If the 80's were considered the Golden Age of Gaming, then...

[sanquin]

Late 90's and early early 2000's was the golden age in my opinion. 3d models were just rearing it's head in the late 90's Like quake, ff7, morrowind, things like that. Then the first games for the xbox and such were awesome too. But after that the slow decline started.

That's how I see it.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

Wait...the 80's? The time of the great video game crash and games that have aged absolutely terribly? I'm not saying there aren't any great games from that ere, but if that's the golden age of gaming then the 1910's was the golden age of film.

 

[Machocruz]

Golden age of gaming was roughly 1985-1996. It started with the proliferation of 8-bit home computers and ended when PlayStation 1 killed video gaming.

The most revolutionary games and concepts were invented during this period. Ultima IV, Pool of Radiance, Steel Panthers and its precursors, SSI in general, all the good stuff. UFO: Enemy Unknown, Dungeon Master & Chaos Strikes Back, Doom, Quake. There's too many great games to list. Even arcades were still alive with all sorts of fantastic games. Remember Bubble Bobble, Empire Strikes Back, Skate or Die, Speed Rumbler or Rampart?

I would title the current days the "console turd" era. They're more polished turds than ever before, I'll give you that. Only the indie games still bring me hope of a better tomorrow. Those, and with any luck both Sony and Microsoft will change their consoles into furniture.

This.

I would extend it to early 2000s, just to squeeze Thief, Deux Ex, Fallout, System Shock 2, and Planescape:Torment in there.

 

[Terminate421]

I wouldn't say the 80's were the golden age. Most games were absolute shit in retrospect. Games were masochistic and not in depth whatsoever for the most part. I grew up in the 80's playing Atari, Intellivision, Calecovision, and NES. I would say we are in the golden age of gaming now.

Dude, that was the Dark Ages.

 

[The Comfy Chair]

This is the beginning of the second golden age.

It just happens to be a PC exclusive golden age! XD

 

[Machocruz]

This age is great, sure there were a lot of classics released in the late 90's, but do I play any of them today? Just barely, some if I want to check up on an old classic again, but a great majority of them are modern.

But will you be playing these modern games in 12 years? Hell, most games from 5 years ago I wouldn't touch again.

 

[EvilMaggot]

we are atm in the Dark Ages of Reboots and "spitting same shit out every year"

 

[IndieForever]

Wait...the 80's? The time of the great video game crash and games that have aged absolutely terribly? I'm not saying there aren't any great games from that ere, but if that's the golden age of gaming then the 1910's was the golden age of film.

I would call it a Golden Age of filming, because anyone who could pick up a camera could make a film and it could be shown in cinemas. Granted, the film camera, then, was not really as accessible as a free download of the Unreal SDK or Unity, but you get my drift.

The signal-to-noise ratio might have been poor, as it is with lots of mobile apps, indie games etc. but you could make a movie. It's gone full circle and you can now make a film that will get distribution, with your friends, for not a lot of money, if you have the talent. Most people don't.

I guess I'm defining 'Golden Age' very differently from many of you, and I'll call this one my last post on the subject. I just see it as a time when everyone, anyone, could get involved and it wasn't shut off by big money and big companies.

That time has come full circle and I'll say it's now as good as it was in the 80s to get your idea out there, if you have the talent, the commitment and.. a little bit of luck. Always essential in the entertainment industry.

 

[Phuctifyno]

What would this current age be considered, brilliant games pop up often enough, but there is enough mediocrity and crap in this "era" that it all balances out, so.... opinions on what this stage in gaming would be dubbed as?

Maybe this has already been mentioned, but a "Golden Age" can only be determined by time and time alone. Thus "Golden Age". All of the mediocrity is irrelevent because it goes away. We have to wait for time to pass and all of the crap has been forgotten to see how much greatness is still left standing. It's kinda like panning for gold. ...hey "Golden Age" - huh huh, really preceded my brilliance on that one.

That being said, I'm betting 2011 will be remembered for some time to come. Some record breaking sales, innovative technology, lots of classic franchises getting updated in mostly good ways (with some notable failures), and lots of excellent titles. But so far, the SNES and PS2 are the go-to Golden Consoles.

 

[perkl]

We're not disagreeing here. However, there are a lot of procedural, recently released, games available for you to play.

Can you mention a few that aren't indie games? I can't come up with any. Indies thankfully have released several great games in the last few years.

it doesn't make those games that tried to break the mould 'great'. Unless you think they did, in which case.. heh.

Maybe not exactly great, but it's still better than making yet another derivative, unimaginative piece of trash. Dear Esther is borderline case if its even a game, but at least it attempts something new. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the single player experience of Warfighter. Jury is still out on Black Ops 2, but that game seems to suck also.

And it's not that I hate military shooters on principle. Call of Duty 4 was one of the best games of all time when it came out and still a very enjoyable experience. Infinity Ward knew exactly what they were doing, while Treyarch and Danger Close don't seem to have a clue.

 

[Phuctifyno]

I'd call it the Brown Age of Gaming.

srsly lol'd

Why doesn't this site have a like system? Too flammable?

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

This age is great, sure there were a lot of classics released in the late 90's, but do I play any of them today? Just barely, some if I want to check up on an old classic again, but a great majority of them are modern.

But will you be playing these modern games in 12 years? Hell, most games from 5 years ago I wouldn't touch again.

I'm inclined to agree with you on this, I play games from anywhere from early 90s stuff, to stuff in the late 90s and early 2000s more than I do any game made in the last 5 years or so, mainly because of overall gameplay(controls, ease of motion, overall feel), story quality(Plot, characters, development integration between them.), things that I find a lot of newer games, just don't have.

Sure, there are some games that I will likely replay again in the next 10 or so years from this generation, but I find it hard to believe that the number of those titles will be anywhere near those I will still be trying to integrate with new systems and play from the 90s in yet another 10 years.

Homeworld, is a shining example, I still play that game, fairly frequently, that game came out September 28, 1999, not exactly recent, still holds up today.

As for SNES games that I still play now and then for the awesometude of them, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars, Final Fantasy III(VI in japan), Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, Star Fox, and Raiden Trad.

Yeah I still play those games.

Also still enjoy some Classic Unreal Tournament now and again as well as Quake III arena with friends from time to time.

 

[Another]

That was the birth, the 90s were the renaissance, now we're dealing with the future.

No, we're in the renaissance now.

Lets make a little test. Could you get away with publishing a game like Journey, or Spec Ops The Line in the 90's? No? Then its not the renaissance.

The 80's was prehistory, the 90's was rudimentary toolmaking, the 00's were the Greek and Roman periods, now is the Renaissance.

This is what I was thinking too.

There are plenty of remakes, corporate mistakes, bad policies, and dumbing down fiascos, but despite that, I can't remember a time when I was offered so many options in ways to conduct my gaming.
-I can go grab classics off of gog.com
-I can find good new indie games on a weekly basis
-I can play something decent on my phone
-I can kickstart something I want made
-I can play good free to play games
-And there are still good AAA games I want to play!

That's not to say that some genres haven't gotten the shaft. Apart from a handful of releases JRPG's have been having a rough time of it, and except for some kickstarter projects I can't remember the last time I saw a good space or flight sim.