Despite initial trolling against the Wiimote & Nunchuk combo, Sony unveiled it's own motion controller, very similar to the wiimote, and now their coming up with their very own nunchuk knock off.

How come this isn't plagiarism and it doesn't go against Nintendo patents?

Nintendo did all this work and took a very risky stance by bringing motion control as standart control in home consoles, and now others just copy them again and jump in the motion control war just like that?

I don't get it..............

Because you can only patent the method, not the idea.

You can't just "sue for imitation"; you have to have legal backing of some kind. In this case, patents would be the most likely road to take.

The question is, does Nintendo have the right patents for that, and did Sony actually violate them? I don't think the answer is yes for either one. For example, it's very doubtful that Nintendo has patents on wand-based motion capture: it's been in use in many industries for years.

The other big issue, and the one Nintendo actually might have a patent on, is the actual camera system. The problem is, they're completely different between the Wii and the Arc: Wii uses a mobile camera (Wiimote) and stationary beacons (the ends of the sensor bar), while Sony uses a mobile beacon (the lightbulb on the end of the Arc) and stationary camera (PSEye). Nintendo probably has patents on its own system, but patents are very specific in scope, and the Arc's system is too different to really count as a violation.

Long story short: Nintendo doesn't have a case. I agree that the imitation is obvious, but it's just different enough that a lawsuit wouldn't stand up in court.

If Apple can sue HTC for 20 iPhone patents infringment (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/02patents.html ) there is something that Nintendo can't do.

All this imitation can't just be created and launched just like that.

For an instance I just hate Nintendo to be so dumb about their creations and not taking the necessary measures to prevent blatant copy.

For the same reason you can't patent cold medicine. Different ingredients.

the nunchuck is a controller with an analog stick and some buttons... unless nintendo has the patent for analog sticks and buttons... no way they can sue anyone... sony didn't release any design for the so called "nunchuck" so there is no indication that has anything to do with the design nintendo make for their nunchuck... also no one can patent one design of an object to be used by humans if that patent don't allow fair competition between rival companies, human have limitations in term of anatomy that can't be patented... no one can have the patent over the general design of a computer mouse if there is no other way a human hand can use such a device...

Sony probably patented these things long ago. I mean they show us video of the same technology back in the PS2 days.

i dont think that the others making their own motion controls is necessarily a bad thing though.

it clearly just shows that motion controls are the way forward, and will benefit the gaming community in general :)

besides, motion control is one step closer to virtual reality, so that = win.

and imagine if one company had had the patent for a controller with trigger buttons, for example... the world would be a mess! D:

cause you can own the rights for a song for many many years and live off it, but if you create the next compact fusion self sustainable energy source that will save the planet, then you'll probably never see a dime.

Oh society laws are so well written...

Then again, who writes if not artists?

this reminds me of the IBM commercial with the inventor of the USB port being hailed as a rock star in his office.... I doubt he has 5 summer homes arround the world....

Maybe if the sony Remote knockoff succeeds and does really well, they might consider it.