Gaming Generations?

So i consider myself somthing of a video game wizard. i play just about everything and i know just about everything about gaming. but hey,whatever.

any ways.my girlfriend was asking me what constitutes a video game generation and how many there have been and when one truly ends and begins.

i drew a blank.i know most people consider the begining with the NES but what about the atari and others? do they not count? what about the PS2? it was having games released for it years after the ps3 and 360 debuted.

so come on guys. feed me some information so i can look cool in front of my girlfriend, ;)

thanks again!

1) real game wizards don't have girlfriends

2) generations are contained within each console.. i don't think that you can say "bam, generation over", especially when you bring up how the ps2 kept getting new titles... it's more like, the next generation of consoles is upon us as when a new iteration is released.

@killacam:

ya you got me. my girlfriend is technically a cyborg but whatever.

and thats what i thought. as soon as the next gen console is released,thats when a new gen starts. but what gen are we on right now? i belive we are one like the 5th or 6th right?

I counted around 8 generations.

It went like this

1. Odyssey
2. Atari 2600
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PSX
6. PS2
7. PS3
8. WiiU

Same as this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

@Jams:

ah,the odyssey, i knew i forgot somthing. my gaming knowledge doesnt really start till the nes.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games. It's a pretty long read but full of neato trivia. Just don't tell your cyborg girlfriend you're using wizard-enhancing supplements.

I counted around 8 generations.

It went like this

1. Odyssey
2. Atari 2600
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PSX
6. PS2
7. PS3
8. WiiU

Same as this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

@Ravenlight:

if she foundout i was using i be kicked out of the wizard gaming leauge!

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Jams:

ah,the odyssey, i knew i forgot somthing. my gaming knowledge doesnt really start till the nes.

Then you're not really a gaming wizard...

@believer258:

DO NOT DOUBT MY POWER! I WEILD THE POWER GLOVE! I READ FROM THE SACRED NINTENDO POWER TEXT!

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

@DoctorDanger99: You're no wizard. You're a Sorcerer's apprentice.

Start here and work your way back.

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp

@Jams:

that stings dude

At this point im not sure I believe you had the time to train in both Doctoring and Wizardry

A lot of gaming sites did label the 360 a 7th generation system around the time of its launch, so yeah.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Jams:

ah,the odyssey, i knew i forgot somthing. my gaming knowledge doesnt really start till the nes.

Some VGW you are >_>

@Happenstance:

well i did spend nine years in evil doctor school.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@believer258:

DO NOT DOUBT MY POWER! I WEILD THE POWER GLOVE! I READ FROM THE SACRED NINTENDO POWER TEXT!

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Hey @Video_Game_King , would you pass this fellow for a video game wizard?

@DoctorDanger99 said:

So i consider myself somthing of a video game wizard. i play just about everything and i know just about everything about gaming.

You do, huh? Lemme ask you some hard questions, then. Question one: in Katawa Shoujo, which route is the only one in which Miki does not appear in any form, whether in conversation or physical appearance?

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Jams:

ah,the odyssey, i knew i forgot somthing. my gaming knowledge doesnt really start till the nes.

I'm a wizard and I can tell you're not a wizard.

@Video_Game_King said:

@DoctorDanger99 said:

So i consider myself somthing of a video game wizard. i play just about everything and i know just about everything about gaming.

You do, huh? Lemme ask you some hard questions, then. Question one: in Katawa Shoujo, which route is the only one in which Miki does not appear in any form, whether in conversation or physical appearance?

You're testing his video game knowledge with an interactive novel question? Swing and a miss.

@evanbower:

It's a video game.

@Video_Game_King said:

@evanbower:

It's a video game.

But that's like saying, "You think you reallllllly know video games!? Then how many chapters are there in Dear Esther?"

@evanbower:

He said he knows everything; you don't say shit like that lightly.

@Jams said:

I counted around 8 generations.

