Support NeoGAF

[hybrid_birth]

I still have nightmares that I am an xbox 360 and I am burned alive because someone wrapped me in a towel.

Women play with me too much. Push my buttons as well .

 

[freemandos]

Well, I don't. Genres like survival horror games, RPGs, poin' click adventure games or plataformer games were in their lowest era. Most FPS/TPS games focused on regenerating health and/or QTEs. PS3 with bad ports of multiplataform games. PC Gaming being mistreated. The Nintendo's casualization. Beloved franchises suffering dumbing down (and journalists like IGN applauding it). Lots of grey/brown. Games for Windows Live. And more.

I won't say everything was wrong o worse than now (it's not true) and there were lots of great games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Vanquish, The Witcher, Portal, Papers, Please, Company of Heroes, Dark Souls, etc). I enjoyed the PS4/Xbox One era far more. Lots of struggling genres coming back, indie games rising, more japanese games coming to PC, PC genres coming to consoles with far less casualization, , more variety of aesthetics, Capcom going back to form, franchises like Yakuza being more noticed, etc.

 

[Hypereides]

Had to pack up most of my games in the house and move them to the garage to make room since my wife is pregnant. Definitely had some bangers in the collection. Got rid of most of my collection during that gen and this is what i have left. Fuck i miss Socom. Got rid of my 360 games when i got the RRoD.

That's a great stack. Spotting some solid stuff in that pile: DJ hero, Anarchy reigns, Way of the samurai 3, The saboteur (gotta get back to that one and scoop up the platinum), Trinity, Singularity, Lollipop chainsaw, Yakuza 4, Vanquish...

Good times.

 

[DaGwaphics]

The Xbox/PS2 and PS360 eras just had so much variety in games, Xbox/PS2 gen especially. Such a broad variety of ideas got brought forward back then. The PS360 gen really stepped up the graphics and is the oldest gen where I can play games and not notice shortcomings in the graphics (speaking of 3D games).

 

[BlackTron]

I get the appeal but this is when I went hard PC. I dabbled in all 3 consoles and ultimately felt I was being barraged with gimmicks, muddy graphics, bad performance, letdown sequels, etc. Of course it wasn't all bad but I ended up becoming disillusioned with consoles this gen and spending most of the time on PC playing FPS games, Starcraft and tower defense instead.

 

[Rickyiez]

Piss filter gen

 

[RoadHazard]

In terms of nostalgia, a bit. I was young then. And I do have a lot of good gaming memories from back then. The Uncharted games, Infamous, God of War 3, great remasters of various PS2 classics (was the first time I played Ico, SOTC, GoW 1 & 2, etc), and a bunch of other stuff.

But in technical terms, hell no. That generation was full of sub-HD, sub-30fps games with horrible screen tearing. Things are so much better these days.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Yep and all the generations before it

 

[YuLY]

Piss filter gen

I'll take that warm golden shower any day over the zoomer hip shit like Saints row reboot, Redfall, FairGame$, Hyenas and other shit.

Gimme that bald space marine grit. I want brown grit like the first mission in Mexico from Rainbow Six Vegas 1.

 

[Inanilmaz]

Nostalgia baby

Anti-Nostalgia baby. There are a lot of you guys.

 

[LRKD]

It was the last great era, games weren't entirely subverted by certain groups of people.

 

[Sephimoth]

Strange to think the last 2 GTA games released in that gen.

 

[Arsic]

I’ve come to the conclusion gaming ended for the most part with the end of that era.

We get a few nuggets now and then but the quality is down the toilet and the focus on gameplay is gone too.

 

[Danjin44]

I’ve come to the conclusion gaming ended for the most part with the end of that era.

We get a few nuggets now and then but the quality is down the toilet and the focus on gameplay is gone too.

We got so many good games that focus on gameplay this year alone….you guys just so god damn jaded beyond repair.

 

[ungalo]

Truth. It was overlong and although it started and ended strong the long stretch in the middle was pretty much dominated by motion controls. Monetization was pretty bad too, as they were trying a lot of ways to avoid cannibalization from resellers.

