I fail to see how gamers are so closed-minded, but I don't think fanboys are really hurting gamers. I think what's hurting gamers is that I can't even play Modern Warfare 2 online without someone calling someone else a "fucking faggot" or other, occasionally racial slur. That's the kind of stuff that gets picked up by CNN, and I think that's worse than the general public for thinking gamers are childish and, really, let's face it, is there anything so wrong with that? I mean, should gamers really be taken seriously? Do they even NEED to be taken seriously? Sure, someone like Roger Ebert will write some article about how video games can't be art but does anyone really care? Games are an individual thing or a community thing, and I wouldn't necessarily say that anyone is getting hurt by a bunch of whining nerds. I also don't see how they're wasting our time and energy. I mean, I'm sure you wrote this with a little bit of a huff going on, everyone has to rant, but it seems like you're letting the fanboys get to you too much when they can be easily ignored. The world won't collapse if more people don't buy Xboxes or Playstations, it's not necessarily important that the appeal for video games is broadened. I only started getting back into games within the last six months and came about it organically via working in a store that specialized in used video games and DVDs and in the process of learning about these games, I wanted to play them and I like the fulfilling sense of escapism it adds to my life when I have a little downtime. I don't think fanboys can take that feeling away!

Anyway, I do like where you're going with the pros and cons list and I'd like to see more! I'm in a serious "Oh man, I REALLY want to play Mass Effect 2" phase and quite tempted, and just waiting for the right information to tip me in the Xbox direction once I have an extra $300. Although, I did read the 360's warranty info and apparently only the red rings of death is covered for three years and in my tenure at the video game store I saw a LOT of people coming in with disc drives that had crapped out, just as many as those with the rings. Three year all around warranty, hell, when my biggest beef with the system was the astronomical failure rate, that was a fine incentive to bypass it! I do think your list is a bit slanted towards the PS3 though, because the Xbox's problems all seem to be hardware related and/or involve having to fork over extra cash where as the problems you cite with the PS3 are all a bit cosmetic. I mean, each one gets four points and Xbox's are like "shit breaks," "you have to pay X amount of money," and "they didn't include wireless so they could get you to buy an adapter for $70" whereas PS3's are like "I have to wait," "the stupid Home thing that no one even cares about is lame," and "Online gameplay is horrible because of the lack of people with headsets who ultimately just end up shouting stupid shit." Alternate for "home sucks": Xbox 360's controller is FAR superior to that of the PS3. Makes a big difference, and honestly, I didn't even consider picking up a 360 until I actually played one at the store and realized how fucking good that controller feels in the hands!

ANYWAY, I guess my initial point was that whether or not gamers are taken seriously isn't really very important because as long as we're enjoying the games, anything anyone else says is superflous because, well, who gives a fuck what a fanboy says? Most of them (from my experience) are just bratty 16 year olds with nothing better to give a shit about. They can annoy the shit out of us, but they can never take our freedom!