Buying a system doesn't always make you a fan of the company producing that system by right though surely.  There are many people who buy PC's with Windows on that hate Microsoft, so pure sales doesn't necesarily indicate people are fans.  There is also the small point that if a console secures a significant enough userbase which results in many third parties ignoring other consoles then people who are not traditionally fans of that company may still buy the machine to play their cherished franchises.  Also there are some fans out there who just cannot afford to buy the hardware they would like so they buy the best compromise for their needs.

My most cherished gaming company would arguably be Valve but its easy to see they aren't loved by a majority of gamers.  When I look at Nintendo and the range of genres their games cover and the fact they have sold so much software it would seem on purely sales you'd give them a big chance at the title of most fans.

Most likely Nintendo.

apple

oops, Last two Gen, it was Sony, this Gen Ninty takes the crown.

 Wait... is this intended for the J man?

Yes it is intended for you. Also why do you call yourself the J-man?

Nintendo!

I would have to say Nintendo. They been around way longer than any gaming company and still holding strong!

nintendo fact!

I think this is a really hard question to answer. I'd defer back to Ail's point about not all owners of a system not necessarily being fans. My older brother hates games but really likes cars so bought a PS2 for Gran Turismo, he's not a Sony fan and i'll bet there are plenty like him. Similarly, i'm sure plenty of people hopped on the Wii Fit hype train and bought a Wii but we can hardly call them Nintendo fans if they've never bought anything Nintendo before, or can we?

So to answer the question we first need to answer the question, "what is a fan?". Is someone a fan as soon as they buy a system, do they need to be active players or do they need to identify themselves as being a fan? How long is someone considered a fan after they've stopped playing a particular system or game? These things are all important, particularly if you are going to try to compare Sony and Nintendo with their long history in the industry.

Personally I'd have to say Nintendo, with 670 million units of software sold in this generation, is looking pretty good. In the end though i think it's really just a matter of how you cut it and i'm interested to hear other people's take on it.

 If sales= fanbase then nintendo obviously wins in this catagory. With the combined sales of all their consoles it really is no contest.

And the J man is a "microsoft fan"? The J man owns a 360,ps3 and ds  seriously wtf is wrong with you sony fanboys , first the J man has an opinion and he gets labled a fanboy.....  its not that the J man is  fanboy , its the fact that sony fanboys act so stupid that the J man has to put them in their place.(Not all sony fanboys just the moronic , vocal ones)