The 7th console generation has aged quite poorly overall

Strike · Feb 3, 2021

Performance wise, yeah. Going back, it's hard to imagine how I was able to put up with games that perform so poorly and rarely even ran at HD resolutions. The game design still holds up though as a lot of these games were ported to PC. I wish some of the games that come out now were a bit more linear as opposed to everything having open worlds and superfluous content as a means to add artificial length. 12 to 15-hour campaigns was fine for most part.

ghibli99 · Feb 3, 2021

Half of my installed games on my Series X are 360 back-compat titles. LOL I liked that gen a lot and am still playing games from that time.

J-Soul · Feb 3, 2021

What I really dont like are how slow and sluggish the 360 and ps3 interfaces are nowadays. Contributes a lot to why they're hard to go back to for me.

Host Samurai · Feb 3, 2021

I absolutely agree. It was the worst generation I had since gaming. Everything so very homogenized outside of the Wii.

Instant Vintage · Feb 3, 2021

Jiraiya said:
The x1x/ps5 will age the ps4/x1 gen worse than the ps360.

We're a week out from 3 months and it already has hardware wise and software wise, Father Time will rapid age Gen 8 before this year is out.

Have you turned on a One/S/X or a PS4/Pro since you received a new console (if you have one)? I had to troubleshoot my son's One X and if felt like the absolute SLOWEST THING EVER. Obviously a bit of hyperbole, but not enough to make that statement untrue.

Loading a match in MK11 on PS4 Pro and then on PS5? Not to say that it was slow on the Pro, but I can be halfway through the first round before the Pro loads up the match. Immortals on the One X? That takes about 90 seconds to 2 minutes to load on the One X, but on the Series X? Less than 45 seconds, and I'm being generous.

But I digress.

Generation 7 has some gems that shine brighter now than they did in their current generation. (I will forever champion Puppeteer and it really should've been a cross gen release for PS3/PS4.) While some things were refined during Gen 8 that were created in Gen 7, I don't think that it aged *too* poorly (again, outside of hardware; do you remember how LOUD the Xbox 360 was? I get that everyone says the PS4/Pro was a jet engine, but if so, the 360 was a rocket ship's thrusters).

I still play some Gen 7 games and with a little TLC, they totally could work here in the 9th gen.

Huey · Feb 3, 2021

eh performance and resolution are not great - it was very much a generation about pushing new graphical techniques at the sacrifice of those - but I can easily go back to it, as I can with any other generation. Particularly given there are still many great games locked away on the PS3.

CanUKlehead · Feb 3, 2021

Man, I hated last gen way more. Cared about gaming way less vs WiiS360 gen.

Dont get me wrong, Gen 6 still king, but so many franchises did not speak to me at all last gen. Halo close to dying, AC and Call of Duty oversaturated, Rock Band died, Mass Effect skipped the gen (may as well have), didn't care for MOBAs and shlooters, etc. Yakuza, Forza Horizon and Hitman saved the gen for me though, but otherwise, I just felt like gaming left me behind last gen.

Oooh, maybe this is the gen where I finally kick this expensive habit lol

Another · Feb 3, 2021

Backlog gen 7 stuff still makes up about 30% of my current gaming and I'm really struggling to agree. It's aged very well, imho. Certainly far better than 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th gen stuff, imho (gen 3 and 5 were still excellent, don't get me wrong).

But since this is Era where people like to declare anything that is suboptimal in anyway to be unplayable trash (I'm a PC-first kind of player who values framerate above anything else and even to me the 30fps threads in this place are completely hilarious), I'm not surprised this is such a popular opinion.

MaxAugust · Feb 3, 2021

Lots of great games but I think overall the 7th Gen has aged a bit poorly on average in terms of aesthetics and performance. Also, it was a rough time for Japanese games in general. Obviously there are plenty of exceptions but it kind of reminds me of 5th Gen switch to 3D. Plenty of great games but technological problems have undermined the quality of a lot of games in retrospect.

sbenji · Feb 3, 2021

Tiago Rodrigues said:
I mean...it's hard to imagine this now but wasn't the Xbox 360 released without a HDD at first?

