What's The Best Thing To Happen In Gaming This Decade ?

[MartyG]

Seeing the title of this thread made me think "Xbox Live", before I'd even read any of the posts - the changes made for the Xbox360 more so, and I think Live Anywhere will push the aspect up another notch.

[HaHaUK]

Id have to say Live too.

[TheForce]

the excellent xbox live network on the 360 with the marketplace and live arcade, and like Yoshi already said, I also have quite a lot of people in my friends list that I regulary play with (sometimes seriously and often not), it's a great community, and you always seem to find people that are very like minded about gaming as you are.

N64 Controller - It brought analogue control into console gaming.

totally agree on this one !

[Brats]

It didn't happen this decade, but the best thing is that there are still smaller JP companies that value gameplay above everything else.

Why on Earth only Japanese companies?

[112]

hmm............ id also second that Live has taken gaming to another level. But what id definatley point out as a big move in the gaming department is the internet as a whole - Its brought information about games and news at a frightning speed, aslo it has made games cheaper, easier to access and brought together communities. Dont even get me started on emulation.

So yeah, probably the single most important force in gaming is access to the internet.

112

[spagmasterswift]

Capcom showing everyone that there is more to them than just Street Fighter - their output this gen is nothing short of stunning!

That was my first thought too! Long may they rule!!

[Kaladron]

Over 15 Fifa games in ten years!

Seriously though, I'd say the general rise of the Internet is the best thing to happen to gaming this decade. From the early days of IGN to NTSC-uk as well as Xbox Live and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It's all good.

[Kubrick]

Why on Earth only Japanese companies?

Because I can't think of any Western companies that have the same philosophy.

[Brats]

Then I suggest you do some research. You've honestly never heard of companies like Introversion, Reflexive or Pom Pom?

I thought the forum had moved on from this kind of attitude.

[themanwithapc]

Probably Capcom's titles, but brownie points go to Xbox Live, DS and HD gaming on consoles (yes already!)

[Sony Fanboy]

I'll go for optical media.

Definetly changed every aspect from development to storage for the better.

[babs]

Heh, someone doesn't remember the first truckload of CDROM software very well. FMV and long intros was all it was good for and in a lot of cases it meant the quality of games went down in order to accomodate it.

Also it was a good while before 10 years ago we got our grubby palms on it.

[Tetsuo]

Erm, wasn't N64/optical media the last decade?

Anyway, online gaming/Xbox Live etc, is still holds no appeal to me and is taking gaming in a direction I'm not over-pleased about. So, for me, I'd have to say:

GameBoy Advance
- (16 bit gaming on the go? The stuff of dreams in the 90's)

or perhaps

Nintendo DS
-(interesting twist a handheld, creating new styles of gaming on-the-go)

[Sony Fanboy]

Heh, someone doesn't remember the first truckload of CDROM software very well.

lol - as if the 1st online game services, or anything else, were any better...

[NekoFever]

Come to think of it even though I said online gaming earlier, I think the best thing to happen to games could be the Internet in general. We can now easily get games from all over the world, the gaming community is closer than it's ever been, and the amount of access that we have to information in new games is unprecedented. I can remember waiting until a month after E3/TGS/Spaceworld for news in magazines, but now we get it literally as it happens. Plus it's given independent developers a whole new distribution method. The only bad thing is how easy it's made piracy.

As for Western developers with a good gameplay philosophy, Blizzard spring immediately to mind. Their games are always unbelievably polished and their standards are unbelievable, and there can't be many developers that are still tweaking and supporting games from 2000. Just look at how their games from years ago have bigger followings than a lot of brand new ones.