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Can the current-gen consoles reach "Best console ever" status?

I dismiss the notion that this generation has produced anything that measure up to be a true classic

absolutely nothing?

Portal? (i'm sure there are more, that was after about 0.4 seconds of thinking)
 
Tain said:
Youthful exuberance? I'm completely in love with a lot of video games that I'm playing for the first time this year that aren't 360-exclusive games.

Please tell me about these 360-exclusive games that are required-loving for serious gamers! I can name some arcade ports, sure, but what original games are there? What would a dude that, say, finishes roguelikes, wrecks everybody in fighting games, and 2-loops STGs need to play on the 360 that he couldn't play elsewhere in order to be considered "serious"?

What do the exclusive have anything to do with my post about my favourite console?

The 360 isn't just great for it's exclusives. At least for me, that's just one part of what makes a great console.

Maybe my use of the word 'serious' was misplaced, but I couldn't think of a better word to describe what I'm going for. As I said, what I posted was purely anecdotal, but then this whole topic is subjective and opinionated so anecdotal evidence is as good as any I guess. It's not like any of us are to know when someone is lying or not, and of course many on here would for whatever strange
not so strange
reason.

In my experience, I know a lot of, not only PS360 owners, but PSWii60 owners, and I'm yet to meet one who prefers either of the PS3 or Wii over the 360. I even have friends who bought the PS3 by default as they've always been Sonybots, or just pretty much only know Playstation, who have since bought 360s in the last year or two that now either flat out don't use their PS3s, or sold them off. This is despite ME telling them to keep their PS3s at the very least as Blu-ray players. Mind you, what makes this even stranger is that now is when the PS3 and 360 library is almost the same, and if anything, most would argue the PS3 has the edge in exclusives overall.

Which means, it's not just the exclusives that make the 360 a compelling package for many. At least not for me. If anything, my Wii carries more exclusives than both my PS3 and 360. My Wii actually has more games overall than my PS3 (how I have no fucking idea, I only just noticed it a couple of months ago).

I think many underestimate the community side of the 360 as a selling point. As we should all know, the world in general is becoming, or has become far more social, and in the console space, it's simply a given that the 360 taps into that side of things more than any other.

That combined with having a pretty big library that covers everything barring platformers really, and the greatest controller ever made, I don't see how it's such a stretch to see it as the best as an overall package.

Yeah, you can point to the Blu-ray and media side of things for the PS3, like many already have (I say PS3 since your post seems to be leaning on looking only at the current gen), but my post was talking about GAMING, not media devices. Hence, as I said, people who are serious about GAMING, and not multimedia.

Yes, as a multimedia device that plays games, the PS3 is unmatched. But as a gaming device, only the Dreamcast has been better than the 360 for me, and even then, I'm starting to give the 360 the edge now.

So yeah, the SNES, Megadrive etc all had classic games and the like, but as an overall package, I just think that the 360 trumps them. Again, the Dreamcast really is up there still as king for me, bu thte 360 gets very close.

Flying_Phoenix said:
Please to God tell me that you were referring during the time the two platforms were competing.

When else? But technically wouldn't it apply to that generation? I mean, the key to the Dreamcast was it's arcade ports of Sega games, 4 player support out of the box and online gaming.

Did that suddenly change by the end of last gen? PS2 didn't have the Dreamcast's arcade ports (at least not all of them), the online was still basically non-existent, and it wasn't a local multiplayer focused console.
 
Omotesando said:
When broken games like Fallout are the cream of the crop this generation, I dismiss the notion that this generation has produced anything that measure up to be a true classic.

Bioshock? Uncharted 2? Mass Effect 2? Gears of War? Red Dead Redemption? Borderlands? LittleBigPlanet?

I'd put these up against anything.
 
Anyone who thinks this generation is substantially better or worse than previous generations is deluding themselves. Every generation produces a small group of excellent games.
 
Guevara said:
Anyone who thinks this generation is substantially better or worse than previous generations is deluding themselves. Every generation produces a small group of excellent games.

The difference this time is that the larger group of "just good" games are still pretty damn good. A game like Enslaved would have bowled people over last generation.
 
theBishop said:
The difference this time is that the larger group of "just good" games are still pretty damn good. A game like Enslaved would have bowled people over last generation.

