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[GitarooMan]

Sony is the kid with the case full of trophies. His dad coaches the kickball team. He isn't just chosen first. He's the captain who gets to pick the first kid.

Xbox is the kid held back a few years. The only one on the playground with pubic hair. Not a lot of smarts, but brings the power.

Gamecube is the creepy kid left unpicked at the end. Since there are an odd number of players on the ground, he's designated score keeper. He's content stuck with this job, as he's playing an entirely different game inside his warped mind.

:lol :lol Excellent analysis.

 

[Tain]

See, for some of us it's not as much console "loyalty" as it is hatred of other companies. Sony and MS have always been the two major companies I'd rather not give my money too... then they managed to enter the game market.

So, no matter how good the games may be, you'd be willing to avoid them simply due to the platform's manufacturer?

 

[jarrod]

before i read gaming forums, i had no idea people invested so much energy in this. seriously.

Really? This forum has nothing on the old Sega vs Nintendo arguments I remember around the playground. Man, those were brutal.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Really? This forum has nothing on the old Sega vs Nintendo arguments I remember around the playground. Man, those were brutal.

The playground arguments kinda make sense because most kids were lucky to have just one console, let alone 2 or more. But any adult with enough money and time but still only buys from one manufacturer is a complete moron.

 

[TekunoRobby]

Today someone asked me which system I was going to like more. I replied that I don't like a system; I just like the games that are and will be available for them. The console is just a magical piece of technology that allows me to have fun. It didn’t create the enjoyment it simply empowered the game to do its thing. Granted the abilities of the console or the ideologies of the people who've designed it will enable different types of enjoyment (such as online) but it still depends if the game uses it or not so it goes back to square one, the games.

I will say this, I really like the technology within consoles and respect the hard work that has gone to design them but I don’t stretch that out beyond respect and admiration for what they’ve produced. I keep my opinion on technology and console politics separate.

 

[The Bookerman]

"Let's see where this goes to"

 

[Speevy]

I don't mind the other consoles, or the idea that Sony is beating the other companies in sales, or whatever.

I do dislike the elitist attitudes of some forum members, however. It makes having decent discussions about games unbearable sometimes.

"OMG WHAT IS THIS DEVELOPER THAT DOES NOT MAKE GAMES FOR MY FAVORITE CONSOLE DOING? THIS WILL SURELY BE THEIR DOWNFALL IN SALES"

 

[Comfort_Eagle]

I dont. I like fun games! Sadly this leads me to spend a lot of money to buy all consoles but in the end it is most worth it (although the GC really did suck ass this gen. ).

 

[Beowvlf]

Call me crazy, but my love for both what Nintendo started and what Sony has continued in this industry has me quietly waking up every single morning, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe the lead news item on Gamespot will be SCE merging with Nintendo. It's my geeky gamer fanboy dream, and I will continue to fantasize about that day until it becomes a reality. Which as we all know, will never happen. But I digress.

Not to mention it would be pretty damn awesome to see hardcore Nintendo fanboys' reactions, as there is no stronger, more ardent hate amongst console loyalists than a Nintendo fans utter disgust of all things Sony PlayStation. The bitterness circa 1997 still runs deep it seems.

CAN YOU FUCKING IMAGINE A UEDA/MIYAMOTO JOINT PROJECT!?!?!?!

Good lord my heart will stop beating for a minimum of 17 minutes if this ever comes true. "I dreamed a dream..."

 

[Jiggy]

Presumably the reason some people care is because they like a given console-exclusive franchise enough that they want to see such strong support for it (both financially and socially) that it'll have sequels in the future, and at certain points in gaming history that's only seemed feasible if the console it's on continues to be successful.

For example, if the PS1 had tanked like the X-Box in Japan, the Final Fantasy series would probably have come to the N64 and thus taken an entirely different direction, which would have been good for me, but bad for the people who liked FFVII and FFVIII and the advent of CG cutscenes. Therefore, for those people support of the PS1 and support of the (then-current) direction of Final Fantasy were inseparable; to show loyalty toward one was to show loyalty toward the other.

I'm hard-pressed to think of a home console example of this in the current-gen, but as for portables, it couldn't be much clearer that if either the DS or the PSP fails, the market has the potential to shift accordingly. Granted, pretty much every current indicator would have to be wrong for that to actually happen in either case, but you see my point...

Thing is, whether or not people are actually right in their assumptions about the impacts of their loyalty has no bearing on the assumptions themselves. If, two years ago, before the announcement of the DS, I somehow managed to convince myself that Pokemon, Advance Wars, and Fire Emblem would all cease to exist if the GBA died, then going around various gaming forums attempting to shill for the GBA would end up somewhere in my top ten priorities.

It's akin to what was mentioned earlier in the thread...

