The surprising comparison between the social networking industry and the gaming industry.

While talking to my friend Beau today, I realized an incredible parallel. The rise of the gaming industry and the rise of the social networking industry are practically era-for-era extremely similar. I'm about to walk you through the how's and why's of it.

First off. Be aware that I'm talking about the rise of the first major console from Japan, not the Atari 2600. The reason for this is because while the Atari 2600 was the first true gaming console, there was no competition at the time, at all, for something that didn't double as a computer. Thus, I'm starting with the first console that had competition, the Nintendo Entertainment System, hereby abbreviated NES.

Also, the comparison with the social networking sites' rise is being made to myspace and facebook, for obvious reasons (as will become apparent later). If you think something should be changed or don't agree, I have done fairly extensive research on the topic, and at times used both, so I can vouch for what I'm saying.

Now then. Shall we begin?

1st parallel:
The rise of the NES: 1986 (USA)
Once it got going, it never really stopped. Millions upon millions poured into it to play the awesome games that were on it. There were hits and misses, but for the most part was a solid console.

The parallel with Myspace: 1999 (USA)
It was the first, and at the time the best. Millions upon millions came onto the Myspace scene because at the time, it was new and awesome.

2nd parallel:
The SNES versus Sega Genesis: 1990 (USA)
Albeit, the Genesis was out a year earlier in the USA, It was clear there was competition. Sega and Nintendo was one of the greatest rivalries for all time at this point, and there really was no clear-cut contender for best.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: Early 2000's (Worldwide)
At the time, it was really hard to tell which one was going to win. Both had features very distinct of themselves and it made a clear-cut better impossible to tell for.

3rd parallel:
The N64 versus the Sony Playstation 1996 (USA)
The N64 saw Nintendo losing quite a bit of steam, as Sony emerged on the scene to be the best contender.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: Mid 2000's (Worldwide)
By the mid 2000's, Myspace has lost quite a bit because of Facebook and its ever-expanding arsenal.

4th parallel:
The GameCube versus Sony's Playstation 2 (USA)
By the time the Playstation 2 came out, Nintendo had lost much face in the industry. They were seen as unoriginal, for the most part, and lack of solid titles plagued the console for the first several years. In addition, the Gamecube had the lowest overall fanbase of any console made by Nintendo. Quietly refusing to admit this, they lost face because of it. Playstation 2, on the other hand, may well have been one of the biggest hits in gaming history.

The parallel with Myspace versus Facebook: 2007 (Worldwide)
Frequent usership dropping rapidly, Myspace added many of the features Facebook had from launch. They were not as well-rounded, and so they lost much of their fanbase for trying to be an imitator. Facebook continued to rise in usership due to this. It may well never have a rival in total usership.

5th parallel:
The Wii and Playstation 3 versus the 360 (Current)
Yes, the Wii is a fairly solid console. But let's be honest. How many of the original Nintendo fanbase is left? Not me. There are so few solid games on the Wii it's ridiculous. When compared to the plethora of excellent games on the 360, it makes the Wii look like a flaming piece of crap. Compare feature bases, and there literally is no comparison to the 360. However, at this point, there is no clear way to tell who will win THIS era's console war. Nintendo may just pull out some incredible bag of tricks just yet, Sony may address the numerous issues with not getting good features and mostly not getting good games, as well as the mandatory installs, or Microsoft may remain the clear-cut leader for this era.

Facebook and Myspace versus... TWITTER?
Yes, the more I think about it, the more Twitter may be the clear-cut leader for social networking so far. It has almost a bigger base than Facebook now. And facebook is losing users, as is myspace. However, in this case, I interpret this as more of a trend. On the console side of things, it was more obvious. But here's where the distinctions drop a bit. There are three social networking sites in a battle for supremacy, yes... but the numbers are far more even than the console wars.