This.

I'm 30 and I even I can admit nostalgia is a bitch to shake off. I periodically set up my old consoles all the time (currently just set up my SNES, and started Super Metroid again) and in most cases, I can't believe I enjoyed the games I enjoyed.

But when you're a dumb kid, you don't know any better, and that's fine, you enjoy games for what they were BACK THEN. But people thinking games we play now don't shit all over games back then a deluding themselves.

This gens games will be the same. In 10, 20 years, we'll come back to today's games and wonder how the fuck we even played them.
 
Omotesando said:
When broken games like Fallout are the cream of the crop this generation, I dismiss the notion that this generation has produced anything that measure up to be a true classic.

Stop playing games, you lost interest in them.
 
I agree with 2 minutes when it comes to community the 360 is king and that is a big deal this gen.

I could never go back to playing lonsome with no friends list, no online multi, no leaderboards, no group chat of last gen.
 
Arpharmd B said:
I agree with 2 minutes when it comes to community the 360 is king and that is a big deal this gen.

I could never go back to playing lonsome with no friends list, no online multi, no leaderboards, no group chat of last gen.

Or find some PS3-owning friends. I really don't believe the "Xbox Live Community" is better than PSN users. Do you actually feel more warm and friendly playing Black Ops on PS3 vs 360?

What matters more is what your friends are using. I agree if all my friends were playing Red Dead Redemption on 360, that's the system I'd buy it on.
 
so I'm a multimedia over gaming guy since PS3 is my preferred system this gen?

I guess you learn something new about yourself every day.
 
Not for me. The PS2 is unbeatable to me. I played so many games on it that can't be topped. That were new and exciting for me and leave an impression on me. This , while I've played lots of great games, few games have left there marks on me. I'm left wanting more interesting and unique titles. 2010 was defiantly the high point ,but 2011 looks pretty weak. At the end of the day though it's mostly because Japan hasn't been at it's best. I'm no weaboo ,but I do love Japanese games.
 
CozMick said:
I see a consoles success by it's hardware..........

6 xbox 360's, 3 nintendo DS's, 2 psp's and a PS3 later, yeah! it blows.

Wow. that blows man. I wouldnt ever go more than 2 systems.

1 Xbox360 (Launch, no failure yet)
1 Wii
1 PS3
2 DS 1 Fat traded in then got a Lite

This gen has been fantastic to me though. one of my favs. Had some amazing Wii games, in love with DCKR. DS was Fantastic and the Xbox Live experience as well as XBLA has been stellar
 
Flying_Phoenix said:
I don't see what made the SNES so great. Yeah it had great first party, big games, and great JRPG's, but that was it.

I think you should probably spend a little more time with the SNES library.

First, in the three categories you mentioned, it had a number of serious "best of all time" contenders.

Second, the number of categories it excels in far exceeds what you're giving it credit for, particularly with regards to platforming but also other minor genres as well.
 
theBishop said:
Or find some PS3-owning friends. I really don't believe the "Xbox Live Community" is better than PSN users. Do you actually feel more warm and friendly playing Black Ops on PS3 vs 360?

In a weird way, yes.

I played Resistance 2 online when it launched (I need to go back to this for all the trophies) and it just felt....empty.

Despite 60 people actually being in the game at the time, NO ONE was saying anything, and it just felt lifeless and messy. Ditto for Killzone 2. For some reason, no one says anything. Not sure if that's changed now, but the last online PS3 game I played was Uncharted 2. Even then, the chatter was very very minimal.

I'm aware there's the other extreme which you tend to find more so on Xbox Live, which is the racism and biggotry, but I guess I don't have an issue with that being Greek. I'm so used to copping racial slurs and the like from a very young age, that I'm immune to it. Admittedly, I actually have a laugh most of the time hearing guys piss each other off on Live. Good or bad chatter at least it's SOMETHING.

If you're going to play in silence, then just play with bots set to a difficulty of your liking.

I like being able to party chat, cross invite, chat with friends playing one game while I play another. These are the sort of things that are hard to give up now. I find many feel that way once they've experienced it. If you don't have then you don't know any better, which goes back to my anecdote earlier.
 
Can the current-gen consoles reach "best console ever" status?

