What has modern gaming done right?

[J T]

People often complain about modern gaming on this website, but I'm interested in knowing what people think modern gaming has done well?

[BoringSupreez]

Fairly certain we already have a thread for this... but whatever, I'm not gonna dig it up.

Powerful consoles with few limitations, allowing developers to do just about anything they want (excluding Wii)
Awesome controllers (excluding Wii)
Re-releases of old games in higher resolutions (excluding Wii)
The introduction of trophies and achievements (excluding Wii)
Instant streaming of Netflix and Amazon Prime videos
A surge in the popularity and recognition of indie games. In 2004, they were far harder to find
Hard drives and SD cards instead of wimpy memory cards

[BoneSnapDeez]

One word: handhelds.

In contrast to the handhelds of old, the ones we have today are:

- Backlit
- Can be put to sleep
- Have long-lasting rechargeable batteries
- Graphics that have finally "caught up" and don't look vastly inferior to home consoles

The DS and PSP are two of the greatest systems of all time, in my opinion.

[Gamerforlife]

Fairly certain we already have a thread for this... but whatever, I'm not gonna dig it up.

Powerful consoles with few limitations, allowing developers to do just about anything they want (excluding Wii)
Awesome controllers (excluding Wii)
Re-releases of old games in higher resolutions (excluding Wii)
The introduction of trophies and achievements (excluding Wii)
Instant streaming of Netflix and Amazon Prime videos
A surge in the popularity and recognition of indie games. In 2004, they were far harder to find
Hard drives and SD cards instead of wimpy memory cards

Translation provided by your not so friendly neighborhood troll:

Turning consoles into computers
Stupid, gimmicky controls
Shameless cash ins, rehashes, and double dips
Destroying and trivializing all of our ideas about player accomplishments
Getting away from consoles actually being about GAMES
Making indie games more mainstream and thus, not indie games anymore
See first part about turning consoles into computers

[Hazerd]

People often complain about modern gaming on this website, but I'm interested in knowing what people think modern gaming has done well?

Graphics, in your screenshot thread, there is proof of that.

[BoringSupreez]

Stupid, gimmicky controls

I'm referring to the standard PS3 and 360 controllers, which aren't gimmicky. And as for consoles becoming more like computers, I'm fine with that. I prefer PC anyway.

[noiseredux]

online gameplay.

[Gamerforlife]

Stupid, gimmicky controls

I'm referring to the standard PS3 and 360 controllers, which aren't gimmicky. And as for consoles becoming more like computers, I'm fine with that. I prefer PC anyway.

Fair points, I wasn't actually intending my last post to be taken too seriously. I just found it interesting how a lot of those pros that were presented could easily be viewed as cons by some people

[hashiriya1]

The PS3 being a region free home console is one step forward this generation. I hope Microsoft and Nintendo follow suit in the next gen. Sadly, I highly doubt the Wii U will be region free.

[pankakes123]

I love modern gaming! Obviously I like retro a lot too, but for me if it's a good game it's a good game, despite what era it is. So I'll start with games:
-Some can span up to 300 hours long. (Bethesda, thank you for ruining my social life.)
-Superb animations and graphics that allow for more beauty in games.
-Amazing voice acting.

Now for everything else:
-Harddrives
-HD re-releases
-Seamless online play
-DLC (Can be good and bad. In games like Fallout 3 it just helps keep you having fun. In games like CoD, it's just begging for more cash and gives you next to nothing.)
-Indie/kickstarter scene
-Backwards compatibility (Sure PS2 had it but original Xbox and GC didn't.)
-Wireless controllers more common (No more tripping on controller cord and causing chain reaction of crap falling off shelves.)
-Netflix (Pretty accurate: http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/upl ... x-xbox.jpg)
-Awesome console limited editions (We may not have gotten another Pikachu N64 but we did get a lot of cool limited editions like the blue Wii, Simpsons 360, Halo Reach 360, and Star Wars 360.)
-Sales, and lots of 'em (Sure EB Games and other stores had sales before this generation, but with the emergence of Steam and Xbox Live Marketplace, games can be downloaded for amazing prices.)

In my opinion, this generation has done a lot of things right. Now, if next-gen rumors are true, in 5-6 years we'll have another thread titled: "Look how much modern gaming has done wrong."

HONESTLY! Sony with ads interrupting gameplay, next Xbox requires online at all times, Wii U can't run Unreal Engine 4. All of these better not be true, and if they are next-gen is truly the downfall of gaming.