When did console gaming jump the shark?

[VideoGameCritic]

Scott and I were discussing when console gaming Jumped the Shark, and we pretty much agreed it was around the Dreamcast era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

What do you think?

[Tron]

Not sure about console gaming as a genre, but the Virtual Boy comes to mind.

[Paul Campbell]

I've never really thought of consoles, in general, jumping the shark, so you'll have to be more specific? Do you mean by adding peripherals to help sell a system or do you mean something about the console itself? It might be obvious to everyone else but I don't follow...

[MoarRipter]

What are you inferring by stating that console gaming has jumped the shark? Dissatisfaction with DLC? Dissatisfaction with online gaming? Dissatisfaction with major titles that play similarly to previous games in a series? Why do you think console gaming quality has gone downhill?

[VideoGameCritic]

I'm talking about when console gaming reached its pinnacle and began its decline, for any number of reasons.
If you think console gaming has never been better, you'd say it never jumped the shark.

[Hardcore Sadism]

After the sixth generation, things took an odd turn mid-seventh generation. Numerous studios both famous and infamous took a nosedive into the grave. Numerous bankruptcies led to a shift in dominant studios, as well as their general strategies and ethics within their strategies. Apple really shook up the mobile paradigm and forced a choke-hold on the handheld console market and, forgive my hyperbole, but I wish it didn't breach the home console software development like it had with paywalls on the handheld front.

When handheld gaming was put into a headlock, it truly affected everything else.

[ptdebate]

When I look at how many quality games are available for the PS3 (and at such low prices)...it's really hard to say that this has even happened at all.

That being said, what's your reasoning on naming the Dreamcast? Both at the time and in hindsight, the PS2 destroyed it. The PS2 destroys everything. Maybe that was it then?

[VideoGameCritic]

There are a number of reasons I point to the Dreamcast. It was the last console with the quick-hitter style arcade games like Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 2, Sega Bass Fishing, Ready 2 Rumble, and Sonic Adventure (to name a few). It was exciting because it was the first console with arcade-quality 3D graphics.

Although the PS2 was wildly popular (largely thanks to its DVD player) its library was less exciting and the game generally tended to be drawn-out affairs. The PS2 generation ushered in online play, which was a Pandora's Box of sorts. Also, the Xbox introduced hard disks to consoles, which was good and bad. While it facilitated faster loading, it also introduced a single point of failure and pushed consoles toward the practice of pre-loading games to hard disk.

People love their Dreamcast, SNES, Genesis, NES, and Atari 2600 systems. How many gamers can say the same of their PS2, GameCubes, Xbox 360s, Wiis, or PS4s?

[Voor]

Depends on your favorite genre probably. For me, it's platformers, so the SNES era was the pinnacle for me.

As much as I love the 64, if you take away Mario 64, kart64, and goldeneye, 90% of my love would fade away...

[jon]

I think it all started to go downhill when a lot of developers were seemingly forced out of business in the late 90's. People have been talking about this 90's revival and how awesome things were, but it was really only the first half of the decade. As I've pointed out before, look at a Gamepro from around 1994 or early 1995, with all the systems and developers still in business. Then look at the late 90's when it was basically only the PS1 and N64, which of course was a bit of a disappointment. So basically the last half of the 90's if you liked video games you were stuck with only the PS1. And that sucked, it was a freaking joke. And I completely agree that by the 6th generation games became drawn out affairs. To me that's one of the ultimate legacies of the PS1, that it basically destroyed the fabric of gaming, and the 3rd and 4th generation style of gaming would be forgotten. Literally in 1994-1995 it seemed like anything was possible, but a couple years later everything sucked.