With the Wii U taking off with a head start last year and the arrival of the PS4 and Xbox One, it’s safe to say that “Next Gen” has arrived with all of its tumescence! Now if you are like me, you may tend to approach “next gens” with coldblooded calculation. My personal policy is to never spend more than $300 on a console, so when 2006 rolled around, the Wii was the obvious choice though it was hell to get one at that time. I would pick up a PS3 four years later, deciding that it was the best choice to compliment my Wii and gaming PC because of its robust exclusive library, and spend the rest of the generation playing “catch up” by purchasing games at bargain bin prices. If you are indeed like me, then you are reading in the right place! Perhaps you are also impressed by the sheer longevity of the incumbent generation coming to an end. Seven years is almost twice as long as the average generation of four years. Of course, we will not witness the visual quantum-leap from the SNES to the PSX, but we do hope that the industry will show us something. After all, the existence of Kinect and PlayStation Move are testimonial to the success of the Wii, so here’s to the future of innovation!
Place to Be Nation is proud to celebrate these past seven years of gaming by recognizing the games that have had a substantial impact on the industry. These titles we be will mentioned among Mario 64 and Soul Calibur as trendsetters in their respective times and games we will fondly reminisce about years down the road. So without further ado, Games of the Generation!
Sports
There was not much competition here with EA and 2k sports monopolizing this genre. You know it’s slim pickings when NBA Jam tries to make a comeback. I mean, I loved NBA Jam in the 90’s but c’mon, son.
Wii Sports
There are many individuals in the gaming community who participated in denigrating the Wii by referring to this pack-in title (if you lived in the US, anyway) as a “tech demo,” with the insinuation being that Wii Sports was not a full, whole, or true game at all, but a collection of incomplete, glitchy, or otherwise poorly designed minigames. Wrong. To all of the above. Despite the fact that he Nintendo Wii was not an HD console (480p), this was a launch title at the beginning of the generation, and yet it was also the game that would set the standard for the generation, making the statement that gaming as we knew it would never be the same. Wii Sports is undeniably the reason why the Wii found itself into more homes than any other console this gen, securing an impressive install base that the PS3 and Xbox 360 have yet to surpass. Wii Sports demonstrated what the WiiMote was all about. It allowed gamers of all ages, experience, and dexterousness to bowl, golf, or box competently and competitively. Tennis matches would become fierce at the net as Miis, the in-game avatars, would dive for rallies and serve with shadow-imaged velocity. Boxing matches would increase the ol’ heart rate, and bowling games allowed for plenty of trash talk as the strikes accumulated. Wii Sports was Duck Hunt in the family living room all over again, but this time, up to four people could play at once or take turns instead of two.
And that be all.
Next up: Shooters
