generation "waggle" was a dirty word and it was basically a joke to say how long it had been since someone turned their Wii on.

 

The rise and fall of the xbox live arcade is similarly interesting. Microsoft had the small (I hesitate to call it indie) game market locked up at the start of the generation, but their policies would eventually be their undoing and the actual indie market ended up developing on Steam and the PC instead. They did eventually make that indie marketplace, but it was never well promoted or easy to navigate, and was full to the brim with garbage, while the main marketplace required a publisher and had its infamous $40k patch fees. God they blew it so hard on that one.

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Both the Wii and XBLA might be cautionary tales about the complacency and slow-to-react nature of massive corporations, because even when they strike upon something really prescient, they're still much too large and cumbersome to evolve along with it.

Valve could really be described as nimble, when they see something disruptive, they're quick to act upon it and embrace it, turning it to their advantage.

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In regards to the mid tier going away, it's not such a horrible situation. In its place are more indies self-publishing which I see as largely a good thing.

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This past generation redefined what video games mean as a business.

 

A lot of you already brought up pretty much everything that happened. Mobile gaming, while not taking over the video game medium as mobile business people were claiming, grew into a new arena. Not just the platform but the kinds of games that get made on it. Achievements also helped further along the desire for permanence and recognition that MMOs previously served. Instead of "look at my cool level xx class y" people point at their scores or achievement charting and go "fuck yeah." As much as I don't care for the bulk of achievements out there, I like that they exist because they help fill a part of the hole that MMO style games fill.

 

The most important thing was the rise of monetization. It existed before, but not with the sort of vigor and fucked up displays that has happened like day-one on-disc DLC. But what makes it more important than anything is that, as a business question, it remains unanswered. "How do we monetize x? How do we continue to gain profit?" This is why EA and Microsoft freaked me out when the XBone was initially presented, because it was showing itself to be the next ugly face of nickel and diming consumers for content. And I know they recanted those "features," but do you really think they would do so without a plan B or remaining desire to get more money beyond "product was purchased"?

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As for Sony, I used to hate them. Like, back in the N64/Playstation days, I was the hardcorest of Nintendo fanboys. I'm still a huge Nintendo fanboy, and camped out for my Wii back when it launched. That meant that, since Nintendo wasn't really competing with the 360 or PS3, I didn't have to care about the race beyond my petty remaining dislike of Sony. I bought a 360 and revelled in the early days of the PS3 being mocked. I loved that shit. Finally, critical mass happened and I bought a used PS3 to start playing some of the exclusives that I wanted to check out. I'd had a PS2 as well, as I got it free second-hand from my step-dad and played through a few notable games on it, so despite myself I was interested in a couple of sequels. Fast forward like 6 years and Sony has completely won me over and I'm pretty much just flabbergasted at how MS could have so quickly become irrelevant to my gaming. I honestly can't remember the last time I turned on my 360. It was at least 6 months ago. I used my PS3 last week, and my Vita two days ago. For my life, that's a lot. I'm a PS+ subscriber and love the service. I'm not sure how it happened, but over a long period of time, Sony got me. Good job, guys.

This all sounds eerily familiar. I too hated the Playstation and was one of the first kids to get a Nintendo 64 when I was in 6th grade. I don't know why I hated Playstation so much, maybe just because I hated that people thought their "cool kid" 32 bit system was somehow better than my revolutionary 64 bit system. Also, Crash Bandicoot and Twisted Metal were nothing compared to Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. However, I came around during the PS2 era and put fanboyism aside.

Then when the Wii came out I also camped out for a few hours (not sure if that counts as camping out) in front of a store that had a fresh batch of 25 Wiis in stock. I was 23rd in line and had I arrived a few minutes later I would have been fucked. Unfortunately the Wii lost my interest as soon as I picked up a 360 and I only ever used my PS3 as a blu ray player until recently.

Now I would say I'm caught somewhere between Sony, Nintendo, and PC. For whatever reason I've just lost all interest in the Xbox brand.

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Then when the Wii came out I also camped out for a few hours (not sure if that counts as camping out) in front of a store that had a fresh batch of 25 Wiis in stock. I was 23rd in line and had I arrived a few minutes later I would have been fucked.

 

True story: I waited in line at a Wal-Mart in the cold for 40 minutes and got the second-last Wii. It had a broken disc drive right out of the box and had to be sent away for repairs.

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I camped overnight with a bunch of friends for a Wii. I just did it for fun, but when Weiß became impossible to get for the longest time I felt cool having one. I still haven't beaten Twilight Princess.

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Man, I have so many games in my Wii backlog it's kind of ridiculous. Maybe I should just play all that junk instead of pining for a Wii U.

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Also, end of 3rd party controllers. PC gamers used to have various gamepads from different manufacturers, but somehow MS convinced everyone that the Xbox controller is the only one that works on PC. I even have to use an emulator to make the PS3 one work.

