Liberated From Fanboydom

About a week ago I joined the millions of Xbox 360 owners that are on the market. It's sad to go from a Sony Fanboy since PSX to Neutral. I gotta admit, it's was fun being a Fanboy for so long. It was also fun to go at it on the forums with the other 360 Fanboys on who has the superior system. Systems starting at $199 can change ones mind. I look back on and wonder how I became neutral.

There are numerous reasons why I joined the 360 club. You would think that my first reason was XBL but not really. Many 360 Fanboys think that the Sony fan is jeolous of XBL but the truth is that most hardcore Sony fans never really experienced superiror internet service. Many Sony fans are just happy to able to play games online for free. The only online overing of XBL during XBox 1 days were the fact that they offered downloadable (DLC) content. DLC is pretty normal today but it was a big deal back then. DLC and superior ports are the number 1 and 2 reason why I jumped the Sony Fanboy wagon.

Since launch 360 games have often looked better. The visuals were a little more sharp. Anti-Aliasing was always an issue as well. As a Sony fan I often had to settle for inferior versions of games that I really liked. DLC was a huge factor as well. 360 may have been trying to win over the wii owners with the 360 arcade but they may have a silent goal of stealing Sony owners with exclusive DLC. Early exsclusive DLC like GTA IV was not a big deal to me. Microsoft recently announced that they have exclusive DLC for Tomb Raider was well, which I can also care less. During E3 2008 when Microsoft announced exsclusive DLC for Fallout I was as if someone ripped my heart out. Oblivion was one of the best games ever made. I was sure that Fallout, which is also made by Bethesda was going to be just as good. The E3 announcement let me know that the exclusive DLC would not end anytime soon. Sony looks like they are going to continue to let DLC slip between their fingers. I belive that Sony may look at buying exclusive DLC as a principle. I once joined Sony in the belief that exclusive DLC was going to ruin the game industry. However, as a gamer I saw a future of missed opportunities of not being able to expand on future experiences. I noticed many pros of joining the 360 but I still had to deal with my anti-360 arguments that I had for two years.

Anyone that calls themself a gamer must be aware of the dreaded RROD for 360. Last year Microsoft expended the standard warrenty by two years to give potential buyers comfort with buying the system. The fact that the issue has not been fixed completly is of course debatable. Another issue that was always uesed against the 360 are accessories needed to equate to Sony's machine. With the 360 being a secondary system a lot of the needed accessories were not needed for me. I needed the wi-fi adapter (huge rip off) and a play and charge kit for my controller. I also needed a hard drive for my arcade, which are selling for $30 with the addition of Gold membership on XBL for three months. Overall, the additions were not that bad. I can now have the best of both worlds. One issue to mention is that the 360 came out when standard tv's were a lot more abundent then high definition. The end result is that the system is not completely HD. What I mean is that for audio whores like myself the 360 highest offering is Dolby Digital. The PS3 has a least 12 different audio offerings including DTS and 7.1 surround sound. All of the videos that I have expereinced for download are standard definition as well.

I will always be partial to Sony. However, I am pretty pissed at Sony for 2008. Sony is just doesn't want it as bad as Microsoft. Sony, show some more ads. A free Quore offering would help Sony as well. Sony, make home come out and be entertaining instead of hanging out in the virtual world. Sony announced home at least two years ago. Since, Sony's announcement Microsoft has created announced and realsed avatars within the time that Sony is still working on home. I know have to deal with friends and family in disbelief that the biggest Sony fan is now a 360 owner. The best way to deal with fellow gamers in the family is to just not let them know that you have one. Without the fanboy vision is easy to see pros of both systems.