Curious thread. Truthfully, I don't give a shit. But for fun if I had to compare my past experiences within a single generation to this generation; thus far, not really. We have a few more years left so who knows.

Some of my fav generations? The SNES/Genesis/TurboGrafx-16 and the N64/PS1/Saturn not to far behind.
 
2 Minutes Turkish said:
Despite 60 people actually being in the game at the time, NO ONE was saying anything, and it just felt lifeless and messy. Ditto for Killzone 2. For some reason, no one says anything. Not sure if that's changed now, but the last online PS3 game I played was Uncharted 2. Even then, the chatter was very very minimal.
I play Halo on XBL and rarely anyone talks and the people who do have headsets are in party chat. Then I get messages after I do really well in games, calling me a "fucker" and a "c*nt", so yay Xbox Live community?
 
Anyone saying anything but SNES or Mega Drive is purely because of lack of age.

It really is!

Current generation consoles don't have what it takes to compete with the epicness that were the cartridge generation.
 
DS, sure, even with its tech issues.

On the other hand, even the PSP is probably closer than any of the consoles.
Wii is a first-party monster, but it's been abandoned by most serious third-party development. Capcom may throw it more MT Lite bones, Nintendo's support for smaller devs may occasionally pay off, but it's not going to have the broad-based support that any of the past generation winners have.
PS3 and 360, straight up, share too much to be standouts. Neither is ever going to hit the mass-market size necessary to guarantee a niche for almost anything either.
PS3 won't overcome its price burden until after it's obsoleted, and has a wide variety of janky ports.
360 specializes in courting particular niches and development ecosystems, which makes it a great choice for some genres and a middling choice for others. Many of its headliners are also PC ports and can run far better there, increasingly even on commodity hardware.
 
I'd say the 360 has well and truly reached best console ever status - before that it was a close tie between dreamcast/ps2/snes.

I'm not going to into lists of games and pros/cons etc. But I will say that I own all the current gen consoles and I could name an easy 20-30 games off the top of my head that I have played in he last few years that were fucking amazing. Out of these 90% of them would have been a game I played/downloaded on 360 regardless of exclusivity or whatever. On top of that this has been my first major experience with console online gaming - and xbox live's content and features are fantastic, playing with friends is way more fun than I expected (likewise on ps3) and the cross game chat is a seemingly little thing that makes a huge difference to the way I play even single player games. Telling a friend my latest assassins creed MP kill, while he tells me about the car he just won while he desperately tries to finish a championship so he can join my session etc - never gets tired and makes gaming a far more social experience than I would have expected I would enjoy.

Also this gen had bayonetta. Instant best gen and console(s) ever.
 
CozMick said:
Anyone saying anything but SNES or Mega Drive is purely because of lack of age.

It really is!

Current generation consoles don't have what it takes to compete with the epicness that were the cartridge generation.

No. I'm 30, and believe the Dreamcast and 360 out do the SNES/Megadrive quite comfortably.

It's actually our age that blinds us to the rose coloured glasses we're wearing. Going back and playing my old Megadrive/SNES games (which I'm doing right now with my SNES) is not that fun at all most of the time.

The only games on my SNES that I can enjoy thoroughly now are still Super Punch Out and Donkey Kong Country. Everything else is pretty much painful.
 
I'm sure I'll be ruffaling a lot of feathers, but for me, the PS3 was the only "great" console this generation, and that was only through the launch of Infamous. To me, console gaming is an experience, like your first day of high school, or a first kiss. There has to be a sense of pantomime to the whole thing. The "all inclusive," blue ocean online motion control scene has ruined it for me. If I wanted the optimal gaming experience, I'd play on PC. Plain and simple, laying out for all to see, PC gaming is a better technical experience. You play on consoles because its an experience which you won't forget. The bad AI in Goldeneye, or the music and artwork of Donkey Kong. What about the secrets in Twisted Metal 2? Console gaming is supposed to be about colorful worlds, playing co op till 2 AM with your buddies on the couch, and scraping up enough money to get that new game which you can't afford. For me, console gaming was something that was special, different and unique. You played console games, because the pretty girls and jocks didn't. Remember when PS1 and PS2 launched? It was cool. Why? Because it was exclusive and different.

