I was reading an posting on a tech blog earlier today about the possible price drop coming for the Xbox 360 and, while that was an interesting article and all, the thing that really amazed me is how hardcore some of the video game console fan boys are. The post had a ton of comments on it but most of them had little to nothing to do with the actual story itself. Most of the comments were one giant “my xbox/wii/ps3 owns your xbox/wii/ps3″ battle. Now I have to state up front that I’m a huge supporter of the Xbox 360 but, that said, I’m not a fan boy. I can acknowledge that the 360 is not the perfect console and that it doesn’t always have the games that I want to play (such as Mario Kart… one of the best games ever made in my book)… and a fan boy could not do that. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about crazed fan boys and which console is really the best.
Many products garner an undue amount of adoration from their fans. Take Apple for instance: the Mac inspired a whole cult of people who believe that PC’s are evil and Macs were the saving grace given to them by God (and by God I mean Steve Jobs… or at least that’s how they see it). Even the iPod has become such a product since people HAVE to have an iPod these days even though there are many other options out there for an MP3 player. Either way, you get the basic idea: young, tech savvy people have a way of latching onto something they feel is the best of the best of the best and no one is going to tell them any different without a fight ensuing. That’s where we are with video game consoles these days. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have spent years cultivating a following for their products and now they have some true zealots who believe their choice is the only choice. These are the kind of guys who will spend countless hours scouring the web for any new little tidbit of info either “for” their system or “against” a system they don’t like just so they can blog about it at length (adding in their own wild speculation and biases of course) and then post it to Digg so they can argue the point further. Sadly, the fan boys are SO sure that their product choice is the best that they not only don’t listen to reason and fact but will make up their own “facts” to support their cause. For instance, Sony has often said that Blu-Ray is a requirement because games are too limited on DVD media due to space restrictions. Therefore, Sony fan boys will believe this even though it’s been proven false time and again. So to bolster their position some Sony fan boy posted up a story on Digg that PGR 4 for the Xbox 360 couldn’t contain all the tracks they wanted due to space restrictions of DVD media. Other Sony fan boys immediately jumped on this story as proof positive that the Xbox 360 will fail and their beloved PS3 will rule the day due to its limitless Blu-Ray technology! It wasn’t long though before an official statement from the makes of PGR 4 issued a press release denying this story and reassuring everyone that they have more than enough room for all the tracks on a DVD. This is a prime example of fan boy fervor at its best!
That said, I can’t blame just the Sony fan boys for this sort of thing. There’s just as many Xbox and Nintendo fan boys out there doing the very same thing, i.e. looking for a way to prove their console purchase was the best choice they’ve made since choosing to breathe after coming out of the womb. Xbox guys will quote poor sales figures for the PS3 and proclaim it “dying on the vine” while Nintendo fans will go on and on about how the PS3 and Xbox 360 lack the inovation of the Wii’s controllers and fun family games that anyone can enjoy. In the end, they’re all just wasting their time if you ask me. No one system is the best at everything and that’s the beauty of it honestly. The Wii is meant to be a more family/casual gamer setup that’s targeted towards people who don’t usually game at all… and it’s done a great job of being just that. The PS3 is meant for the “early adopter” who wants the latest in cutting edge technology and is willing to pay for it regardless of cost and usefulness. The Xbox 360 is meant for the average to hardcore gamer, i.e. most people who usually buy video game consoles, but it still offers some upgrades for those want a more robust experience (like the HD-DVD addon). All three systems have some great games and all three are worth purchasing at some point. I want a Wii for instance since I think it looks like fun and my wife really wants to play some of the Wiimote games (although she hates gaming on the 360). Another one my friends is a staunch Sony fan and owns a PS3 but he wants a 360 to play Halo 3 when it comes out since that’s THE first person shooter out there for consoles.
In other words, no one is right or wrong here in their love of their system choice… but it is wrong to tell others that their choice is a bad one if they’re happy with it. The fan boys needs to keep their hate for other systems to themselves and just enjoy their own little world if you ask me. Stop trying to tell everyone else how to enjoy themselves and get a life boys!
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