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[nightfly]

I really enjoyed the 2000s more, the PS2 was worth all the hype, devs focused more on actually making their games playable before the day 1 patch garbage. And online gaming was a lot more fun.

 

[Brigandier]

2000-2010 was for me the golden era of gaming.

 

[German Shocks]

2010's were legendary.

2000's were transcendent.

 

[An Corp]

2000's easily.

1999 I started UO and got really into it in the early 2000's. One of the my best gaming experience to date. Then Perfect Dark on N64, me and my brother played so much together. FFIX and X. Halo, Gears of War, God of War…

World of Warcraft, blew open the doors of MMO's and gaming. Half-Life 2 still looks good today, Counter Strike.

I mean my god, some of the best games of all time released in this era.

 

[bbw_lover87]

2000-2010 golden years

 

[Gaiff]

2000s by a wide margin. Far more innovation and by the late 2000s, games were starting to become as polished as in the 2010s.

2000s>2010s>90s>2020s>80s

 

[roosnam1980]

2000s

 

[Werewolf Jones]

2000s easily.

 

[wvnative]

2000s, but i have grown more fond of the first half of the 2010s as time goes on.

 

[Artistic]

2010s if we're being honest.

 

[Hudo]

2000s and it's not even remotely close.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

1995 to 2010 is the peak era of video games. We won't see that again.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

2000s

 

[amigastar]

2000s that being said i think we will have other great decades infront of us.

 

[Stuart360]

2000's by a mile. You basically had the majority of the PS2 and 360 gens in that timeframe.

 

[cireza]

Peak was the 90s and then it only went downward, so 2000s over 2010s.

 

[German Shocks]

Peak was the 90s and then it only went downward, so 2000s over 2010s.

The early 90's were absolute garbage.

Thankfully, Sony saved gaming in 1995 with the original PlayStation.

 

[cireza]

The early 90's were absolute garbage.

Thankfully, Sony saved gaming in 1995 with the original PlayStation.

It started sucking when Sony entered the market actually.

 

[German Shocks]

It started sucking when Sony entered the market actually.

Don't blame Sony for Sega's mishaps.

 

[Stuart360]

The early 90's were absolute garbage.

Thankfully, Sony saved gaming in 1995 with the original PlayStation.

I mean on PC you could argue the 90's was the 'golden age'. Things like Woilfenstein 3d and Doom in the early 90's, then Half Life, Quake's, Unreal, etc in the late 90's.

 

[IDKFA]

1995 to 2010 is the peak era of video games. We won't see that again.

Was about to say this.

That 15 year span was a golden age in video games.

Unfortunately, you're right. We'll never experience anything like that again.

 

[cireza]

Don't blame Sony for Sega's mishaps.

SEGA failing is sad but still doesn't mean Sony saved anything.

 

[yurinka]

I'd say:
90s > 80s > 70s > 00s > 20s > 10s

The early 90's were absolute garbage.

Thankfully, Sony saved gaming in 1995 with the original PlayStation.

The opposite, the first half of the 90s we got stuff like:

• Street Fighter II / Mortal Kombat / SNK fighters
• Sonic
• Streets of Rage
• Daytona USA
• Mario World
• Mario Kart
• Wolfenstein 3D + Doom
• Zelda A link to the past
• Super Metroid
• F-Zero
• Wipeout
• Ridge Racer
• Tekken
• Monkey Island + several classic top Lucas & Sierra point and click games
• Command & Conquer
• Warcraft
• FIFA / Madden
• Need for Speed
• Road Rash

90s+80s combined were the golden age of gaming. Most popular genres, IPs, mechanics and features come from there.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

It started sucking when Sony entered the market actually.

Miserable fucker lol

 

[amigastar]

I'd say:
90s > 80s > 70s > 00s > 20s > 10s

70s? What were the games, Pong?

 

[Sooner]

The older period always win these types of polls. Everything was always better before.

And the more time that goes by the better things are remembered. Human nature tends to focus more on the things you liked better about those times, while ignoring later improvements that are now expected, but we did not have in those times.

70s? What were the games, Pong?

Exactly, what I'm talking about. If someone found gaming better in the 70s than any time this century, they are remembering enjoying life more then and attributing that to gaming.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Mid 90s to mid 00s was the peak of videogames, so I've voted 00s.

