Has Nostalgia settled in for the Xbox 360/Playstation 3 generation? For me not really for these reasons.

[Samtemdo8]

I exclude the Wii because that is its own animal entirely.

Anyway I'm wondering if people have already have a sense of nostalgia for games made for and released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 era?

Now the games as is are wonderful games, I can't deny that. We had games like Mass Effect, Bioshock, GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption, this was the era where Call of Duty was at its peak (And yes they were good games). Dark Souls came about here with the release of Demon's Souls. 2D Side Scrolling Fighting Games made a resurgence with Street Fighter 4 being the launch pad.

Now here's something that I feel like that era of gaming hasn't really give me a sense of "Nostalgia" compared to say the PS2/Gamecube era and the ones eariler. And that's a couple of things

1. The issue here is that majority of these games, were all heavily multiplatform, you can play these games on all the major consoles and the PC as well. Basically this doesn't give me the same "nostalgic" attachment to a certain consoles library. Like I adore the PS2 library, and the Gamecube's, and the N64. But I don't feel this way for 360/PS3 because it was so multiplaform.

Addendum of 1. Yes I am aware that exclusives were still a thing, but to be honest I feel these exclusives really didn't feel special. In the case of the PS3 I didn't care for the Killzone, Infamous, and Resistence. Ratchet and Clank was one a downhill decline in the PS3. God of War 3 was just more God of War. Uncharted is ok but its too much of movie to me. Even Metal Gear had more gameplay depth then Uncharted. You may like these games but I feel they didn't give me too much of a lasting legacy to me. Now onto Reason 2.

2. This is one issue and that these games really have not aged well, and I mean not aged well on the hardware they were on. I was just playing Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA 4 and Mass Effect 1 on their Original Consoles and I am just shocked at how poorly optimized they were.

The obscenely low framerates was insane. Its like they were trying to make games 5 years ahead of what the consoles are capable of even with the early games of the consoles like PS3 came out in 2006, MGS 4 was 2008 and yet MGS 4 feels like a game made for 2014 hardware.

Its because of this that people tend to buy re-releases of these games made for more modern consoles and ESPECIALLY the PC. This was and still is the reason to go PC GAMING MASTER RACE. Not just for better graphics, but for Performance if your PC is capable of it.

I can say more but for now I'll stop here with my opinions of why for me Nostalgia hasn't settled in with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 generation.

 

[happyninja42]

No I've never really been "nostalgic' for much of anything outside of music. That's probably the one thing that will make me actually wistfully dwell on my youth. I got really good at purging myself of old emotional ties as a survival mechanism early on, so most THINGS don't really set an emotional attachment for me.

So I don't really pine for an "era" of gaming, so much as remember really enjoying certain titles from that era, that I still enjoy playing, but probably don't because I don't have a functioning PS 3 anymore, and they aren't available on PS 4. Namely inFamous 1&2, from the PS 3 era, are, off the top of my head, the only games from that "era" that still hold any place for me. The rest are just, a plethora of video games that are on the pile of thousands of games I've played in my 40ish years of gaming, that I can't be arsed to remember, unless they specifically come up in conversation. And then it's usually just "oooh yeaaah, I remember that game."

I can't say it's anything unique to that specific era you mentioned, as it's like that for pretty much all of them.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm definitely not pining for the Xbox 360 or PS3 age again. The era of "Let's make a majority of our games dog shitbrown and gunmetal gray flavor!". I got the games I wanted, and thankfully most of them actually have some freaking color. I bought a couple of 360 games back in the mid to late 2010s just to catch up on some stuff I missed out the first time around, but I can say I'm more than satisfied at this point. The only thing I wish for is Sega to put Anarchy Reigns on modern consoles. It really wouldn't take the much effort to do so. The game itself is practically one of the first battle royale genre. Metal Gear Solid 4 came first with it's online play, but Anarchy is definitely a . I definitely wouldn't mind getting more online action with that game. Thankfully, Platinum thought smart and allows you to play with and against bots for the online modes.

