Yes and you would blow in one if the first time wasn’t recognized. They were great sharing the saves too with friends, something that’s missing now unless you go and dig up those save files from your appdata or whatever they are hidden in.

When something like this is new they always put in effort to make it cool the first, but then with time and iterations it becomes a cost center to be minimized, or worse, an advertising center.

Perhaps what happened is that game console demographics have changed so dramatically from a kids-only toy, to the preteen/teen male of the original Xbox era, and now to a general purpose entertainment device that has to appeal to all ages and demographics.

Probably the only console interface left with some whimsy is Nintendo but it is definitely a more muted and professional look than the past.

I’d also argue that Steam has had a very PC power user aesthetic for a long time, and while it isn’t quite as fun as any of these it’s definitely not corporate boring like PlayStation 5 or Xbox.

I think the earlier console generations where created by a bunch of passionate nerds eager to make something cool.

The current generations are created by highly talented designers whose work is reviewed by committee after committee with user research, marketing, management and creative direction all wanting to have a say - leading to the most universally acceptable compromise.

Once game development goes into the 300 million plus per title range, you really can't have any John Carmak or Romeros running around building stuff they are passionate about anymore. There's just too much money on the line...

no