 

I actually remember most of the controllers for PCs being awful through the 90s and early 2000s, except for some flight sticks.  Now we have amazing keyboards, mice with a million buttons, groovy half-keyboards with programmable macro buttons and a generally good controller (the 360).  I remember how hardy any games supported gamepads, drivers would be broken and rarely updated and I had to program the controller for most games myself. 

 

It's been an improvement from my previous experience with controllers and the PC.

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I forgot to mention indie devs finally getting a ton of support to do their thing this gen and how next gen is opening up to them (MS under protest) even more. Remarkable.

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Ok, yeah, the controllers thing wasn't wholly negative and yes a lot of those gamepads were crap. Just weird how a whole class of devices seemed to disappear as a single model survived. And of course other kind of input devices are popping up and mice are great etc.

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It's the end of a generation, and for all intents and purposes, everything remains the same.

 

Nintendo is still weird.

 

Microsoft and Sony still think they're relevant.

 

PC gaming still reigns supreme.

 

:oldman:

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For me, this «generation», or rather the past five to seven years, was marked by a few key events:

 

- The switch back to PC after a stint in consoles starting with Gamecube and ending with Xbox 360. Only handhelds forever remain, I love Nintendo handhelds, have since Game Boy.

- Concurring with that, a complete embracing of Steam and digital gaming. I now emphatically don't want to own any more plastic cases carrying plastic discs, taking up valuable space, marking up prices and taking a toll on resources and environment.

- The rise of quality indie games. Some of the best experiences of the past years were from indies: Bastion, FTL, Dear Esther.

- Losing a lot of interest in triple-A games. I still play them, but it's become more and more clear how limited they are. Even the big guns, like Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect, have lost some of their shine due to high frequency or the loss of some undefinable quality. I play only the proven pick of the litter, like Dark Souls.

- I have learned to completely ignore hype of any kind. I don't read previews, I don't wait for games all that much and often I don't even know something's coming until it's already here. And you what? It's fantastic.

- Trend of this year: I've rediscovered adventuring games and love 'em.

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GUH. Just seeing the name reminds me how much I fucking loved Mass Effect 1, all these memories rushing back out of nowhere (most of the best ones from the Citadel, OF COURSE, because it's the best). And I have yet to play 2 or 3. Jesus I loved Mass Effect 1.

 

Maybe I'll finally play 2 soon. I own it! But what if I don't like it. That'd sure suck.

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Now I would say I'm caught somewhere between Sony, Nintendo, and PC. For whatever reason I've just lost all interest in the Xbox brand.

Chalk up another one for fairly suddenly losing all interest in anything Xbox.

I'm mostly a PC gamer, but for any console game in the last six years, given the choice I'd always get it on 360. I really loved XBLA during its golden age (Braid, Rez HD, Rare's N64 remakes, Limbo, Pac-Man C.E.). I love the controller, and even kinda ashamedly liked unlocking cheevos. I own a total of 70 games for 360 and XBLA; compare with my 13 on PS3, which are mostly exclusives.

Sometime in the last two years, actually using the Xbox to play games became an enormous hassle. Just seeing what XBLA games were installed seemed to mean digging through five-pages-deep menus. Buying games on the store was so much effort that I couldn't even find Spelunky (aka best game of the last decade) at release, and made the conscious and almost painful decision to wait for it on PC. It would have been the last Xbox game I bought.

It feels like every single UI update, starting with the NXE, has made the console worse and worse to actually use, while revealing more and more clearly the real, depressingly unimaginative reason Microsoft set out on this enormous multi-billion-dollar decade-long enterprise in the first place: to sell ads and subscriptions. Well, congrats guys, you did it.

Now I'm a PS+ subscriber, strongly considering getting a Vita and PS4, use my 3DS all the time, and haven't touched my Xbox in over a year. I sort of regret choosing 360 over PS3 for so many games. Despite the... fallout (3), the death of GFWL feels like a huge cause for celebration, because it means nothing more will be stuck with it in the future. I don't know how the Xbone is going to fare, but to me it feels like this generation contained both the unexpected rise and unexpected fall of MS in games.

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I ended up with both 360 and ps3 but definitely regret the 360 (which I got first and even replaced once when the first one broke). I went 360 originally because the PS3 came out of the gate ludicrously priced and Mass Effect, Braid and Fez were exclusive and it wasn't such a know quantity (at least to me) that exclusives were basically all times exclusives. Although, for that matter the first Mass Effect never made it over to PS3.

About the only game that owning a 360 exposed me to that I would have been sad to have missed out on was Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. That was a pretty great game.

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About the only game that owning a 360 exposed me to that I would have been sad to have missed out on was Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. That was a pretty great game.

Yeah, there's a handful I missed that I'd still like to go back and try someday, Nuts & Bolts being one of them.

Most of the exclusives I did play that I'd have been sad to miss were on XBLA, stuff like Geometry Wars 2, N+, Rez HD, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie (hmm, remakes). The only full-release exclusives I loved were Dead Rising, Crackdown, and PGR4.

