I don't really know the dates and I'm not going to look them up so I'm just going to present them in order.
1) My father brought home an Atari 2600, probably more for my older sisters, but it quickly became mine and I had to beg them to play Combat with me.
A rich, preppy kid--you know, wore his polo tucked into his shorts--got an Intellivision. I learned to hate him and his smug sense of superiority. This was my first taste of the fanboy wars. He would brag the loudest but everyone else in class was on Team Atari.
2) NES Phase. I would go over to my friend's house and play. It took a long time for me to save Christmas and Birthday money enough to buy my own. The first big purchase of my life. Mario was included but, despite trying to play it many, many times, I never felt the least sense of engagement and quickly changed to another game.
Everyone was Team Nintendo then, so I can't remember any fanboyism.
3) SNES Phase. I got one pretty late, to be honest, as I'd gotten kind of bored with the limited game-play of the NES. I traded a rich kid some skateboard parts for his SNES and four games.
The SNES, despite a few great games like A Link to the Past, bored me a lot more than the NES. Gaming was just something I did to pass time or when I was with friends, I wasn't a "gamer" and it was far from my principle hobby. There were a few Sega fans but, again, it was a Nintendo world.
The biggest event for me during this period was stumbling over Final Fantasy VI. It made me truly and honestly excited about gaming but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to find many other games in the same mold. I drifted away from gaming once more.
4) Playstation 1 phase. Ah, here we go. This is the big one. I remember when Playstation launched, how resentful I was. Who did Sony think they were? I wanted Nintendo to crush them, to show them no mercy. Worse, Sony was talking smack with that damned Bandicoot.
Then came Final Fantasy VII and everything changed. At first I was angry. I tried to deny it but I could not. That magazine ad, the one with the "big guns", I thought it was so disrespectful. I pouted but, at the same time, I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Finally, against my own heart, I jumped to Playstation and truly fell in love with gaming for the first time. This was a magical time for me, without doubt, as I found the Suikoden series, Final Fantasy Tactics, Bushido Blade, more Final Fantasy titles, by far the best racing I'd ever played with Gran Turismo--the enjoyment kept coming.
Moreover, I felt some resentment toward Nintendo. I didn't know anything about Sony and Nintendo politics back then, all I knew was that Nintendo no longer had the games I wanted to play. It felt like they were turning their backs on me, because my tastes in gaming were expanding. It was like they were saying, "if you don't want to play OUR games then we don't need you." This soon mellowed out as I became a firm Playstation fan and my feelings toward Nintendo were closer to apathy.
Honestly, I was so happy with my Playstation that I didn't even look in the N64's direction. I don't remember being antagonistic toward the Team Nintendo people, though. There was still a part of me that felt bad about turning my coat. Nintendo die-hards were laying low, as well, I think, as the exodus to Playstation among my peers was overwhelming.
5) PC phase A. Around the time the PS2 launched, I got my first PC, basically for free. Mechwarrior and Baldur's Gate blew me away, quite frankly, and for the first time I began to look at my former console brethren with scorn.
Now, honestly, I wanted a PS2 but, bloody hell, they were so damned expensive. Still, when I looked at console users, I was mildly disgusted. Why had I been so cocky before? This PC, this glorious personal computer, these games smote consoles with heavenly wrath. Why could others not see this? Their bickering seemed so petty.
6) PS2 phase. So the PS2 dropped in price, I bought one, and all my PC-born arrogance went out the window. I had a blast.
This was also another big moment in my fanboy development because, for the first time, I felt unbridled contempt for Nintendo. Their big rival for the PS2 was a purple lunch box? Oh, dear gaming gods. No longer did I feel any sense of attachment. Nintendo was dead to me. It was for kids and anyone who defended Nintendo in public got sneered at.
Sega was okay, though, because it was no threat. People who had a Sega console were cool and it was seen as a good compliment to the PS2. I bought a Dreamcast, the first time I owned two consoles from the same gen.
After that, the Xbox launched and there was a lot of bitterness and unrest. Part of it was because many of the first Xbox fans were elitists who bragged about "l33t grfx". It was really ugly. Xbox guys would go on about Halo and technical specifications and PS2 guys would be like, "well, we have twelve billion games releasing this week."
7) PC phase B. I discovered MMOs, Ragnarok Online, and WoW. Time stopped.
I came home every night to level or to raid. I had no time for fanboy wars. I was vaguely aware of the 360 doing well, of the PS3 being $18,000, and of teenage girls and old people playing Wii Sports but it wasn't something I cared about.
8) Re-entry into console gaming. So, yeah, my best friend passed away. He was my MMO partner, the person I adventured with or talked to when we were solo. I was gutted. WoW seemed so hollow, MMOs seemed so empty. I walked away from years of character building and began looking for something else.
And ran straight into the face of fanboy wars. I entered with a bit of lingering feelings about the different console manufacturers but nothing very meaningful. I was relatively open-minded. The first thing I did was a little research. The second was to seek opinions. This included going to different forums/chat rooms and asking, basically which console I should buy.
Oh, my.
This was my first taste of the die-hard Wii crowd. I'd asked something like, "what are the best games on each console." Then, without thinking, I said, "but I don't like Mario games." Now, this was simply the truth but I might as well have stabbed Miyamoto in the spleen. I was Marked. Thus my first exposure to online Nintendo fans was really negative.
It wasn't much better elsewhere. My first memory of the PS3/360 rivalry is someone linking screenshots and BOTH SIDES claiming they had the superior version. I couldn't even see a difference.
Then E3 came around, The Last Guardian was revealed, and my decision was made.
Shut your mouth.
Also, along with everyone else, I was blown the hell away by Uncharted 2.
The PS3 got a redesign and price cut and I picked my side. At first, I waded into the warzone, too, but I soon got tired of fighting over which multi-plat version was superior and which exclusive was better. I left 360/PS3 dominated forums and came here--where instead people were arguing about who REALLY was in second place.
9) PC and Playstation, side by side. This is the phase where I kind of left fanboyism. I consider myself roughly 50/50 a PC/Console gamer. I don't really care that much about graphics, I adore variety, I like both small games and big games, and I believe everything brings its own virtues to the table. I'd love to have everything but I can't validate spending that much on gaming.
I am at peace.
I still like to pick on Nintendo fans, though. It's soothing.
