Haven't you heard of "Genesis does what Nintendont"?

Fanboy wars in those days consisted of playground fist fights, serious shit.

Mostly from people who have not a lot of money, be it adults or children, people with money are usually not so hateful. You will notice a lot of that situation with cars too, only most people in the US actually NEED a car, but we don't really need video games, we just really really like them.

Tribalism is the human condition; just look anywhere there's a dichotomy+ like sports/politics/car marque/anything one can have a competing opinion on.

I remember the vitrol and e-peen of the c64 vs ZX Spectrum, which is a flamewar that persists today.

Basically this. The Genesis vs SNES is where the "console wars" started from. Plus Sega and Nintendo each in their commercials feeding the fanboism of their bases. Last gen it became self propergating so you don't see the "Sega does that Nintendon't" or Crash infront of the Nintendo buildings with a bullhorn. Every now and then you get a quip from one of the PR people.

or kevin butler shooting with his hand like a 6 year old then giving the best evil laughs ever

You're asking where tribalism comes from? I think it originated when the original cave people had an argument between themselves and one lot moved to another cave and said their new cave was better than the old cave. Fast forward: nationalism, racism, sports rivalries, phone warz, PC vs Mac, console warz, peanut M&Ms vs plain M&Ms...

It's such an ancient thing I'm surprised anyone even needs to ask where this thing came from.

Peanut M&Ms are ACTUALLY inferior though, there's no argument about it.

I find the console wars far more mainstream today than in previous generations thanks to the internet and the increased gamer market/culture. I didn't even experience console war attitude until the Xbox released.

Excuse me? Peanut M&M's are the best thing that's happened to man-kind since pre-sliced bread!