Today's consoles don't get it. The wii is not cool. Why? Its a fad that your mom is into. I don't care about the xteenth iteration of the online, motion controlled Activision FPS. Where's the heart and soul? Its just a bunch of morons screaming at me online. PS3 had a bit of that magic in 07, but they lost it after they did move and the slim. Back when PS3 was the "uncool," box, the few people who had it had a special experience playing Motorstorm and Resistance and Warhawk. The Wii and 360 fans laughed at us, but we just kept quiet and smiled, because there was something special about being a PS3 owner that they would never understand. For me, the magic of console gaming was between the zenith of the SNES and the first year of PS2. The games were just "cool" Hell, I could play a bad N64 game longer than most good PS3 games. There was a style to it all, that it wasn't just to buy Bobby Kotick another Ferrari. It was more than a business, it was a lifestyle, and you either lived it, or you didn't, you just didn't.

The greatest console of all time? PS1, undoubtedly. Not the most powerful, most featured, most connected or most popular. Greatest. The PS1, what it stood for, and what it did, will never be duplicated. The success of the PS1 may have led to the dull, brown, waggle world we have, but for those precious few years, videogaming was more than just a plaything, it was magical.
 
Jay Sosa said:
I grew up with the NES and SNES but my favorite console is and probably always will be the PSX (just remember how many awesome franchises were started on that console), so for me it has nothing to do with age.

I feel it's a lot about life situation. Grew up with SNES and Psx but my time with the SNES was much more trouble laden. So I adored my PSX much more.
Though Super Mario World... oh yeah. And Rock n Roll Racing.

But the PS2 never had a chance, no matter how awesome it's software library.

3DS will be the console of the foreva
 
Let me put it this way, would you consider any of the movies made in the past 10 years "greatest of all time," or any of the music? (Lord of the Rings nonwithstanding, of course)
 
2 Minutes Turkish said:
No. I'm 30, and believe the Dreamcast and 360 out do the SNES/Megadrive quite comfortably.

It's actually our age that blinds us to the rose coloured glasses we're wearing. Going back and playing my old Megadrive/SNES games (which I'm doing right now with my SNES) is not that fun at all most of the time.

The only games on my SNES that I can enjoy thoroughly now are still Super Punch Out and Donkey Kong Country. Everything else is pretty much painful.

F-Zero will always be awesome. Super Mario kart will always be awesome. Super Metroid will always be awesome. SMW will always be awesome. Do I even NEED to fucking bring up Chrono Trigger, which would whoop your jaded ass back in line after one playthrough?

Your opinion is just... puke.
 
Clemsontigers35 said:
Let me put it this way, would you consider any of the movies made in the past 10 years "greatest of all time," or any of the music? (Lord of the Rings nonwithstanding, of course)
No, but people didn't think much of Citizen Kane when it came out as well.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I think you should probably spend a little more time with the SNES library.

First, in the three categories you mentioned, it had a number of serious "best of all time" contenders.

Second, the number of categories it excels in far exceeds what you're giving it credit for, particularly with regards to platforming but also other minor genres as well.

Donkey Kong Country series
Super Mario World
Yoshi Island
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Secret of Mana
Super Metroid

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Yes, yes I am aware of the SNES's god-like library. It just really lacked in arcade and action games in which the Genesis dominated.

I guess what I"m saying is that IMO to claim "the best console ever" title a system should cover a near endless amount of genres. But being honest the more I type the more I see that I am wrong and you are right.
 
Flying_Phoenix said:
Donkey Kong Country series
Super Mario World
Yoshi Island
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Secret of Mana
Super Metroid

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Yes, yes I am aware of the SNES's god-like library. It just really lacked in arcade and action games in which the Genesis dominated.

I guess what I"m saying is that IMO to claim "the best console ever" title a system should cover a near endless amount of genres. But being honest the more I type the more I see that I am wrong and you are right.

It's got Contra III, various Turrican games and the best versions of MK2 and NBA TE. What more do you need?
 
I think this will make my point. What games of this generation have been breakout hits?