And both the Xbox 360 and PS3 didn't even have an HDMI cable right?

Framerate was all over the place, many games were sub-30 fps.

But they were simpler times and we didn't care. We just had a good time.

That was before internet and social media ruined us

ps3 had hdmi from the start. Xbox 360 added it in a later revision assuming memory is correct.

Rodney McKay · Feb 3, 2021

dgrdsv said:
7th gen games are completely fine when played in modern day screen resolutions and framerates.
The only part of 7th gen which aged poorly is the lack of proper b/c with 7th gen on some newer consoles.

Agreed, I know people like to knock the Switch for all the ports it gets, but I love having some of my favorite 360\PS3 franchises on a handheld system (usually looking and running better too) like Red Faction Guerrilla, Darksiders, Burnout Paradise, etc.

But I'm still mad that Fable 2 never got a PC port. :(

NDA-Man · Feb 3, 2021

Another said:
Backlog gen 7 stuff still makes up about 30% of my current gaming and I'm really struggling to agree. It's aged very well, imho. Certainly far better than 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th gen stuff, imho (gen 3 and 5 were still excellent, don't get me wrong).

As an aside, 360 stuff is big in my backlog, too. Thanks to gamepass, I've finally genuinely tried Gears of War (I started and dropped 5 for a gamepass quest, but have restarted it from the beginning), and am just chewing through the campaigns at a brisk pace. Granted, its on Xbone X backwards compatibility, so maybe some horsepower issues got resolved, but I'm digging Liefeld Squad versus the mole people.

Noisepurge · Feb 3, 2021

i just bought the GOTY of the 7th gen, Haze. Will see how well it holds up! :D

Joris-truly · Feb 3, 2021

Don't really agree from a actual 'game' standpoint (rendering ofcouse it's outdated). A lot of gameplay concepts that we still play today started (or where crystalized) in the 7th gen era. Especially the current open-world formula.

It hasn't really evolved from 7th gen, apart for some incremental changes (like BOTW structure... Which technically runs on 7th gen hardware)

Cyanity · Feb 3, 2021

7th gen also marked the start of the poo brown and piss filter being slapped onto every. single. game. A lot of genuinely good games have been marred by this horrible design decision.

KalBalboa · Feb 3, 2021

Cyanity said:
7th gen also marked the start of the poo brown and piss filter being slapped onto every. single. game. A lot of genuinely good games are marred by this horrible design decision.

Bullshit?

KalBalboa said:
I think some of the "brown" comments re: the 7th gen on Xbox 360/PS3 are all predicated on the 2005-2007 time frame.

I think folks forget the likes of LittleBigPlanet (there were, what, FOUR of those games on PS3?) the Uncharted series, God of War 3 + A, inFamous 2, the Motorstorm games, the places Halo went...

Nintendo wasn't some oasis of color for :checks watch: 8 years.

Cyanity · Feb 3, 2021

KalBalboa said:
Bullshit?

I said "A lot" and "every" was obviously hyperbole

Vertpin · Feb 3, 2021

Strongly disagree. Bad take. There are excellent games from that generation. They may not look as striking to you nowadays.

KalBalboa · Feb 3, 2021

Cyanity said:
I said "A lot" and "every" was obviously hyperbole

Maybe don't write "every. single. game." unless you have receipts, heh.

I think the "brown filter on every game" take for the entire generation of PS3/360 has been said so much on message boards that some people actually believe it... when in reality it was a fad from 2006-2008?

yrcmlived · Feb 3, 2021

Cyanity said:
7th gen also marked the start of the poo brown and piss filter being slapped onto every. single. game. A lot of genuinely good games have been marred by this horrible design decision.

ahahhahaha true

I hate brown era of game XD

Hzsn724 · Feb 3, 2021

Some of the comments here... No one here played Last of Us, Uncharted 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, Bioshock, Arkham City????

