"I hate the bands you like!!"

It's strange how the guys at Red vs. Blue can so eloquently point out how ridiculous some people can be. I'll admit, there are a lot of little things that drive me nuts in my industry, but one of the most irritating is what I'm deeming "rampant fanboyism".

We've all seen it at least once, particularly in this Age of the Internet. Usually, someone somewhere makes a critical comment about something ... be it a game, a band, a TV show, a movie ... whatever. Most of the time, it's not even a terrible criticism, but rather a valid point just saying that Product X isn't necessarily perfect. That's when the fanboys start foaming at the mouth, break out the torches and pitchforks, and take to the streets like they're hunting down Frankenstein's monster.

While I'm all for fans supporting their "teams", there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Personally, I'm sick to death of seeing zealots proclaim their way as the only way. Here's a few newflashes, folks:

• Final Fantasy XII coming to the 360 in North America and Europe is NOT a "betrayal" by Square Enix targeting PlayStation fans ... it's smart business.
  
• If a Nintendo game has the words "Legend" and "Zelda" in its title, that doesn't automatically justify a 9-10 score.
  
• Namco isn't playing favorites by giving PS3/360 owners Vader/Yoda in Soul Calibur IV. Yoda = Xbox 360 = Green. Vader = PS3 = Black. And do you REALLY think there won't be downloadable content that'll ultimately bring balance to the Force on BOTH systems?
  
• While good games, neither Halo nor Gears reinvented the wheel in the FPS genre.
  
• The Wii is a fun system, but not really "next-gen".
  
• The PS3 hardware is a powerful system, but it's a royal bitch to program for.
  
• The Xbox 360 is easy to program for, but the hardware should have been built better.
  
• Consoles aren't killing the PC gaming market ... a lack of solid titles is killing it.
  
• Just because a game works on the PC doesn't mean it'll work on a console.
  
• Just because you slap a number and/or a subtitle on a game doesn't mean I feel like replaying the same old experience.
  
• Just because I don't agree with your viewpoint, it doesn't mean I shouldn't be doing my job. It's an opinion, people ... everyone's got one and they aren't always the same.

Okay ... I'm cutting this short, because I have a lot of work to get done, but there's going to be more about this subject soon.