Reminder: 7th Gen had HD, and was pretty great

Yup, not a lot more you can do here

There's a few arguments going around that consistently annoy me whenever it comes to talking consoles, technical ability, and similar things. One of them I'm late to discussing, but not at all deterred to stay silent on. Black Ops 3 brought it out quite a bit. Its probably the last COD game we'll see on PS3 and 360, stripped down lots of things to the point of removing its entire campaign, doing 30fps for what may be a first for COD, and has graphics that disappoint. In an article they discussed why the campaign just couldn't be done, and that Activision made the right move to cut out a whole mode than to simplify it down. It wasn't within their allowed memory to allow Co-op to function where you could see other player's weapons, and attachments... because suddenly being able to see a tiny muzzle on your friend's gun in an entirely optional style of play is more important than the entire single player drive of the campaign. Um... also, its not like 7th generation COD games have ever used player models with customized guns before. I mean what, you think they actually had a multiplayer mode full of customized weapons and player character models? No way man, the PS3 is too busy trying to process Nathan Drake's blocky robotically animated PS1 face for that kind of stuff, and it might fry if it dares to try and run Battlefield's tiny 4 player arena matches. Okay enough of the sarcasm, lets tackle this for real...

I'm tired of ungrateful gamers trashing the systems that gave us years worth of entertainment, and contained the foundation to many advances (although some bad, like misused DLC) we enjoy today. Then there are some people who just get upset over the very existence of them or new games for them, as if it somehow hurts them that the market gets a choice to have a 7th or 8th gen version of the same game. I know its the human mind to rate off of comparisons, but at some point its got to stop and you got to call out the BS and stop whining over something that was really fine in all of our lives. I'll fairly admit the systems are outdated (though technically, so are our current consoles if you're really looking for the best of the best), we stretched them out across a long cycle, and that we are moving forward in a great way with the newer systems. I also understand the idea that our older systems don't need the support anymore, and anybody buying a game like Black Ops 3 for the PS3/xbox 360 doesn't exactly have the best priorities in mind. However my frustration comes in from the people that insist that those old gen buyers "deserve" shoddy ports for some reason. It comes in mind when they pretend the systems were complete garbage, or are so outdated that they couldn't accomplish anything of value to us anymore. It stems from the imagination bankrupt developers who insisted they couldn't do anything inventive without new hardware, despite bottlenecking themselves harder than they've ever been in terms of variety. It comes from the gullible people who actually believe the developers in articles like the above. My frustration on this topic is inspired by those who forgot this came out just a year before our new hardware and how they sung to the high heavens that it was the best thing since sliced bread. That happened on the PS3, just as Killzone 2 and 3, Uncharted, the mass effect trilogy, Assassins Creed, the Metro and Crysis franchises that high end PC users benchmark their stuff with, LittleBigPlanet 1-3, and a little thing called Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain. Oh but sure the tech is old and we can do better now, so kill it with fire and everyone who sticks with it, right? It just comes off as silly.



The funny thing to, is that you really don't hear this elsewhere right? Why isn't anybody on PlayStation 2's case anymore, bitching and moaning that its got so little CPU power that character models could only exist in like 8 varieties in the same area? Well because not only would they look a bit silly, but because they'd be torn apart by the fact that people got over that phase and have moved on to actually appreciating it for what it is: an era of games. Its the same reason why you can market the heck out of retro style visuals, and why something like Shovel Knight is amazing to people. Likewise why is it that the Last Guardian carries so much hype? Its because of games that were accomplished before. Its because of the fun, the memories, the values that were brought in by that area. Its due to nostalgia formed out of love and fun of a different era. Meanwhile at the transitional state, and among the first few years of a newer cycle, its somehow normal to see hatred over it instead. You see people shooting down others who haven't upgraded yet, hypocrisy as they mock those who point out poor quality in ports while doing so for PC gets the red flag and forum rage (rightfully so, but it should work the same both ways. PS3 users shouldn't have to pay $50 for Black ops 3 like it is), and somehow their words are taken at face value when developers dismiss these systems by insisting that we're finally able to do something like Co-op shooters for the first time (unless your Halo 5, in which case for the first time its goodbye to that feature). This is the same AAA industry that has used advances in systems to somehow screw up Tetris on the PS4, and tried to sell us on fish AI that isn't even up to standards with Mario 64 (enjoy this little video), and the idea that they'd to be trusted when talking about tech powers at this point is just insane.