The 7th gen was pretty incredible considering and i think it's way easier to go back to than the 5th (ps1, N64, Saturn).

Garrison · Feb 3, 2021

Yeah I will have to disagree here.

Cyanity · Feb 3, 2021

Hzsn724 said:
Some of the comments here... No one here played play Last of Us, Uncharted 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, Bioshock, Arkham City????

The 7th gen was pretty incredible considering and i think it's way easier to go back to than the 5th (ps1, N64, Saturn).

Oh, yea, OP is totally in the wrong here. 7th gen had some all-time greats.

Mana Latte · Feb 3, 2021

I can still play a majority of them. I would say this might've been my favorite gen. It was the first that I had disposable income and really shaped my overall gaming tastes. Gaming was something I did since I was younger but this Gen made it more of a primary hobby

Hzsn724 · Feb 3, 2021

Cyanity said:
Oh, yea, OP is totally in the wrong here. 7th gen had some all-time greats.

Seriously it's one of my favorites. Throw in PSP and DS and it's mind boggling how absolutely incredible that gen was.

KalBalboa · Feb 3, 2021

Hzsn724 said:
Seriously it's one of my favorites. Throw in PSP and DS and it's mind boggling how absolutely incredible that gen was.

I think people often forget how huge the PSP was. It sold nearly as well as the 360 and PS3, something like 80+ million units of hardware?

The DS has a stellar library, which goes without question.

MaxAugust · Feb 3, 2021

Hzsn724 said:
Some of the comments here... No one here played Last of Us, Uncharted 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, Bioshock, Arkham City????

The 7th gen was pretty incredible considering and i think it's way easier to go back to than the 5th (ps1, N64, Saturn).

It definitely aged better than the 5th. The transition to 3D was extremely rough. HD was bad too especially for Japanese games but nowhere near as difficult to overcome as 3D.

Hzsn724 · Feb 3, 2021

KalBalboa said:
I think people often forget how huge the PSP was. It sold nearly as well as the 360 and PS3, something like 80+ million units of hardware?

The DS has a stellar library, which goes without question.

Absolutely, PSP and DS were the cherry on that gens sundae. Like some of the games released were some of the best in those franchises i.e. Dissidia 012 and Castlevania Order of Ecclesia. 7th gen made me a even more hardcore gamer than I was previously.

MrFox · Feb 3, 2021

Cyanity said:
7th gen also marked the start of the poo brown and piss filter being slapped onto every. single. game. A lot of genuinely good games have been marred by this horrible design decision.

Some popular games certainly abused this, desaturated grey-brown was the favorite grading for military first person shooters, I don't remember it much being used for other genres.

The majority of my favorite games on PS3 didn't have that, plenty of the best games of the generation were going for very colorful like Ratchet and LBP, or realistically colorful environments like the Uncharted series.

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Cow Mengde · Feb 3, 2021

Not the PC version of the game. If there's no PC port or the port is shoddy, sure.

Hzsn724 · Feb 3, 2021

MaxAugust said:
It definitely aged better than the 5th. The transition to 3D was extremely rough. HD was bad too especially for Japanese games but nowhere near as difficult to overcome as 3D.

Totally, I'll always love Banjo and Final Fantasy VIII but they are really ugly and aged rather poorly. I have complete nostolgia for that gen cause I grew up with it. But If I didn't, I doubt I could entertain the thought of going back to it.

Jiraiya · Feb 3, 2021

Instant Vintage said:
We're a week out from 3 months and it already has hardware wise and software wise, Father Time will rapid age Gen 8 before this year is out.

Have you turned on a One/S/X or a PS4/Pro since you received a new console (if you have one)? I had to troubleshoot my son's One X and if felt like the absolute SLOWEST THING EVER. Obviously a bit of hyperbole, but not enough to make that statement untrue.

