The Really Official Gaming Golden Age Thread Thing...

[Stewart]

So lets see what we gamers consider to be the golden age of gaming. Not so much the best \ fav console, there was a poll for the a while back, more so the different eras.

The look and feel of the consoles, the sort of games coming out, the excitment of getting your mitts on a new release, the competition \ console wars going on at the time that kept the quality up. That sort of thing.

In other words, when was it most fun to be a gamer?

I'll link to the ikikikikikikikikiWiki for each generation so us older lot can refresh our memories of ye olden days.


The First Generation (1972-1977)
Was before my time, as stupidly I'd not been bothered to be born yet, and the machines were quite basic, but this is genesis for popular home consoles.

- Magnavox Odyssey.
- Atari Pong.
- Coleco Telstar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...st_generation)


The Second Generation (1976-1984)
I was born half way through this era, but it's still basic stuff, Atari machines and stuff that looks like it should be on display at Bletchley Park. Does have the Atari 2600 though, which everyone who was alive in the 80s had, and the seed of the Master System in the shape of some weird SEGA machine.

- Atari 2600.
- Mattel Intellivision.
- SEGA SG-1000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...nd_generation)


The Third Generation (1983-1992)
The 'early modern' stuff you still see hanging around today. The old guard of Atari and Coleco start to die of old age, Nintendo and SEGA establish themselves as the NWO. Mario arrives in your home. Some classics here.

- NES.
- SEGA Master System.
- Atari 7800.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...rd_generation)


The Fourth Generation (1987-1996)
The 16bit golden age, SEGA are riding high with the MegaDrive and Sonic, Nintendo are riding higher with Mario and the SNES. Handhelds catch on, the Gameboy goes on to sell nearly 120 million units.

- SNES.
- MegaDrive.
- GameBoy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...th_generation)


The Fifth Generation (1993-2002)
The last knockings of the 20th century sees SEGA making a bit of a mess of things, Nintendo refusing to switch to discs, sticking to the humble cartridge for the N64, and various other n00b companies making things that nobody is going to buy, like the Atari Jaguar, the 3D0, and something called a PlayStation...

- SEGA Saturn.
- N64.
- Sony PlayStation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...th_generation)


The Sixth Generation (1998-2006)
The early 21st century crowns Sony as the n00b King, SEGA launches the Dreamcast and then dies, Nintendo finally switches to discs, seemingly losing a bit of the companies magic in the process, and Microsoft arrive with a big, ugly looking thing. The NWO has been replaced with an even newerererer world order, and gaming is a bit cool now. Things will never be the same again.

- Sony PlayStation 2.
- Nintendo GameCube.
- Microsoft Xbox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...th_generation)


The Seventh Generation (2004-The Futurerer)
Look under your telly... it's them ones. SEGA now makes games, Nintendo makes clever little bits of kit for the whole family to play on, and the war they fought a decade ago is no more... because Sony and Microsoft are fighting that war now. Some things never change.

- PS3.
- 360.
- Wii.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...th_generation)


So that's about it then. When was gaming the most fun. Today, with all the bells and whistles of modern machines, of back in the days of Pong and big hair?

VOTE NOW!

[kalniel]

IBM PC and compatibles?

Which ijit at Wiki thought they were the authority on 'generations'...

[Stewart]

Console gaming, boy, console gaming.

I left out the ZX Spectrum, C64, etc, to keep it to consoles, so the PC has no place in this poll.

We will all doth our cap to it though.

[NeedMoarFarms]

I think this generation is pretty poor, sure graphics are amazing, games are more realistic than ever, but they are no where near as fun as some older games.

I was born into the generation of the mega drive, and grew up with the ps1, ps2 and eventually pc gaming.

I loved my mega drive, but definately sixth gen for me.

[Flibb]

IBM PC and compatibles?

Which ijit at Wiki thought they were the authority on 'generations'...

What about all the old stuff, C16, Speccy, Amstrad, Amiga, Atari ST. For me the generation change was when online play became viable, my first serious online game was the original rainbow 6 on dialup. The next big jump was the mod scene (CC), and lastly the advent of the mmo.

[0iD]

imo it wasn't until the 3rg gen that consoles and game developers really got their act together.

[Stewart]

As I said, I kept it to consoles, left out the 'computers'. Still the generations are dated and the machines I've listed are only a few examples. If you want to vote for the AtariST, or indeed any other console \ computer then vote for the generation the best covers the time period when it was an established machine. Simple.

If you want to vote for the PC... erm... make a different thread.

[Stewart]

Which ijit at Wiki thought they were the authority on 'generations'...

Those 'generations' are pretty well established amongst video gaming folk... it's not just some ijit at Wiki...

Anyway, stop picking and vote.

[Stephen C]

I was torn between third and forth

[strike-down]

5th gen, loved the N64. Had zelda - ocarina of time and super smash bros. No more needs to be said

[matty-hodgson]

i voted '6th'.. i loved that era!
and that one made me laugh too

[TAKTAK]

has to be 4th, the SNES was just too epic for it's own good

its the only console that i keep looking out for second hand...

[Saracen]

Some of the best fun I ever had was on a 0th Generation "console", otherwise known as an IBM S360/70. Now that really was a console.


Oh, and I didn't vote. I'm not much of a console fan.

[Butuz]

Gotta vote 7th for me - it's the only generation that I've actually solidly played and enjoyed which I suppose says something.

Butuz

[Flibb]

I plaid through every generation, and think 7th is best. Then again I was always more in to the home computer side of things, and an early adopter of online gaming. The most fun I've had gaming is multiplayer, thats why its a good time for me.

[jonathan_phang]

Forth for me... SNES was my console education... Super Mario World, Final Fantasy III US, Street Fighter 2, Link to the Past.... So much of my time well spent with that console... Really was a great generation, where 16bit tech was good enough to look nice, but not so good that gameplay was forgotten.

I still remember jumping for joy when finally getting Guile's 7 hit, unblockable combo in SF2. That was when 7 hit combos took skill