Accomplished thanks to PS2, and HD-ified thanks to PS3 (A.K.A outdated consoles)

Then there's the header image and the subject it inspires, where we're not even at a point of taking major leaps. All that "we're being held back" crap coming out of PC elitists theoretical dream charts ended up at nothing, as our near decade of waiting paid off with mostly some resolution bumps and lighting adjustments. Sadly the team talking about how the future was in Atom tech instead of polygonal, has also not been heard from in a while. That's not because we didn't go with the impractically expensive $2000 bleeding edge stuff, its because that everywhere you look there isn't a ton of improvement beyond talk that maybe some day 4K will be standard (do you guys even have a TV for that?). Technology simply isn't advancing as fast anymore, period. Consoles didn't magically cause that, or else we'd never have the jumps to begin with, its just that tech is really strong and at a big peak now. So the difference in generational improvements is more slim than ever (we're well beyond seeing CPU improvements that reduce clones like the old PS2 days), and there really just isn't that much to improve anyways. All this bringing me to restate that this hatred over 7th gen just looks so silly. We're not even improving over 7th gen in all respects, there are still developers out there using their "vision" as an excuse to carve back a piece of gameplay that was just recently there. Again, Halo 5 isn't getting its traditional split-screen gameplay, and Tetris was hurried out in a mess, meanwhile the indie scene still needs to pick up where companies like Konami have failed to deliver on good games, and developers all over the place are still using old engines that are barely even working anymore after the recent advances and are in need of a total overhaul (see AC and Fallout 4 for the best examples). You also probably thought PC ports would improve now that consoles have easier hardware, but nope, check Black Ops 3's team that was greenlit to cheat 7th gen players, they didn't do PC users much better. Meanwhile Arkham knight was so broken they had to pull it, and Unity still doesn't work right for some users LOOOOOONG after several GBs worth of patching. Feeling better about hating the PS3 and 360 yet?

On the other hand Shovel Knight is being held high as one of the best games to come out in recent years, in its pseudo-8-bit style visuals. I think people are missing a massive point here, and that's part of why its frustrating to hear these developers talk and rip-off people like this, or hear gamers cannibalize each other over the matter of console leaps. The entire argument forgets the fun that's actually in these games. You know, the games that are made to put in the boxes we're fighting about? The games that make those $300+ investments worth something? Yeah, those are what counts. They happen with or without advanced tech, and if they can run on old tech, I don't see any reason why that one should be treated like dirt for any particular reason. Likewise, I don't see why those gamers are treated poorly. Well I'm not waiting for the period where PS3 becomes Nostalgic to appreciate what it did for us. I don't need to wait on that period to go back and enjoy it, to call some of its great games classics, or to even continue to buy games for it (I still have a few I'd like to catch up on). Sure most of those games run at 30FPS, 720P, and had worse textures, shadows, lighting, and character models, but that didn't stop me or you from playing it years ago. Neither did sub-HD pixel graphics stop millions from loving Super Mario Bros. You can and should embrace the improvements of course, but you can do so without spitting on the foundation that got you there. Actually that's exactly what a game like Shovel Knight does, using new features like trophies and new technology to technically skirt around NES limitations, while still simulating the NES style of games in a respectful manner... and people just love it. So why taking that into consideration before getting upset over the next 7th gen port? There's just no reason to get mad over that stuff. The last PS2 game actually happened last year, and you know it actually didn't cause the end of gaming as we know it.

The best 8th gen NES game to come out