Nintendo, there's just no question about it ...

This. The biggest loyal fanbase. Sony. My entire country (Nigeria) is so loyal, that the word "playstation" is synonymous with "videogame". Wanted to sell my old DS for parts and the guy wanted to ask "is it a game?". He said "is it a PS?". Felt like beating him up. Less than 10% of people that play games know that any other option exists. Most have never heard of XBox and while they've heard of Nintendo, the average person thinks Nintendo's last hardware were the NES and Gameboy Advance. I am not exxagerrating. Yet they know the PS4 and PSP (most don't know the Vita though). I can only imagine it's the same throughout much of the continent.

Who knows, but this gen it certainly isn't Nintendo looking at the Wii U,

You can also argue its not Sony looking at the Vita.

MS are having to fight for there 2 strong holds.

What i take from this is loyal fans are very much a minority.

Why the hell is microsoft even on the poll?

I'm not a fanboy,but I prefer sony systems and bought them all. It won't stop me from calling them out on there mistakes are playing other systems,so what does that make me?

So far it would seem all three companies have enough fans to keep the companies afloat, provided the ciompany has the money to skim through the hard times.

Examples: N64, Gamecube, PS3, Xbox, possibly Wii U and XBOne

Those aren't nintendo loyalist. Those are fair weather franchise fans. Real nintendo fans got their Wii U's at launch.

I consider myself a real nintedno fan and I didn't get my Wii U at launch

I think it's probably Nintendo. Although obviously all 3 have their die hards.

IMO it's because Nintendo for many of us evokes childhood memories (the N64 was what properly introduced me to gaming and Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie defined several years of my life. even though I'd had a Game Boy and Mega Drive beforehand). And they also make games that you can't play elsewhere.

And I don't mean in terms of IPs, obviously Kill Zone is only on Sony and Halo on Microsoft, but both are in essence Generic Brown Space Shooter. Pikmin is only on Nintendo, and there are no similar games. Mario Kart is only on Nintendo and there are no similar games (quality wise). And so on.

These 2 points, IMO, are what lead to Nintendo having fantastically loyal fans.

Even though I sold my Wii halfway through last gen as it wasn't getting used, I still queued up for the Wii U day 1. Because after 3/4 years of gaming almost exclusively on 360, I missed that Nintendo feel. And I am in no rush to get another console. If certain companies would release certain games on the Wii U I wouldn't get another console.

By default it has to have been the gamers who have been with Hardcore nintendo since early 90s with NES...I mean how much more dedication can you get than about 25 years to a single company