Looking Back at the Seventh Generation of Video Game Consoles
Last generation started off horribly. Massive hardware problems plagued the Xbox 360 and made the system worryingly unreliable, the PlayStation 3 was overpriced and difficult to tame, and the Wii—while bringing some unique, refreshing ideas—was stuck in a resolution that was quickly becoming extinct.
Now, almost nine years later, all those things seem so long ago. I knew that, once the systems really got going, I’d have experiences that weren’t possible previously—but we ended up with a library of games so good, so diverse, and so satisfying that I was left legitimately surprised. That’s not to mention all the things that came along—such as digital distribution—that forever changed our hobby for the better. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good: Development costs rose, publishers decided to take fewer risks, and so many great teams and companies are now gone forever.
For a while, I was glad the generation had lasted longer than normal—we got a maturation in games that we don’t always get to see, and being able to keep the expensive hardware I’d purchased for longer than a handful of years was a nice change. Now, however, I’m truly ready to move on.
Favorite Last-Generation Game: Dark Souls
Dark Souls forever changed me as a gamer. It made me realize I wanted things from games I never knew I wanted—and also taught me what I no longer want. Because of Dark Souls, I now expect more from games, and more from myself as a player.
Great Games You Probably Missed
It had huge, glaring, inexcusable problems, but Silent Hill: Downpour also had some of the most original and compelling moments the franchise has seen since Silent Hill 2. Meanwhile, Chiebura was a fantastic Japanese Xbox Indies shooter that later hit the Vita via PlayStation Mobile, and—in case you’ve somehow missed my endless cheerleading for it—go play Corpse Party on the PSP now.
Top Five Things I’ll Miss From Last Generation
01: The Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable
Much as I love the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita, they aren’t the DS or the PSP. Nintendo’s first dual-screen handheld reminded me of my childhood with the NES, and Sony’s portable powerhouse was a niche Japanese gaming juggernaut. I never wanted either to go away.
02: The DualShock 3
Yeah, I know: Everyone’s in love with the redesigned DualShock 4, and with good reason. But Sony’s previous controller design lasted for 20-plus years, evolving from a blatant SNES knockoff to one of my favorite input devices. DualShock 3, I’m going to miss you.
03: Xbox Indies
Indie games now have a bright future, but Microsoft’s initiative to open up the Xbox 360 to any XNA programmer was an unprecedented move at the time. The section served up plenty of garbage, but it also played home to some amazing hidden gems.
04: Hudson Soft
We lost many fantastic developers during the seventh console generation, but none shocked me more than Hudson Soft. Around since 1973, they were responsible for countless popular franchises and were instrumental in the existence of the TurboGrafx-16.
05: Physical Discs
Physical games obviously aren’t gone. I can still go to a store, buy a copy of a game, go home, and put the disc in my system. However, that’s history for me—I’m going all-digital going forward. And yet, I’ll miss those hunks of plastic and their colorful cases.