With 2008 almost over, gamers are thinking that this is the fourth year of a generation of consoles, a generation that has been marked by innovation and pretty graphics.

 Some of them claim that even though older games were not as shiny, they had more soul and focused more on drawing the gamer in the whole story, but looking at these past 4 years we might conclude that they weren’t that bad. Games such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Gears of War, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, The Orange Box, Crysis, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Uncharted, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass were not that bad, and some could even argue that they are great.

Gaming consoles have surely come a long way, and the change is very noticeable. At present consoles are extending into other fields, which is disappointing for the hardcore gamer, but truly rewarding for those that want a system that can do almost anything.

The Xbox stands out through it recently updated software, called the Xbox Live Experience. One of the most talked about features on the Xbox Live Experience is users’ ability to directly stream movies from Netflix. Sony’s Playstation 3 is definitely very capable, being able to run games with graphics so good one could swear they can get out of the screen. The PS3 is also fitted with a blu-ray player, so you can watch high definition movies on your console. The Wii stands out through their view on gaming itself, replacing the gamepads with the Wiimote, a device that lets you control the game by just waving your arm.

The gaming industry is doing fine and with the constant advancement being made in this domain, it is hard not to lose yourself once in a while in the imaginary world of video games.