So while following the latest on E3, I came across a blog entitled "Microsoft Just Doesn't Get It". I decided to throw caution into the wind, as I knew I was being lured into an intentional flame war and read what it's poster had to say. During my time in the blog, I fell victim to reading the thoughts posted shared and contrasted by other fellow readers.

What really enfuriated me was how someone else has decided to be completely biased and one-sided when making their views known. It also caused me to recall all those times that I have been labled a "Fanboy" or, more accurately a Microsoft Fanboy. Now I know it seems childish to try and fight fire with fire when a fight need not apply, but I wanted to find out just what was making this guy tick. It's the same stuff that everyone who points the finger and calls other people names that get under their skin.

Just because you like something, and like it alot, doesn't mean that something else that's either another product or branded by the competition of the product you like... is a bad product. Besides, haven't people still heard the old saying that "one person's trash is another person's treasure"? The same rule applies in gaming, as it does in cars (though I am no car nut at all). I grew up with Nintendo, and I had the NES, GameBoy, SNES, and N64 during my childhood. I also got a Sega Genesis during this crucial period of my youth. I don't remember there being a "this game is better on SNES than it is on SEGA" but what I do remember is that for competition, one company allowed different uses of cross-platform games. For instance, in Mortal Kombat, there was no blood in the SNES game due to Nintendo's view of the game as "voilent enough" whereas on Sega, it was bloody as all getout. It wasn't until the Playstation came out and it's biggest rival was that of N64. When I first heard the term "fanboy" was when someone said that my N64 was just a box of wires and chips. I got really angry when I was told this because I didn't just view the N64 as "just a box" (even though in the end, that's all it really was) but I viewed it as an experience that I could have with my friends and family... even at age 12 I felt that way, as I do now. All because the PS could do FMV sequences and have slightly higher poly counts.

But here we are in 2010. I am an adult and a father of two children, with one on the way. I am a husband, and co-provider to the family. Gaming is still ever present in my life, and I hate it when people bash something I like without giving real substance to their claims. It frustrates me to be labled. If am I to be a fanboy of anything, then let me be a fanboy of video games and electronics... because I am certainly no fan of sports or the great outdoors.

The PS3 is no better than the XBox 360 or the Wii. And the 360 is no better than the PS3 or the Wii. The Wii is no better than the 360 or PS3. And none of which are WORSE than the other. I look at 360, Wii, and PS3 the same way as I look at PS2, XBox, and GameCube... and that is that each are developed for a different kind of gamer. I would say that Nintendo is more geared for the family and "casual" gaming (casual in the sense of playing a game from time to time). The XBox is for the Core Gamer who has grown up with Nintendo and taken a liking to more complex and potentially more violent games. And the PS3 is for the jack-of-all trades who wants it all... BluRay player, Game System, Internet and Media device in which games are either excessively violent or are in far more genres supported mainly by hardcore gamers or fans of RPGS. It can also be said that platformers are more popular on Nintendo, Shooters and Action on Xbox, and RPG's and Sports on PS3.

So why do people lable others and/or flame? Simply because they are insecure. They want to believe without doubt that whatever they have or use is the best and that anything they don't personally own is inferior. I avoid this by trying all the game systems. In my mind, each of them have both strength and weaknesses, each greater or lesser than their runningmates in different aspects. Sure, I get called a MS Fanboy all the time... I mean hell, I use Windows (always have since 3.1) , I use Office, I have a Zune (and am getting a Zune HD), I have an XBox and XBox 360 plus multiple accessories for both, and my XBox library is in the hundreds. My other games however, I have like 5 PS3 games, 15 PS1 games, and 10 PS2 games. I have 2 GC games, 14 Wii games, and a slew of PC games. So sure, I can understand my being labled a fanboy. No one ever asks me why I prefer to play on my 360. My reasoning is rather simple... I enjoy achievements, the fact that all of my XBox games happen to be on the compatability list with 360, and most of my friends and family are on 360. I buy games that are multiplat on 360 rather than PS3 for the same reasons. No sense in my buying games for PS3 that are also out on Wii and 360 if I don't have anyone to play them with. I enjoy playing along with buds rather than strangers. Call me old fashioned. I would rather throw down with friends on a N64 on Perfect Dark or GoldenEye than go to a random person whom I don't know's house and attempt to do the same and get similar results.

In closing (for now until next rant) I will say that I hope that flamers, trolls, and fanboys alike read my blog and have this as a take away... if you love something, love it, and don't be hateful to others who don't share your love for it. Be open to other's opinions and form your own but don't defend it... your opinion is yours and yours alone. Own it. If anyone shares your opinion that's great, but don't single others out because they differ.

