The Seventh Generation: A Civil War, or a Schism?

[Kenny]

This topic is really just a way for me to try and get the events of the current generation straight, to try and recap what's been going on so far, and figure out how we'll see this generation in retrospect.

Up until this generation, gaming had been relatively harmonious.  Compared to today, the mudslinging between rival console owners, even in a contentious time like the Fourth Generation, was limited due to the fact that Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet, and would be downright gentlemanly by today's standards.  Between the rise and fall of Atari, then Nintendo, it was always pretty clear who the dominant faction was a year or two into the generation (with the notable exception of the Fourth Generation, which ended in a tie), at which point, gamers, the gaming press and developers alike would get behind the market leader.

Until this generation.

This generation, there is a clear winner.  Perhaps not as much of a clean sweep as it was last generation, but a clear winner nonetheless.  So what do third parties and gamers do?  Third parties throw their table scraps at the market leader, and keep their best efforts on the XBox 360 and PS3, which in the minds of many have been amalgamated into a bloc of sorts.  The old guard of 'core' gamers shuns the market leader, deriding it based on stereotypes, whether perceived or real, of its userbase and who comprises it.  The best way to describe their view of the Wii's fanbase?  "They're not part of our group". No matter what success the Wii achieves, the gaming media, third parties, and 'core' gamers never acknowledge its success, and usually trot out some higher standard for the Wii to achieve before they start taking it seriously.  This cycle inevitably repeats itself every few months as the Wii inevitably meets that higher standard.  Meanwhile, Nintendo runs their Mario branded money printing presses, secure in Fortress Hyrule, having won this round of the console wars with literally the entire deck stacked against them.

What happened to gaming?

According to Nintendo, the death march toward realism was unsustainable, and something had to give if gaming was to continue, which gave rise to the blue ocean strategy.  This led to games being aimed at a new type of gamer, which included (as in, did not exclude) the old, the mothers, and the relatives.  Understandably, among the old guard 'core' gamers, the immediate reaction was to shun these newcomers, who currently equal them in number, simply because the newcomers' perceived tastes did not coincide with that of the old guard.

Conflict was inevitable.

Hence, as this generation has not yet received a clear name yet (as in, 256-bit era, HD era, etc), I propose that there are two names which will be given this generation in retrospect: If the stereotype of Wii gamers being 'casual' is less than true, then I think we'll refer to this generation as the Gaming Civil War Era, in which two large groups of gamers opposed each other based on largely perceived differences.  Alternately, if the stereotype is largely true, then we will probably refer to this generation as the Schism Era, when gaming split into two distinct branches based on the wants of two largely discrete console audiences.  The outcome of this generation, however, has yet to be written.

So now, a question for the reader.  Considering that this generation is being characterized by a deep division in sides and ideas not seen since the days of the SNES and the Genesis, are there any alternative names this generation might be given?