Even Nintendo themselves didn't care about motion controls in their games, i don't know why people are getting stuck on that.

Motion controls was a fake concept but it didn't plague the games, it was always underexploited.

If anything the real problem was that PS3 and Wii controlers were shit, but you could play with GC pad or classic pad on the Wii.

 

[Clear]

Even Nintendo themselves didn't care about motion controls in their games, i don't know why people are getting stuck on that.

Motion controls was a fake concept but it didn't plague the games, it was always underexploited.

If anything the real problem was that PS3 and Wii controlers were shit, but you could play with GC pad or classic pad on the Wii.

Wii-mote made sense because the offer was built around it, Move/PS-Eye was an interesting failure at the time that eventually paid off a generation later with PSVR, and then there was the Kinect... which basically killed Xbox's momentum through forced imposition on products that never warranted it.

 

[pepodmc_]

Now games are trying so hard to be movies that are losing the "game" aspect.
Plus west being super safe, this generation is awful.
ps2/ps3 generations were a LOT better, japanese games were still going strong.

 

[SenkiDala]

Honestly I play since the NES gen and the gens I miss the most are PS1/64/Sat and PS2/DC/NGC/Xbox and yeah 360/PS3.

All those gens brought so innovative games, the most revolutionary being PS1/64/Sat, then PS2/DC/NGC/Xbox magnified it and 360/PS3 polished everything. Since the PS4/One era I feel nothing innovate, just more of the same with more DLCs, Season Passes becoming almost mandatory, same goes for micro transactions, and the game themselves are more of the same... The last time I felt a games create something a little new was with the Gears series (action games at their apogee), and Demon's Souls.

Now the innovations comes from the "diffusions", Twitch, Youtube, streaming, sharing videos, SHOWING what/how you play, but the games themselves are just nothing innovative anymore.

I appreciate many recent games, RE4 Remake (but a remake), FFVII Rebirth (oh fuck... it is becoming a pattern, I see it as I write it), TLOU2, RE Village, Alan Wake II, Deathloop, God of War Ragnarok... But nothing feels as exciting as before and this is not because I am nostalgic of the old games I loved, I often play / finish games veryyy late like recently Extermination on PS2, some old JRPGs and fuck THOSE are way better games that what we get now, and I have zero nostalgia with them because I play them for the first time now.

In those past gen (more you go back in time more it's real) when you had a new game coming out you really didn't know how it'll play, how it'll feel, it was SO EXCITING, in my head now I think of Silent Hill 1, Shenmue, FFVII/VIII/IX/X, Resident Evil, RE4, Half Life, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Crash Bandicoot, MGS/2/3, GT games, GTA games, Tony Hawk, ICO, Okami... Everything was exciting.

Now when you see a trailer of GT7, FFVII Rebirth, RE4 remake (which are games I loved), GOW Ragnarok, etc... You already know how it'll feel, how it'll be, before playing it, nothing will surprise you, you'll finish every game saying "well, cool, as expected".

All of this is just my opinion obviously. And I know it is normal, VG became a so big market it is hard to take risks with big budget, the only one still doing it is Kojima and everybody, even people who don't like his games, should recognize this.

PS : of I forgot about Nintendo, I like the concept of the Switch, awesome, but the games themselves... None surprised me, even BOTW and TOTK which are both "alright" games for me and nothing more. Loved Pikmin 4, Mario Odyssey but I went through them feeling nothing special. Loved Metroid Dread.

 

[hussar16]

I rmemebr Xbox live arcade had some cool weird hits one time there was a caroling game and u could go to other people and sing them a carol. These kind of moments they don't make anymore

 

[Kokoloko85]

Some great games but I prefer the PS4 and previous generations

 

[REDRZA MWS]

Yep, the 360 was one of my top 3 favorite consoles all time.

 

[Kerotan]

I don't because I still play my ps3 or stream through premium! Probably 20 games last year.

I do think Sony will port a lot of PS3 classics when they've the power of the PS6. So many classics that would majorly benefit from a resolution/FPS upgrade.