 

[The_hunter]

2012-2016 really wasn't great for gaming. Only after playstation and nintendo's second wind did it get better.

 

[March Climber]

People were more forgiving of most shortcomings in the 2000s for the sake of innovation and new experiences.

The 2010s were about the refinement of that same innovation, which is why I personally liked it better.

 

[yurinka]

70s? What were the games, Pong?

I wasn't born yet, but the 70s got:

• The first commercial videogame (Computer Space, 1971) and start of the arcades
• The first home console (Odyssey, 1972)
• The first portable console (Microvision, 1979)
• The first personal computers and first commercial games for them
• Companies like Atari, Activision, Sega, Taito, Namco, Konami, Nintendo, Midway starting to make games
• A few highly influential cultural phenomenons like Pong or Space Invaders
• Many other highly influential, genre creating games, or simply really popular or innovative back then, including stuff like Galaxian, Asteroids, Breakout, Lunar Lander, Oregan Trail to name a few
• Many people who would become popular or influential in the 80s or 90s started to make games or gaming hardware in the 70s (example: Steve Wozniak or Steve Jobs started working for Atari)

 

[Lucifers Beard]

2000's and it's no contest. In fact I'd agree with one of the first replies in that for me it was the golden era of gaming.

 

[German Shocks]

I wasn't born yet, but the 70s got:

• The first commercial videogame (Computer Space, 1971) and start of the arcades
• The first gaming console (Odyssey, 1972)
• The first personal computers and first commercial games for them
• Companies like Atari, Activision, Sega, Taito, Namco, Konami, Nintendo, Midway starting to make games
• A few highly influential cultural phenomenons like Pong or Space Invaders
• Many other highly influential, genre creating games, or simply really popular or innovative back then, including stuff like Galaxian, Asteroids, Breakout, Lunar Lander, Oregan Trail to name a few

I beat Oregon Trail.

 

[Generic]

2000 because I was still somewhat happy back then.

 

[yurinka]

I beat Oregon Trail.

Which version? The original one that was text only? I think I never played it.

There are many versions/ports/remasters/remakes of that game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(series)

 

[Wildebeest]

#1 1991 - 2000 Peak of innovation enabled by new technology and actual genius level people working in the industry
#2 2011 - 2020 A good decade where people started to make good indie games and mastery of game design was taken to new level. Return of the Jedi era of gaming.
#3 1981 - 1990 The golden age when everything seemed new and exciting
#4 2001 - 2010 A shit tier decade of bland corporate domination and the creation of stale soulless IP and IP factories

 

[Ceallach]

2000s.

10s started with Kinect and Move and only got worse as BRs and MTX and loot boxes and GAAS started to take hold

 

[German Shocks]

Which version? The original one that was text only? I think I never played it.

There are many versions/ports/remasters/remakes of that game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(series)

I'm pretty sure it was one of the 90's versions.

 

[GravityMan]

2000s easily, especially the first 5-7 years of the 2000s. It was around 2008-2010 that high-profile games (and movies and TV) started getting noticeably more stagnant and risk-averse, and such games were increasingly designed to extract as much money as they can from us and increase shareholder value, instead of just being wholesome fun experiences. Fortunately there's still plenty of good stuff in the indie and especially AA spaces.

Golden age for me was from February 1990 (release of Mario 3 in North America) until around 2007-ish.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Just off the top of the head the games that basically defined the 2000s for me. I don't think we'll ever see a decade in gaming like this again. A combination of genre defining games, new franchises, games taking risks, also amazing sequels. ( you will notice no PS3 in my list, I didn't have that)

Spoiler: 2000

Diablo 2
Deus Ex
Baldur's Gate II
Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
Final Fantasy 9
Jet Set Radio
Quake 3
Skies of Arcadia
Thief II
Vagrant Story
Perfect Dark
Tony Hawk's pro skater 2

Spoiler: 2001

Insert crazy PS2 year image :

Halo Combat evolved
Advance Wars
Super smash bros melee
Max Payne
Tribes 2
Return to castle wolfenstein
Arcanum

Spoiler: 2002

GTA Vice City
Morrowind
Metroid Prime + fusion
Star Wars Jedi knight 2
Warcraft III Reign of Chaos (basically laid out foundation of MOBA afterwards)
Splinter Cell
Battlefield 1942

Spoiler: 2003

KOTOR
Zelda Wind waker
Jak II
Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
F-Zero GX
Prince of Persia sands of time
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Beyond good and evil

Spoiler: 2004

GTA San Andreas
Half-Life 2
Halo 2
MSS 3
World of Warcraft
Metroid Prime Echoes
Farcry
Doom 3
Ninja Gaiden
Chronicles of Riddick

Spoiler: 2005

Resident Evil 4
Shadow of the Colossus
DMC3
Psychonauts
KOTOR 2
God of War
F.E.A.R.

