I'm saying that this kind of illustrates how there's no such thing as an objective viewpoint, and in this case it seems to be based somewhat on allegiance

so what is your view on this topic?

"Gamers love to hate Sony" is just victimized nonsense. Sony's in last place and has made a lot of SNAFUs when it comes to PR this gen. People are going to be making fun of them for their screw-ups.

But, newsflah, gamers love to hate on all three companies. Vita's biggest challenge is goign to be the Vita itself, and the 3DS that it's in the ring with. Public perception of its parent company is going to have dick-all to do with how well the system does.

I don't see it as hate. I think the handheld market has changed and the numbers from Japan are showing that. The original Gameboy was a monochrome portable NES. The Gameboy Advance was a portable SNES. But the DS was not a portable Gamecube and the 3DS is going to look extremely dated compared to its contemporary console counterpart the Wii U. My point is people aren't really looking for a portable console anymore. I don't really want to play console level games in the ten minutes I have waiting in line at the post office. I just want a short fun distraction. I'll play the big games when I get home on my big TV with a comfortable controller in my hand. That's doesn't mean I hate the Vita, I just don't have room in my life for it. I barely have room in my life for a 3DS, which I don't own because I know they'll put one out with a build in second circle pad. I can't even say I'm sure I'll buy one when that happens.  Look, Sony created a sexy piece of tech, but I think fans of Uncharted would have rather Golden Abyss be a PS3 game. If it's good enough to be a PS3 game, why isn't it a PS3 game? If the public isn't looking for a pocket size console they'll stick with Angry Birds and Infinity Blade. That's not hate, it's just how things look to be going.

With that said I don't expect the Vita to fail. But I also don't expect it to sell more than the 3DS or the original PSP. The portable gaming market has opening up and there is a lot more competition out there now. I myself stopped carrying my DS around and instead listen to podcasts or kill time with free stuff on the Android marketplace. All I'm saying is Sony and even Nintendo are going to have to compete with free games and games that cost a buck or two. Even when those games are as brilliant as Mario 3D Land or Golden Abysi

All right, fine;

One's allegiance isn't just inferred from a single conversation, though it coudl be in theory, and your post serves as a very good indicator of that. As a lurker, an outsider, I see all fanboys as being disgusting slobbering subhumans frotting against the unfeeling trees of companies who don't care about them, clinging to the idea of inherent inferiority of alternative value metrics, even beyond the inherent superiority of their own. I like Nintendo games best; I make no secret of that. I do not own the company any allegiance, so to speak, though it would take an absolute catastrophe for me to not buy the Wii U day 1 based on the company's game pedigree.

You have displayed in various other topics (Nintendo hate in some topics, Microsoft hate in other, passivity to a passive fanbase and frothing anathema for another in this one, going off the deep end about Uncharted 3 reviews below 9) where your allegiances lie. It's fine if you don't see it that way; how you see it doesn't really matter for the purposes of this discussion, as it's how you present yourself that matters. That's part of the framing that you've created when it comes to reading your posts in this topic, particularly in how you see "Microsoft fanboys" (such as they are).

But you also solidify the perception of your own allegiance in how you present your perceptions, because allegiances themselves carry a certain necessary perspective, don't they? Those aligned to Sony don't see what's so bad about what Sony fans do; those aligned to Microsoft or Nintendo, same thing. I've seen egregious fawning over titles that didn't deserve it simply because of their exclusivity, aggrandizement of games or events that didn't matter in the long run, attacks on the value metrics of others, and pigeon-holing the tastes of entire player bases absed on nothing except for the fact that they have the audacity to like somehting that the speaker did not see fit to buy.

Yes, trying to frame Sony fans as "defensive" for this generation is its own flag. You say you've been on the internet "as long as I have" (though how you came to this conclusion is beyond me), but if that's the case you absolutely cannot have forgotten the utter, piss-spewing chaos that was the 24 months from November of 2006 to November of 2008, when the fanboy wars this gen were at their fever pitch. Here was as bad as it was anywhere. Do you remember the Killzone hype? Do you really? Do you remember how GTA4 was going to be the game to turn the console wars aorund, to remind people where the real systems were, how it was going to hurt Iron Man's box office pull?

Do you really remember?

So, let me get this straight, and don't bother correcting me if I'm wrong becuase nothing I say other than "I'm a sony fanboy" will be right...

Because I Criticise Microsoft and Nintendo for various (fair) reasons, but rarely complain about Sony, that makes me a fanboy...correct?  IT couldn't possibly be that I actually assess all three from an unbiased perspective and simply find Sony to be the lesser of three evils, no, that's not possible.  I have a favorite with good reason, so I'm incapable of seeing flaw in it....

Makes perfect sense. Except, you know, I complain about a lot of Sony's shit.  I was there with everyone else when Backwards Compatibility was taken away and still loathe that decision.  I hate that Vita has super expensive memory cards. I hate a lot of fuckups they've had with the PSP...but none of that compares to the awesomeness I get with Sony.  Free online play, cross system compatibility with Steam and PSP (depending on games), the ability to play PS1 classics on a PSP, easily swappable hard drives...and blu Ray.  my god, Blu ray is a big deal.  When comparing the three companies, Microsoft and Nintendo tend to piss me off more with their decisions that effect me, but Sony does plenty to make up for it, most of the time.  

I'm so sick of people assuming that having a favorite makes you a fanboy.   LEarn the difference.  and yes you've implied heavily that my 'allegience' is with sony, citing some bad mistakes in the past I've made (most notably the stupid arguments about Uncharted 3 scores, whereas I'd give it a low 8 or a high 7 now).  We all make mistakes, I admit mine. 

I would argue that there is abigger market for dedicated handheld gaming now. 3DS is already showing that the phone killing there buisness is laughable. Phones just dont do gaming as well as deciated devices nor do they have those high end developed games.

Watching the 3DS do this great has proven to me some things.

1. Phones didn't kill handheld gaming devices.

2. Cheap free to 2 dollar apps did not kill software from dedicated devices.

3. As much as people want it to be so. Phone's haven't done jack to dedicated handheld devices.

4. No matter how well the 3DS does people will still say phones did something to its market.

5. Even if the Vita does well people will STILL say phones killed its market.

My question is why? No matter what the evidence suggest I hear these phone comparisions all over the place. At what point do we just admit that it's just not true.