games of all time , and is still the highest ranked game across all platforms on video game aggregator Metacritic . rise in “ casual gamers ”, people who generally would not classify themselves as “ gamers ” but who play games extensively nonetheless .
SIXTH GENERATION : 1998 - 2006 Key games : Quake , Warcraft : Orcs & Humans , Counter-Strike , Shenmue , Halo : Combat Evolved , Grand Theft Auto III The Sega Dreamcast , arguably a console ahead of its time , kicked off the launch of this video game era , which was a time most known for the advancement of online play . Id Software ’ s shooter Quake pioneered play over the Internet in firstperson shooters ( and spawned software used to create many games thereafter ). Microsoft released its first Xbox , with sales almost entirely driven by the Halo series , which became one of the most successful shooters of all time . This time period also marked the beginning of mobile games , when Nokia installed Snake on their phones .
SEVENTH GENERATION : 2004 - 2013 Key games : God of War , Assassin ’ s Creed , World of Warcraft , Angry Birds , FarmVille , Minecraft Games began to have a more cinematic approach during this time period , as the Wii , PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 became incredibly sophisticated machines . This generation is marked by cinematic graphics , motion controls , the popularity of quick-time events , the rise of PC games marketed to non-gamers ( such as Bejeweled ) and cloud computing being used for video game storage . The Wii , along with games like FarmVille , Angry Birds and Bejeweled led to a new
EIGHTH GENERATION : 2013 - PRESENT Key games : Super Mario 3D World , Super Mario Maker , The Last of Us , Five Nights at Freddy ’ s , Overwatch , Pokémon Go , Pokémon Sun and Moon , Rocket League Our current gaming era is very similar to the seventh generation , but with a huge focus on virtual reality , sharing gameplay and indie games . This is not the first time that VR has been tried with video games , but new technology has made the experience more comfortable and accessible than ever before . Gamers can now enter their home and ask their console to turn on . They can stream directly from consoles and share their controllers with long-distance friends . Indie games , which have steadily grown in popularity , started coming to consoles in droves , in part because of their popularity with YouTube and Twitch Let ’ s Players .
What ’ s next for gaming ? We ’ re excited to see !
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