The name of the generation

[Entitled]

Pong, Atari 2600, NES, SNES, PS1, PS2.

These were all incredibly dominant consoles of their own respective generations, and later became the namesakes for them, defining how we look at them historically.

So what should we call this closing one? The Wii definitely didn't "dominate" the market even if it sold slightly more than the other two, and even if the PS3 would suddenly take the lead, it isn't living up to it's predecessors' position either.

So what do you think, how will we think about this generation in retrospect, beyond "the seventh generation"?

 

[Tom_green_day]

Wixbox 3? I don't see why one console needs to define the generation, I think it would be more entertaining this way.

 

[ikoian]

Electronic Arts, as it seems to be the company most people talked about.

 

[Tazzman]

I will think of it as the generation where I was sworn at by pre-teens a lot

 

[tippy2k2]

I agree with Mr. Day above that we don't really need a console defining this generation. The Wii was so different that it doesn't really fit definition and the 360 and PS3 are almost interchangeable in terms of hardware sales.

However, if for some reason you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I would choose 360. The Wii is seen by most gamers as a "fake" system (though I find that silly but it would also be silly to put the Wii with the PS3/360 and so it can't by that define the generation) and for the most part, non-exclusives sell better on the 360. So even though the sales hardware-wise are similar, the 360 just seems to be the preferred system for console gaming.

Though to reiterate, this might be the first generation where there isn't a clear winner and loser like the other generations so it might just need a new name. I vote "Wii Play 360" cause that rolls off the tongue nicely and represents the slight edge the 360 seems to have!

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I'm sorry, but all those generations you listed where winners of their generation because of their sales. The Wii is therefore the winner of Last Gen. It would be unfair to not give the title of Champion to the Wii simply because "It didn't have a super extreme edge over the other competitors like the NES, PS1 and PS2 had." Besides, the SNES Only beat the Genesis by 9 million units. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(fourth_generation)#Worldwide_sales_standings]

The Wii was the winner.

 

[Auron]

The Mega Drive wasn't so far behind as I recall and was a pretty good console on it's own.