I FINALLY got to see Sony's Press Conference and I must say... whoah. I was truly blown away with everything that they had to offer. They gave us, the gamers, multiple footage of the games that are coming soon, and also did a damned good job presenting it. Nicely done previews of each game, showcasing great gameplay mechanics and enticing storylines to boot. They also shed some light on the PS Move, which I found to be more interesting now that I got to learn more about it. I also think that Sony had their attitude in the right direction this go around. They seemed to be more motivated about "games" and less motivated about being"better" (although they did say it alot, that PS3 had the best experience...but so did MS and N).

My views on The Big Three's conferences go like this...

MS had a great show which, sadly, didn't focus as much on up and coming games as it did with the Kinect, but I expected that. So with MS I was greatly pleased. I am totally getting Fable 3, Halo: Reach, and Gears 3 because they look like a great conclusion to their storylines. The reveal of a updated 360 freaked me out in all the right ways because I am going to have to buy a new one anyways because my 8 year old broke his (broke the disc tray during a tamptrum). This just means I get the new one and he gets my RE5 one :). Kinect floored me, and I am totally buying it this holiday season for myself and my familyalong with the new Xbox.

Nintendo bored me almost to sleep until they mentioned the 3DS. As I have always felt that they are getting too long in the tooth with their old standby's (Link, DK, Mario, Kirby, Samus), I wasn't surprised as to how they were doing yet more iterations of their old games. In fact I was almost annoyed by it until I saw Kirby: Epic Yarn. I welcomed this game whole heartedly, and will result in buying it after this. The new DK looks fun, not sure if I will buy it yet. I will definately be buying the new Metroid because it is a multi-angled approach at sheer awesomeness. The 3DS stole their show for certain and I will also be getting at least 2 of those next year (one for me and my wife, and one for my boy).

Sony had the BEST of the 3's show. Not only did they showcase great games that were coming soon, but they made a great move (no pun intended) with the new focus on 3D gaming. While I don't think 3D anything is that great because of the need for glasses (save for the 3DS) , I see it as an important step in technology and as something that will grow if someon can mass market a glasses-less solution for viewing these games/movies. It just hurts my eyes too much right now for too long. And with finally seeing the "Move" at a greater point in production, I am convinced that this will ratchet the bar a bit higher for them, but still on an even playing field with MS and Nintendo. I will be getting this too, within the next year or so (I hate technology for making me want it). I also enjoyed hearing about the plans of Playstation Plus. This seems like a great idea, and a definate step ahead of MS with just as much if not more to offer than MS does with Live Gold. The MAIN downside I see is the fact that any free content granted within membership will lose it's value when or if you decide to stop subscribing. But as a friend pointed out to me at work today, why would you NOT continue to subscribe? He is totally right... (looking at past bank statements with XBL membership payments currently totalling at almost $500 across 9 years).

So now that E3 is drawing to a close, I feel that The Big 3 came out swinging and landed some good punches... while also throwing a few shallow ones. I dread looking at my expenses over the next year as I purchase over 20 new games, the Kinect, Move, 3DS, new Xbox 360, and possibly a PSP Go (as well as a new PS2 to play my older games). This will be an exciting time for gamers as we find newer and more fun ways to enjoy our investments and connect with our peers. Tonight I can only dream of one day being able to fire up a heavy hitting game on my XBox 3 and being able to play against my friends on the same game that they are playing on their PS4.

So I have been following E3 as best as I can with my hectic schedule, mainly by watching the recently encoded conferences for both Microsoft and Nintendo (Still waiting for GS to up the Sony one). As many people know by now, it seems to be a overall lackluster experience, and I am sure that many of us are GLAD we aren't able to attend... Save for not getting a free 360 or touching the 3DS in prototype form).

I was rather excited by MS's conference with the announcement of the new 360 and Kinect, but wasn't too surprised or blown away with the footage of Halo:Reach, Gears 3, or Fable 3... however I did enjoy MGS Rising immensly! That said, I was almost bored to tears with Nintendo's conference thanks to Regie Fils Ami's almost Ben Stein-like, unenthusiastic voice. Sure, I get goosebumps when I see Mario, Link, Samus, or DK because it's like seeing an old friend from long ago... but there was nothing really riveting to me about this conference, except for the 3DS.

Even though I have not yet seen Sony's press conference, I have read enough on EnGadget and here to expect more of the same as MS and Nintendo's in the way of continuation of already-established IP's and a new peripheral or product that has been previously mentioned this time last year. But from what I gather, the main theme of "The Big 3" seems to be all enveloped around this "casual" gaming phenomenon (which I think is funny to consider it that much of a clique).

So MS has Kinect, and Sony has Move. Both offer NEW experiences to their existing loyalists, assuming said people don't own a Wii. The goal here, as far as I am concerned, is solely with expansion from both names into a market that both have never been familiar with (exception goes to Sony for the EyeToy and PS Eye, and MS for the Vision Cam). I believe the focus on tapping the casual market is being viewed as a plus if it happens to ANY extent, but not as the CORE interest. I believe MS is taking their approach further than Sony by means of extended Kinect to the Windows LIVE platform for PC's as well as making Kinect a new way to interface with their existing hardware.