Gears of War
Halo
Wii "insert verb or noun here"
Uncharted
Mass Effect
COD

Except for Wii "blank" games, which were sold on the strength of the peripheral behind them, the other games are either sci-fi shooters or modern day shooters. Gears of War and Uncharted play very similarly, so do COD and Halo, vehicles aside. Mass Effect is the only really unique game there, but it also is headed more toward a Gears style of play. All of these games have the same storyline, give or take. You have to stop some impending doom by killing lots of baddies. Along the way, you will gain some advantage which turns the tide of battle. They all were heavily hyped out the wazoo. When was the last time you were surprised by a game? I guess Batman was very good, but in earlier generations, the diversity of genres and choice was refreshing. On PS2, you could go from SSX snowboarding to Ratchet and Clank platforming to an RPG to a shooter to GT4. Now, everything is an FPS or will become one within the hour. There is too much predictibility and marketing, not enough surprise, camp, and fun, to be honest, in the industry.
 
If you include DS and all the assorted re-releases and digital distribution games then possibly. DS alone is probably my fave console ever because it has so many old classics that I love and also great new games which harken back to the old days - they have to be well designed and delivered because they cant hide behind patches and graphics.

But if you were to critique the generation as a whole from say a research or journalistic stance, I'd have to say no. this feels like a transitional generation to me. Online stuff is still developing, everyones trying to get to grips with motion and touch technology, trusted genres haven't figured out multiplayer properly and others are wracking their brain trying to make a game fresh compared to its rivals and predecessors. others are trying to cope with recession, rising game development costs, stagnating game design mechanics and pickier, wiser consumers.

Alot of games are wracked with awful AI, menus, poorly designed achievements or shoe horned "gotta have this mechanic" crap.

Some games are just badly designed. Others are genius but for technical problems. We still struggle for good stories.

Also , Japan to me feels almost bankrupt creativity-wise. There was a time when all the major devs from Japan would release reliably good games but even now, almost every game that comes out of Japan is a "its good if you can forgive this and that about it". Very few classics from Japan this gen.

But has it been my most enjoyable gen? Almost certainly. For the first time I could play with friends easily thanks to online, and I have a good job so I can afford any game I want.

I'd be interested in listing all the genres and pitting the standout games from this gen against previous gens. We're very shooter heavy this gen but might be underrepresented in others.
 
Man God said:
It's got Contra III, various Turrican games and the best versions of MK2 and NBA TE. What more do you need?

Yes. Alien Wars is BEAST. MK2, NBA Jam, Street Fighter 2 Turbo is BEAST.

Damnit SNES. BEAST.
 
CozMick said:
Anyone saying anything but SNES or Mega Drive is purely because of lack of age.

It really is!

Current generation consoles don't have what it takes to compete with the epicness that were the cartridge generation.

I disagree.

The SNES and Mega Drive generation was pretty incredible. SNES had some timeless classics whereas the Mega Drive had the variety. My Mega Drive collection is probably the second largest on a platform basis (behind C64).

But, the current generation of games and consoles surpasses previous generations in my opinion. There are more high quality games out there than ever before, downloadable content and indie games, as well as all the integrated online play and social networking. I think there's a great argument to make that a current gen console could be called the 'best ever'.
 
Clemsontigers35 said:
Let me put it this way, would you consider any of the movies made in the past 10 years "greatest of all time," or any of the music? (Lord of the Rings nonwithstanding, of course)

Y-Yes?
 
Clemsontigers35 said:
PS3 had a bit of that magic in 07, but they lost it after they did move and the slim. Back when PS3 was the "uncool," box, the few people who had it had a special experience playing Motorstorm and Resistance and Warhawk. The Wii and 360 fans laughed at us, but we just kept quiet and smiled, because there was something special about being a PS3 owner that they would never understand.

:lol
 
DS? Yes. The rest? HELL NO!

PS3 and 360 are good consoles, Wii is "fair" i guess. But no, they aren't the best of anything.
 
2 Minutes Turkish said:
No. I'm 30, and believe the Dreamcast and 360 out do the SNES/Megadrive quite comfortably.

It's actually our age that blinds us to the rose coloured glasses we're wearing. Going back and playing my old Megadrive/SNES games (which I'm doing right now with my SNES) is not that fun at all most of the time.

The only games on my SNES that I can enjoy thoroughly now are still Super Punch Out and Donkey Kong Country. Everything else is pretty much painful.

See, you try to make a good point and then ruin it by making this post.
 
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