Seventh Generation: The Years of Stagnation

[Chilly Willy]

The idea of the thread is nonsense. You're looking at the end result of more than a decade of games and decrying new consoles because they haven't surpassed it in approximately one year. MORONS!!

Post this kind of thread after the latest generation is AT LEAST five years old. See, you've forgotten the most basic rule of all: 99% of everything is GARBAGE. After five years, you get a handful of titles that are truly innovative, as some of the titles on lists posted in the thread show. But since 99% of everything is garbage, it takes time for them to build up. It's been NINE YEARS since the release of the PS2 in Japan. Compare the "innovative" titles for the PS3 after the same amount of time has elapsed or you're just being retarded.

Ditto for XBox/360 and NGC/Wii.

[InternalPrimate]

I think what it is is that the industry (among the consoles, at least) is in a comfort zone. I think 3D technology peaked (to some degree) last generation, so that's when developers went nuts with finally bringing refined 3D play mechanics and artistic expression together. After the growing pains of the PSX/N64 generation, games now looked and played fantastic.

This generation is just a minor evolution of the last. Games look even better, but they play the same, because there hasn't really been a need to make any improvements.

However, I think as we get deeper into this economic slump (with more and more developers going bankrupt), I think we'll see more of them trying to push the envelope and really bring their "A" games to make some bonafide hits. Developers like EA really seem to be trying lately. So I predict that this generation will end better than it began.

I think this theory is partly why the Wii has been so successful. Such a major leap in graphics was made in the transition from PS1/N64 to PS2/GC/Xbox that the latest leap feels smaller by comparison. And because it feels smaller, people have seemingly excused the Wii for being "a Gamecube with motion controls".

That being said, I also agree with Elusive in that the advancement in technology has allowed for better - more polished - gameplay. It'll be exciting to see where the industry goes from here. I'm predicting more motion controls though

[MrMatthews]

Disagree (I think).

Of course you do.

Let me harken back to something I said originally in this thread: I don't need game systems to re-invent the wheel each generation. What some people call "stagnation," I call "re-using what we got right the last time around." If something isn't broken, it doesn't necessarily need to be fixed. Game mechanics shared by several hundred games can still be fun.

[Metal_Sonic]

The idea of the thread is nonsense. You're looking at the end result of more than a decade of games and decrying new consoles because they haven't surpassed it in approximately one year. MORONS!!

Post this kind of thread after the latest generation is AT LEAST five years old. See, you've forgotten the most basic rule of all: 99% of everything is GARBAGE. After five years, you get a handful of titles that are truly innovative, as some of the titles on lists posted in the thread show. But since 99% of everything is garbage, it takes time for them to build up. It's been NINE YEARS since the release of the PS2 in Japan. Compare the "innovative" titles for the PS3 after the same amount of time has elapsed or you're just being retarded.

Ditto for XBox/360 and NGC/Wii.

+1

[jerry coeurl]

And because it feels smaller, people have seemingly excused the Wii for being "a Gamecube with motion controls".

That's what it seems like to me, though. I mean the console itself really isn't that much more powerful, is it?

Anyway, I excused the Wii because it hasn't (as of yet) released any titles of interest to me. Same for 360 and PS3. I could care less about amazing graphics; my biggest issue with the Wii (aside from a lack of games that I care to play) is that it's touted "revolutionary" control scheme hasn't really been implemented in any way that is really that impressive. So what you're left with (imo) is an overclocked GC with gimmicky controls. It seems like the whole basis of its design is for something that I could really care less about.

[InternalPrimate]

That's what it seems like to me, though. I mean the console itself really isn't that much more powerful, is it?

Anyway, I excused the Wii because it hasn't (as of yet) released any titles of interest to me. Same for 360 and PS3. I could care less about amazing graphics; my biggest issue with the Wii (aside from a lack of games that I care to play) is that it's touted "revolutionary" control scheme hasn't really been implemented in any way that is really that impressive. So what you're left with (imo) is an overclocked GC with gimmicky controls. It seems like the whole basis of its design is for something that I could really care less about.

I'd agree that the mass majority of games are gimmicky, but there are a few that I do consider "revolutionary". I really prefer pointer controls to analog control, not just in FPS, but in 3rd person games as well. Perfect example being RE4. I love how RE5 plays, but isn't even close to being optimal, which I thought RE4 was for the Wii.

So I guess you could say, when done right, I think IR control is revolutionary. Motion control though, moving the controller to replicate a button press, is gimmicky. At best, the Wii can achieve a sort of arcade-like experience (ExciteTruck, Beat. Trip Beat, Marble Saga, Madworld), at worst it can fail on every level (Marvel Ultimate Alliance).

[TheEdge]

Instead, I think we've moved beyond 'bolting on another graphics chip' console design, and more towards 'better the gaming experience overall'. For example, now that we've got consoles that can be attached to the Internet 24/7, we can patch games! we can download new content for our existing games!

Very true, I didn't even think of that.

Since many new games are pretty much PC game shoveled on to consoles we see that more and more of them have glitches and bugs. Now we can use the finally fine tuned console internet connection to fix and expand on the games we already have.

Good Point.

[Nicpezer]

Instead, I think we've moved beyond 'bolting on another graphics chip' console design, and more towards 'better the gaming experience overall'. For example, now that we've got consoles that can be attached to the Internet 24/7, we can patch games! we can download new content for our existing games! we can download entirely new games altogether! we can play against other people and call them faggots from our sofas without them being in the same country!

Something I never realized until a few days ago was the nice addition of DLC. PCs have always had mods and expansions released for their games but consoles never really got that privilege. Now you have a whole new narrative like The Lost and Damned added to GTA4 with a narrative that I thought was better than the original game. Then you have additions made for Fallout 3, which lengthen the game a little bit. On the PS3 you have Little Big Planet where people are getting really creative with the tools they can use to make levels of their own, and at times pay an homage to some classics. The arcade, PSN, and Wii ware/VC are also great additions as well.

Post this kind of thread after the latest generation is AT LEAST five years old. See, you've forgotten the most basic rule of all: 99% of everything is GARBAGE. After five years, you get a handful of titles that are truly innovative, as some of the titles on lists posted in the thread show. But since 99% of everything is garbage, it takes time for them to build up. It's been NINE YEARS since the release of the PS2 in Japan. Compare the "innovative" titles for the PS3 after the same amount of time has elapsed or you're just being retarded.

I wouldn't exactly call some of the games released on the PS2 from 07 to the present innovative, some of the stuff is just the same shovelware on the Wii, some are on consoles of this generation, and the last bit are just JRPGs.

Sure by the end of the generation we might see some innovative titles, but I just compare some of the titles that came out during the first two years of the Game Cube, and PS2, to titles on the PS3 and the Wii in that same time span. There is only two titles that stand out on the PS3 and one on the Wii, and it's a stretch.