Spoiler: 2006

Zelda Twilight Princess
Oblivion
Gears of War
Final Fantasy XII
Okami
Dead Rising
HL episode 1

Spoiler: 2007

Super Mario Galaxy
Bioshock
Call of Duty 4 modern warfare
Mass Effect
Halo 3
God of War II
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Assassin's Creed
Crysis
HL episode 2
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl

Spoiler: 2008

Fallout 3
Dead Space
Left 4 dead
Mirror's Edge
Gears of war 2
Fable 2
Persona 4
GTA 4
Valkyria Chronicles

Spoiler: 2009

Assassin's Creed 2
Dragon Age Origins
Bayonetta
Batman Arkham Asylum
COD modern warfare 2
Left 4 dead 2

A bit of a slow down in the later years, but 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007 were just fucking bonkers

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

 

[6502]

2000s was N64 through to 360 for me. Along the way we had awesome leaps in home and handheld consoles, PC was innovative and Arcades were still around with impressive games. All major console companies hit their peak (imo) during this period. Online was affordable and games were polished. There were no culture wars, limits were being pushed continually on every front.

 

[semiconscious]

2000-2010 was for me the golden era of gaming.

agreed. aside from technically/graphically, gaming's never really gotten any better since, imo...

 

[JoeBlack2027]

It's not even close. Not saying it's bad now but yeah.

 

[Durin]

2000s easily were better, just because early in we got far more polish on 3d video games, and tons of experimentation in the PS2 era. Later half AAA games started to exist as a concept, but the budgets were still reasonable that we got cool games that were doing innovative things, and consoles got the good parts of online gaming. Some dumb DLC practices started, but nowhere near as bad as after, and retail games were still a viable thing.

2010s we didn't get much innovation from either Sony or Microsoft, but Nintendo at least did something, and Sony still put out good quality first-party stuff. AAA started to regress in variety (whole genres stopped getting made) and any risk-taking, but the indie scene started to grow to compensate. Bad micro-transaction and live-service practices started to take root though, games requiring online, retail games relying on servers and day-one patches, etc.

TLDR: 2000s = fantastic, 2010s = decent

 

[Laptop1991]

2000's hands down, so innovative and a load more new games to play, apart from the first 2 or 3 years of the 2010's, it was pretty much downhill from then on with GAAS and MTX games taking over mostly.

 

[uncreativename]

Off the top of my head
2000s: Jet Set Radio, Yakuza 2, The World Ends With You, Medieval II Total War, Demon's Souls, Assassin's Creed 2., Mount & Blade..
2010s: Stardew Valley, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, MGS Peace Walker, Dark Souls, Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance...

It's close, but I gotta give it to the 2000s.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

2000s overall

2010s got Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 which were amazing but the 2000s had Morrowind, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and a whole bunch of awesome stuff from others like Halo 1 and 2, Half Life 2, multiple Ratchet and Clank games and others on the PS2.

 

[rkofan87]

2000 to 2010
mgs4
mgs2
shenmue 1 & 2
Xeno Saga 1

 

[Caffeine]

halo 1-3 exist in the 2000's it was better.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

2000s... my God, it's not even close. The 2010s had some great games, but the 2000s was a constant influx of them, particularly in the first 7 or so years of the decade. Niche games were far more prominent and fully realized. Genres like RTS still existed in a meaningful capacity. While admittedly a generalization, I think the 2000s emphasized focused experiences while the 2010s were about stuffing as much content into something as you can... and emphasizing cinematic presentation over game feel. I didn't like that shift.

The 2000s was an incredible era for gaming that I think was as meaningful as the '90s. The 2010s didn't even come close, and the 2020s have been a disaster by comparison.