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This is somehow the generation where I stopped playing video games almost entirely and only read about them here or listen to people talking about them on the Idle Thumbs podcast. I have played maybe four games in the last year or two.

 

Part of that is that a baby was born.

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That's not stopping Two-Kids Osmosisch, who I see every day on Steam, so the baby must be you.

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The biggest personal development this gen was having the means to own multiple platforms. Owning a PS2, Xbox and Gamecube just wasn't an option for me ten years back, but the length of this cycle has allowed me to put my finger in lots of pies. Which is just as well because Nintendo really forced our hands with the Wii, for which I'm grateful. Having three near-identical boxes sitting beside each other just for a handful of exclusives would have been interminable - I liked that Nintendo splintered off and made it less of a dick-measuring contest. I also don't quite get people clamouring for next-gen - the pros of a protracted cycle vastly outweight the cons for me as a consumer.

I had a Wii at launch and Bioshock made me get a 360 over PS3 because I always hated Dualshocks and Old Rare were making a new Banjo (*high-fives juv3nal and Laco for Banjo love*). PGR4 and Forza wowed me, I binged on CoD4, The Orange Box and a handful of other multiplatform games. Good times. 2007 was an incredible year in gaming. I got an old PS3 last year to play Thatgamecompany's games and I'll play The Last of Us at some point, although the disc drive is broken. And as a recent Steam/PC convert I'm busy hoovering up all sorts of things. And that's not even mentioning 3DS which is a beautiful beautiful thing.

This generation has seen so many things spring up, from motion to proper online, mobile, the indie explosion, the rise and fall of peripheral rhythm games - it's hard to pin down one defining aspect. But I think the variety and availability of video games have changed beyond recognition in the past 8 years.

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I can remember not using Steam because I hate Steam and still try to avoid using it when I can.  I don't like not owning the games I own.  I like to be able to replay them, and I don't want to only be able to replay them at Valve's mercy, however reliable they look now.  This also applies to other "Games as a Service" things (XBLA, PS+) although I give PlayStation a little leeway because it's so close to free that I just think of it as a bonus.

 

This generation for me has been disappointing. 

 

Nintendo gets most creative when its back is against the wall, and the Wii did so well initially that Nintendo reacted by resting on their laurels and shoveling out some mini-game collections for awhile.  Once the 3DS came out and did *not* sell spectacularly well, they started taking a hard look in the mirror and really going for it again.  We've now seen a steady stream of excellent titles from them again on both 3DS and Wii U, and so naturally their sales have plummeted.  I expect that once they find something profitable again, their games will again suck.

 

The Xbox/PS2/GCN generation wasn't exactly known for the hugely creative output of the major studios, but this generation seems somehow worse, if you're looking at AAA titles.  It's Call of Duty flippin' everywhere, and even the mid-tier "Oh it's just some sci-fi action game" genre seems to be ready for extinction.  When was the last time a non-Mario 3D platformer came out? RPGs will be next on the chopping block, I'll bet, after this latest wave of Skyrim-ization inevitably fails. 

 

The silver lining to all of this is of course the "rise of the indies" which I frankly have not paid attention in the least.  This is almost certainly my own fault.  But, seriously, there are like a thousand of these things.  How on earth am I supposed to pick out which ones are good? I have a limited amount of space in my life for video games, so I rely on things like metacritic scores (I know, I know) and review blogs to tell me when a "must-play" game has arrived.  I am not going to download every indie darling that shows up on Rock Paper Shotgun, sorry, I just can't.  To some extent I can rely on brand names - I know that I'll play most Double Fine and Telltale games, for example - but there simply has to be a mechanism for sorting through the clutter other than "devote your life to video games."

 

Publishers used to be this mechanism.  It used to be the case that if a major publisher put its name on something, it meant some sort of faith in the product as a product itself, not a byproduct of faith in the brand.  Or even the console makers - it used to be the case that console makers would invest in selecting / creating some "high caliber" games.  As far as I can tell, this is no longer the case! 

 

I was reminded recently that it has been almost a decade since Katamari Damacy and Shadow of the Colossus were released.  Has there been an artistic achievement in games as incredible as those games were? (Journey, I guess, is the best counter-argument here, although it did nothing for me personally.) Did we really peak a decade ago? Has the industry driven away all its auteurs?

 

To me, this generation has been a bit of a letdown.  Am I crazy? Or just old and cranky?

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Allow me to puncture that theory about Nintendo, Lobotomy, because it doesn't explain why they were able to create something like Mario Galaxy during the Wii years and two fantastic, original Zelda games on the DS - which was crazy popular.

 

Dartmonkey; 2007, and 2008, were amazing gaming years. That was the high tide of Bioshocks, Assassin's Creeds, Mass Effects, I believe also Mirror's Edge? Truly the year of the passionate triple-A's... followed by a deluge of yearly sequels.

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I gotta say that in general, this last generation was one of my favorites. While I agree that there weren't as many innovations in video games, I do think that there was more innovation in video gaming then we've ever seen in a generation. 

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