I streamed forced unleashed 2 through my ps5 premium and it was very smooth. But I played the endor DLC on my ps3 itself and I noticed the FPS were so choppy. Shouldn't they look the same or even better on the ps3 natively?

Is that the VRR on my ps5 putting in some work?

 

[Ecotic]

That generation was so uneven. Everything awesome always seemed to be offset by something else hitting rock bottom.

For me, it was the developers and companies whose output I had always personally connected to that weren't having much success, and I ended up playing a lot of 360 games that were well-reviewed and enjoyable enough, but not really for me. Capcom, Konami, Sega, and Square-Enix all had a miserable generation. And I regretted almost every dollar I spent on the Wii. By 2010 the generation seemed completely exhausted.

Most of my best memories of that era were when I was with a good group of friends on Xbox Live in the 360's early years.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Best part of that era was the Wii and DS.

 

[drganon]

Nope

 

[Robb]

A little, but mainly because DS and PSP was part of it.

 

[JimmyRustler]

First few years were amazing. Internet was still so new with consoles and everyone was so eager to engage. Games were still mostly played and made by old gamers, mainstream wasn't in yet. Good times.

 

[Chittagong]

It really was an incredible era. The amount of innovation, franchises and sequels during a single generation was insane.

- Far Cry
- Fallout reboot
- Assassin’s Creed
- Bioshock
- Portal
- Uncharted
- Last of Us
- Skyrim
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Gears
- Mass Effect
- Dead Space
- Souls series

Just to mention a few. And consoles gained an interface, online store, gamer cards, online gaming out of the box.

Absolutely smashing generation.

 

[Red5]

Not me, PS3/360 era saw the rise of "AAA" and focus on adding MP to every game, the beginning of DLC's replacing expansion packs, the death of genres due to publisher lack of interest like space sims, flight sims, RTS, RTT, adventure games, platformers. Publishers were just chasing their own gold laying goose, they all wanted the next MP megahit similar to COD or Gears or Halo not to mention how PC was practically abandonned,.

PS2 era had the most diverse selection of game genres and artstyles. In my opinion the best era of gaming, the golden age, would be mid 1990's till early 2000's. Thief, Deus Ex, System Shock, Age of Empires, Halo, Alpha Centauri, Starcraft, Warcraft 2, Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Planescape Torment, Might and Magic, Freespace 2, Xwing alliance etc... the amount of high quality video games from a wide variety of genre is still unmatched.

But at least in the current era while most publishers are now chasing GAAS and AAAA, we have indie developers who grew up playing these awesome games in the 90's, making incredible games from different genres.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Not me. Playing on PS4 was a real improvement over PS3. And playing on PS5 again improved the experience.

 

[deriks]

Last console era that games were different, for better or worse

 

[phant0m]

Last console era that games were different, for better or worse

Yup. There was real substance to owning one console vs the other. Now they’re both basically identical boxes with a few exclusives heavily in Sony’s favor.

But I miss the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era more. It’s the last gen with meaningful couch/split-screen multiplayer and games that shipped complete.

 

[Superkewl]

Was definitely a great time, but I made the terrible mistake of playing Bethesda games(Fallout 3, New Vegas and Skyrim) on a PS3.

For those unaware, they become literally unplayable once your save file reaches a certain size, usually later in the game. The framerate would sink to like 3-5FPS, constantly crashing.

The only way I could finish Fallout 3 and new Vegas, was to do only the main mission and nothing else. No side missions, no DLC. It sucked until I replayed them later on different platforms to get the full experience.

 

[rofif]

Some of my 360 stuff.
I had more but that's what I have now.
Also, I played everything else on pc. 360 was mostly for exclusives

 

[Schmendrick]

Games are way too tech dependent to dwell in the past.
Pixel graphics, cubic characters with 10x10px textures etc.
Good riddance.

 

[rofif]

Games are way too tech dependent to dwell in the past.
Pixel graphics, cubic characters with 10x10px textures etc.
Good riddance.

what do you mean?
Old games are awesome in their old resolutions and framerate. playing a 360 game nowadays is a special kind of pain but I love it

 

[TheKratos]

Absolute trash era. Slow ass loadings, game installs (MGS4 horror), 360 dying left and right, PS3 not much better, crappy ass games, 1080p barely achievable, suck ass online play. Fuckin wii dongles everywhere in my face.