A lot of it (not on GAF, but many other places) seems to come down to people being confused about what the first party companies actually do. I hear a lot of stuff like, "I like Playstation because they make Metal Gear/Final Fantasy/Madden/whatever." It's almost always a third party title, but it's just associated with that platform.

...which is probably about all that needs to be said.

 

[thorsilver]

Console loyalty, IMHO, is not a problem; it makes sense for someone to support a platform which provides them enjoyable games, in the hopes of getting more enjoyable games in the future.

What I'm much more concerned about is the constant cry of 'fanboyism.' The myriad useless responses to a post decrying that post as 'fanboyism' drag down the collective discourse of any thread far more than just letting that person state their opinion and moving on.

Just because someone dislikes certain things about the DS or doesn't enjoy a DS game doesn't necessarily mean they're a Sony 'fanboy,' it most likely means they have different preferences in their gameplay. Similarly, someone who enthuses about DS sales numbers or upcoming game releases isn't necessarily a fanboy, they most likely are excited about the prospect of more good games coming to a system they like.

At the end of the day people have different preferences, and if somebody thinks something ludicrous about a system/game that you like, who the hell cares? If you like it, their opinion won't change yours, and from your perspective they're missing out on something that you enjoy, so just leave them to it and leave the cries of 'FANBOY!' to GameFAQs where they belong.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Why do people root for certain sports teams?

 

[VALIS]

Why do people root for certain sports teams?

Becuase the nature of sports is competition. The whole purpose is measured in wins and losses and one declared winner. Again, why don't you root for one record label or one movie studio at the exclusion of others? Becuase you know it's stupid, that's why. It's counter-productive to your enjoyment of the medium to purposely limit your experiences. It should be the same for video games, but really, this is a hobby who's fandom has always been largely populated with sneering, spitting kids.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

To me, it's about ideals, and where they want to go with them. Noboby is going to beat Microsoft when it comes to functionality and service for their platform. I don't watch movies so the format war doesn't mean shit to me. I love to play games online. All the areas that matter to me, Microsoft has them covered. It took XBL and the Controller S for me to convert though

 

[Gahiggidy]

Becuase the nature of sports is competition. The whole purpose is measured in wins and losses and one declared winner. Again, why don't you root for one record label or one movie studio at the exclusion of others? Becuase you know it's stupid, that's why. It's counter-productive to your enjoyment of the medium to purposely limit your experiences. It should be the same for video games, but really, this is a hobby who's fandom has always been largely populated with sneering, spitting kids.

Sports is competitive while the videogame world isn't?

Yeah, right. Tell that to Ray...

 

[Deku]

Sports team analogy is the best. In most cases its civic pride and fans saying 'we're better than you' even though they aren't the ones who win. It's just a natural human reaction.

But video games aren't purely sports franchises that is totally out of a person's control. They are consumer products and thus, sometimes, people can dislike something purely from a series of bad experiences or failure by a machine to meet expectations. There's also the emotional and financial investments involved with liking something more, even for a multi-platform owner. People will always have favorites.

Does it matter who wins? To quite honest, not really. But I'm happy that the games I want are coming out.

 

[Shogun]

Honestly now, can anyone give me a good answer?

The best answer I can give is that, though imperfect, past performance and appreciation of that performance is the best indicator of future performance and appreciation of that future performance. I tend to like Nintendo and Sony and have loyalty to their brands because their games and systems have consistently given me titles I enjoy.

 

[Tellaerin]

To me, it's about ideals, and where they want to go with them. Noboby is going to beat Microsoft when it comes to functionality and service for their platform. I don't watch movies so the format war doesn't mean shit to me. I love to play games online. All the areas that matter to me, Microsoft has them covered. It took XBL and the Controller S for me to convert though

Interesting. It's about ideals for me, too, but it's because of MS' ideals and their intentions for the market that I don't want to support them in the upcoming generation. I'm strongly opposed to the entire concept of microtransactions (the idea that I will have to pay an extra fee to buy armor for my fucking horse in Oblivion, which was mentioned in a recent EGM, turns my stomach). I feel it opens the door for developers to milk consumers by dribbling out content that would have traditionally shipped with the game as post-purchase downloads. (The horse armor is a case in point.) I'm also not terribly fond of the idea of downloads replacing games on fixed media for a variety of reasons (see my comments on Steam, if you haven't already), and that's part of the long-term MS agenda, too - the revamped XBL Arcade is another step in that direction. So that's something I'm not inclined to support, either, just on general principles. Last but not least, charging $50 a year for a glorified peer-to-peer service plus stat tracking that ranges from the superfluous to the obnoxious (no, I don't care which X360 games you own, what your 'Gamerscore' is, or how many 'achievements' you've accumulated in your games, and if you're a stranger, my gaming habits are none of your damn business, either) is something that still doesn't sit well with me. So I sort of feel like giving MS my cash this coming gen would be helping fund their efforts to shift the industry in directions I really don't want to see it go. That pretty much leaves me supporting Sony and Nintendo by default. Of course, MS could pull a total 180 (no pun intended), offer a free, no-frills peer-to-peer matchmaking service, and give this big push for downloadable content and microtransactions the axe, in which case you'd see me supporting them again wholeheartedly.

