I love all generations because Nintendo has always pleased me. I'm still pissed at the third party developers for this generation but Nintendo its self still keeps the title of the best game developer company ever.

The 16-bit era. The Genesis and the SNES were neck-and-neck in the US. The SFC won Japan. The Megadrive won Europe. How can you not love that? (unless you're 20)

Still so far for me the SNES was the best era for gaming, This gen is 2nd best though.

SNES was pretty awesome, but I think this current generation is actually combining bits and pieces of the best parts of all the previous gens and then throwing in a few other great things of their own.

I love the Wiimote, and even though it's secondary to the gameplay i still can't help but be at least a little impressed by the current state of graphics that the PS3 and 360 have brought to the field.

Even though it's pretty much undeniable that there are a lot of retards and assholes on xbox live, it's still nice to be able to know that we have access to real humans to act as our opponents and allies, even if schedules and distance make getting together with friends IRL difficult.

On top of that we're getting games that have real honest-to-god style, like No More Heroes, Team Fortress 2, Portal and N+.

A whole new set of gamers are being brought into the field, and sure, a lot may be clueless as to the "way of the gamer" but it's always good to have fresh sources of water to keep the pool from stagnating.

Plus old classics are being revitalized, Mario Kart Wii and Smash Bros Brawl, Samus and Zelda.

Then we also have indie developers getting into the mix, gaming has now become something that is open to more than just professional companies. The ability for gamers to directly influence the field is growing at a phenomenal rate.

the more I think of it, the more i have to agree: We are on the cusp of the golden age of gaming.

I think this gen has been a particularly good one. Most hardcore fans think it's hip to degrade the current generation. Frankly, this generation has been magnificant and has seen some timeless games, so far, and only looks to get more competitive, which will make it better.

Nintendo, particularly, is rolling all sevens. I'd say starting with World of Warcraft, this generation has been magnificant.

...but not the best yet, however, damn close.

No other gen has had this many great hardware devices out at once, so it only makes sense this will eventually be the best.

too many sequels this generation. more ip's are needed.

I regard the PS1/N64/Saturn generation as the best so far. Why? Because it was innovative. The transition from 2D to 3D revolutionised gaming - and not just from a graphical perspective, indeed, certain 2D games at the time had more realistic looking graphics than the 'squarish' look typical of games such the original Virtua Fighter. The 3D transition was more revolutionary because of how it affected gameplay, it presented new possibilites and untapped potential. It was not neccesarily spearheaded by consoles as the arcades and PC's also contributed significantly.

Although I regard 2001 as perhaps the best single year of gaming, IMO, the Xbox/PS2/Gamecube generation was a victim of 'sequalitis'. Companies failed to innovate and were content to rely on their cash cows to advance the industry. Furthermore the jump from the earlier generation was not nearly as significant as the 3D revolution. This is in part, why I am so enthusiastic about Nintendo's new direction and the outcome of the current generation, if this philosophy is fulfilled. They are the only company with the nous to realise the stagnant direction in which gaming was headed and have led the way into a new paradigm for the gaming industry to follow - A paradigm shift that we have not seen the likes of since the first era of 3D gaming.

This gen of gaming is certainly influential but I believe that to judge which gen of gaming was the best lies with when one has experienced it the most/which one they grew up in. For me when I was in high school the snes was the popular system and systems like the PS1 were just hitting it big in my area. I played games the most back then of all genres, but once I hit my college years, they were spent mostly working all the time to either make money or study.

Now that all of that is over I can finally sit down and enjoy gaming again, but I feel that it will never be the same as when I was young for some reason. I don't know exactly why. I guess when you are young, things are more carefree in my opinion, and a lot less things to worry about. In contrast however, games are certainly enjoyable after a hard days work nowadays. I find myself going back and downloading games I played as a youth through the Wii to reminisce on old times more than playing newer games. That's just me though.

 ^^ i fourth this, haha.

at 23, i have a hard time thinking there will ever be a gen better then the last one. 4 consoles all pushing different content. each company really doing their own thing.

i own 50+ ps2 titles and 25+ dc titles and i think the majority of those are better then what's on the market this gen.

we really have to wait and see
i think the past 3 generations will remain better
Gaming is kind of going through a transformation right now. To many new concepts are being introduced and it doesn't feel as organized as it did in the past 3 gens. But i do think there are still plenty of ip. last year i bought games like bioshock, crackdown, mass effect, assassins creed, uncharted, blue dragon, lost planet, and rockband. This year i got lost odyssey and plan on getting Too Human, Alan Wake, Left 4 Dead, Prototype, Wight Night Chronicles, Infinite Undiscovery, and sabetour to just name a few