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This next console gen has been a long time coming.

The Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii - collectively known as the seventh generation - have steered the course of the industry since 2005.

Much has changed over the last eight years in gaming - and as we perch on the precipice of a new era, perhaps it's a time for retrospection.

So, what did we learn from this generation?

The most obvious change with the advent of new hardware is in the technical specification - each generation is faster and more capable than the last.

At the time of the current gen's introduction, HDTVs were starting to become widely available - and the Xbox 360 and PS3 both took advantage of this by supporting HD video formats.

This wasn't without issue - in 2005 standard-def CRTs were still very common, and some games ran into issues when running at the lower resolution - many complained about the small text in Dead Rising, for instance.

However, with HDTVs dropping in…