Loading a match in MK11 on PS4 Pro and then on PS5? Not to say that it was slow on the Pro, but I can be halfway through the first round before the Pro loads up the match. Immortals on the One X? That takes about 90 seconds to 2 minutes to load on the One X, but on the Series X? Less than 45 seconds, and I'm being generous.

But I digress.

Generation 7 has some gems that shine brighter now than they did in their current generation. (I will forever champion Puppeteer and it really should've been a cross gen release for PS3/PS4.) While some things were refined during Gen 8 that were created in Gen 7, I don't think that it aged *too* poorly (again, outside of hardware; do you remember how LOUD the Xbox 360 was? I get that everyone says the PS4/Pro was a jet engine, but if so, the 360 was a rocket ship's thrusters).

I still play some Gen 7 games and with a little TLC, they totally could work here in the 9th gen.

Had my x1x since a few days after launch. Nope...my one x has not turned on since.

I play For Honor and i can definitely tell who's next gen , one x or still on the base model. Loading into a vs match when next gen takes 2 or 3 seconds. Them other machines...closer to a minute. Rough times. These machines are a paradigm shift. Can't wait till it's full swing.

AMAKAN93 · Feb 3, 2021

I mean, yeah, very few of those games look even bearable in this day and age and, ironically, the Wii hard carries Gen 7 in the visuals department.

TheWildCard · Feb 3, 2021

Eh, I don't think 7th gen has aged any worst than previous gens. Yeah there's games with performance issues on both ends of the generation and some games just real like rougher version of modern games, but I wouldn't say it's any worse on the whole than 6th gen or 8th gen will feel in a decade.

yyr · Feb 3, 2021

TubaZef said:
Completely disagree, I still play a lot of games from that gen and they still hold up very well, some could easily pass for 8th gen games with slightly better graphics.

ghostcrew said:
I think it's ages remarkably well. If all of my consoles combusted and I was stuck with a 360 for a year I think I'd be totally happy.

I think anyone saying 7th gen sucked is nuts.

7th gen was when downloadable games first became popular, and when online multiplayer really took off. You had Gears of freaking War, for crying out loud. So many amazing hours in co-op and Versus. You had Rock Band and its mountains of DLC. You had arcade revivals all over the place; the fangasm when TMNT 1989 was released was off the charts. You had XBLIG, and with it, the true birth of indie games on console, setting up the explosion that followed the next gen. You had so many beautiful, memorable moments in HD. You had arcade fighting games with online play, how amazing was that? And then, when the hardware was aging, you got some true technological masterpieces. Remember Grand Theft Auto V and Metal Gear Solid V running on those very same boxes? Truly magical from beginning to end.

I think a lot of folks are choosing not to remember how amazing it was because many of the gen's big hits were remastered on PS4. That shouldn't lessen the impact they had on PS3, where they still ran nicely, sold a ton, and played really well.

7th gen was fantastic. Now excuse me while I power on a 360 and go play After Burner Climax.

KalBalboa · Feb 3, 2021

MaxAugust said:
It definitely aged better than the 5th. The transition to 3D was extremely rough. HD was bad too especially for Japanese games but nowhere near as difficult to overcome as 3D.

What helps the 5th gen was how conservative the PS1 was in the 3D department. A lot of polygonal characters on 2D backgrounds, or narrow FL cameras (like Metal Gear Solid).

Loanshark · Feb 3, 2021

Disagree completely. In reality, the 7th gen is the first gen where the effects, assets and poly counts were good enough in 3D games that they could actually stand the test of time. If you simply upres a lot of these titles and add some AA, they still look decent. That cannot be said for gen 5 and 6 for example.

