whatchu playing now

or handhelds

Intent was always to keep it to consoles because it's a closed ecosystem. Nintendo has more or less been on the same release schedule as the other major gen consoles, even if the hardware is increasingly different (N64/Virtual Boy with gen 5, Cube/GBA gen 6, Wii/NDS gen 7, gets a little more confusing with gen 8 with Wii U/Switch/3DS)

i more or less treat the wikipedia articles on the generations as the authority, they're uncontroversial enough

Thinking about reinstalling diablows 3

by that taxonomy Nintendo's had 4 systems this gen since theres also 2 functionally different 3ds specs. fine by me i guess

by the time we're in the 9th, we might count the switch as a 9th! also two different versions of the 3ds are still 3dses to me (or even like 3 versions... 3ds, new 3ds, 2ds) -- it's all the same software in that bucket. not surprised nintendo would have a bunch in one gen tho, considering how quick they released and dumped the WiiU.

I'm willing to bet that console generations are almost over and the next Xboxes(!) will be backwards and forwards compatible with at least xbox 1 x. PlayStation I'm less confident in that bet.

So, consoles only.

What about a cutoff date instead of generation designation?

I voted for mpq

Wait wait wait are we confusing Will's generation polls with a ILG Hall of Fame?

wait, consoles only is crazy talk

I would definitely think that PC games would be in a Hall of Fame.

The idea raises some interesting question though, about whether fall of fame / must-play are actually the same.

Like, four that I would definitely propose off the bat would be Half-Life / Half-Life 2 / Portal / Portal 2 - but would someone who's been playing Far Cry 5 be able to play Half-Life without their eyes bleeding? Hasn't it been basically superseded (definitely graphically, but also in gameplay) by its sequel? Similarly I'd recommend nearly anyone to play Portal because it's like a great EP, but if you didn't play it, should you play Portal 2?

Do we have a thread about the weird thing about games where it's one of the few artforms where sequels are regularly as good as the originals?

we've had the debate a few times over the past few years, so here is the reason for consoles-only in these polls:

- consoles are closed systems, there's a soothingly finite number of possible nominations
- games made for the same hardware (or similar, competing hardware) are more interesting to compare to each other vs. "going by year" and having like a late ps2 game against an early ps3 game
- console games are, for a lot of years, really different from pc games. pc didn't have chrono trigger, console didn't have starcraft. if someone wants to poll computer games, go for it!
- likewise arcade games, generally -- home consoles and arcades might've had similar games but they in no way play the same without the arcade

Re gen polls vs. hall of fame: not confusing them, but if the HOF starts with 6th or 7th-gen inductees per the earlier comment, then it stands to reason the gen polls also need to keep going! and i was reminding people they existed because it's been a while.

i mean the entire "consoles" thing started with me ONLY polling ps2 a grip of years ago which was even more restrictive! but people were less bugged by that, somehow

console didn't have starcraft

The Diablo III on Switch news has been mentioning Starcraft for N64, a real thing that existed and I think I once knew about thanks to Nintendo Power but certainly never played.

gross, can you imagine playing that game on an n64? did the n64 even display sprites? or did they make 8-polygon marines to display in glorious 10.80p resolution?

i'd be more interested in a poll of PS2 to present than all-time since i feel like the canon becomes way less established once you get out of the 90s and we don't really need to know that mario world and chrono trigger are good for the millionth time

Yeah no, I mean that your "Intent was always to keep it to consoles" was followed by Leee's "So, consoles only" - I (and I think Dan) took it to mean that you were talking about your respective polls, which makes more sense for your than his, IMO.

FWIW I have no real strong feelings about limiting to consoles, but in the interest of avoiding vote splitting, we might have a nominations process.

what PC game would be in the hall of fame? excel? word? paint?!

there's plenty of good indie games that never made it to console, also entire genres like map games and rts that don't work without m+kb

all pro PC propaganda posts will be flagged

Voting for Crusader Kings should probably count as a vote for Excel

we can vote for roguelites but not roguelikes

anyway here's my hall of fame noms

Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros Melee
Tiny Wings
Golden Sun

golden sun was ahead of its time in having way more text than the average jrpg player wanted to read

I mean, the fucking idea of a hall of fame without Minesweeper

actual 0% chance that there wasn't a minesweeper clone on DS i don't even have to look

game poll that's just consoles is like a film poll that's just viewmaster

lots of GOAT/HOF PC games that technically got console ports, but the console versions just suck (every FPS, for example).

FPSes are fine with gyro aim but they don't put it in the console versions even though the hardware is there because gamers get mad if they have to use the learning part of their brain

Splatoon controls were as revolutionary as Halo introducing twin stick but this time everyone laughed it off because Nintendo had just spent the previous 5 years training everyone to think motion controls were a gimmick

someone run something, anything, and just let me vote in it and not add it up and post it this time

I will volunteer for that, if no one else wants to.

Qualifications: I am unemployed

Crusader Kings 2 is a way of life

btw is anyone playing dead cells? debating whether to get it on mac or ps4

frostpunk is a pretty fun city-builder. like age of empires without the combat, instead struggling against the elements

might check that out

spent hours on Stardew last night, seems I like it more now that a decent aount of gold is being earned. Although Summer destroyed my cabbage farm, such a noob error on my part.

has anyone played AVIARY ATTORNEY?? i stumbled across a review by accident and it sounds absolutely amazing.

Is that an it's always funny reference to Charlie Kelly and bird law?

Sunny*

i don't know! never seen that show

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-21-aviary-attorney-review

It was part of a wave of goofy animal visual novel PC indie games that came out after Hatoful Boyfriend lit the world on fire

Yeah, Avian Attorney is good - I like the 19thC-style newspaper cartoon art style, and the historical reference to the French Revolution are pretty accurate.

Playing Shenmue on the PS4. Boy, Ryo's neighbours all seem pretty chill about a dude getting murdered in their neighbourhood! That girl that tells Ryo to cheer up four days after his dad's been murdered, wtf.

Also playing Okami on the Switch and between those two, I gotta say: camera movements have really improved over the past few generations.

Shenmue's camera (and a lot of other things) was abysmal back when it came out too

this morning i woke up and remembered i volunteered to run some sort of poll here. in reviewing the last few weeks of posts, i remembered that leee was the one that proposed the whole hall of fame idea - sorry about getting confused upthread and thinking it needed a volunteer to run it. i have a 4K memory which used to be impressive in the early 90s, but now it fails me frequently.

anyway, leee if you need any assistance with things just let me know, and otherwise i'm happy to just vote, however you decide to handle it!

KM pretty sure the HOF was yer idea.

j/ks

I've been rethinking having it? Maybe continuing Will M's generational polls for the sake of continuity? IDK!

it was all just a dream...*wayne's world dream sequence arm waving*

I modded my GBA to have a backlit screen and surprisingly didn't fuck it up!
so I've been playing Warioware Inc for the first time in years and having a great time
plan to play Golden Sun next so I can play the sequel Lost Age after, as I never got around to it
RPG recs welcome (e.g. anyone played Riviera?)