I'm firmly of the opinion that, as the industry has boomed, so too has the need for financially lucrative games.
As hardware increases, so too are the limitations lessened on what we as designers can create. The only problem is that, as I mentioned earlier regarding money in games, developers are relying more on tried and true designs for their games, in turn, stifling their creativity.
My point being that newer generations have the benefit of better hardware, and thus more possibilities, but previous generations were truly creative in terms of the style of games being made.