Should NS and wiiU be both labeled as 8th generation?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

ThatDreamcastTho said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

Generation is not based on the market leader.  Generation is based on the first successor to market.  Generations 4, 5, and 6 were also started by Sega consoles, because they were the first successors to enter the market place.  Sony and Microsoft do not define generation 9, because they did not have the first successor in the marketplace.  Switch is the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U (both generation 8 consoles).  Therefore generation 9 has already begun with the Switch.  

This is how generation is used in any other context as well.  When a couple has their first child, then they have begun a new generation in their family.  If they later have more kids, those kids are still in the same generation.  The first successor (in this case the first child) is what starts the next generation.

So by your reasoning, the Atari 5200 started the 3rd generation, the Atari 7800 started the 4th generation, and the Atari XE started the 5th generation? 

Well you are close but you are not quite there.

Atari 2600 started the 2nd generation.
Atari 5200 started the next generation which is called, "the video game crash of 1983".
The generation after that is generation 3.  Generation 3 is a special case, because the video game market was dead.  The NES created the market again from scratch so it really started generation 3.  (Succession only makes sense if there is actually something to succeed.)  Atari 7800 was part of this generation and it was released after the NES.
Generation 4 was started by the Genesis, because it was the first successor to market.
Atari XE was really more in their computer line instead of Atari's console line.  It was never meant to be a successor to the 7800.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 14 August 2018