Unfortunately, the previous generation is noted with the fixation toward violence, guns, distended AAA budgets, 12 year old kids on Xbox Live and Call of Duty, but beneath that, there were so many good things to come from it that we often take for granted.
High-definition visuals
The 7th gen features one of the biggest graphical leaps. Going from 480p to 720p reached a sweetspot. Games like Gears of War, at least at the time, looked photorealistic. And even the more colorful games looked brighter and cleaner.
Indie Titles
The fact that someone putting themselves through college can make a better game than a giant studio for 1/4th the price is great. I always like supporting small businesses. Something like Portal could've never happened within the paradigms of the gens before it. Groundbreaking titles like Minecraft totally changed the landscape.
More Titles
Earlier gens had maybe only a few big releases per year. The 7th generation, during most months, had at least a dozen well reviewed titles, big and small.
More Diversity
While we've had more gory AAA titles, indies offer many great affordable non-violent family friendly games that are experimental in their gameplay. Take the 20 best indie platforming games from the 7th gen and compare them to the 20 best platforming games on the SNES, and you'll see the 7th gen matched up just fine. Look at any genre, whether it's fighting, racing, RPG, puzzle, and one could say there's at least a dozen great titles in that genre.
Online Play
Previously only a limited range of games had it. But the 7th gen made it standard for gameplay-centric games to allow people to test their skills online.
Nintendo innovates
The Wii throws out the traditional rulebook and introduced itself to millions of people who have never played a video game in their life. Yet, it still cranked out classics like Mario Galaxy. For me personally, the controls felt intuitive, precise and immersive.
PC gaming at it's best
The folks at Valve surged interest in PC gaming with Steam. PC gamers have lots of options between most AAA third party titles, a large amount of indie games, lots of sales with discounted prices. It's used by casual and hardcore gamers alike on low-end to powerful machines alike.
Storytelling matters
This generation brought titles in which stories involving adult human themes (like romance, politics, nature vs. technology and other literary tropes) have become more important. The Last of Us, Mass Effect, Bioshock and plenty more. Of course there are many criticisms we can levy toward these stories, but the fact is gaming is at a point to where we can dissect the stories like we do with movies. Some people criticize Grand Theft Auto IV for being wildly inconsistent in tone, while I say its a sharp cutting satirization of the fallibility of the American Dream. And having two sided discussions like this is great.
Mobile/Tablet Gaming
Another option for gaming arose. There are people who may not be hardcore gamers (at least yet) but still want to enjoy a good game. This generation has provided them with a lot of choices. This is a new industry, so it's going through NES-like quality control issues, but it's a good place to start nonetheless.
Long Duration
The PS3 and Xbox 360 lasted about 10 years. Even if someone is a late adopter who buys the system four years in still got to have a half-decade of entertainment out of their console.
Dramatically expanded the gaming population
It drew people from all angles from what I've said in all of my previous points. Casual gamers, hardcore gamers, people on a budget, niche gamers, people who like a good story, people who are blown away by impressive graphics, PC gamers. All 3 major consoles sold incredibly well (even the PS3 caught up by the end). The overall numbers are probably double that of the generation before. This kind of jump has never happened.
Submitted by kingofthemulch | #Specialdealer Special Offer Online Shopping Store 2016
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