A Ramble About the Console Wars at the News of How a, "Gears of War," Remaster is Coming to Xbox AND PlayStation 5

My birthday year starts with 19 instead of a 20, so I'm older and remember how things used to be quite different for better and worse. I grew up in the time of the console wars, where people were viciously loyal to one company and their games over another corporation. You were a Sega fan or a Nintendo fan, for example. You hated the other folks with a passion! Then, it was all about Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft with GameCubes/Wii, PlayStation 2/3, Xbox generations, and so forth in the early 2000s. Somewhere along the way, the icy relations started to thaw (arguably, the end of Sega being in the console Market when they gave up on the Dreamcast is one big moment), and the console wars now seem relatively antiquated.

Yes, there are differences between a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. There especially are differences between those and the Nintendo Switch. Still, you can play certain games with people on other consoles or a PC--that would be unheard of some time ago! Xbox is even letting some of their console exclusives go over to others, with the latest example being a, "Gears of War," remaster coming to both Xbox and the PS5. For years, the, "Gears of War," franchise has been synonymous with Xbox almost as much as Halo--how long until a, "Halo," game arrives on the PS5 or Sony maybe decides to share some love towards Microsoft with a, "Last of Us," adaptation or such? Right now things are more in the direction of Xbox stuff on PlayStation, but we will see.

Banjo Kazooie is owned by Microsoft, but they'll let them appear in a, "Super Smash Brothers," game on the Switch, and Nintendo lets Switch players enjoying, "Minecraft," spend time with Xbox fans of the game. Sony has zero issues with their, "Fortnite," players seeing those on other consoles as well. All of these companies are in competition, yes, but they seem to want to collaborate a bit if it provides benefits (AKA money) for them because the players are pleased. This is a good thing, undoubtedly, it just felt a bit odd when Sonic and Mario started hanging out and it only gets stranger seeing all these other companies so eager to share when I recall how the idea of Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo getting along like this seemed absurd two or so decades ago. It used to be, "[Sega] Genesis Does What Nintendon't," or, ""Do Not Underestimate The Power of PlayStation." Now it's more like, "Hey, let's all play together!" I like it, the tonal shift just is fascinating to someone who remembers the old days.