It started as a 5 with the high expectations, and the big jump in power since the PS2 era.

Lack of JRPGs downgraded it to 3 for me. I don't play handhelds.

The pathetic Wii (one of Nintendo's biggest success and worst catalog of games) and its offspring's Move and Kinect "move" it a 2 Star generation.

oh, and i know im gonna sound like a broken record but where the hell is my Mario Tennis/Golf. Are you craping, me Ninty? You have a motion controller and those are two sports games that scream motion controller. i've had to give EA my money and get Grand Slam Tennis instead, its actually a great game and i recommend the hell out of it. I might have to get one of Tiger's games, and i dont play simulation sports games, but i have little choice.

And you too Sony, one damn Hot Shots game for PS3??? Really?? Thats one of your most popular franchises. There should have been a Hot shots golf game at Move's launch. At least Ninty took the lazy route and released Mario Power Tennis on Wii. Sony couldnt even bother to patch Out of Bounds with Move support. And what are they doing now, having there devs make some bootleg carnival that no one, not even the biggest Sony fan will buy and a dance game that looks like utter crap, and no one will buy, because they'll just buy JD3 instead

"some industry actions are alarming..but some are pretty good" That about sums it up for me, 3 stars.

I love the originality in psn/xbla games, hate that 80% of big titles this year end in 3.
Hate having to replace both 360 and ps3 consoles, even my wii disc drive doesn't sound healthy anymore.
Love 1080p 60 fps gaming but there's only a handful of them.
Love the free updates to eg burnout paradise, LBP, GT5, hate getting broken games on day 1.
Love blu-ray and zune video marketplace, hate multiplayer degrading the single player experience.

A 4 for me, to break it down further 5 for handhelds and 3 for consoles.

For handhelds, collectively the DS and PSP did almost everything right IMO with fantastic game lineups, I would even go as far as to say the DS has the greatest library of any platform. I love the fact that during the 7th gen, these platforms were the JRPG stables. I will be very happy if the 3DS and PSV even touch on a fraction of the awesomeness of their 7th gen predecessors.

Home consoles were disapointing IMO but as a whole better than last gen. Despite what many people say about it, I've enjoyed my Wii and never had a problem with it. I've never felt that Nintendo has 'abandoned' me as I have greatly loved their first party efforts as well as the limited 3rd party support the platform has. To a lesser degree, I love my PS3, although at the same time disappointed by the reduced Japanese presence on the platform, compared to it's predecessor. Still, there is no doubt in my mind that the PS3 is the best last place home console ever made, and IMO that's an achievement.

Two to three stars. It was worse than the previous three generations IMO despite the balanced sales between the three consoles. CoD dominance is far worse than GTA's one was, too much sequels, shitty DLC and DRM, failed oportunities with the Wi, not to mention Zelda, TLG, KH3 and Versus XIII aren't out yet and we're waiting for them since like 2006.

DS and PSP were more like four stars though.

On the plus side, we earned two great franchises - Mass Effect and Uncharted. If it wasn't for these two trilogies...

3

This Gen did a lot of things right but a lot of things wrong IMO.

The Good:

*introduced new ways to play games and made gaming feel new and fresh again.(Wii, DS, Kinect)

*It was a multi-player focused Gen and I had a lot of fun playing with family and friends.

*It allowed you to download many classic games from previous Gens to be able to enjoy the ones you missed or wanted to play again.

*Many Nintendo franchises had sequels that were better on Wii then their GC additions.(Brawl>Melee, MKW>Double Dash, Galaxy>Sunshine)

*Sony and Nintendo both made many great new franchises with LittleBigPlanet, InFamous, Uncharted, Rhythm Heaven, Brain Age, and Wii Series.

*Mii's and Avatar's were introduced!

The Bad:

*While it introduced new ways to play that were fun...I feel that they could have done so much more and left me a bit dissapointed. Lack of Motion Plus, Balance Board, and Wii Wheel games is a negitive IMO. Also, while I had high hopes for Kinect when it was announced(To the point where I was considering buying a 360) it has let me down and has shown me nothing that would be worth buying a new System for...so much potentail...so little done with it.

*Lack of a good Handheld System left me dissapointed. I used to play Handheld games on my Gameboy and Gameboy Advance all the time and it was great. I would say that I played Home Systems 50% of the time and Handhelds 50% of the time...not with this Gen. The DS was great in terms of concept with the Touch screen but the controls and graphics ruined it for me. Without an analog stick or circle pad(3DS) the controls were terrible for me. It stopped me from playing games such as Resident Evil and Animal Crossing...and the graphics had me thinking..."Is that a zombie?" in games such as RE(Which again was next to impossible to play) It also had the worst Pokemon Gen yet with Diamond and Pearl...so bad that I didn't buy Black or White. I have played on a friends PSP and don't like it. No games interest me.

*Where did the Horror go? Back during the PS/64 and PS2/GC Gens I really liked Survival Horror games. Resident Evil 1,2, and 3 were some of the best games ever made IMO and all 3 are easily still in my top 20 games of all time. I loved the atmosphere and creepy-ness about the games that just can't be matched today. The PS2/GC Gen wasn't as good for horror but still offered my favorite Resident Evil yet...Code Veronica as well as Resident Evil 0. The Silent Hill games were also well made during this time. The best Horror game I have played this Gen is a Wii game called Calling. Calling while interesting and kind of scary can't compete with the old RE's. RE5, Dead Space, FEAR, Calling, Shattard Memories all just don't do it for me.

*Finally, my biggest problem with this Gen was its huge lack of variety. When I look back on this Gen it was filled with Platformers, Shooters, Mario, and Party games. seems to me that Shooters have filled both the PS3 and 360 and platformers, Mario, and Party games has filled the Wii. I don't like Shooters and they have taken over the PS3 and 360. Whenever I go over a friends house what are they playing? A Shooter. When it comes to Nintendo while I have previously said its my favorite System ever made...I am starting to think otherwise. While Wii was a great System from 2006-2009...it has come to a terrible end in 2010 and 2011. Lets look at the line-up for Wii in 2010 and 2011...try to notice its huge lack of variety:

Endless Ocen 2__Simulation
Sin And Punishment__Rail Shooter
Super Mario Galaxy 2__Platformer
Monster Hunter 3 Tri__Action/Adventure
Samurai Warriors 3__Action/Adventure
Metroid Other M__Action/Adventure
Poke Park Wii__Action/Adventure
Wii Party__Party
Kirby's Epic Yarn__Platformer
Flingsmash__Rail Action
Just Dance 2__Dance/Party
Disney Epic Mickey__Platformer/Adventure
Donkey Kong Country Returns__Platformer
Mario Sports Mix__Sport
Wii Play Motion__Party
Conduit 2__Shooter
Mystery Case Files__Puzzle
 

...Look ahead to the rest of 2011 and what do you find? More Adventure, Platforming Action and some Dance/Party games!

Anyway, while this Gen wasn't bad...it had a lot of potential that was wasted IMO.

Handhelds__2.5
Home Systems__3.5
Overall__3

4

Good games are produced, but it feels like companies are setting more of their focus on $$$$.