Death to Sony? It’s every fanboy for himself!

By Stephen Munn | August 3, 2008

It wasn’t long before my wife and I went to the store to buy a PlayStation 3 that I was mocking the system, even just to tease my brothers who picked up the system near launch. I have to say I really enjoy both the PS3 and the PSP we picked up not long thereafter. As a long time Nintendo buyer, I got a bit of a stunned response out of another Nintendo-owning friend when I told him I had a PS3. He admitted wanting one for the DVD upscaling capabilities, and said that my getting one was the decision breaker; he would pick one up as soon as he could. Eventually, he did end up buying one. He had too much trouble finding a refurbished 60GB model (which is what I have) so he got an 80GB Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle. Not long after that, I was discussing the purchase with him. He mentioned that he considered an Xbox 360, but the DVD upscaling abilities of the PS3 were what made the decision. He wanted a 360, because, as he put it, death to Sony.

Death to Sony? What? By the time the words had formed, he was gone. Death to Sony? Why?

But this is not a story about my friend, it is a story about fanboys and change. It is a story about you. It is a story about me. Ya like that? Sounds nice, right?

Let’s talk about Paul for a second. He’s one of my brothers who picked up a PS3 near launch. I would consider him a solid supporter of Sony’s gaming products for three generations running, though he did at one time own a Gamecube, and before that an N64. He has fond things to say about Ocarina of Time and Beetle Adventure Racing, whatever the heck that is. While he was skeptical about Sony joining the console race more than a decade ago, it turns out after the fact that Nintendo platforms didn’t suit his gaming needs, which is not surprising, considering the games he’s enjoyed: Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Ico, stuff like that. Nevertheless, he doesn’t bash Nintendo or their hardware or software. He picked a side because his games were there, and lets other people play what they like as well. I respect his opinions, despite not enjoying GTA or MGS. When he raved about PixelJunk Eden, I downloaded it. This is pretty much the gold standard of gamers, as far as I’m concerned. You’re welcome, Paul.

As a DS and Wii owner, I teased Paul on the podcast and elsewhere for owning and playing a PS3 and a PSP as the consoles struggled. He took it all in stride. When articles appeared showing emulators running on the PSP in a box with black bars around it, I cried, “Look at all those dead pixels!” in reference to the problems at the PSP launch with systems with dead pixels being briefly refused replacement by Sony. I poked about sticking square buttons, battery life, blah blah blah. You know how it is.

In the Gamecube era, when someone mentioned in an article that Nintendo fans should hate Sony for what it’s done to Nintendo’s market share, I responded that no, I was disappointed in Nintendo for not paying attention when Sony was on their way in. One thing I never said was “death to Sony.” I think anyone who was paying attention knew Nintendo’s fall was not Sony’s fault at all. It was a huge bloated Japanese centegenarian playing card manufacturer who was far too impressed with their position in the market.

Now that all the positive things both my brothers and even IGN’s Podcast Beyond have had to say about the platforms have reached into me and encouraged me, I also own a PS3 and a PSP, and I’ll say it, Sony’s made a great machine here. I like Sony a lot. They don’t do a lot of things right lately, but I like their hardware, and many of their games and the games that appear on their systems are really, really good. Death to Sony? Come on now, let’s not be fanboys. We can all get along.

Except for those Xbox people, death to them.

Yes, I’m kidding.