Has gaming had its "Golden Age"?

[scubes]

I think the 16 bit era was the golden age tbh mega drive super fami super shinobi was excellent back on the day and final fight super fami we’re my best days of gaming . I
Had the mega drive ages before any of my friends had it and the fami.

 

[chaparral]

Yes definitely, the 90s were the golden age for me, but if you grew up after it youd have no idea how incredible it was.

I agree with this 100%
I say around 1996 to 2007 was the best years for me

Quake, Quake 2 , Half-life 1, Tomb raider 1, Call of duty 1,Unreal, Duke Nukem ,Doom 1, C&C, C&C RA , Far cry 1 (2004) etc

 

[jsmoke]

Rose tinted glasses. I was there with an Atari, C64, friends with Spectrum's etc the games aren't a patch on what we have today..

That's pretty subjective, I downloaded an emulator for the spectrum and was playing quite a bit, your talking about graphics, sound, AI etc but for sheer frustration and skill it's just as good.

 

[chaparral]

That's pretty subjective, I downloaded an emulator for the spectrum and was playing quite a bit, your talking about graphics, sound, AI etc but for sheer frustration and skill it's just as good.

I spent hours on the "Ultimate Play" Spectrum games back in the earlier 80's

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Rose tinted glasses. I was there with an Atari, C64, friends with Spectrum's etc the games aren't a patch on what we have today..

I still have a working Amiga 1200 and I still play it to this day. Id even add I sometimes even get far more enjoyment playing that today than playing so many triple AAA games with huge open worlds and incredible graphics. Games today have no soul, no love...
They are just made to make money. Games back in the 90s were made because people loved making games, perfect games, new games.

I'd rather play Wings or Knights Of The Sky or B17 Flying Fortress than any flight sim today with glitzy graphics. Id rather play Lost Patrol than a generic shooter. I'd rather play Settlers, Mega Lo Mania or Cannon Fodder than any Civilsation game. The original Elite over any space game today. M1 Tank Platoon over World Of Tanks...the list could go on and on. Why, because the games just have something special, they still feel special today.

The music was also incredible, the composers, the talent...everything was thriving. I still sit here of an evening listening to top 500 Amiga/C16/C64 soundtracks, just because they are so epic, they were so ground breaking at the time.

It was by far the golden age of gaming, today is nothing in comparison.

 

[Darujhistan]

It might be your golden age, that's fair enough, but I don't think so, I still remember carting round tape decks to friends houses and praying games would load, if they didn't another 30 minute wait. Things have moved on, there's still great games made today, there's still games made outside of AAA that lots of love has gone into.

I will agree with you about soundtracks and music, the rest of it, no sorry not for me. Once I've taken the nostalgia goggles off after going back and playing some old classics, i'm much happier playing current games everything is much slicker, and it just works!

 

[DELETED_195422]

No. We haven't even scratched the surface yet with what games can be. So much to improve on and make better games as a result.

I don't miss the 80/90's, that's just nostalgia talk, nor do i miss playing inferior 50Hz ports or paying £70+ for imported NTSC versions because Nintendo/Sega/etc didn't bother their backside to properly optimise games for the European market.

We have it great today compared to 25/30 years ago.

 

[b00merang69]

In your opinion, games will look better but that is about it, lucky to get few hours of a SP campaign today if you even get one (BLOP3), its MP+ SP tagged on as afterthought.

You are entitled to your opinion but it is just that.

I could say 70-80's if it was pure nostalgia as I am old enough but I did not claim that, it was the date I said above for myself as PC games were good looking enough at that time but also had great story/gameplay and long SP campaigns (28+hours).

 

[Tombstone]

The only game that will save gaming this year and for the next few years is Cyberpunk. No preorder bonuses, no loot boxes, no nonsense. The fact that they've even delayed it to make sure it's as best as it can possibly be speaks volumes about CDPR as a developer. They truly care about their games and customers.

I'm looking forward to Cyberpunk but my god is it being touted as the next coming, its going to have a huuuuuuuuuuuge hype to live up to and if it turns out to be badly flawed there's going to be a lot of really upset gamers out there. It *should* turn out to be great but then again theres many times that a game *should* turn out to be good and ends up not being. CDPR are doing really well, but like many great game developers in the past they do really well until the time when they dont. That time comes to every game dev it seems (cant think of many at all who are still as good now as when they were once held in highest regard).

Very much looking forward to Cyberpunk, but its also very much a case of with fingers crossed than stonewall belief.

