Ps360 era for sure.

Wii was off doing its own thing. DS was in its own universe.

I miss software sales... They're borderline redundant now with the rise in digital. You get articles still and so on but it was exciting to see the new release sales figures hit just 2-3 weeks after the launch. Was exciting.

I have a feeling that a lot of people that used to post still lurk around like me. Would be good to see some old faces.

I was lurking on here for 4-5 years before I created an account in 2020 so I didn't experience the peak back in the 7th generation but for me 2017-2020 was a really nice stretch with the Switch's insane peak year and in general doing better than almost anyone expected and the lead up to the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series. There was a lot of interesting discussion and debate to be had compared to how comparatively dull sales discussion has become lately. Even 2021-2022 was a lot more interesting with the shortages making the long term picture of the PS5 and Xbox Series somewhat murky. The lowball PS5 predictions were of course ridiculous but at least there was still more varied opinion where as currently things are quite set in stone console sales wise.

I was a lurker for 2 or 3 years before a post about how the WiiU should bundle in the Pro controller for free made me feel like I needed to throw in a counter-point. I hopped in on what seems to have been the height of the site back in 2014. So my timeline is really close to that of the OP.

I kind of feel like we coddled users and those that spoke frankly (if not even a little rudely) were banned or drove off. It is too bad that "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me" has been lost as a mantra and most people have such thin skin these days. Who really cares what some stranger says about you on a little niche website.

I am still glad I signed up though. There are a handful of people I still play Splatoon with to this day.

Edit:  This feels like Western Society is in the beginnings of creating hard times and brings to mind this quote "Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men, and weak men create hard times."

I loved the COMG! thread, I would go there daily, I even made some excel charts for it a few times lol.

I remember when Boutros simply stopped entering the site right when COVID was starting to spread worldwide, I asked so many people and to this day I don't know if he simply choose to suddently leave but I hope that was the case.

I like it best now. It's a tighter-knit community. Everyone knows everyone. People have their personalities, and you know what those personalities are, which helps break through some of the misconceptions that plague online interactions. It's nice.

Back in the day when mods were just like "whatever" and the threads about religion and politics in the offtopic section could be properly discussed.

PS360Wii era. The Nintendians in particular.

I am not for tons of moderation but they really don't seem to mess with anyone in the politics threads these days.  The last religious thread I remember seeing was an Atheist thread and I don't even really remember anyone getting out of hand in that one.

I support that as both topics get the best of people sometimes and they are more inclined to say things that are out of pocket.  Just because you say something stupid is no reason to get voted off the island unless the majority of the inhabitants agree or you are doing it constantly to the point it inhibits conversation.

PS3/360/Wii generation for me as well.

Neck and neck race with Wii suddenly saying "hold my beer" sprinting past both.

We had frequent hardware sales numbers, software sales numbers, game database, lots of leaks and rumors. Lot of rivalries (Forza vs Gran Turismo for example, paid online vs free online)

There was still the excitement for and around E3, PC was still dying, epic data breaches. (psn down for almost a month)

The height for me was exchanging levels on here for Super Mario Maker, trying to make levels that were impossible to beat.
It's all somewhere in here https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/206987/official-super-mario-maker-thread-mario-maker-for-3ds-has-been-released-ok/
(but you had to be able to beat it yourself first of course to be able to upload it)


I signed up late 2010 but was following the chartz since 2007. And since then VgChartz has remained the only forum I still regularly follow and post on.

I joined this forum when I was in 8th Grade (2008) and was lurking for maybe 6 months before then. I remember when the color theme of the forum was blue, white, and black. That was probably when the forum was most active. But that is true for most web-forums before/at the early stages of the Web 2.0 days and centralized social media arose.