Each gamer eagerly awaits the fate of Sony and Nintendo. Every news article that involves the debate puts people on one side of the war. There is very little gray area in this debate. Why are we so hostile towards the competition?
Many gamers are saying "I'm not a fanboy but..." just before they sling hostility towards the competiting system. Every single piece of news, negative or positive, becomes a debate. Why?
Exactly how much of our opinions are being swayed by the media? People are quick to judge the PlayStation 3's ultimate demise without seeing the system in a demo or kiosk. There are a few gamers that just have a natural hate for Sony or Microsoft. Other gamers believe Nintendo is for kids and has no place in their home. Is this your opinion? Or are you just following the mob?
The same activities that may cause rational humans to flip over a car in the street after a baseball game seems to come into play when talking about the next-generation console war. Fanboys unite!
"Fanboy or fanboi is a term used to describe an individual (usually male, though the feminine version fangirl may be used for females) who is utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession." -Wikipedia.org
Are we taking the side of a fanboy? Are we just being rational consumers who do not want to spend too much for their next console?
The Internet is a great source for news and allows consumers to become influenced by what they hear. Based on "facts" and "figures" on what Sony is saying or what Microsoft is saying and what each company is saying about the other. It almost feels like a Bush vs. Kerry debate! Replace Healthcare with Networking and the Iraq war with Graphics. We may not all be "fanboys," but we definately have strong opinions on either side of the war regardless to which system we owned in the previous battle.
It is hard to derive facts from product marketing papers and demo's viewed over a live stream of a remote event or keynote. The only fact, like in politics, is each side will lie and cheat while trying to persuade you to fight for them in the race for best console.
Enter the analyst. These are the guys that are telling you, today, what console will win tomorrow. Based on facts and figures and historical defeats and wins. One might say this is how the weather is predicted, yet we have historical inaccuracy causing thousands of deaths due to surprise hurricans and tornados seemly born out of wisps of air. Can we trust an analyst to do a better job predicting the results of our next generation console?
For those of you that have a natural hate for Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony, you do not count in the console war because your vote was determined before the battle began. The ones in question are those that are becoming more and more against the other brand after each negative article is released. Is it justified? Hard to say for sure when most of the articles are based on how a topic was worded or stated in a press release. Very few hard facts and very many unknowns.
The largest fuel against Nintendo and Sony is Microsoft's early entrance into the next-generation war. Sony says next-generation doesn't begin until they enter it while Nintendo says "What War?" Sony is correct to a point. The war of next-generation consoles doesn't begin until they've entered it. You cannot truly have a console battle with only a single system arriving for the fight.
Are you justified in your opinion? Perhaps you are. The question still remains, how much of your opinion is based on what you've heard compared to what you've experienced first hand?