 

[Souness]

1995-2004 was my golden age

Simply an era that can not be reproduced for many reasons. There's just so much to be said for seeing things evolve right before your eyes. Every month there would be a preview for a game that would supposedly blow everything else away. The games of today are objectively far better, but with the slight exception of VR there is not really anything to get excited for.

 

[neckbeardthethird]

Kids today will be calling this period the golden age when they are middle aged or whatever.

With regard to cyberpunk saving gaming this generation.. am i the only one who thinks the released gameplay footage looks bang average ? i was hyped for it because of the devs involved but all the gameplay footage of it looks really underwhelming. I've lost all enthusiasm for it.

 

[lokiss]

The 80's arcade.

The games were alright, but it was everything else that went with it. Hit up the Arcade Club, you'll be in a world of joy.

 

[Tombstone]

 

[jasoncb]

Kids today will be calling this period the golden age when they are middle aged or whatever.

With regard to cyberpunk saving gaming this generation.. am i the only one who thinks the released gameplay footage looks bang average ? i was hyped for it because of the devs involved but all the gameplay footage of it looks really underwhelming. I've lost all enthusiasm for it.

Ah yes that golden age of fortnite was pure perfection, i spent my entire childhood on that game collecting skins and replaying the same mode again and again. Couldn't get enough of it! Why don't they make games like that anymore?

 

[The_Arbiter]

The golden age for me was the PS1

Me too.

The console felt like it had every type of game available, it also had gun controller (shoot the screen iirc), 4 player splitscreen, and link ups.

The console ran terribly, but the sheer number of games with fresh ideas was what captivated myself.

PC at the time had good 3d performance also.

Now/today as mentioned, many games are rehashed, too much emphasis on graphics i feel.

However, Steam and ease of access to indie games and mods, brings old games back to life. And remakes such as Resi 2, C&C, Final Fantasy 7 bring good memories back to us.

I could talk about the 2000-2010 era. I am very fond of Halo 2/3 on console for its community involvement too. Among other titles people often mention.

But, today probably is the golden age of gaming, once you realise anything as child will always be the most glorious time.

 

[Haggisman]

It's been touched on already, but I think what made the 90s - 00s great was the rapid pace of improvement and, the new and exciting features and ways of doing things. It was when true 3d gaming took off, and we had games like Half Life, tomb raider, Icewind Dale, Ultima Online, Everquest etc. which literally redefined or even created a genre. I don't think games are inherently worse these days, but the ones which bring something new to the table are few and far between, and (for me at least) they tend to be the ones which stick out.

Still sad that I (and future generations!) will never again have that amazing feeling of logging in to Ultima Online for the first time, and realising that it was a living breathing world that didn't give a crap about me, full of real players from all around the world. After years of single player games that revolved around you the player, that was something truly special. That magic is gone forever, kids these days take instant global communication and online gaming for granted

 

[EdwardTeach]

I think we have had some all time greats in the last few years, so it would be hard to think gaming had peaked.

I finished Breath of The Wild today, which is a sublimely amazing game. It would definitely have a place in my all time top 10. "Recent" games that would join it, include Witcher 3, Bloodbourne, Red Dead2, Mario 3d World and Mario kart 8 & Dark Souls. So it is impossible for me to agree gaming had peaked.

 

[philstanbridge]

The Golden Age for me; I'm not sure if we've even reached such a thing really. But I do recall having the best time using my Commodore Amiga. But I'm guessing a golden age is simply sentimentality based upon an particular set of memories. But the best memories I have were when I was transfixed with my Amiga. I used to play all sorts too, from Speedball to text adventures. As has been mentioned above, B17 Flying Fortress, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (which may have even been ported on to the early days PC with VGA screen). But back then I was young and had no responsibilties. As I got older I preferred the PC. Loved games like Total War

 

[jaybee]

I don't think we can put a definitive time period on exactly when we peaked as such. It's different for everyone based on their own experiences, age and free time to game. But overall, I do feel gaming is a far cry from days gone by. I'm no longer excited by many of the games. Nothing feels truly new conceptually. It's harder to make something unique.

 

[b00merang69]

Looking back todays market will be seen more as a "Golden Shower" than Golden Era as it is a right Pee-take, game like Fortnite and loot boxes/DLC micro transactions to buy gun skins etc and so on.

I remember going to newsagent on two (different occasions) in my 1st year of Pc gaming and buying a PC mag, there was game demo on it, Max Payne then next time RTCW and playing the demo then buying the game the next day and the games were about SP Campaign and long.