Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Seventh Generation

It seems like just yesterday when all the hype over the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii consumed every facet of video game media, mainstream media and regular conversation.  Like no other console generation before it, video games were about to take a quantum leap in terms of graphics, processing power, interconnectivity and controls among many other things.  This console generation launched the video game industry to unimaginable heights.  Playing video games was no longer a niche activity for children and obsessively intellectual in the eyes of society.  Due to the popularity of this console generation along with ventures into different forms of interactive media (motion and social games in particular), video games made major strides in becoming a serious media in our culture much like films, books, music and art.  While video games still has many more years and possibly decades before it is on the same level as those forms of media, this generation really got the momentum building for the argument that video games as an art form.

Sadly with the eighth console generation already on its way and just about to shift into turbo with the release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this November, it is finally time for these consoles to take a backseat for the next generation.  Big things are ahead, but the title for this series of articles is "The Seventh Generation", not "The Eighth Generation".  For the next month or so leading up to the launches of the PS4 and Xbox One, this writer will be taking a retrospective look at the all of consoles of this past generation (Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3).  For the final article of this series, this writer will be listing the essential games from the past generation.  This article will not be your normal top ten list.  Essential games are not necessarily the best rated games of this console generation; they are the games that NEED to be experienced from the seventh generation of video game consoles.

This series of articles has been boiling around in this writer's mind for a long time.  To take this trip down memory lane should be loads of fun.  Enjoy the ride and The Seventh Generation will be back in a week or two with a look at the Nintendo Wii.