What's been your favorite generation of gaming so far? Do you think next gen has potential to be the best?

Fourth gen for me both sega and Nintendo pushed each other to the limit.

I'm not gonna lie, they're all my favorites. I've had an absolute blast every gen since I first started gaming (around 1982 on a Texas instruments computer). I'm not sure I could pick one gen that's been better then the rest as they've all had big epic moments for me.

Sixth Gen. The PS2 just killed it and had an insane library of truly amazing games. In addition the Xbox was new and I actually liked some of their offerings, but the Gamecube was heavily underrated. It had a fantastic library of games. Also, the GBA to date is my favourite handheld.

Finally, this was when I was introduced to PC gaming. Can't forget The Sims, Total War, Half-Life 2... simply unforgettable gen.

Worst? This gen, by far.

Last gen was excellent for me with Valve at their height (Half Life 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead) and PC excelling in both the FPS (Red Orchestra 2) and RTS genre (Company of Heroes 2).

On the other hand it seemed like every FPS wanted to be Call of Duty, and it's the gen that introduced us to microtransactions, yay!

Overall I'm always happiest with the current gen that I'm in, which is this gen. But will be next gen in a few years, and so on.

The current year is always the best year in gaming for me.

PlayStation, Saturn, n64 was the most varied and creative gen

As costs increased it pushed developers out to the point where only aaa and indie devs are relevant. This will get worse next gen

Sega does what Nintendon't.

Voted gen 4.

Nothing will ever top the magic of gens 3 and 4 to me. Plenty of legit great games from that era for sure, not just some rose tinted nonsense. Could easily play those libraries and have a great time doing so. Hell, sometimes I'll revisit an oldie from that era and find that I appreciate it even more now.

Buuuut I'd be a liar if I pretend the "muh nostalgia" factor isn't what takes it over the top. Even if this industry started dropping an instant classic every month, still couldn't compete with the fun I had in that era.

My more "objective" outlook tho?

Despite all the bullshit this industry is throwing at us, I feel gaming continues on an upward trajectory. Not a clean trajectory, lots of ups and downs, but overall. There are so many good/great games being released, you couldn't possibly get around to playing them all. So many games coming out that would have been considered game of the gen, must plays, or best in genre way back when. Now they're just another "oh maybe I'll check it out some time" because there's so much good shit to play.

Shitty business practices are shitty, a lot of the AAA space has become garbage, but the good game design just keeps coming.

I’d say that the Fourth generation was my favourite particularly the SNES. That system was my all time favourite system with so many of my all time favourite games on it. Also the arcades were really hopping then as well. Having said that though I think gaming in general has progressively gotten better and I still thoroughly enjoy gaming today as much as ever.

Gen 5:

Sony PlayStation

• Final Fantasy 4-9, Lunar 1-2, Chrono Trigger & Cross, Resident Evil 1-3, Alundra, Grandia, Xenogears, Street Fighter Alpha 1-3, Street Fighter Collection, Wild Arms 1-2, Wipeout 2097, Tekken 2-3, Breath of Fire 3-4, Metal Gear Solid, Star Ocean 2, Dragon Valor, Dead or Alive, Silent Hill, Suikoden 1-2, WWF SmackDown 1-2, Gran Turismo 1-2, Ridge Racer 1-4, Soul Blade, Tomb Raider 1-3, Rapid Reload, Policenauts, GTA, Doom 1-2, Hexen, Exhumed, Quake 1-2, Parasite Eve 1-2, Tales of Phantasia & Destiny, Persona 1-2, Cool Boarders, Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot, King of Fighters, Toshinden 1-3, Zero Divide, Time Crisis, RayStorm & RayCrisis, ISS Pro, Adidas Power Soccer, Spyro the Dragon, Mizzurna Falls, Broken Sword, Jumping Flash 1-2, Pandemonium 1-2, Destruction Derby 1-2, Granstream Saga, Legend of Dragoon

Sega Saturn

• Lunar 1-2, Resident Evil, Grandia, Street Fighter Alpha 1-2, Street Fighter Collection, Virtua Fighter 1-2, Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix, Saturn Bomberman, Policenauts, EVE Burst Error, YU-NO, Machi, Exhumed, Quake, Tomb Raider, Sakura Wars 1-2, Nights & Christmas Nights, Panzer Dragoon 1-2 & Saga, Guardian Heroes, Shining Force 3, Radiant Silvergun, Virtua Cop 1-2, Sonic Jam, Daytona USA, Sega Rally, SMT Devil Summoner & Soul Hackers, Die Hard Arcade, King of Fighters, Panorama Cotton, The House of the Dead, RayStorm, Story of Thor, Dragon Force 1-2, Pandemonium, Destruction Derby, Burning Rangers

Nintendo 64

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Super Smash Bros, Resident Evil 2, F-Zero X, Paper Mario, Star Fox 64, Blast Corps, Doom 64, Quake 1-2, Turok 1-2, Body Harvest, ISS 64, Kirby 64, Conquer's Bad Fur Day, Yoshi's Story, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, World Driver Championship

For me it's both Fourth and Sixth Generation.

