You asked for our takes on the state of the generation, so here is mine.
The bad:
The Wii U's failure. I enjoyed my system, in some years more than I did the PS4. It had great games like Bayonetta 2 and Super Mario Maker. I also enjoyed the remasters of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, since the Gamecube was my favorite Zelda console overall.
Microsoft's disastrous handling of the Xbox One. I'm a PlayStation guy, but still.
EA keeps pimping the whole "games as a service" model. On the one hand, it doesn't affect me directly since I have avoided EA for years. On the other hand, EA is so influential in the industry that I am concerned that more companies will buy into this nonsense. Other companies have tried to lesser degrees to push games-as-a-service.
This generation started off kind of slow. Most of that, I think, was hangover from the worst excesses of the PS3, 360, and Wii eras.
The Good:
The PS4 has recaptured a lot of the glory of the PS2. The PS3 was great, and to its credit, Sony worked hard to right the ship on the PS3, but it was still a stumble.
Nintendo is having a great deal of success with the Switch. As a Sony and Nintendo gamer, these developments make me happy. I also like being able to choose to play games on my TV at home or on the go.
For all that EA continues to suck hard, console RPGs and Japanese games in general have really made a comeback this generation. Last generation was kind of barren for a lot of the types of games I enjoy until nearly the end of the generation. This generation, we're getting Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Zelda, a new Mario, and even Valkyria Chronicles. Sega has really been knocking it out of the park lately with Persona 5, VC, and Yakuza.
Neutral: Incremental mid-generation iterations of consoles (i.e. the New 3DS, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X). While I could see good points to this, a part of me really doesn't want Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft going the Apple/Samsung route and releasing a new version of their hardware every single year.
Overall, I'm enjoying 8th gen more than 7th gen. Single-player games and Japanese RPGs are more plentiful this time around, and I'm happy with the PS4 in particular.
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