| nine0nine said: the remote/nun chuck set up works so well, the whole motion sensing is a small part of the whole wii control picture, just breaking the pad into 2 parts added so much, then the speaker, the button layout and so on. Its hard to see where 1) nintendo can go next and 2) where sony and MS can incorporate the same technology without it looking like a total rip off. |
Good point, Nintendo did cram a lot of stuff into the Wiimote, much more than a simple pointer.
Also, one of the Wiimote's goals was to be equally useable for left and right-handed users. Since the NES controllers have been optimized for right-handed people. A hidden bonus for the approx 10% Lefties out there.
It won't really matter to MS & Sony how much of a ripoff their next controllers are. Yes, Nintendo has a patent on Wiimotes but Sony has worked around that multiple times:
1) Sony's PS1 Dualshock took the idea of rumble and analog sticks from the N64 and used them. Nintendo tried to sue them but lost the suit. The tech was different enough from Nintendo's patent that Sony pulled out OK.
2) Sony already applied for a patent that gives a pointer. While the Wiimote works by reading infrared lights from the sensor bar, the Sony patent goes in reverse. The controllers emits light and a camera above your TV reads the lights. Assuming the tech works out Sony would copy the functionality and get around Nintendo's patent.
As for Microsoft, they're pretty good at "copy what the leader does." Gates was interviewed a few months ago. He wanted to make a virtual tennis racket that you could swing and your on-screen avatar would swing a racket. The interviewer replied "like the Wii?" and Gates promptly distanced himself from it. I have no idea what he exactly meant, but I'm sure it involves copying a lot of Wiimote features into the next XBox controller.
There is no such thing as a console war. This is the first step to game design.
