Next gen gaming is hip. Until it’s the current generation. Generations are simply iterative development. The next generation of humans is the people who are alive after their parents are dead. The next generation of games is the gaming systems that are used after the current system of games. (Really, all this “next gen” talk is a bunch of nonsense by now because the next generation to which everyone refers is now.)

Will Wright recently made the claim that the Wii is the only next gen console which, beyond being an inflammatory statement, is false. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are next gen systems because they are the next generation of systems. A new generation does not imply a startling shift in how games are played. Did games really drastically change from N64 to Gamecube or from PS1 to PS2? Of course not, they go prettier but the games were essentially the same. If the Wii is the only next gen console then the definition of “current gen” has to define the Commodore 63 as equal as the PS2.

Beyond this idiotic rebranding of what a generation means in relation to games, there’s the even more idiotic need of this world to be buzzword compliant. Though rendering speed and resolutions can satiate computer and video game geeks, the layperson needs simple direct statements implying that something is better than the other (at least according to marketing douches). Ajax is just one of the buzzwords one must throw around to seem like they are aware of the current internet culture. Web 2.0 is another one though, unlike Ajax, it has no specific meaning.

But unlike Ajax or Web 2.0, generation is a real term that has been stolen and twisted until its true meaning is rendered archaic. I’ve ranted about fanboyism before so these kinds of idiotic statements are obviously distasteful to me, but that’s not why I wanted to write this. As much as I love to slap fanboys down for being more resolute than Franciscan monks in their views, the reason I wrote this is because the world needs “generation.” This is not impeding the growth and development of the language. This is not the actions of a greater mass slowly shifting the perception of a word, this is a marketing ploy that has managed to ingrain itself into gaming culture.