What was the best thing to happen this gen?

My answer might surprise you, but I think the Nintendo Switch is one of the best things to happen this gen. It's one of the most refreshing systems to come out in a while. The Playstation and Xbox consoles are great, but they have become mini PC's. Switch is still a true console in my opinion. It also changed the way we play. And for that, it's one of the best things to happen this gen. I also give credit to Xbox making a comeback in the second half and focusing on games again. They focused on building their first party and while still niche, I give them credit for attempting backwards compatibility, even though it's limited and is not hardware based. And third, Japan making a comeback this gen. I remember so many people saying that console gaming in Japan was dead. It's nice to see companies like Square and Capcom comeback and give us the types of games we always appreciated them for.

Anyway, enough of my blathering. What do you think, SW? Best thing(s) to happen this gen?

VR.

Bloodborne happened.

Overall better hardware and software(Sony and Microsoft). Sony did an excellent job. Microsoft is okay I guess.

I disagree with the first guy. The switch isn’t innovative lol. You can do the same with with smartphones, PSP, Vita and a bunch of those tablets.

Astrobot

Also .... MS pushing their Backward compatibility so hard. Great feature on its own but I think it may have motivated Sony (hopefully) to add PS1/PS2/PS3 bc to PS5.

VR, more japanese devs supporting PC

VR gaming and Nintendo Switch existence. But more importantly, PC becoming more and more popular as well.

Xbox Play Anywhere and cross platform multiplayer. I look forward to games having cross platform purchases.

• Microsoft made a return to PC gaming
• Microsoft announcing Age of Empires coming back
• PS4 getting a ton of great exclusives
• Nintendo making a return after the Wii U selling really bad
• PC gaming growing larger than ever

Another vote for VR. Strong step in a new direction.

My big 3.

• They sped up the Souls formula with Bloodborne. It's hard to go back to the other games after playing Bloodborne.
• Cross platform online gaming.
• MS making it so I do not need to buy their console or pay for their online to enjoy their games and online features due to pc support and only the Xbox consoles requiring Live Gold.

Gamepass

Gonna go with this. The western AAA output mostly bores me.

Gamepass for me. Played and enjoyed so many games I never would have bought, as well as avoiding paying full price for a few crap games.

Xbox one x

A jump from 900p on Xbox to games like RDR2 and metro exodus at native 4k and forza 7 at 4k60 ultra

“The Xbox one x version of RDR2 is pristine “..Digital foundry experts

I’d probably go with cross platform multiplayer between all systems. There’s still a lot more games that I’d like to see implement it and hopefully it just becomes standard for most all games from here on out.

• Play Anywhere - this is the ultimate goal of buying a license and being able to play it across multiple platforms. It needs to be more widely adopted, but even being able to play across Xbox and PC is a good start.
• GamePass - I love being able to just sub and play games without worrying about ownership and all that crap. I was able to try so many games I otherwise wouldn't have. Some of them were even good!
• Less console exclusives. Let's face it, exclusives haven't made sense in a long time. From a dev standpoint we have the tools to make multi-platform games much more easily than in the past. It's better for everyone except hardware manufacturers who are stuck in the past. And it sucks when console games run poorly and there's no other option.

PSVR (Astro Bot and Resident Evil 7 for me)

When I played Astro Bot for the first time it honest to god was an experience not unlike playing Mario 64 for the fist time in 1996; it was that revolutionary to me. I hope that like Mario 64, Astro Bot can start a trend of mainstream action adventure and platform games coming to VR. Then I played Resident Evil 7 in VR mode and immediately regretted beginning the game in standard mode prior to getting VR; it was a completely different experience. I can’t wait to play more PSVR like Doom or Wipeout.

The important aspect was that this didn’t feel as gimmicky as Wii waggle or Kinect. It felt like something that is a realistic prototype for the future of immersive gaming.

(Honorable mention to the Switch, not for being particularly revolutionary but for hopefully being the rebound Nintendo needs to start getting realistically back into the forefront. Who knows.)

Play Anywhere, Cross-play, GamePass, Origin Access, etc.. These are all pro consumer moves.

Epic store.

Kingdom come deliverance free next week. they gave me so much free games.

By no oder:

Dreams

No Man's Sky

Indies turning relevant

VR

Motion controls on flat screens being a thing of the past

Xbox One being a flop, which saved Sony from complete bankrupt, forcing MS to crawl back to PC gaming and that's about it.

Honestly, this gen brought waaaaaaaay more negatives than positives, though...

Japanese publishers and devs stopped trying to appeal to western audiences like in gen 7. Gamepass, Nintendo Switch hybrid console. That's pretty much it. This is what gen 7 should haven been.