Nah man, nostalgia ain't even this crazy, this era was the worst. PS4/Xbone era did it better but the king is PS2/Xbox/GC era. Current gen is much better than PS360, SSD and performance modes are a godsend.

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

Xbox and Xbox 360, ps2 & ps3, GameCube & Wii, DS, GBA, & PSP eras were the best eras in gaming. This was sports gaming’s peak, also I believe it was the generation that offered the most variety. Everything from:

Buzz trivia, Uncharted, Rachet and Clank, Halo, Gears, Rallisport Challenge, Wii Sports, Guitar hero, 1v100, Full House Poker, Dance Central, Rock Band, Blue Dragon, FFX, World of Warcraft PC, Starcraft 2, COD: BLOPS & MW, Borderlands, Fallout NV, Skyrim, Motorstorm, Ridge Racer, Forza, Gran Turismo, Excite TRuck, Mario Kart, Kinect Sports, SFIV, MK9, Mass Effect, FIFA, Paper Mario TTYD, Wind Waker, Mario Galaxies, Punchout Wii, etc.

Great times and plenty of variety.

 

[Schmendrick]

playing a 360 game nowadays is a special kind of pain

 

[MikeM]

I certainly miss the time I had to play back then

 

[deriks]

Yup. There was real substance to owning one console vs the other. Now they’re both basically identical boxes with a few exclusives heavily in Sony’s favor.

But I miss the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era more. It’s the last gen with meaningful couch/split-screen multiplayer and games that shipped complete.

The PS2/Xbox/Game Cube era that started for real the ports being the same. The N64/PSX/Saturn were so experimental with 3D that a game on those three could be whole different beasts all together

But yeah, there was a lot of exclusive stuff from all... then the PS4 and XOne arrived and only Nintendo is different now

 

[BlackTron]

I find playing 360 games on an actual 360 is unacceptable now, but they're good enough to play with BC. I was shocked at how horrifically choppy and just bad Mass Effect 1 was seeing it run on 360 a few years ago...but doesn't mean it's a bad game nobody should play again on any platform, ever again IMO.

 

[rofif]

I find playing 360 games on an actual 360 is unacceptable now, but they're good enough to play with BC. I was shocked at how horrifically choppy and just bad Mass Effect 1 was seeing it run on 360 a few years ago...but doesn't mean it's a bad game nobody should play again on any platform, ever again IMO.

I finished crysis 2 and metro 2033 on 360 at the time. (I also did on pc of course)
I survived that... No framerate is scary to me anymore.

 

[BlackTron]

I finished crysis 2 and metro 2033 on 360 at the time. (I also did on pc of course)
I survived that... No framerate is scary to me anymore.

Hey I come from N64. For that matter, multiplayer. edit: for THAT matter, Rare games

 

[BlackTron]

Was definitely a great time, but I made the terrible mistake of playing Bethesda games(Fallout 3, New Vegas and Skyrim) on a PS3.

For those unaware, they become literally unplayable once your save file reaches a certain size, usually later in the game. The framerate would sink to like 3-5FPS, constantly crashing.

The only way I could finish Fallout 3 and new Vegas, was to do only the main mission and nothing else. No side missions, no DLC. It sucked until I replayed them later on different platforms to get the full experience.

There is a joke somewhere in there about how you'll have to take Bethesda's bad code on PS anyway but I wouldn't want to be that guy

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Piss filter gen

Amazingly accurate

Good gen nonetheless

 

[pepodmc_]

Piss filter gen

west yeah.
Japanese games didnt had that problem. Perhaps one or two i forgot.

 

[ViciousAgenda]

It certainly wasn't perfect but some of my favorite games came out in that era.

I miss MAG in particular.

 

[Walter Matthau]

I would say if you are mostly fan of western games 360/PS3 was better generation compare to current gen.

This plus brown/grey color palettes and bald protagonists

 

[simpatico]

Meanwhile, in Japan ....

And the gaming market said to them "Japan pls"