Last gen. was different for a few reasons. I think within the third year of the PS2's life, it became painfully obvious to X/Nfags that it was over. Sony slaughtered the competition, and the only thing that Xfags could latch onto were shooters and better tech, and Nfags with Nintendo games and slightly better tech as well. From a games standpoint though they were both massacred, and most were smart enough not to try and battle Sfags on the sales and games front. If they did, they would be brushed off as clinically insane, and everyone else would go about their day.
This gen is a whole other matter entirely because EVERY fanboy faction has something to gain. Not just Ninthings. All 3 are trying to seek validation, and no one is getting any entirely. Nintendo fans have the sales, but not the games or the tech. Xbox fans might not have the hardware sales, but they get the games, and usually the better versions, which is symbolically a huge victory over Sony fans. And then we have Sony fans who should be glad that they still get most of the games the 360 does with little difference, but of course, that's not enough. It's never enough. Sony, the once unbeatable juggernaut in the world of video games is now a laughingstock, barely doing that much better than the Gamecube did. It eats them up inside.
Also, 95% of sales rarely go more than a few pages if it's just a circle jerk. The ones that blow up tend to do so because you have two idiot factions (sometimes all 3) duking it out. I mean if you need any proof, you need to look no further than the NPD thread from a few months ago where a whole legion of Sfags were banned a few days prior. The result? The slowest moving NPD thread in history.
