Some good questions
Squire, are you only into the older gen games or do you play anything more recent? Personally, I woudn't mind playing more of the older stuff myself because I know there's a huge backlog of stuff I haven't even touched. My problem these days is that I'd rather just pass the evenings laying back and relaxing instead of sitting at the computer...
I play a lot of recent stuff. I don't really have any real loyalty to any time period or console, there are certain developers and individual creators I'm fond of due to their track record, and their are certain genre's that I enjoy the core premise of more, but mostly I'll play anything that's good.
I also really agree with Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. 90% of the games in the 80's and 90's were probably crap too, it's just history forgets the losers, so now we all look back fondly on Contra and Rayforce but don't remember all the generic mascot based platformers and Mortal Kombat rip off's that were being churned out like no tommorow back then.
Also would you agree that the gaming industry is becoming too casual? I think that it's absurd that Gabe Newell said that the Steambox's main competition would be Apple and not Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo.
Despite my jokings, I try not to worry too much about casual vs **** debates, as I said I play anything that's good while avoiding things that aren't appealing to me, so I don't worry about personally being run over by the casual gaming cash in craze. However, I do think it's an ABSOLUTE MISTAKE for developers to deliberately try to appeal to casual gamers, specifically in ways that alter the appeal of their franchises.
I think that "casual" gamers, by definition, cannot be appealed too through gameplay, and the only way to get them to plunk down cash is brand recognition and/or social (read: all my friends have it and say it's great) reasons. That won't guarantee they play for more then five minutes, or get good at the game, but they'll at least put down the cash.
How do you see the upcoming next gen war going? PC is a huge factor now too and I there's supposed to be a big announcement by Sony at the end of February. Wii U has been out so all we need is Steambox and Microsoft 720.
I'v never followed too closely console wars, the only reason I don't own every system is monetary. I was thinking of getting an xbox360 soon so I can play all the great 2d shooters that the pu****s at Sony are apparently allergic too. In particular, I really wanna try out
Akai Katana, since it was partially made by the same guy who did
one of my favorite games of all time. Kinda sucks though having to worry about if I should wait for the next Xbox though first.