(And yes, for the record, I am aware that there have been rumblings from the Sony camp about things like downloadable content and microtransactions. To be honest, though, they've been making noises like that for awhile now, and none of it has amounted to anything. Honestly, I think the only reason they've been pushing it as far as they have is because with MS selling third parties on the idea of DLC as a potentially huge moneymaker, Sony more or less has to say, 'Us too!' if they want to maintain interest. If MS were to abandon the whole DLC/microtransactions thing tomorrow, I suspect Sony would follow suit not long after.)

 

[Mr. Blonde]

I've never understood it myself. I own all 4.

 

[Willy Wanka]

I agree with Yann that it's anti-console loyalists that are the problem. I don't care which of the big three companies pillages my wallet just as long as I'm having fun gaming experiences. Principals, ideals and business ethics and morality! :lol :lol It's just VIDEO GAMES for fucks sake.

 

[Screenboy]

Everyone has their own fix in games and different consoles are for different needs. People like to relate to people with the same tastes (in games) so people tend to question/flame/troll other people when they don't share the same tastes.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I don't give a shit, as long as I buy nintendo

 

[Gattsu25]

People who have a strong love or loathing for a company have a tendency to throw threads into a pit of decadence

If not for that, I wouldn't care. It seems after every E3 and around every major platform launch, these loyalists go out of their way to destroy any form of discussion into a series of tired old arguments, flaming, and retardation.

 

[bumpkin]

I personally don't give a rat's ass about it. But when someone comes out, guns blazing, saying how a system I enjoy "sucks," I feel obligated to at least say something in defense... And usually, that just leads to being labelled a fanboy or "(insert initial here)bot".

If I ever make a negative comment about a system, it's almost always in a sarcastic tone, but tone doesn't exist online. No matter what you say, it's viewed as a serious statement.

 

[DSXBoy]

I'll take fantasy over reality any day. I'm mature enough not to be impressed with so-called realistic games. That's the reason I like gaming and despite it's faults, Nintendo make games that are more fun and less realistic than the rest that's why they get my vote.

 

[Merlin]

It's fun to debate.

 

[Gattsu25]

I'll take fantasy over reality any day. I'm mature enough not to be impressed with so-called realistic games. That's the reason I like gaming and despite it's faults, Nintendo make games that are more fun and less realistic than the rest that's why they get my vote.

Don't like realism? Like fanatsy? Play a MMO or some rogue-likes. Start with Nethack and thank me laster

 

[lexy]

I can say I was and still am loyal to the Sega Saturn. I actually put time and effort into amassing a collection for it and some of my fondest gaming memories are on the Sega Saturn.

Outside of that, I can't say I feel a strong attachment to any other console(s). Videogames simply aren't that important to me.

 

[Emotions]

I think being a console loyalist or a brand loyalist is fine as long as you don't attack other brands or consoles and keep jumping into the threads related to them just to troll it or to give your constant negative opinion about something you really hate or are not a fan of to annoy the fans who enjoy the products, that's what i don't like personally.

 

[Drinky Crow]

The DS really is a piece of shit

 

[[Nintex]]

Nintendo put Mind control software on the NES and Pokemon toys.

"While our gamers are sleeping, we're busy thinking up new ideas. But while they're playing - we're playing as well."- Shigeru Miyamoto

Thats were Nintendo fans come from. They need to feed all those hungry employees.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Miyamoto hasn't had a decent idea since Yoshi's Island

Everything good about Nintendo recently comes from Intelligent Systems or Eiji Aonuma, neither of which are giant useless media whore tools like Miyamoto

 

[jarrod]

The DS really is a piece of shit

Shitty hardware tends to win the mass market for some reason. See: NES, Game Boy, PS2, etc.

 

[Drinky Crow]

You forgot the SNES

 

[GitarooMan]

You forgot the SNES

Hey, I think the SNES is the best piece of hardware Nintendo ever made, especially that Sony sound chip.

 

[Drinky Crow]

haha, 3MHz 65C816 am midas slowdown

gutless castrato apple ii gs 8/16-bit proc rosebud shooters total

 

[GitarooMan]

haha, 3MHz 65C816 am midas slowdown

gutless castrato apple ii gs 8/16-bit proc rosebud shooters total

Yeah, but you still get those great soundtracks. :lol Seriously what is the best piece of N hardware for its time other than that. I guess most would say GC, which is actually a decent piece of hardware that very few people have taken advantage of.