Switch

Gamepass

Play anywhere

Cross - Platform games

good stuff as well

Accessibility has gotten alot better, I have more games than I have time to play them all, you can get gamepass and immediately feel over loaded with content and options, I use it on PC.

The switch has made pick up and play the easiest its ever been and the tech has made it so it doesnt have to just feel like "handheld ports". For example tony hawk on ps2 vs gba.. The difference is no where near that any more. Games on the switch are legit

For me its the switch and gamepass for the 2 biggest things to happen this gen

Yeah have to agree... Switch has been a breath of fresh air for me this gen.

Also, the rise of quality Indie games has been fantastic too. A large portion of my favourite games from this gen have been Indie games, which I never would've predicted at the start of the gen.

And of course, Game Pass. The best value for money in gaming.

For me, Sonic Mania, without a doubt, since it was a dream come true. I'm hoping that Streets of Rage 4 will be another.

Best thing would be Microsoft embracing its competitors. Moving and adapting towards a platform agnostic future.

Also gamepass.

Large moves towards agnostic gaming, PC gaming taking a stronghold in the market, and the Switch rejuvenating Nintendo.

Geez. All kinds of good stuff. Sony and Nintendo being at the forefront of the console market where we could play the best of the east and the west. MS contributing to PC, VR showing out to be a fun format, Nintendo's best Zelda game, PC being a more viable platform than consoles now more than ever. Gaming's been good this gen.

Much better optimization which also meant that the PC platform got some really greatly optimized games, whether you are a console only, PC only or all at once player, no one missed out on this.

Crossplay. We barely saw any games supporting it, but this is the most important new thing for gaming.

PC gaming. PC gaming is the best thing that happened this gen, just like every gen.

In all seriousness, I think cross-play in CoD MW is a pretty big deal. I hope to see this a lot more in future games. I love playing on my PC with my friends on PS4 and Xbox.

Honestly them on controller and me with mouse doesn't make a lick of difference; if it does, no one seems to care.

Def agree with this.

EDIT: You make it sound as if PC gaming didn't exist prior to this gen? What made PC gaming the best thing that happened this gen?

That statement sounds so silly to me.

He's talking about PC gaming is gaining popularity again and during PS3/Xbox 360 era, it was a bad spot for gaming PC but all that change this gen. Developers are now showing PC support more so this gen.

The best thing to happen this gen is the Switch and the fact Nintendo finally has a console that isn't region locked.

@davillain-:

PC gaming was never in a bad spot mate.

Auto resume.

It is silly, silly :D Hence the "in all seriousness" addition.

But, if I were serious, I would have said...

...this.

It is nice to see platforms open up, especially in a pro-PC direction. Not that PC is starving for titles ("PC Beggar race" comments in 3...2...1....) but I do like the direction things are going in, how we hopefully won't be forced to purchase a platform we might not want to play a game we might want.

I also enjoy VR's rising popularity, and how it is being taken seriously this generation. I remember when VR first came about maybe 20 years ago or so....people talk about how VR is a gimmick, well, it was back then. This time? Not so much. This time shit be serious.

Yeah, it was only in a "not as great" spot. Never "bad" :D

The VR love in this thread is strong.

But yeah. VR for sure. Another great thing is watching VR haters get increasingly pissed as VR gets more and more popular. Good times. ;)

Switch dominating and being an awesome console as well as VR not fading away fast like I feared it would. The rest was just more of the same with slightly better graphics.

I'd say the accessibility of PC gaming during this generation was the best part of the generation. You really didn't need more than just an i3, 8 gigs of RAM and a GTX 950 to have a PC that runs like a console. The PS5 and Xbox Series X will likely make PC hardware shopping much harder, however.

Friendly reminder that most Japanese developers really only put their games on PC because Steam is just too big to ignore. The benchmark they use in regards to approaching the PC market is Nippon Ichi's ClaDun X2, meaning that Japanese developers often adopt an unrealistic expectation that fans of ANY of their franchises will like ALL their franchises for no other reason than you choosing to game on PC. The only devs that seem to genuinely care about putting their stuff on Steam are Capcom, Idea Factory and From Software. Otherwise, the PC gaming scene in Japan is but a series of glorified petitions for future ports.

@mrbojangles25: I get you. :)

• Reboot of Doom make it best FPS franchise on earth
• Return of Health Bar and old school style gameplay (as seen with Prey and Doom)
• Return of Microsoft to PC gaming
• Less dumbed down games compare to 7th gen as PC this gen donot effected mostly

Agree 100 percent everything else this gen was meh a few good games here and there but that's it. I flew a plane in GTAV in VR listening to freebird that shit was magical.

Remakes and remasters

were you not gaming in last gen? just asking.

I been gaming since the 80's.