From our other sites
The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry” (Geha) board asked when the hardware rivalries between users actually began. Replies pointed out that similar rivalries existed even before 2ch, going back to the PC-communication service “Minazuki” and Sega’s official BBS, and that the Geha board itself started in April 2000 from a thread debating the Dreamcast’s future. It was also noted that the term “next-gen console war” was reportedly coined by Masashi Saeki, SCE’s PR manager at the time, raising the idea that at least part of the rivalry originated from corporate marketing rather than growing organically among fans.
What people said
Or did it start with 5ch (formerly 2ch)?
Though I think there was Famicom vs. other consoles even before that
What about online specifically?
The internet didn't really spread until 1995
Stuff like Minazuki (an old PC-communication BBS) and Sega's official BBS
Was it Sega Saturn vs. the original PlayStation fighting it out?
There's a documentary about it on Amazon Prime
So America was first?
I just assumed it started in Japan
Though these days that's gotten twisted into something close to religious fanaticism for some people lol
Yeah, 'we don't need religion, just buy the thing' is the vibe.
They don't even play games anyway
Globally the 2000s felt like PS vs. Xbox, but I guess in Japan it was like that too, huh
Though honestly I think Sony probably already considered itself the winner over Nintendo by that point
They had most of the domestic third-party studios locked up
Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy had both come to PlayStation
Then for some reason they suddenly started self-destructing with the PS3…
Though it wasn't always a clean three-way fight — there was usually one console that was clearly the weak one
Wii vs. PS3 vs. Xbox 360 was more evenly matched, I guess
But if you really think about it, Nintendo is the only one that's survived every single console generation
All the way back to the Atari era, even
…This isn't even 'tenacious' territory anymore
Seriously, something about Nintendo specifically just isn't normal
It wouldn't mean anything anymore
If Sony disappeared, the people who were parasitizing off Sony
would just move to another console and start stirring things up again
But then the Wii exploded in sales afterward, which must have been unexpected for them as well
Looking back, the unit sales were huge, but the boom died out pretty fast
Huh… Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 are treated like legends, but I guess they didn't do that great in Japan
I never found handhelds appealing, and the hardware specs took a big step down so everything looked cheap
Which time period are you even talking about?
So maybe 60 years ago or so?
Home consoles have only existed since 1972
They didn't exist 60 years ago
Was the Geha board already a mess of flame wars right from when it was created, like it is now?
This board came from splitting the Geha-style threads out of the home console board
Something like this
Jaggies vs. 30 Frames
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/961864154/
1 Name: Anonymous [] Posted: 2000/06/25 (Sun) 01:29
So, about the weak points of the PS2 and DC — which one's uglier?
28 Name: Anonymous [] Posted: 2000/06/29 (Thu) 11:16
I hear some PS2 titles currently in development
are using stuff like FSAA.
The DC's got jaggies on top of only 30 frames…
Last-gen, basically.
Cutting Down Evil Nintendo
https://kako.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/961069864/4
4 Name: Anonymous [] Posted: 2000/06/15 (Thu) 21:16
Don't worry, they just built a brand new headquarters building, so they'll go bankrupt soon.
Why do you think games are somehow special?
The question's just about when it started, nobody said it was exclusive to Geha
https://www.4gamer.net/games/000/G000000/20120903062/
> Incidentally, the whole 'next-gen console war' framing between PlayStation and Sega Saturn that got thrown around a lot back then was apparently the brainchild of Masashi Saeki, who was SCE's PR manager at the time.
Wait, isn't this the same guy who went around saying the DS was for little kids?
The fact the playbook hasn't changed in all this time suggests it wasn't just one guy's problem — it was baked into Sony's corporate culture itself
He's the famous guy from that quote in the photo
In some thread, a self-proclaimed PC gamer was bashing Nintendo nonstop
But longtime PC gamers really have no one to be hostile toward except Sony, who caused endless headaches with region-locking and missing Japanese-language support (derisively nicknamed 'omakuni/omago')
Just a newbie with '15 years of long-term contribution,' started on Steam back in 2011
PS4 was my last PlayStation
I've barely played anything besides Bloodborne
Please forgive me
The Future of the Dreamcast
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/954815820/1
1 Name: Anonymous [] Posted: 2000/04/04 (Tue) 11:37
Somebody give us some good news, please.
2 Name: Anonymous [] Posted: 2000/04/04 (Tue) 11:46
No chance.
————————THE END————————
Oh, this was just a month after the PS2 launched?
Yeah, no wonder the thread turned out like that…
Sega fans knew they were the underdogs, so it'd go like: 'Final Fantasy V? Don't care, I'm getting Chernobyl Chicken instead!' (a quirky Mega Drive platformer, little-known outside Sega circles)
'…Chernobyl what?'
And that's where the conversation would end
That's so on-brand for Sega diehards
I can picture them ignoring Super Mario World to go play Splatterhouse Part 2 instead
I ended up hating on whatever was overpriced more than whatever brand I didn't like
ttps://static.mercdn.net/item/detail/orig/photos/m23567310991_3.jpg
Is it really that expensive though?
Background and Key Points
The Geha board was born in 2000 when threads with a strongly confrontational tone were split off from the “Home Console” board, and its oldest surviving thread is said to be a Dreamcast-related thread from that April. Hardware rivalries existed even before the internet became widespread, in places like PC-communication networks and official corporate BBSes, suggesting this is less an internet-born phenomenon than one that has simply carried over across different media over time. The thread also noted that the term “next-generation console war” was reportedly coined by SCE’s PR manager at the time, suggesting part of the rivalry may have originated from corporate marketing strategy. That said, the claim that hardware rivalries in the US date back to the Mega Drive/Genesis era wasn’t backed by any source, so it’s worth keeping in mind how widely held that view actually is.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “[Question] When did the console war between users actually start?“
Leave a Reply