Time to rant! Let’s talk Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

As long as there will always be more than one console, there will always be console fanboys. And they annoy me to no end, especially considering I’ve always supported all of the consoles (for the most part) and felt that there is always room for more than one big exclusive on different consoles. I had both a Super Nintendo and a Genesis, a Playstation and an N64, and all three systems from the last generation. And now I’m lucky enough to have the three current consoles, to be able to enjoy all three for what they are and what they offer in terms of features and games. But why do people always seem to have a need to bash the console or consoles they don’t own?

Let’s leave the Nintendo Wii out of this, since it’s a bit “different” compared to the other two, to say the least. Let’s talk about the two consoles that appeal more towards gamers that played the PS2 and Xbox (and maybe even the Gamecube, minus the Nintendo exclusives) last generation. This is in no way a knock against the Wii, it’s still a great system, but I feel like the main console “debates” are always between two main systems, and this time around, it’s the 360 and the PS3. I’ll never understand the purpose of bashing another system, aside from “I’m too cheap to own both, so I’ll just bash the one I don’t have just to piss off the other crowd” mentality. Does that sound immature? Maybe it is, but I have a feeling that a lot of the time, it’s the truth.

PS3 fanboys, or just 360 haters in general, have always bashed both the Xbox and its successor due to have an “access amount of shooters”, or primarily being the “shooting systems”, since they both had a lot of shooters, mainly of the first person variety. I’m not going to discuss the last generation, but this generation, the 360 does have a lot of shooters. This is true, but the one thing that gets me is…so does the PS3. 95% of the shooters you can find on the 360 are also on the PS3, and the ones that are exclusive to Microsoft’s console can be countered with Sony exclusive shooters. Gears of War? Sony has SOCOM. Halo? Sony has Resistance.

This entire generation is about shooters, and it has been for a while, no matter which system you own. It’s just what a good portion of the industry is focused on. Sure, there will still be your adventure games, your racing games, your RPGs, but there are a lot of shooters because they generally sell well. Of course, you’ll still get a top seller such as Fable II more recently, which is an RPG, but doesn’t that just counter the point of PS3 fanboys? The 360 has more games that aren’t shooters than the PS3, more specifically the games that normally would be found on a Sony system, but this generation aren’t as much: RPGs. While some are multiplatform, such as Enchanted Arms and Eternal Sonata, quite a few are exclusives, such as Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.

So, the 360 has a more “diverse” catalog of games than the PS3 does. But now let’s talk about the so called “problems” with the PS3, one being the “lack” of exclusives. Games or series that you would traditionally see on a Sony platform, such as Devil May Cry and, more recently announced, Final Fantasy are being seen (or are going to be seen) on MIcrosoft’s system as well. So, in that case, the PS3 is losing all of its good exclusives, right? Wrong. First, the PS3 still has very strong titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 (and the original), plus for the RPG/strategy fans, Valkyria Chronicles.

What about the exclusives on the 360? Aside from Gears of War 2 and Halo 3, most of them can be or will most likely be found on the PC. Sure, some may be “console” exclusive, but that doesn’t mean they are exclusive. Both systems focus more on multiplatform games this generation than any other, and the once very large and impressive list of exclusive games dwindles each year. It all comes down to the system itself, since both generally have a very impressive line-up of games, with a few exclusives to balance each other out. Which controller do you prefer? How important is online gaming to you? Does Blu Ray matter to you? Is price important? All these are things that can be considered when making your purchase.

But you can also get both, since both clearly have both their ups and downs, but they manage to balance each other out. But whatever you choose to do, stop arguing. It’s meaningless, it’s annoying, and no side will ever win. Sure, one console may be selling more than another, but that in no way determines the quality of the system or the games you can play on that system. There is no right or wrong answer here, just pick up the controller and play your games, and don’t worry about what others think or whatever is on that other system. You’re a gamer, right? Stop arguing and just do what you enjoy doing: playing games.