 

[09philj]

The increasing normalisation of PC ports and the increasing popularity of PC gaming from that time means that a lot of the best games of that period never really stopped being played, especially the Xbox 360 ones. My favourite Xbox 360 games were Skyrim, BioShock, BioShock Infinite, Batman: Arkham City, Halo 3, the Mass Effect Trilogy, The Orange Box, Portal 2, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I have all those games on Steam, but have added more games from that period I never played: Bayonetta, Batman: Arkham Asylum, BioShock 2, Dishonored, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Spec Ops: The Line, and Valkyria Chronicles are all games I played first on PC. For a lot of these games the PC experience is also far better than it was (or would have been) on 360 (Or the PS3 I didn't have). The PS3 had more exclusives that haven't made their way to PC so It'll definitely be a more worthwhile target for preservation and emulation, but a lot of those will be niche titles that most people didn't play at the time and more will rediscover retrospectively.

 

[BrawlMan]

The PS3 had more exclusives that haven't made their way to PC so It'll definitely be a more worthwhile target for preservation and emulation, but a lot of those will be niche titles that most people didn't play at the time and more will rediscover retrospectively.

What's crazy is that most of the games exclusive to PS3, especially all of the Japanese titles, all have better ports on the PS5/PS4, XONE, SeriesX, Switch or PC now. There is not really much point to getting a PS3, other than Kill Zone, Infamous 1 & 2, classic God of Wars and Ascension, and Resistance. Until Sony finally gets off their pretentious asses and get to porting the done, you fucking ding bats!

 

[Jarrito3002]

I think there is less nostalgia because the next generation reports and remasters where in vogue so you really did not have time to get nostalgia. Like so much of my current library on Steam or GoG hell my Switch has some of 360 titles ready to buy. Also that is when online only games got popular and when those die they die. Like you can't go back and run it up its just gone to the wind so there is no one to discover and maybe bring it all back.

I get some nostalgia like the greasy sheen of very early titles in that generation and I have nostalgia for that generation because that is when indie games started to really flourish and I still have many of those titles on my 360 despite then being available on plenty of other platforms and some can't be found else where like Snoopys Fly Ace will not get ported anytime soon.

 

[Samtemdo8]

What's crazy is that most of the games exclusive to PS3, especially all of the Japanese titles, all have better ports on the PS5/PS4, XONE, SeriesX, Switch or PC now. There is not really much point to getting a PS3, other than Kill Zone, Infamous 1 & 2, classic God of Wars and Ascension, and Resistance. Until Sony finally gets off their pretentious asses and get to porting the done, you fucking ding bats!

Waiting for Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Shadow of the Colossus Remaster, The Last Guardian, and Fist of the North Star: Paradise Lost for PC.

 

[BrawlMan]

Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Shadow of the Colossus Remaster, The Last Guardian, and Fist of the North Star: Paradise Lost for PC.

1. Possible
2. Possible
3. Maybe, but don't get excited.
4. Not gonna happen.
5. Defintely not happening, because Sega are idiotic jack asses.

 

[Samtemdo8]

Was gonna add that I have more nostalgia for the Nintendo Wii then the Xbox 360/PS3 because the games were unique to the console.

And the Wii did have really good games. If anything the Wii was pretty much an extension of the Gamecube era just with the Motion Controls.

 

[laggyteabag]

The increasing normalisation of PC ports and the increasing popularity of PC gaming from that time means that a lot of the best games of that period never really stopped being played, especially the Xbox 360 ones. My favourite Xbox 360 games were Skyrim, BioShock, BioShock Infinite, Batman: Arkham City, Halo 3, the Mass Effect Trilogy, The Orange Box, Portal 2, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I have all those games on Steam, but have added more games from that period I never played: Bayonetta, Batman: Arkham Asylum, BioShock 2, Dishonored, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Spec Ops: The Line, and Valkyria Chronicles are all games I played first on PC. For a lot of these games the PC experience is also far better than it was (or would have been) on 360 (Or the PS3 I didn't have). The PS3 had more exclusives that haven't made their way to PC so It'll definitely be a more worthwhile target for preservation and emulation, but a lot of those will be niche titles that most people didn't play at the time and more will rediscover retrospectively.

Pretty much this.

With the PC platform being what it is, with backwards compatibilty on consoles, and with the abundance of remasters, a lot of my favourite games of the 360 days never really went away. There hasn't really been a chance to get nostalgic.

I mean, Im literally in the middle of replaying Dragon Age 2 on my PC, which was a 360 game.

I am nostalgic for my life during the 360 days, though. I was in highschool during the 360 days, so I had a lot more friends, and a large portion of spare time was spent playing Halo custom games, or CoD zombies, or Gears of War horde mode, or whatever else.

