How was the last generation, then? - The Bear and Badger

JonB

Yes
The return of 2D through small downloadable games
Some top Jap games despite reports of their demise
Some decent attempts at experimenting with narrative
The community making qualities of online gaming and Dark Souls discussion
Wii remote pointer functionality
Greater standardisation of control systems between games
Overall reduced cost of disc based gaming

No
Most uses of alternative controllers (wavy wavy)
A handful of major franchises taking up too much of the market
Most DLC, online passes etc.
Too much hand holding in many games
Too many 'cinematic' games with hardly any agency

Webbins

The greatest gen for me so far, never have I bought so many games, and the true revolution of online.

Highlights
Bad Company 2 - Perfection in online FPS, Rush a sublime game mode, even the campaign wasn't half bad.
FNFs - Forza 2 Fridays were a hot ticket, people were literally queuing to get in, laughing, crying, insults and banter, rascists and randoms.
Arcade driving games - They may have died on their arses sales wise, but they've been in rude MP health on the forum. Teh Blur, Hot Pursuit, Horizon, DIRT 3, PGR4... we've had a good crack at them and had a gay old time to boot.
The late late late return of Pro Evo - It's only taken them a whole gen to come back but in 2014, I think they've cracked it. With the Fox engine we're in safe hands for the next gen.
The GTAIV EDGE vs Forum night - a cracking night, a memory of the good old EDGE times and my first real foray into community online gaming. My friends list seem to jump from 5 to 50 in one evening.
Battlefield 1943
360 controller
Achievements
Digital games
IRL meets

Lows
Battlefield 3 - So much was expected coming off the back of BC2, the beta was atrocious, the launch no better. Although it improved greatly over its two years, it never really hit the highs.
NFS: Most Wanted - As above, HP was brilliant, online, Autolog, MW took this winning formula and threw it out. Whilst it got a fair bit right, it felt very undercooked and rushed to fill an EA sequel schedule slot.
Brink - released after BF3 and whilst we were looking for a viable alternative, this could have been the one. Objective, squad based, highly customisable, free running, the crushing netcode and woeful asset streaming saw it die before it could spread its wings.
PTFO - The obsession of NOT playing objectives in such games is bewildering. A game designed around this concept is all the more fun and rewarding when played in this fashion, but the constant need to buff K/D and leave your squadmates languishing is incredible.
Netcode - I really hope big strides are taken in levelling the field. DICE are a big villain at creating an imbalance by allowing region free servers that can be freely joined and torn apart as the netcode is stretched to breaking point. Using techniques such as client hit detection in a dedicated server game should really end too.

There's likely more I could add to either list but these are the most pressing.

JMW

The best generation by a mile, mostly for the online but also LoU, GTAV, a few others. Plus gets a mention for its almost stupid generosity.

No real lows, a bit much AmericaFuckYeah I guess. WiiU was a waste of money - so far...it still has a place alongside PS4 though I reckon.

hunk

Hi's:
Me getting into pc games proper.
Steam
SF4

Lo's
The first 360 dpad. It was shit.
The nVidia Bluscreen driver problem.
I still need to sludge through Mass Effect, Walking dead, Dragon Age, The Witcher 2, HalfLife ep1+2 and Left4dead.
I'll never finish in 3 weeks!

JMW

I forgot Steam as a high.

hunk

Steam summer sales.
You can double the size of your game collection in a blink of an eye.

Bollockoff

Online gaming was bequeathed to the console peasantry (the ultimate low class who never experienced PSO on the Dreamcast anyway) and it was good. For them.

Support for indies is now a thing that's gained Steam which is nice.

EA wasted $200.000.000 on The Old Republic.

Bollockoff

Chad Warden

Bollockoff

ELPRESADOR

g.man

hahaha. The original and still the best.

I_R

Good - BC2, GTA IV and V, all those ~~arcade~~ racers, HD, on-line, downloadable games, the cheapness of second hand.

Bad - most of the arcade racer developers disappearing because the games don't sell, the two big sim racers being almost all that's left, FPS campaigns turning into bad interactive movies, everyone trying to follow WOW and failing, DLC season passes, annual and bi-annual franchises, the dark and gritty approach to AAA being so prevalent.

[Deleted User]

Bollockoff wrote:

ELPRESADOR

H

Bollockoff wrote:

ELPRESADOR

Haha I've never seen that before, is he popular on the Tube then? Also, is he homeless?

[Deleted User]

Weird, dont know what happened with my post ^

g.man

Plan_XIII wrote:

Haha I've never seen that before, is he popular on the Tube then? Also, is he homeless?

He's been around on YouTube for years. I think his ranting is hilarious. Others probably don't.

channel here

g.man

[Deleted User]

Cheers G, following him now - breath of fresh air.

JMW

Either Stevo used to post him a lot or Stevo was him.

g.man

This one is priceless…

I feel his pain

g.man

Bollockoff

I haven't seen that one! This is proper hard to breathe laughing.

g.man

Hahaha, it's like a window into my soul…

lolololol

g.man

dynamiteReady

I prefer this guy...

[Deleted User]

g those videos are amazing, can't believe I've never heard of him before.

hylian_elf

Highs
XBox Live for multiplayer
XBLA
XBLIG for bedroom coders - well done MS!
Street Fighter 4 (and Mordor Mashup - thanks Nick and guys!)
Halo 3/ODST local shenanigans
Usual Nintendo great first party titles (Mario, Zelda, MK7, etc)
Indie/experimental games resurgence
Journey = best thing ever
Other great games (Bayo, LoU, Walking Dead etc)

Lows
CoD and CoDification
Budgets and games getting way too big
A few big series dominating
Studio closures (above two are related to this)
No Last Guardian.... yet
XBLIG lack of support from MS - fuck you, you cunts!

Bollockoff

THE HONEYMOON IS FUCKING OVER

Verecocha

Who was the guy that used to trap people in corners on CoD? One vid in particular where he made a guy talk to a sink or he wouldn't let him go? I liked him.

wonderbanana

I probably should add to my list that a big high for me was that quality shmups were still being made.

I sincerely hope this continues though I have my doubts

Ali

For me, the best generation of all. From Journey to The Last Of Us, Mass Effect to Pixeljunk Monsters, Bad Company 2 to Wipeout HD, I've enjoyed every minute of it.

hylian_elf

wonderbanana wrote:

I probably should add to my list that a big high for me was that quality shmups were still being made. I sincerely hope this continues though I have my doubts

Aha! Knew I forgot something! Jap 360 FTW!!

ChopperByrne

Probably the best gen ever.

Fantastic multiplayer fun, great single player games, especially from indie developers on PSN and XBLA, the return of Street Fighter and the rise of the Irish Fighting Game Community.

Paul the sparky

g.man wrote:

Hahaha, it's like a window into my soul…

lolololol

g.man

That guy is outstanding, he used to do Call of Duty videos as you can see from his style of play. Short, controlled bursts motherfucker.

Paul the sparky

dynamiteReady wrote:

Outlaw wrote:

Best thing from last gen: LEFT 4 DEAD. Every game should be L4D.

I wanted to say that too.

Probably the only game found to do anything new last gen, but you could argue that Zelda 4 Swords did it first (and better too).

I like L4D, but I don't know what it did that was so new, or why you mentioned 4 Swords. If it's just four player co-op, Gauntlet is over there waving.

Howdy, Stranger!

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