Garryk · Feb 3, 2021

I kinda disagree. Gen 7 was the first gen that I could afford the consoles AND games of which there were a lot of good ones: Halo 3, Gears 2, Uncharted 2, Red Dead Redemption, Forza Horizon, Mass Effect 1-2, Portal 2, Demon's Souls. I know some of these came out on PC or got Gen 8 ports, but these were all great games. I think Gen 8 was actually worse/boring because it gave birth to the "remaster" fad.

Kingpin722 · Feb 3, 2021

I loved Gen 7 tbh. Weirdly enough for how recent it was, it has so many great games locked to the original hardware.

Imo Gen 7 provided the last significant jump in gaming until the PS5/Series X. The PS4 & XB1 felt more like an expansion pack or DLC, if you will, for PS360 lol.

Chettlar · Feb 3, 2021

Bishop89 said:
Yeh jaggy blurry mess of games, a lot performing badly, and now shit and slow OS

I mean, maybe on the ps3. The 360 isn't too bad of an experience.

brawndolicious · Feb 3, 2021

Most of the good games from that gen have gameplay and visuals that aged great. There were some trends like light bloom that were a bit abused but that trend was very short.

A lot of current game series developed their visual and gameplay style back then and carried it all the way up to today. Just look at what was made by Dice, Bioware, and Bethesda during that gen. They each have games in different series that looked and played completely different and if you go back to their Gen 7 games today, they still look and feel good.

The sixth gen on the other hand has some ROUGH looking games, especially on the PS2. There are some games that still look fine today but a lot of the games from back then just suffered from really bad image quality. A few games were able to make art that managed to work within the constraints of the hardware like Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Halo 1/2, and God of War but most other games showed that they had to make compromises in the visuals. It was still the early days of 3D graphics.

Mr.fresh · Feb 3, 2021

After getting used to PS4 (and now PS5) and going back to game on the PS3 I don't know how I did it some games just run TERRIBLE!

Deleted member 35987 · Feb 3, 2021

7the gen was/is infinitely more exciting than these last 2 console drops.

TheUnsungHero26 · Feb 3, 2021

Probably my favourite generation. While I'm not sure I would want to go back to the original hardware, playing 360 games on a Series X is a delight. Especially those with enhanced resolutions.

AlexBasch · Feb 3, 2021

I thought I would miss my PS3 more, but thanks to so many remasters and definitive versions in PS4, I can safely say it's best used as a Netflix/YouTube/BluRay machine for non-SmartTV's.

Dinzy · Feb 3, 2021

This thread is insane, and the people declaring the whole gen sucked are bonkers. There were a lot of great games and they are reasonably OK now. Compared to Gen 6 or 5 they hold up much better. Heck I can't even hook up a console from any earlier gen to my TV. I really don't see too much difference between Switch games and later Ps360 games and switch is fine for Nintendo games. GTAV was a Gen 7 game. There were a lot of good titles in that gen, just like any other.

UraMallas · Feb 3, 2021

Man. I disagree hard with this take. It's most likely my favorite gen. It's definitely my most played gen. And I still go back to a lot of my catalogue on XSX and I've never even once thought "man, these games suck now."

Ariesfirebomb · Feb 3, 2021

Some of my favorite games were this gen so I can't really agree. But I do agree that there were way too many games that had that ugly ass yellow filter. That gen certainly didn't believe in colors lol

floridaguy954 · Feb 3, 2021

I completely disagree.

7th gen games played on 7th gen consoles were unbearable because of resolution and performance issues.

I've replayed a ton of 7th gen games on PC at high framerates and resolutions and plenty of them still hold up.

There was a ton of genre variety and new IPs that gen.

Flevance · Feb 3, 2021

Well, in that regard it surely does. I got a gaming laptop back in mid 2013 and I've been trying to avoid playing anything on my PS3/360 that wasn't also available on PC ever since. I still own both PS3 and 360, but I don't think I'll ever want to use them again, I'm pretty much done with them

The 7th console generation has aged quite poorly overall

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