 

[jarrod]

You forgot the SNES

SNES too, especially since they dropped the DSP chip and downgraded their CPU (for NES playback, which was then dropped). :/

 

[jarrod]

Yeah, but you still get those great soundtracks. :lol Seriously what is the best piece of N hardware for its time other than that. I guess most would say GC, which is actually a decent piece of hardware that very few people have taken advantage of.

GameCube. In fact, GameCube's a serious contender for best console hardware design ever.... it's a shame nobody ever really pushed it.

 

[Drinky Crow]

Despite my unwarranted reputation as a Nintendo hater, I agree with jarrod -- the Gamecube is easily Nintendo's best and least-compromised piece of hardware design. It really doesn't have any notable flaws. The NES was total crap; the SNES had a terrible CPU crippled by 6502 backward compatibility requirements (and it was the basically the trashbin version of the 2GS's 7Ghz 65C816) as well as a lower-than-Genesis standard resolution; the N64 had the appallingly small texture cache and cart media; the GB was, uh, the GB; the GBA lacks a proper sound chip; and the DS is inarguably the most embarrassing lack of proper hardware evolution EVER.

 

[teh_pwn]

I do buy consoles with certain expectations from the past.

I see Microsoft doing a little better this generation due to their early start and good software backing. However prices are high, but I expect that initial stock will sell out regardless.

PS3 will most likely dominate again with a strong showing of RPGs, Platformers, and GodofWar genre games.

Nintendo is a wildcard this generation. I see them most likely only grabbing about 20% of the market at best due to their apparent dead last launch with no 3rd party support. But they do offer something unique, at least at this point in time. We shall see.

 

[jarrod]

Yeah... if I had to rank Nintendo's chipset designs...

Consoles
01 GameCube (2001)
02 SNES/Super Famicom (1990)
03 Nintendo 64 (1996)
04 NES/Famicom (1983)
05 Virtual Boy (1995)

Handhelds
01 Game Boy (1989)
02 Nintendo DS (2004)
03 Game Boy Advance (2001)
04 Game Boy Color (1998)
05 Pokemon Mini (2001)

 

[jarrod]

and the DS is inarguably the most embarrassing lack of proper hardware evolution EVER.

It's pretty arguable actually. DS is really a bigger leap over PS1/N64/Saturn than GBA was over SNES/PCE/Genesis I'd say, not to mention GBC versus NES/SMS. The lack of texture filtering hurts but overall it's quite a capable little chipset, especially when compared with similar class machines.

 

[Drinky Crow]

yeah, but the PSP set the bar for this handheld generation, and the DS' shitty resolution plus lack of any real 3D support beyond basic texturing is just embarrassing. It really cripples the machine for viable 3D. Seriously, if they'd bumped the resolution per screen to 320x240 and added texture filtering and proper alpha support, I probably wouldn't be such a whiny bitch about the whole thing. 256x192 and no texture filtering just seems so, well, CHEAP.

 

[JoDark]

I have HARD CORE console loyalty, and will fight to the death!




I LOVE CONSOLES!!!... Not one company, just playing games on my sweet huge ass HDTV and killer 5.1 setup.

As for real loyalty, I save that for GAMES. Great game franchises, and great developers deserve loyalty. Nintendo (more so in the past ), Rare, Ubi, Capcom (usually), Bungie, Bizarre, the Ico folks... etc. That's where our loyalty should lie.

 

[jarrod]

yeah, but the PSP set the bar for this handheld generation, and the DS' shitty resolution plus lack of any real 3D support beyond basic texturing is just embarrassing. It really cripples the machine for viable 3D. Seriously, if they'd bumped the resolution per screen to 320x240 and added texture filtering and proper alpha support, I probably wouldn't be such a whiny bitch about the whole thing. 256x192 and no texture filtering just seems so, well, CHEAP.

Well, I'd agree. Nintendo probably felt that with the small screen, dropping texture filtering for a boost in performance was probably a good tradeoff. As is, DS can handily outdo PSone, Saturn or N64 when pushed.

As for bringing up PSP, well different targets, different markets, different budgets. I'm sure if Nintendo had the inclination, they could craft a $300 handheld Dreamcast too.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

I personally don't. I enjoy fucking with the Nintendo fans because of their demeanor when it comes to all things Nintendo.

 

[DSXBoy]

The playground arguments kinda make sense because most kids were lucky to have just one console, let alone 2 or more. But any adult with enough money and time but still only buys from one manufacturer is a complete moron.

Why buy a console, if you don't like it's games? Many adults who don't have to worry about their maturity believe Nintendo games are more fun than games on other consoles. While many more believe that to be regarded as a mature gamer you must have an XBox or PS2 because games on both these consoles are usually more realistic.
I'll take fantasy over reality, that's why I'm a gamer.
:lol :lol :lol