What Defines a New Console Generation to You?

[Moonface]

I was in the process of making a different thread to this one, and discovered that the Nintendo Switch seems to be in a state of limbo for what generation of consoles it falls into. Wikipedia cements it into the 8th Generation, but this seems to be because of how early it released compared to the PS5 and Series X|S due to the failure of the Wii U, as well as the lower processing power it has. Yet the Wii U is also an 8th Generation console, so in theory the Switch would be a 9th Generation console because it's that consoles successor.

So it got me thinking, what should be the criteria for a new console generation? Is it simply when the successor to something in the current generation is released, is it based on power, or do you think it should be something else?

For me I tend to go for the successor route. The Wii U wasn't notably more powerful than PS3 and Xbox 360, yet isn't put into the same generation as those systems. Time between the release of the Wii and the Wii U is six years, while the Wii U to the Switch is five years, so it isn't like the Switch came out in considerably less time compared to the gap between other Nintendo console releases. Switch was early compared to PS5 and Series X|S, but Nintendo have slowly gone off sync with the releases of competitor consoles and I don't think releasing a successor earlier than everyone else should mean you're still in the same generation. If PS5 came out in 2017 and Switch and Series X|S were 2020, I doubt anyone would call the PS5 an 8th Generation console.

[Dragon Lord]

I'm in the boat of considering the Switch a "current gen" system, along with the PS5 and XSX.

PS2/Gamecube/Xbox
PS3/Wii/Xbox 360
PS4/Wii U/Xbox One
PS5/Switch/XBS

That's how I line up the generations personally, only going back to when Microsoft got into the business. Of course going earlier would have the PS1 and N64 lined up, with whatever system SEGA had released at that time (I didn't pay attention to any of the SEGA systems after the Genesis, since that's the only one I ever owned lol).

But yeah, I don't consider the Switch to be with the PS4 and Xbone. Nintendo is just a few years ahead on the new generation than the others. No problem with that. Of course people are going to say the Switch isn't in the same gen as PS5 and XSX because "BuT tHe GrApHiCs SuCk", but of course everyone who has at least one brain cell knows Nintendo has never been about high end graphics and never will be. They want to offer fun experiences instead, which judging by some of those "amazing" graphics games and how absolutely dull they end up, isn't a terrible thing.

But yeah, Switch is current gen. What also annoys me is how people refer to PS5 and XSX as "next gen" even though they've been out for almost a year now. Obviously they are proving hard to get right now, but they are still the CURRENT generation of consoles.

[Moonface]

If I ever make a post saying "next-gen" to refer to PS5/X|S then it's habit from using it in the lead up to those consoles coming out that I haven't fully shaken yet. Feel free to poke me with a stick if I do it.

The graphical argument definitely doesn't work when you consider the Wii was nowhere close to a PS3 or a 360, but nobody (I've seen) tries to shove it back a gen. I would say that I always want a new console to bring something to the table that feels like an upgrade equivalent to the wait, unlike phones where I feel like new ones might just stuff in a slightly better camera or a better battery but overall might not really be very different and equate more to the upgrades consoles can get.

[Dragon Lord]

I think a big thing about that is the difference in the times. Back with the PS3/Wii/360, focusing so much on graphics still wasn't as big as it is now, so people didn't really complain about it. Now days you have all these goldfish attention span kids who can't play a game unless it has enough shiny stuff to keep their tiny brains occupied.

[Moonface]

Yeah, graphics weren't the be all end all back then as much as it is now. Graphical quality was still praised but it was done in the sense of wonder over how much better things could be compared to what came before, like an "oh my god i didn't think games could look this good". I think as graphical quality got to a point of realism that too many people focus on the highest quality realism as possible because they know it's more attainable now than it's ever been.

[Mr EliteL]

I'll always lump the latest Nintendo consoles with current gen or rather the current "next-gen" consoles. 3DS would've been apart of the PS4/Wii U/Xbox One group to me too, and even if Switch had to come out much earlier than maybe we'd expect thanks to the poor performance of Wii U (although maybe not as perhaps PS5/Xbox SX took a bit too long). Just checked and it wasn't always Nintendo coming out first as the 360 was out before Wii and PS3, I thought it was about the same year but no, a full year pretty much. Switch should last for a long while though, perhaps with another update to it than the upcoming....OLED version that has next to nothing new on it, before we see a proper brand new Nintendo console, surely, which in turn will be the new next-gen to me anyway. Or perhaps it won't be Nintendo first the next time, we'll see...