It went like this

1. Odyssey
2. Atari 2600
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PSX
6. PS2
7. PS3
8. WiiU

Same as this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

Not to be pedantic, but would the Sega Genesis be the beginning of the 3rd generation, and the Xbox 360 the start of the 7th generation of consoles?

@Video_Game_King:

ive been found out. i am not a gaming wizard. i am a gaming warlock!

@DoctorDanger99:

What the fuck does that mean?

@Video_Game_King:

yes,YES. give into your anger. strike me down and your journey to the dark side of gaming will be complete!

You act as if there aren't any more PS2 games being made. There are.

@DoctorDanger99:

Where are you getting the anger from? The word "fuck"? That's a pretty tenuous link.

@Video_Game_King:

lol, come on man. your the video game king and you dont have a sense of humor? im just playing around.

@DoctorDanger99:

Because there's an inherent connection between royalty and comedy?

@Video_Game_King:

well played king,well played. next time!

I'm a Wizard and this shit is fucked up.

Before they started correctly categorizing these things I used to just jumble everything from before the 2600 into one group then came the Atari, Intellivision, Colicovision era, then the 8 bit generation followed by the 16 and so on. Some generations overlap others though so nothing is really set in stone.

All in all, because there is hardware involved I think it's easier to define video game generations than, say a generation of film makers.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Video_Game_King:

well played king,well played. next time!

You've angered the Gaming Wizards Council.

@Paul_Is_Drunk said:

@Jams said:

I counted around 8 generations.

It went like this

1. Odyssey
2. Atari 2600
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PSX
6. PS2
7. PS3
8. WiiU

Same as this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

Not to be pedantic, but would the Sega Genesis be the beginning of the 3rd generation, and the Xbox 360 the start of the 7th generation of consoles?

I got lazy after the NES and didn't bother putting what console was release to bring in the new generations, I just put the consoles that were in those gens.

@Jams:

screw you guys and the wizard council. ima start my WARLOCK council.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

and im afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational!

::Passes out from evilness::

no one counts arcade games as a generation of gaming? i grew up playing arcade games along with consoles, with the best arcade games being in the late 80's early 90's.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

@Jams:

screw you guys and the wizard council. ima start my WARLOCK council.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

and im afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational!

::Passes out from evilness::

Do you consider an late PS2 game such as Persona 4 this gen or last?

@Jams:

theres not enough internets for you to win kind sir.

@ImmortalSaiyan:

again,thats where im confused. i read somewhere that theres still devs working on SNES games so does that mean that gen is still going?

You guys should all watch "Chasing Ghosts" and "Special When Lit" if you really want to get in touch with your roots. They're both on Netflix instant right now.

@Paul_Is_Drunk said:

@Jams said:

I counted around 8 generations.

It went like this

1. Odyssey
2. Atari 2600
3. NES
4. SNES
5. PSX
6. PS2
7. PS3
8. WiiU

Same as this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console

Not to be pedantic, but would the Sega Genesis be the beginning of the 3rd generation, and the Xbox 360 the start of the 7th generation of consoles?

@DoctorDanger99:

If you want to get technical the SMS came out before the NES, the Genesis before the SNES, the Saturn before the PSX, the Dreamcast before the PS2 and the X360 before the PS3. Generally people just define a generation by its most popular console. After all, Gen 5 also is home to the Jaguar and 3DO but no one really talks about them. Also this list ignores the Atari 5200. Does the Colecovision, 5200, and 2600 sit in the same generation? Or was there a half generation between the 2600 and the 7800/SMS? Most lists put the 5200 in the same generation as the 2600 even though the system is the direct successor to the 2600. Plus they put the Colecovision in the same generation as the 2600 even though it was released 5 years after the 2600 and was several times more powerful than the 2600. And while we're at it, where would one put the Neo Geo? People like putting these things in nice little generations, but in reality during the 80's and 90's there were a ton of competitors releasing consoles almost every year. It isn't as clear as people like to think.