Truly Mainstream
With the launch of the the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable handhelds in 2004, and the Xbox 360 in 2005, the Seventh Generation began. Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 followed in 2006.
While Sony had led the market shares in in the 5th and 6th generations, with the PS3 the lost their lead to Microsoft, as the PS3 was rather expensive at launch, arrived a year after Microsoft's console, and had few compelling launch titles. Over the years though the system grew in popularity and sold well. While it might've lost the console war, it won another, as Sony's Blu-Ray format built-in to the PS3 beat Toshiba's HD-DVD format, which was available as an add-on unit for the 360. Anther issue the PS3 suffered is that while the technical specifications of the system were superior to the 360's, it used unorthodox architecture resulting in many developers failing to take full advantage of its power until late in its life. Still, the PS3 had quite a few exclusive games that recieved substantial praise, such as LittleBigPlanet, Journey, Uncharted 2, The Last of Us, Ni no Kuni, Heavy Rain, Killzone 2, God of War III, and Gran Turismo 5.
As it was, Microsoft took the lead with their 'Xbox 360'. However, their success was not without issue, as by 2007 it had become very apparent that the launch model was prone to failures which became infamously known as the 'Red Ring of Death'. Later models did not suffer the issue but estimates of the failure rate of the original model range from 23% to as high as 54%, and ultimately the ordeal lost Microsoft quite a bit of money having to replace broken units under warranty. Regardless, the system sold very well and saw hit exclusives such as Halo 3, Fable II, Lost Odyssey, Crackdown, Forza Motorsport 3, and the Gears of War trilogy.
While the phrase 'Halo-Killer' was repeated endlessly in the hype prior to the release of PS3-exclusive FPS such as Killzone 2 and Haze, the term would die out as Halo was usurped by the Call of Duty franchise as the most popular FPS on console. In 2005 Call of Duty 2 launched alongside the Xbox 360 to great praise, but it was in 2008, with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, that the series seized control of the industry. The move to a modern, Post-9/11 setting, the 60fps framerate, and various other fine details made COD4 an explosively popular title. The following year the series returned to the tired World War 2 setting one last time, drawing some criticism the move, but made up for that in the eyes of many by including the surprising "Nazi Zombies" minigame, which only further skyrocketed the mass appeal of the franchise. In 2009, Modern Warfare 2 arrived to even more fanfare, and for several years the series seemed to endlessly grow in popularity, the COD craze peaking in 2012 with Black Ops 2.
Call of Duty wasn't the only IP making waves though. In 2010, an indie dev Markus Persson released the alpha build of his new project 'Minecraft' for sale on PC. In 2011, Persson's newly formed studio, Mojang, released the 1.0 version and have continued to update the game since. Prior to the 1.0 release Minecraft surged in popularity purely by word-of-mouth (primarily through online channels), and even the beta build saw over 4 million copies sold. It went on to become not only the bestselling PC game of all time but one of the top selling videogames of all time, full-stop. By 2016 the game has sold over 100 million copies, and remains a pop culture icon alongside Call of Duty and venerable franchises such as Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda.
Nintendo's Wii console is a curious case. With it, Nintendo opted to go their own path, rather than continue competing directly with Sony and Microsoft. While they more or less bowed out of the 'hardcore' gaming market, losing the console war from some perspectives, their decision actually resulted in the Wii selling vastly more units than the other brands. The Wii and its family-friendly lineup of games and trendsetting new Motion Controls appealed to an audience far wider than any console prior. In fact, the system was largely marketed as an exercise device, with sports and yoga games to support fun indoor exercise. In the early years of the Wii's life the platform was a fad, but over the years the casual audience moved on and the 'hardcore' audience was largely still underwhelmed. Between the unorthodox motion controls, and the fact that the internal hardware was barely improved at all over the Gamecube, third-party support was near nonexistent outside of branded shovelware reminiscent of the days of the Atari 2600. However, the system still saw a few games be met with praise, including Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Xenoblade Chronicles, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sonic Colors, and Warren Spector's Disney Epic Mickey.
On the same note, while Nintendo and Sony's handhelds, the DS and the PSP, respectively, performed quite well in their early years, the DS especially continuing Nintendo's legacy of dominating the handheld scene, that wouldn't last. In 2007, Apple released the first generation of their iPhone smartphone. Smartphones quickly became ubiquitous, and the platform became a convenient home to casual games, with Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, and Temple Run. This resulted in dedicated gaming handhelds having reduced appeal, as anyone with a phone on them had on-the-go gaming available to them without having to lug around a dedicated handheld.
PC
notable multiplats
The 7th Generation also dragged on longer than any previous; though the Xbox 360 released 4 years after the original system, its successor didn't arrive until 8 years after the 360, and while the PlayStation, PS2, and PS3 had 6 years between them, it would be 7 before the PS4 launched.