I can still play most of those games, often at higher resolutions, and better framerates - but i'll never get those experiences back.

Im very nostalgic for those.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm nostalgic for that era for the simple reason it was the last era that felt truly exciting. It was the last era that made significant, technological leaps. It was exciting going into high-definition. It was exciting to have true wireless controllers that didn't require awkward peripherals and a line of sight to the console. It was exciting because the platforms were coming off the previous era that saw Playstation's dominance challenged by the original Xbox, MS' first foray into console gaming hardware, and we were all waiting on baited breath to see what was coming next.

But most notably, I'm nostalgic for that era because it was the last that didn't feel the need to leash us to always online requirements and over-monetization. You bought your game, and for better or worse, it was a complete experience. Yeah, there might be the occasional update or patch, but by and large, your $60 upfront netted a finished product that wasn't designed from the ground up to solicit more cash while insisting that a Internet connection was necessary because "reasons." It was the last era that yeah, had its issues, but it was more innocent and fun by orders of magnitude; it wasn't a corporate whore.

 

[Kae]

Yes, I consider them retro consoles and I'm collecting games for them just like for PS1, PS2, Gamecube, N64 and Dreamcast, I actually just bought my PS3 2 weeks ago and it feels very nostalgic and familiar, a lot more than the other retro consoles I have because I actually grew up with it and I'm having fun revisiting games, specially since most of them are actually dirt cheap, like people are selling me PS2 games in a range of $200 MXN to $1600 MXN while I'm getting PS3 games for like $100 MXN each, the most expensive one I've got was the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection and that was $250 MXN, it's great.

And while I get that most games are available on PC and honestly I'd rather play them there and even a lot of exclusives are on PS4 running better, there's something special about using the good old Dualshock 3, it just feels natural in a way no other controller does, probably because it's the controller I've used the most, I can even tell that it feels different to Dualshock 2, the buttons feel more clicky and responsive.

That being said, even though PS3 games actually make me nostalgic, I find PS2 & PS1 games to be more charming, IDK something about them feels quaint even though I never had a PS2 and I got my PS1 in like 2011, I'm actually thinking on getting an original XBOX because there's apparently a lot of obscure garbage for it and I'm on board for that.

 

[Xprimentyl]

...I find PS2 & PS1 games to be more charming, IDK something about them feels quaint...

Simpler times. When we weren't jumping through hoops for the basest appreciation. When we could just purchase a game and enjoy it from beginning to end. Before paying for and downloading essential chunks of content dictated how much of our already paid-for experience could actually be achieved. Before corporate convolution and greed hid our fun under its skirts while it tried to justify "yeah, you bought the console AND the games, BUT..." Fuck yeah, I'm nostalgic for a time when gaming was just gaming, and not so overtly a grimy business deal I reluctantly find myself drawn to. Anymore these days, I feel like any gaming purchases are more my hitting up a drug dealer for a routine fix even though I know my tolerance has long since reached levels that only a lethal dose might get me anywhere near the euphoria it would have a decade ago. I have an Xbox One, might consider an Xbox One X/PS5 at some point, but my Xbox 360/PS3 will always be my go-to for purity of a gaming experience.

 

[Adam Jensen]

Simpler times. When we weren't jumping through hoops for the basest appreciation. When we could just purchase a game and enjoy it from beginning to end. Before paying for and downloading essential chunks of content dictated how much of our already paid-for experience could actually be achieved. Before corporate convolution and greed hid our fun under its skirts while it tried to justify "yeah, you bought the console AND the games, BUT..."

Kinda, yeah. But the real reason is the lack of experimentation and originality today. Back in the days of PS1 pretty much all the games were experimental. Designed by gamers and for gamers. So a lot of love went into them. We still get something like that from time to time, but it's extremely rare. Also, gaming was relatively new in those days, so everything was considered good simply because it was new, and new is exciting.

In the PS2 era there was still a lot of experimentation. In some instances a lot more than during PS1 era because the tech allowed the devs more freedom. But we also had a couple of games that were influenced by the suits (mostly EA sports games and the like). But overall, the games were charming as hell and designed with so much love and attention that you could feel it while you were playing the game.

