I consider myself lucky that even though I'm approaching the age of thirty, I still enjoy video games like a young kid. To be honest, I thought I won't be playing or enjoying games by the time I get done with college since it is hard to find time for gaming when you are working or taking care of your family. The other thing that came across my mind was that as I get older, I won't find video games as entertaining as I did when I was a teen. My brain was just not seeing or willing to process the fact that adults can play and make a living out of playing video games.
It was in the year 2019 (at 25 years old) when I discovered games can have movie-like stories and they are more than just mashing buttons to get further in the game. I was blown away when I first played games like Middle Earth: Shadow of War, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, God of War, and The Last of Us. Those games had excellent stories and writing, and they were all fun to play. Couldn't believe that video games can offer you a whole new world to explore. After playing those games, I decided to interact with gamers in real life. I wanted to learn more about these games and find some more magical games to play and enjoy.
I didn't find that many people around me who were as invested in games as I wanted them to be. My best friend played games causally and the rest of the people I spoke to played only one or two games during weekends. So I decided to look for gamers and new friends on social media. I joined Twitter and boy I didn't see what was coming in my direction. I quickly discovered that Twitter is not a chill place for gamers. Don't get me wrong, I met many awesome gamers, made some decent friends, and learned a lot about new games and gaming systems. However, I also discovered 'Console Wars.'
All my life I knew people had preferences and would just stick to mostly supporting one brand when it comes to games, phones, cars, TV, soda, or whatever. I also know that the world is full of foolish and nasty people, but Twitter showed me some really obnoxious people, especially the so-called gamers. Within a day or so, I realize that in order to get attention, you need to be either on the green side (Xbox) or the blue side (PlayStation). Once you pick a side, you would need to praise your preferred brand with ultimate passion and just absolutely ridicule the other gaming brand. In short, either be an Xbox fanboy or a PlayStation fanboy. What's shocking is that the majority of those fanboys have over five-thousand followers, with some over twenty-thousand followers.
I started to wonder right away if there were any Nintendo fanboys. I really couldn't find any but I'm sure there are some. Nintendo is somewhat no threat to Xbox or PlayStation fanboys, even though it sells a lot of systems and games. If you are an Xbox fanboy, they are okay with you owning and playing games on the Nintendo console alongside their beloved Xbox console. It is the same for PlayStation cultists, but you just gotta replace Xbox with PlayStation and keep your Nintendo. Well, let's just say you game only on Nintendo Switch, Xbox or PlayStation fanboys won't say anything to you as long as you are not supporting either of those consoles. I myself didn't really care about the console war as I wanted to own all three consoles and play all the amazing games. After all, we play video games to have fun and get away from our real-life problems, right?
The main tool that fanboys use for console war is AAA-exclusive games. There are some of them who would apparently switch sides if their preferred brand is not delivering on AAA exclusive games. Like for example, in the previous generation, Xbox One didn't do good with the exclusives and PlayStation 4 delivered critically acclaimed AAA exclusives. So instantly, Xbox One system was useless and PS4 was the only place to play games, and therefore the total number of PlayStation fanboys increased significantly. Those (fanboys) who remained loyal to Xbox, didn't complain about Xbox not having good exclusives, they just flat-out claimed that PlayStation exclusives were all boring since they all were third-person action-adventure games and they all had the same type of gameplay (not true at all).
If gamers wanna play on a console with more exclusives, that's totally fine. The only thing I don't understand is when gamers just limit themselves to playing only exclusives. I have interacted with a few gamers on social media who have admitted that they only play exclusives on their consoles. Some Xbox gamers who are not even fans of third-person adventure games, they will play Fable on their Xbox consoles for countless hours. Some PS gamers who don't like racing games, they will play Gran Turismo for weeks on their PlayStations. Why not give a multi-platform game a chance? I'm not saying you have to play all of them or you need to like all the popular third-party games, but some of them are really, really good. Not even trying them just because you only care about exclusives is just strange. To a true gamer, it shouldn't matter if the game is exclusive or not. If it looks like a good solid game or something fun to you, just give it a try.
The other major console-war topic for the past few years has been Game Pass. PlayStation fanatics would say that those who play games on Game Pass are poor and they don't have a good taste for games. According to them, Game Pass is the reason why Xbox will never have the same quality AAA games as PlayStation. Xbox Fanboys would defend GamePass like it is a gift from God or something. I have seen some mediocre games added to the GamePass library, but fanboys would tell you that they are all amazing and gamers who are not playing them, they are missing out. So basically GamePass is either trash or the greatest thing ever.
I enjoy both Xbox and PlayStation consoles but I mainly play on Xbox as I prefer the controller, the interface, and the achievement system. However, I call out and criticize Xbox when they make mistakes or miss out on opportunities. PlayStation is a much stronger gaming brand than Xbox is currently, but they make some decisions that are not user-friendly. If I see PlayStation doing anything anti-consumer, I will not defend them like others would.
On social media, I have had some really dumb arguments with fanboys from both sides. Xbox diehards would suggest that Sony & PlayStation are rats because they make all these deals with third-party studios to get exclusives or one-year timed exclusives. My argument is that it is not PlayStation's fault that Microsoft and Xbox are not as aggressive as their competition is when it comes to making such deals for exclusive games and content. Besides, Xbox has done and still does deals with third-party studios to get timed exclusives. PlayStation fans on the other hand would tell me that I should just sell my Xbox for cash and just play on PS or get a PC for better performance. I would tell them that I own a PlayStation and I don't want to spend $1500 plus dollars on a PC. A couple of them questioned why I own both Xbox and PlayStation consoles when I can play all the great games on PS? I answered that even though PS has better exclusives than Xbox, I mainly play on Xbox. I bought PlayStation just to play about seven to ten exclusives. Of course, they didn't like my answer.
Honestly, if the new God of War games (2018 and Ragnarok), Marvel's Spider-Man, and Wolverine weren't exclusive to PlayStation, I would have not purchased a PS4 or a PS5. I would just be an Xbox gamer since I'm mostly playing multi-platform games and I play Halo every now and then with my friends. At times I feel awkward when I just play on one console and leave the other console turned off for multiple days. It really bugs me that I spent $500 on a console for it to be just a display for most days.
Yes, I know that just being an Xbox Gamer would mean missing out on some great games like The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone (yes, it is great), Bloodborne, and Uncharted 4, but I would still have a ton of amazing games to play on my preferred console. As long as I can play the games I want to play and as long as I'm having fun, that's all that matters to me. That's what should matter to every gamer.
It isn't that I just enjoy multi-platform games just because they are multi-platform games. It just happens to be that all are my favorites besides Halo, God of War, and Spider-Man are all multi-plats. The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Batman Arkham Series, Shadow of War, Sekiro, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Elden Ring, and a few other multi-plats are very dear to me. If these games were only on PlayStation, then most likely I would have just owned a PlayStation instead of owning an Xbox or multiple consoles.
All and all we play games that we wanna play and where ever we wanna play them. If you prefer playing games on Xbox, cool. If you prefer gaming on PlayStation, also cool. If you prefer playing games on Xbox, PS, Nintendo, and/or PC, that's amazing. Just play your games! Don't worry about what the majority of gamers are playing and where they are playing. You choose how you game.
Gaming is all about fun. Gaming is about exploring. Gaming is about you!
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