Where did all these Microsoft fans come from?

[Runa216]

Oh, an additional point to my theory: How someone acts when they're in first place vs how they act in second or third place is palpable:

Gen VII, Wii in first place, almost never dealt with arrogant Wii owners wishing ill on PS or XB fans.
Gen VI, PS2 in first place, almost never dealt with arrogant sony fans wishing ill on XB or GC fans
Gen V, PS1 in lead, Wii in a relatively close second, everything was dandy. I actually never witnessed fights.

But on the flip side:

Gen VII, PS3 in last place, Sony fans mostly defensive. "I promise, it's good!" With the occasional jab at Microsoft's red ring.
Gen VI, Gamecube in last place, Nintendo fans meekly declare the gamecube to be good.
Gen V, Dreamcast bombs, still has its supporters to this day, but nobody fights over it.

And in the middle of the last two gens, we have...Microsoft!

Gen VII End, Microsoft finally makes it to last place as Sony overtakes them...Xbox fans go quiet.
Gen VII middle, Nintendo wins, Xbox in solid second place, peace with nintendo, still hatred for sony despite bridging gap
Gen VII beginning, XB on top, nothing but poison towards Sony. (no games, Blu Ray sucks, PSn sucks, etc)
Gen VI, Xbox in second place, only bit of hatred and malice I'd ever seen at that point

Don't get me wrong, there was a console war between Nintendo and Sony in Gen V, and Gen VI was a slaughter so it hardly counts, but the only time I ever saw any real hatred was when microsoft came on the scene. Sega was pretty bad, too, but they could be disregarded due to stiupidity. it seems Sony and Nintendo can get along well, as I rarely see Sony fans berating or insulting Nintendo fans, and I never really see Nintendo fans hating on ANYONE regardless of who was winning or losing. (Except Rol, that guy's just....nevermind.)

Keep in mind, Nintendo has been a dominant force in he console industry since the mid 80's, so they have settled in where they are. They mess up from time to time, but they bounce all over the place and remain profitable. Sony has been a dominant force in the industry since 1994, so 19 years of them on the market, over 10 of them being the predominant winner (Gen V introduced the PS1, which was, at the time the greatest selling home console of all time, followed by the PS2, which bested it by a whopping 50%). I know it's cliche to say, but Sony really did have reasons to be arrogant going into Gen VII with the PS3. Yeah, it backfired on them, and it turned out to be the bad decision, but they had every right to consider themselves king shit. Between the PS1 and PS2, they sold 260 million consoles, which is about the sameas EVERY Nintendo console sold since the 80's, according to VGchartz (PS1 and PS2 combined sold 162 million, NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, and WiiU combine to sell 168 million)

Include the PS4's 80 million, and Sony, weirdly, handily beats the established king of the industry.

Of course, Nintendo actually does better handheld stuff, but that doesn't apply to this discussion as it's mostly about Xbox, and yes, this train of thought does lead back to Microsoft Station.

Anyway, So Nintendo has the most consoles on the market, and owns the most successful franchises of all time, so when Nintendo slips up, it's a misstep. A mistake. Not really worth getting worked up over. Nintendo, as a gaming company, are secure in their position in the industry.

Sony had its period of arrogance, and has sold more home consoles than any other company in existence, but they, too, have really settled into something comfortable (as seen with the buildup to the PS4's release). They, too, are confident in their place in the industry.

Microsoft, however, is trying to be something in a world more or less dominated by Nintendo and Sony, and their lack of ability to come out #1 has led the fans to get aggressive about it. When the Xbox didn't sell like hotcakes, They took to vocally declaring that the Xbox was best due to a hard drive. When the Xbox 360 came along, the fanboyism was so bad there were rumours that Microsoft paid thousands of people to act as sleeper PR for the company, downplaying the impact of the red ring, while lanching as many insults at their biggest competitor, sony, as they could. This rumour was clearly false, but the fact that Xbox Fans were so aggressive against sony and seemed 'okay' with the Red Ring made the rumour sound legit.

But once again they ended up in last place, but the Xbox One is a new Generation, a new chance to "come out on top", so I'm seeing a lot of the same denialism from the Xbox Camp as I Saw when the red ring came out, or when Sony was the arrogant turds of yesteryear.

Point is, Microsoft fans suffer from middle kid syndrome, acting out because they're not the best, and not the worst. The only time they really dropped to being silenr was in the last few years when Sony came out ahead in the console race, and showed the brand power by getting considerably more quality games.

So that's where the microsoft fans came from, peeking out from hiding under the rock of defeat that they crawled under when they failed to become Number 1 for the second gen in a row.

But if last gen is any indication, this race will be real close between Sony and Microsoft, with Microsoft, in theory, coming out ahead. Why? Sony pushed new technology (Cell, Blu Ray), just like Microsoft is pushing new technology (TV integration and Kinect), at the expense of a high price point. PErhaps all this was a gamble that will pay off in the end! who knows?

I, for one, think this gen will be closer than most fanboys on either side imagine. While, yes, 'gamers' seem to be lobbying behind sony's very 'pro consumer' attitude, New Technology has more longevity, and the huge difference between the 24 million sales of the Xbox vs the 80 million sales of the 360 shows that, maybe Microsoft knows what they're doing more than we think they do.

I consider myself a duality-based fanboy of Nintendo and Playstation, so keep that in mind when you mull over what I've wrote (if you do), but keep in mind I owned an Xbox, have more games on my 360 than I had on my PS2, making it my second more lucrative console next to the PS3, and I actually WANT an Xbox One real bad. There are really only two reasons I didn't get one at launch: 1 - Kinect: I hate kinect. Great technology, yet to be used well and my small dorm room keeps me from utilizing it; and 2 - Price: The cost of the system and XBL Gold are prohibitive when you consider the fact that Multiplats will almost all function better on the PS4, which I already have. Therefore, the onyl reason I'd NEED an Xbox One is for exclusives, and for that price, I'd need to see a dozen that I Want before I consider buying.

Again, coming from a person who has never reallly liked what Microsoft had to offer, but always was interested enough to buy into it anyway.