It's funny. During the PS1 & 2 era I didn't know any different - I bought Sony consoles, knew they were the bigger brand, but always assumed that Xbox / Gamecube were doing comparatively well. And I never really wished any ill-meaning on them, which persisted through this generation until I joined this forum. I knew that console wars existed, fans wailed on each other and all that, and that PS3 wasn't selling as well as the PS1 & 2 had, but I wasn't aware of the extent of hate towards Sony and I still didn't harbour any bad feelings towards the other two either at this point.

So it was a bit of a shock to come to a forum like this in 2012 and see all these people (I won't get into specifics) who took every opportunity they had to call Sony out, make them look bad and call out the fans for liking Sony. Like really, it was a massive shock to me. And that, in turn, made me feel a little more contemptible towards the competition than I ever did before coming here.

Of course, the people who were acting like this towards Sony claimed that they'd been victims of it first, that Sony fans were the arrogant ones who were always wailing on their system. And I'm sure that's absolutely true. But from my side, I'd never really seen any of this. I could believe it, but it came across to me as just hate for the sake of hate from the way I was seeing it. And that did nothing to make me like the competition.  Just because someone else has done it - that doesn't make it okay.

At the end of the day, I took a step back and looked at it logically. Nintendo have done nothing wrong; Microsoft have done nothing wrong. The fans are different from the company themselves, and it would be stupid to hate a company because of the fans. They don't choose their fans - influence them perhaps, maybe even attract them, but at the end of the day anyone can 'choose' to be a fan of anything and then act however they see fit.

I'm conflicted. I don't hate Microsoft or Nintendo, and I don't hate Microsoft or Nintendo fans. I have my hangups with both of the companies, but that's a different matter. But I do inevitably grow to generalise and dislike fans of the other two companies a little when certain ones act in certain ways to just have a completely unreasonable and irrational hatred of Sony, who I love.. I'm sure fans of M & N would say that certain Sony fans act exactly the same way, which I'm sure would be true as well.

@1. Things that have been said are things like the PS3 will demolish the Wii sales (before the opposite happened), or that the Nintendo console is for kids, or people who outright deny the Wii of its sales victory, or those that said that the Vita would destroy the poor 3DS.

Thankfully, that kind of pompous attitude is coming to an end, in a terrible and absolute death. I'm personally glad.

Nobody should want any of the big 3 to shutdown, more competition the better.

Everyone wants their favourite to do better, In truth I do want Sony to do better than the others though, I am a Sony fan which relates back to past experiences where original Xbox support was dropped the day the 360 came, RROD incident and getting caught up in the hype and making the mistake of getting the wii, then when I got my PS3 I had an amazing gaming experience filled with high quality exclusive games.

On second thoughts, I'd be quite happy If Apple released a console and it obliterated Sony, Nintendo AND Microsoft..

I want Sony to succeed b/c they have done so much for gamers. But i hate assholes.

1 - Quote B is the same thing as quote A......in the minds of a typical gamer anyway. I want them to be more humbled. But seeing your post you clearly have no idea how far they take this superiority complex. Then again Im sure you dont travel to parts where moderation doesnt exist so you dont really see any "raw" comments.

2. Exactly! They act the same, but in far greater numbers. 2nd problem is that they act the same......yet are last. Wii fans have every right to brag. 360 fans are the Core/HD winner this gen, so both camps deserve the right to brag. But again with the numbers, Wii/360 fan numbers are at a all time low.

3. Humbled. Not misreable. Praise your games, but dont say they will all be AAA and are the best games that nintendo and MS could never replicate. For example...

4. 1 in 5 fans are smug sure. Now heres my point: What if your typical forum has 5 360 fans and 50 PS3 fans? You have 10 PS3 fans for every 1 360 fan. Thats my point.....numbers. If you deny that PS3 fans have greater numbers on a typical forum then again I say your too sheltered for these kinds of threads.

1. You're right that sales & profits determine success. But, sales & profits in relation to the competition is less important. What really matters is absolute sales & profits. You think Microsoft would feel sad if the PS3 was extremely more profitable. No. Sure, they may see the PS3 as being huge and would try to expand to their levels. But they would still be incredibly successful and profitable. Winning and Losing is arbitrary. What matters is how much money you make. On that note, the Xbox's success really is not improved by the PS3 failing.

2. You'd be surprised at how 'loyal' people are. Look at last generation and look at this generation. Do you see the extreme shift in 'loyalty'? As you can see, people don't care about companies. They care about gaming first and foremost. And whoever seems to provide the best games, they will flock to that company, even if that means 'leaving' a certain company. You are in the minority here; most people don't care about sticking to something as meaningless as a certain company. They will go to what they believe has the best games.

3. As for identifying, sure, people tend to identify with their console. And they want to see it successful, but this all goes back to what 'success' really is: Absolute sales and profits. A company is successful if it's making enough money to continue providing great experiences and can expand to create more of those experiences. Essentially, in terms of success, from a fan's perspective, all that matters is if pleasing that fan is financially viable. If that's the case, then the fan will feel like he's a winner. Just because some other company is way more successful, wouldn't make that fan feel like a loser.

/popcorn when rabid fanboys rage aside, I disaprove of console wars.

Competition is, overall, better for us gamers than a monopoly (again only consoles not handhelds, aka GBA).

And hate is such a strong word.

I don't enjoy most Sony/Microsoft products because I can usually get better versions via PC but I don't hate them.  Just not my taste.

I like all three sony, nintendo, and microsoft. But I would like to see Apple make a fall. Not fail completely but just go down a bit because as I've stated time after time, just because it's the most popular does not make it the best. Now there is way to many sheeple out there and it's annoying that people have to get an iphone just because it's an iphone. Sorry but it's not the best and most likely never will be.

There's something I can agree on.