I agree this industry could use a good crisis every once in a while.

I think the biggest problem with this generation is all the entitled kids that bitch about EVERY LITTLE THING a developer does now. No wonder they're so conflicted and all over the place, the gamers won't shut up. Speak with your wallets! If you DON'T want these issues, stop making season passes, DLC and microtransactions so popular! Duh.

I usually just wait for GOTY/Complete editions :^)

I've played plenty of PS4 and Xbox One at friend's houses, stores, etc.

They don't feel any different than PS3 or 360. It feels like the same tired old 7th gen dragged out for over a decade.

Seems a bit early in the gen to be saying a lot of this. Most of the big games haven't really come out but we can see a clear push to larger games with increased scope and content. It's also one of the first gens where I really felt small Indie devs could succeed in growing themselves on consoles. I also feel a lot of these arguments could be leveraged at any generation.

As to the business practices:

Remasters help those who didn't own the older consoles catch up with said franchises before they release a new franchise. It also helps the developers learn how to work with the consoles before they release the new iteration of a title.

Episodic games are simply an alternative business model and often stay the price of a full game for a single season.

If you don't like multiplayer only games then simply don't buy them (I don't) and publishers will soon catch on that they're missing out on potential revenue by not having campaigns.

DLC has always been around in one form or another, we just called them expansions before he internet was big. Sure, some DLC is overpriced (most CoD map packs or anything Destiny related), but there are also plenty of devs that treat DLC as a proper expansion (e.g. Witcher 3). Again, just pay for the ones you want.

The Season Pass stuff I honestly don't care for, but the publishers wouldn't do it if gamers didn't pay for it. The solution is for gamers to not buy them, and if they keep going the way they are then I imagine many will lose faith in a Season Pass.

For all of that, it's also worth noting that this is one of the first gens where I can buy a console and start playing a number of games without paying anything extra. There are a lot of F2P games on the consoles now.

Consider buying a PC: free online, full backwards compatibility, cheaper games, mods and better graphics.

The industry is perfectly fine. Yes, there are season passes, DLC and whatnot, but guess what: You don't have to buy that stuff. You don't like, just don't play it. The diversity in gaming is so damn MASSIVE these days that there is something for everybody. There are more quality games without any DLC, always-online or whatever stuff than you could ever play. So stop whining and find yourselves some good games for your taste!

It also wasn't better back in the days. It was actually worse. We had much much less games to choose from and there was a shitload of crappy licensed games. As a kid, you didn't know jack about the games, there was no internet where you could get info about it and the Club Nintendo magazine just hyped every game. So I saw The Lion King for SNES in the store and I was like "OH MY GAWWWD, I SO NEED DAT GAME!!". My mother paid 150 DM for that sucker, which translates to about 75 €. That's more than a game today and guess what, the game sucked pretty hard. Ok, it wasn't an absolute disaster, but it also wasn't really fun at all. And that's just one of many games I regret buying back then.

Today? No problem whatsoever. If I'm not sure about a game, I can research the living crap out of it. I can be informed about every little detail of a game way before I even think about spending money on it. Whether it's with Let's Plays, Livestreams (which I have directly on my console today, no need for even a PC) or magazines, I know what a game is about. No more blind buying.

I could go on and tell you stories about shareware, Add-Ons and whatnot, but I think you get my point. Gaming has never been better. You just need to open your eyes and take off those nostalgia glasses.

Mario Kart had great DLC.

I wish companies did what Nintendo did with DLC. Make the DLC unneeded. Simply make it a great addition to the game.

And if it is needed to make the game better, don't make it overpriced! I've seen CoD packs be 10 bucks for a couple of maps. Really? Mario Kart gave 8 characters, 8 tracks, and like 6 new car options for 12 bucks. Seriously people, what rip offs

I refuse to buy most games at launch to be a beta tester, and pay another $40 for the rest of the game later. There are some developers that can be trusted not to release a buggy mess at launch, but for the most part I just wait until they've got the kinks worked out and the game has dropped in price before buying games this gen.

16 tracks. You got an extra 50% of the game for a 5th of the price of the game. Truly legendary DLC.

As for the topic... I have enjoyed this gen. Now, I started truly gaming last gen (and pretty late at it), but I've liked my Wii U a ton and don't need to buy more than 10 or so games a year. I also used my 3DS a lot, and will get the Zelda games on it pretty soon.

Of course, I only talk about the Nintendo side, but yeah. What I've bought I enjoyed and would like to get more And thanks to the power of time, I've grown to learn on how to purchase stuff! That usually helps a lot.