Here is another point I'd like to make. Back when XBox 360 and PS3 were getting their hype fired up before either released, the two companies were boasting how each other's product was aiming to blow away the previous 5-year life cycle of their earlier iterations. Sony forcasted that the PS3 will see a 10 year life cycle and MS claimed that their XBox 360 would "go far beyond" the 5-year cycle. In my eyes, this is the answer to those who questioned both with "How can this be done?". True, both companies are now implementing a new brand of technology that is similar to Nintendo's Wii in MANY ways, but each are also VERY different from the Wii's approach. Bearing in mind that the Wii's controller interface is made up almost completely of pre-programmed function that is triggered by estimated movement, pre-motion plus, Nintendo was the FIRST out of the THREE to successfully achieve a total motion-controlled game library in which motion was the primary mode of control (try saying that 5 times fast).

Lest we not forget those who prefer gaming on the PC (Mac, Linux and Windows alike) who also laughed at the above claims based on fixed-hardware bases for all three consoles. In my years as a gamer, I have upgraded my PC with graphics cards, power supplies, motherboards, processors and memory sticks to either get an edge on PC gaming with quicker response time or cleaner graphics. Not only did I do this willingly to have the "full experience" that each game offered, but I spent WAY more time maintaining a pc gaming solution only to find that my brand new PC won't play my games from 10 years back without some form of manipulation (be it through DOSBOX, or VMWare) than it took me to put my old games in the platform they were designed for with maybe 10 minutes time in finding said old hardware and hookups. The feud between PC Gaming and Console gaming is pointless, because it's like comparing a dog to a cat, or a chevy to a dodge or ford.

Getting back on point with The Big Three... Kinect offers a wonderful experience, as does Move and the Wii. I will be buying both new technologies for myself and my family to enjoy. I am equally excited with the implementation of Wireless N and aftermarket-swappable hard drives for the new 360 which I will also be getting, because I love this freedom with my PS3. Sure, there are the haters out there who talk about how MS is all about money because the Current/Previous 360 had to have add-ons for Wireless Networking, but chew on this tidbit for a moment if you will... When the XBox 360 was released back in 2005, wireless networking with consoles was still infantile in it's usefulness. Wireless G technology was finicky as it would work great so long as there were no barriers between the router broadcasting the signal and the reciever. MS tried wireless with the original XBox towards the end of it's life, and it didn't sell too well. So personally I think it was very wise of them to NOT implement the technology into the 360 especially given the problems with the RRoD that were ever present. Not everyone had faith in wireless and many consumers still preferred WIRED networking because 100mbps was way more attractive than a fluctuating 54mbps. Even though gigabit wired connections exist, not too many people have a gigabit router in their home, let alone a dual-band wireless, so Wireless N makes perfect sense to be implemented in the new console. I believe I have also heard rumors that Sony is releasing an updated PS3 with Wireless N as well as higher capacity hard drives.

I am still waiting on the Sony conference to be uploaded for viewing so that I can get more info on the Move, beings has I haven't written much about it in this post. From what I understand, you need the PS3 Eye in order to use the Move, which makes (correct me if I am wrong) 3 peripherals that one would need to get the Move experience. It certainly seems to promise a more responsive control scheme than that of the Wii's beings as it relies on not just moving handheld-controllers but interprets feedback from the camera. This will make for a very impressive experience in many ways, so long as the Eye can also translate movement from the rest of the user's body. From the demonstration video's I HAVE seen, it looks great.

Last, I will bring up briefly the 3DS... I said to my wife tonight that "it's a good thing we didn't invest in the DSi or DSiXL" because this might be a logical upgrade from our 1st gen DS's, in which she seemed to agree. I think that the inclusion of the gyroscope and accelerometer give it back the edge it needs to compete with the iProducts as far as gaming is concerned. The added 3D video as well as Camera features make this purchase a no brainer in terms of "next cool gadget". Not that I think that Apple was trying to enter or even compete in the gaming market directly with the iPod touch, iPhone or iPad... You can't really compare those products to a gaming device, other than the fact that the two big mobile gaming devices ALSO do video, music, and more without the focus on an enormous multi-function app market.

In closing, I feel that there is a certain lack of energy on Nintendo's part during the conference. I can excuse the "interference" issues with the new Zelda demo that was WAY too long (MS OS conference plus BSOD anyone?) but the game announcements, save for Metroid: Other M and Kirby didn't thrill me. I was excited with the MS conference during the latter half rather than the former save for MGS Rising. Either way, I feel that it is still going to be an exciting remainder of the year from The Big Three for the people who REALLY make it all possible... Us, the gamers.