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2005 was a glorious year for gaming fans around the world, most of us finally put down our Dualshock 2s and those god-awful original Xbox brick controllers and picked up the brand new gaming powerhouse, the Xbox360. We learned of things like High Definition, Achievements, standardized online play and our minds ****ing popped when we exited the sewers of Oblivion, to see a living, breathing, beautiful world that awaited us in 2006. Then the PlayStation 3 was released and it offered us the same experiences we had come to expect from the Xbox even better, it had timed blockbuster exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4 and God of War 3. It was a great time, we were on the edge of technology, games were better to play and looked amazing while doing so. Getting online with your buddies was no longer a chore, and it didnt require a f***ed up network adapter or menu after menu to sign up for an online account.
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Its now 2011, the sixth year since the Xbox360 was released, and while it can be argued that we have progressed in leaps and bounds, weve ultimately come to a slow halt. The current age of gaming feels like the end days of the Playstation 2, were seeing the same games only somewhat prettier, with a few new features thrown in here and there for good measure. Sure, there have been games that have revolutionized gaming as we know it and Im sure well continue to see game changers released this generation, but think of how much more expansive these games could truly be with new hardware. Lets take a look;

Lets start with the big one, the one thing everyone notices when first seeing or playing a brand new video game, how it looks. This generation has been huge in pushing graphics and the boundaries of artistic styles. The jump from the latest Playstation 2/Xbox titles to Oblivion or any of the other early 360 titles was truly something that needed to be seen to be believed. The Unreal engine mad a huge stamp on this generation, it runs extremely well on consoles while looking great doing so. Its capable of portraying lands like the dark, evil drab land of Planet Sera, the lush overgrown paradises in Enslaved, or something completely quirky and humorous like Borderlands. Its showing its age however, with constant jagged edges and pop-ins, its definitely time to move on. Just look at what Epic has recently done to their engine tech! It would seem one of the leading men of Epic, the infamous design director and man about town.