innovative and unique games for this console generation?

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I think little big planet will be an innovative game from the look of things. Another innovation which wasn't done in past console is downloadable games from PSN and XBOX Live and virtual console from the Wii.

omg How could I have forgoten about this one! *slaps hand on head* D'OH!!!

[The Apprentice]

It sounds like I'm ranting against the Wii (and I am a bit), but I'm just trying to say the Dreamcast can be more easily related to the 360 than the Wii.

Totally agreed. Microsoft had a pretty good relationship with Sega before the Xbox was created, so a lot of the technology and design was based on Sega's system.

[corn619]

I think Little Big Planet was a great suggestion from a couple people it looks very original and pure genius. It could very well be the one that makes me go HOLY CRAP and make me realize that my $500.00 investment was worth every penny. Also Zack and Wiki is one of Wii's best games for the seven people that played it I personally LOVED it, but I didn't walk away from it feeling my $250.00 and 4 hour wait in line for the console was worth it.

[peace4myheart]

Even though it originated from the PC, I thought the gameplay of Portal from the Half Life 2 Orange Box is pure genius. Simple and addictive.

[Daniel Primed]

Wow, reading this thread makes me so depressed.

It's amazing how easily people can complain about games being less innovative or just inferior to how things use to be, especially without backing it up. I blog about games (both old and new) and a lot of what I read indicates that many people feel as though gaming is currently in its prime. I totally agree with this. Here are a couple of examples as to why I think it's like this:

Innovations within the video game industry in the past few years:
-digital distribution
-the rise of casual gaming
-episodic content
-new control methods (Wii, DS)
-rise of online console gaming

(A Sample of) Recent Innovative Games:
-Portal
-Rock Band
-Zack and Wiki
-Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Brain Training etc.
-Mario Galaxy
-Patapon
-Okami
-BioShock

These are just a few games, I can keep going. Why does innovation matter so much to you people? Games don't have to be innovative to be enjoyable. Think of some of your favourite games, were they stickly innovative?

[aaron]

i think when people say they don't like "non-innovative" games, they deep down really mean "popular" games.

i also think a lot of people (not pointing fingers in this thread) like art-house, critically-acclaimed but low-selling games simply because it gives them a false inkling of gamer cred or something.

that's just how i feel.

[Zer]

??
Isn't that just the new Wii version of Geometry Wars...and the original version has been around for almost five years?

Not to mention Geometry Wars being a pretty version of Robotron...

Thanks for mentioning my favourite game of all time. So how far back shall we go? Robotron was just a better version of the games Berserk and Robots put together.

Clearly, time travel is the answer. The creators of those games went to the future and copied Robotron.

[RackGaki]

Multiple people mention GTA4 for being innovative. I do not know much about the game, I admit. What all does it offer that is "innovative" over GTA3 and the other identical GTA games that followed?

Immersion like you wouldn't believe. There is no menu in GTA4, really - just your cell phone. Your cousin gives you a call, and you go out and have a beer. You're drunk (blurry visuals w/sloppy controls), so you call the next cabbie that drives by to take you home. Soon after, you call your girlfriend up and you bowl a full game with her. After that, you drive to an internet cafe to check your e-mail for a while, then you hail another cab home and "save" for the evening by sleeping. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that you wreck havoc on Liberty City.

These are just a few games, I can keep going. Why does innovation matter so much to you people? Games don't have to be innovative to be enjoyable. Think of some of your favourite games, were they stickly innovative?

Seeing as innovative games of the current consoles is the topic of this thread, and not games we find enjoyable, that might explain the responses you are reading. I highly enjoyed Bioshock, for instance, but it was a prettier System Shock 2 in a different setting. Highly fun, top 10 game, just not groundbreaking (the writer of the story even conceded that the narrative was compromised by higher-ups). I agree that innovation doesn't equal entertainment. I love shoot 'em ups.

Should the topic have been broader, like, "is this not the best ****ing time in gaming history?" then I would have to yes, yes it is. There's too many good things to list, though you have a pretty good start in yours.