Rare says: We were working on Avatars "before Miis

[scottie]

Just want to clarify, the Ancient Greek Gods were the first to have Avatars :P

Anyway, it seems likely that the order is
Ninty started work on Miis
Rare started work on avatars
Ninty released details about Miis
Rare released details about Avatars

So no console company copied the other directly