Fanboyism and the console war: what are they good for?

WAR! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. The words of Edwin Starr’s “War” keep ringing inside my head when I see how hostile the world has become, and I don’t have far to go to see it. Whether it’s a world war or a console war, the outcome is the same, and that’s a whole lot of disunity and angry words.

We’ve found and covered this little nugget of mysterious weirdness on the internet twice, called nexgenwars.com, and it’s looking to serve as a real-time representation of the console wars as it happens. We checked on it again, and it still happens to be up. The thing is, what use does it serve gamers in general except to polarize people and start the wars of the fanboys?

Let’s face it: not everyone can afford all three consoles, and so you’re bound to pick one to be your main squeeze for the coming years. That’s all well and good, since competition keeps companies on their toes and helps to ensure we have better tech every few years, but sites like this don’t really help. Add to that the constant advertising and the badmouthing of other companies and their wares and you have a large-scale flamefest.

“Fanboyism” is nice because we can share our love for consoles and what they can offer us as a means of play. From the perspective of ad agencies and marketers (as well as anarchists around the world), however, our love of games means an opportunity to raise hype by any means necessary because the bottom line for someone who isn’t a gamer isn’t fun: it’s money.

“War has caused unrest in the younger generation/ Induction then destruction…” The lyrics of that song are haunting simply because they apply to something as trivial as our love for games. The best way for us to win the console wars is to be happy that we’re all getting the fun we want at the prices we can afford. If you believe the same, then take those lyrics to heart, and be constructive in your criticism and heartfelt in your love for games.

WAR! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. The words of Edwin Starr’s “War” keep ringing inside my head when I see how hostile the world has become, and I don’t have far to go to see it. Whether it’s a world war or a console war, the outcome is the same, and that’s a whole lot of disunity and angry words.

We’ve found and covered this little nugget of mysterious weirdness on the internet twice, called nexgenwars.com, and it’s looking to serve as a real-time representation of the console wars as it happens. We checked on it again, and it still happens to be up. The thing is, what use does it serve gamers in general except to polarize people and start the wars of the fanboys?

Let’s face it: not everyone can afford all three consoles, and so you’re bound to pick one to be your main squeeze for the coming years. That’s all well and good, since competition keeps companies on their toes and helps to ensure we have better tech every few years, but sites like this don’t really help. Add to that the constant advertising and the badmouthing of other companies and their wares and you have a large-scale flamefest.

“Fanboyism” is nice because we can share our love for consoles and what they can offer us as a means of play. From the perspective of ad agencies and marketers (as well as anarchists around the world), however, our love of games means an opportunity to raise hype by any means necessary because the bottom line for someone who isn’t a gamer isn’t fun: it’s money.

“War has caused unrest in the younger generation/ Induction then destruction…” The lyrics of that song are haunting simply because they apply to something as trivial as our love for games. The best way for us to win the console wars is to be happy that we’re all getting the fun we want at the prices we can afford. If you believe the same, then take those lyrics to heart, and be constructive in your criticism and heartfelt in your love for games.