Go onto any games forum and you’ll encounter them. People who believe that they’re right, never wrong, that their say is the most important, and that everyone else is an idiot. An owner of a rival console is, in their eyes, a moron. These people are the champions of Xbox, PlayStation and Wii. These people are fanboys and their consoles are always best.

Whenever someone inexperienced in games forums ventures onto a forum website, they’re usually subjected to mouthfuls of abuse by people who think that they know better. Sarcastic comments are commonplace, with people just hurling abuse while thinking they’re funny. I’ve witnessed people new to forums apologising for asking a supposedly stupid question, simply because someone has mouthed off at them. I’ve seen comments that have been hurtful to someone else that needn’t have been said when a simple answer would have been sufficient. But this is nothing to what the fanboys say to each other. People being foul-mouthed and resorting to name calling just because their console is better than someone else’s. These people spend their time playing games and trawling the internet, oblivious to the world around them, being vicious and nasty to each other. While this is up to them, when I read a comment that’s offensive, it embarrasses me. It makes me ashamed to be a gamer. I see these comments and think that while they think they’re making a good point for their choice of console, it would make me want to go the other way, and pick the console that they haven’t got. It ends up being a fascinating read, showing that humanity can reach new lows of stupidity. It can’t be just me that thinks this. Are these people idiotic or psychotic? Who knows? Are they employed by Nintendo, MS or Sony? Not a chance!

When it came to choose what console I wanted, I took a long time deciding. At this moment, I do have access to all three machines, with my missus owning a Wii, and me owning the other two, but there was a time we didn’t have any in my house. The Wii wasn’t an option, because getting hold of one wasn’t easy as people were snatching them off the shelves, so I had to make a choice between Sony and MS. I looked at everything that these machines had to offer, and even then, couldn’t make a decision. For every victory over the opposite machine, there is an equal loss. Both consoles are fantastic, with neither one really standing out for me. After looking at all pros and cons, I decided to look on the internet, to see if there was a particular viewpoint I could relate to, then make my choice from there. All I found was abuse. There was relatively few coherent arguments, and even then, it was pretty much all square for the consoles. There weren’t any console exclusive games that could sway me. In the end, I chose to go with the PS3 for one simple reason. The shape of the control pad. Having had a PS and a PS2, I was familiar with the pad I would be using, and I avoid third party peripherals.

After getting my Xbox, I still couldn’t see the reason for all the internet bitching. Both machines have faults, both machines have plus points. Even now, apart from the shape of the controller, neither one stands out, and now I even love the feel of the Xbox control pad. There’s still no console exclusive that would be a deal-breaker between the consoles, and yet that’s a major point between the fanboys as to which console’s the better one. To be fair, though, Wii owners are nowhere as bad as PS3 and Xbox 360 owners, but I’m not quite sure why that is. Maybe it’s that a lot of Wii owners are mothers on a keep fit drive, who aren’t interested in internet slanging matches. It seems the internet arguments are exclusively between the PS and Xbox clans. The thing that makes me laugh the most about it is, that these people think they’re both funny and clever. I’ve heard more convincing arguments from school children. Constant bitching. Whining like little kids. Name-calling. It’s pathetic. Just grow up. Get back to school or work, or get a girl/boyfriend, or start playing your amazing console and stop polluting the world wide web with your stupid rambling. Please. When all’s said and done, when Xbox and PS owners get together to bitch at each other, there’s two winners. Wii owners and PC gamers.