The experimentation factor dropped significantly during the 360/PS3 era. So many decisions were clearly made by studio execs. The PC was the only remaining bastion of creative game design.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Kinda, yeah. But the real reason is the lack of experimentation and originality today. Back in the days of PS1 pretty much all the games were experimental. Designed by gamers and for gamers. So a lot of love went into them. We still get something like that from time to time, but it's extremely rare. Also, gaming was relatively new in those days, so everything was considered good simply because it was new, and new is exciting.

In the PS2 era there was still a lot of experimentation. In some instances a lot more than during PS1 era because the tech allowed the devs more freedom. But we also had a couple of games that were influenced by the suits (mostly EA sports games and the like). But overall, the games were charming as hell and designed with so much love and attention that you could feel it while you were playing the game.

The experimentation factor dropped significantly during the 360/PS3 era. So many decisions were clearly made by studio execs. The PC was the only remaining bastion of creative game design.

Agreed. However, the creative drop off from PS2/Xbox to PS3/360 was substantially less than that from the latter to PS4/Xbone. It's like the powers that be got complacent, found what sold, and settled into just giving us more of the same. Oh! And now they can over-monetize it with flaccid "DLC" and nickel-'n-dime microtransactions! Yeah, I'm nostalgic for the last time anyone actually and consistently tried.

 

[BrawlMan]

The experimentation factor dropped significantly during the 360/PS3 era. So many decisions were clearly made by studio execs. The PC was the only remaining bastion of creative game design.

Agreed. However, the creative drop off from PS2/Xbox to PS3/360 was substantially greater than that from the latter to PS4/Xbone. It's like the powers that be got complacent, found what sold, and settled into just giving us more of the same. Oh! And now they can over-monetize it with flaccid "DLC" and nickel-'n-dime microtransactions! Yeah, I'm nostalgic for the last time anyone actually and consistently tried.

It's why I prefer mostly the AA and indie scene. They're the ones who tend to be more consistent with trying and experimenting with something. Or at the very least, to refine what worked, and make it even better or slightly different.

 

[EvilRoy]

I'm definitely nostalgic for WWII games which more or less came to an end in popularity around there, and certain things like Halo 3 that to me represented a peak in a given series. Not many specific things come to mind, but I kind of attribute it to the fact that certain huge game series more or less locked in around there. GTAV was a good game, but its existed largely unchanged and playable for ages. Same with Skyrim. Good game, loved it, not nostalgic at all for it because nothing Elder Scrolls barring the online one has really happened since.

Was gonna add that I have more nostalgia for the Nintendo Wii then the Xbox 360/PS3 because the games were unique to the console.

And the Wii did have really good games. If anything the Wii was pretty much an extension of the Gamecube era just with the Motion Controls.

I do feel sad about the slow disappearance of Wii games. Not being super emulatable due to motion controls, and a lot of the library being left to dust does really suck. I don't particularly love many Wii games, but I do wish there was a better way to preserve them - VR seems to be the only current analog and I don't see much getting ported even on the sideload/grey area type sites.

 

[BrawlMan]

I do feel sad about the slow disappearance of Wii games. Not being super emulatable due to motion controls, and a lot of the library being left to dust does really suck. I don't particularly love many Wii games, but I do wish there was a better way to preserve them - VR seems to be the only current analog and I don't see much getting ported even on the sideload/grey area type sites.

There are so many Wii games that deserve to be ported to Switch or other modern consoles. So far, the Switch only has about 5 ports of Wii games: deBlob, Super Mario Galaxy, and No More Heroes 1 & 2. Sonic Colors comes out in a couple of months. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is on Switch and other modern consoles. Where the hell is Mad World, Platinum and Sega? That could fit on the Switch just fine. Sins and Punishment 2 definitely needs a port on the Switch. I am glad I kept my Wii and GC.

 

[Adam Jensen]

Agreed. However, the creative drop off from PS2/Xbox to PS3/360 was substantially less than that from the latter to PS4/Xbone.

I can see why you'd think that, but I actually disagree because during the PS4/Xbone era we've seen a significant rise in indie games. People always ignore them when discussing the gaming industry, as if the AAA is all that matters. It's the AAA industry that should be ignored as much as possible IMO. It's all but worthless nowadays. There's an entire world of amazing creative indie titles now.

 

[Catfood220]

How can you feel nostalgic for the PS3/Xbox360 era when most of the games that sold well got ported to the PS4/XBone anyway?

To quote Jim Cornette, "How can we miss you if you don't go away?"

Ask me again in 10 years.