Yea this generation to me is a leg up on the previous one because publishers learned that if they have shitty business practices, they will be called out on it (for the most part).

It's a difficult question to answer... in terms of how many hours I've spent playing games and how much money I've spent in a generation, it'd have to be this current gen (between Switch and XB1).

But in terms of pure nostalgia and the generation I remember most fondly, that'd have to be the sixth gen (Gamecube & Xbox are still 2 of my favourite consoles of all time).

For me sixth generation easily and I'm not basing that off of nostalgia alot of the games from that gen still hold up gameplay wise today. And it's not only the best console generation but also the best time to be a PC gamer so many classics from that era.

i find the sixth generation also one of the best, but the x360 with party chat and standardized social platform just changed everything,

Yeah, it's a give or take.

I agree there seems to be a lot more clap back to the shit they're rolling out these days than there was last gen. Of course publishers don't care too much about people yelling on the internet, but when it hits their pockets, they listen. And sometimes it actually does.

Then again, a lot of the shit is now normalized, people are just numb to it. Gotta put on a real shit show to get called out.

@tomalevine: "PlayStation, Saturn, n64 was the most varied and creative gen"

What did Saturn bring to the 5th generation?

Definitely adds to the variety he mentioned. Saturn still rep'd arcade style gaming and wasn't out here treating 2d gaming like the plague.

It offered a very different experience from what PS1 and N64 were serving (which were also worlds apart).

Idk man, seems like we bottomed out on this last gen and this gen saw the more "middle class" dev start to bounce back.

Bias as **** to old times, so always be 1990's.

I loved 360 gen, partly think it's due to the best 3d games without shitty practices from publishers, loved this gen with VR coming out and it will only improve. Loved the NES gen as that's what started gaming for me.

So far, it's a three-way tie between Gens 4, 5 and 6.

4>5>6>8>7>3

If I had to rank the generations:

1. Gen 5
2. Gen 4
3. Gen 6
4. Gen 3
5. Gen 8
6. Gen 7
7. Gen 2
8. Gen 1

PC dont have generations so i go with era instead

Early 00s till 2007 is absolutely best gaming era follow by late 90s and 2016-onwards.

the worst era is 2008 till 2012.

For new games six was the best. Hard to rate this gen with over 50% of my PS4 colection either a remaster or a remake.

PS4 doesnot offer anything other than boring third person movie games. PS5 will follow same route

times to move on to PC or if playing on console than xbox.

Gen 6. Xbox ruled the world!

I’ll be sticking with Xbox next gen. Sony and Nintendo don’t make games I like.

You do realize games like Metro, Half Life, Max Payne are movie games as well right? Would love to see you actually play God of War on normal difficulty.

Gen 4

I'll always have a special love for 16bit gen, but gaming was never as good as it is today. AAAs finally look like CGI movies and are ridiculously polished, indies brought 2d gaming and a ton of dead genres back to relevance, and VR is just too good. All in all, there was never as much diversity and quality as there's now, and it's not even close.

All i can say by looking at the poll is that nostalgia can be a hell of a drug!

PS2/GC/Xbox gen was best for me.

If it wasnt for Switch, this gen would have been by far the worst. Wii U was a complete flop and I regret all the money I put into it. PS4 has exclusives in pretty much only one genre that I dont give a shit about, and there is almost nothing on Xbone that I cant play on my PC.

I have no plans to get either next-gen system at this point given how this gen has gone. I expect more of the same. All the bullshit monetization that is now rampant even in fully priced games isnt helping either.

PS2 gen. All 3 systems were unique and worth owning.

I have pretty low expectations for next gen... going to be more of the same, possibly even worse with publishers trying new ways to squeeze us for money and dev costs continuing to rise.

Improvements to VR are just about the only thing worth being excited for.

even though i grew up on the third gen, i didnt really start loving gaming until the 6th gen

PS2 is the best. It has the largest library with so many classic and, its backwards compatible with PS1. Damnit Sony.

90's was amazing in general man we didn't know how good we had it.

this gen will be awesome with the ssd in these systems. the load times this gen was so bad. picture instinct play like nes days with cartridges with today's graphics.

I'd probably say Gen 6, although there are a lot of elements I loved from both the generations before and after it. This gen was probably the weakest for me until things really started ramping up in 2017.

i rather have a cheaper ps now with all ps1-ps4 games on it well all the games that they can on it. like gamepass because of the ssd it would be instant play with all these titles. up scale each game as well.

meaning like netflix set up and actually put as many games as they can from each generation on it.

Just keep the ps4 games to work backwards.

im also saying this because i lost every game i ever owned in a house fire and don't have anything left from previous gens.

I'll always have a special place in my heart for the 5th generation; my first games I ever played were Tekken 3, Syphon Filter, Crash Bandicoot

but most of my favourite games belong to the 6th generation: Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, SSX, SSX Tricky, SSX3, Metal Gear Solid 3, GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, Diablo II: LOD

But my peak as a gamer was the 7th generation, (2005-2010 specifically) and the two best games I've ever played are Metal Gear Solid 4 and The Last of Us.

This gen has been decent though.