Today, I purchased gears of war. it is, thus far, one of the best gaming experiences that I have ever had. I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't made it through a long phase of fanboyism, I never would have played this amazing game.

I started gaming in the late 80's, or early 90's with the good old NES. though I was too young to really know what I was doing, my parents say that I had a great time with the old classic games.

the first console that I remember playing seriously was the sega genesis. at this point, I was still unaware of things like "console wars" in fact, I don't think I even knew the SNES existed back then :P

in 1998, I was at a friends house watching him play the legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time, and later, we played super smash brothers for several hours. because of this, I got an N64 for christmas that year. It was then that I became a Nintendo fanboy.

over the next few years, I absolutely despised the playstation. I hated everything about it for absolutely no reason, other than the fact that it wasn't made by Nintendo. needles to say, I missed out on many great games

the exact same thing happened when the dreamcast came out. I totally dismissed it since it was not made by Nintendo.

at the time the PS2 was released, I was still happily playing my old N64. I had heard about the gamecube, and couldn't wait for it to be launched.

In the months leading up to the gamecube's release, I relentlessly tried to talk my friends out of getting a PS2 or xbox. It worked for the most part.

I camped out in the parking lot of my local toys r us on November 17th 2001 (the night before the cube's release.) which turned out to be totally pointless since we were the only ones there :P

after buying my gamecube, I was happy for several months playing starwars rogue leader, and super smash brothers melee. however, by the second year of the cube's lifespan, I was still playing those same two games. there was just nothing to play on the system that I called perfect just a year before.

meanwhile, my friend joe, who had bought a PS2, had more great games to play than I had ever imagined. at this point, I realized that even Nintendo wasn't perfect. unfortunately, I now thought sony was :?

I was a sony fanboy. I got a PSP when it came out (which I am still happy with) and decided to wait for the PS3.

when the PS3 was announced at E3 2005, I couldn't have been more exited. I couldnt wait for them to announce a release date. by the time that happened at E3 2006, I was ready to give sony my $600 right then and there.

over the next few months, I started coming to gamespot almost daily. I was sad to see that there was almost no good news regarding the PS3. I had started to think that even the PS3 could fail. It was then that I decided to buy an Xbox 360.

in August 2006, I went to my local EB games, slapped $400 down on the counter, and asked for a premium 360. I finally felt free. I had realized that none of these companies were forcing me to be loyal to them.

I still plan on buying a PS3 sometime next year. I still don't intend to get a wii (partially because I still don't trust Nintendo due to the gamecube fiasco, but mostly because It doesn't have many games that interest me) but I now understand that loyalty to these corporations is pointless. I don't benefit from sony winning the console war, so why should I miss out on all of the great games that the 360 has to offer?

I hope this will help any fanboy who reads this realize that they don't have to miss out on great games just because they are not on their system of choice.