Staude said:
I disagree.
Anyways. One example is the analogue which was used prior to nintendos use of it but which they seem to get the credit for all the time. Eye toy was pretty mainstream known and it had motion controls. Sony expanded the userbase first. the D-pad was also invented and used on video game systems prior to nintendos usage of it... they've finally switched to a cd based system, which they weren't exacly the first to do either... erm what else ? I'm sure theres more. online.. Although friend codes.. those they can keep :p My point is just that nintendo very often get credit for doing things other did before them. They simply improved the idea, which is the same that sonyh as been doing with some the same ideas. |
Whenever someone points to Nintendo's innovation, someone else will quickly try to belittle those. You tell us that because technology existed before, those weren't innovations. I disagree with that. While a lot of that technology existed before, the innovation lies in its usage. Also, I want to mention that in my understanding something isn't innovative if it's something obvious.
The analog stick is way older than the N64. It has been used when the gaming industry was still in its very early infancy. It has been abandoned because the D-pad was the superior control method for mostly 2D games back then. Nintendo used the analog stick* for 3D games and showed that it is the superior control method for this type of games, which was a brilliant move that wasn't obvious like it may seem from today's point of view. But the fact alone that the Playstation didn't have an analog stick (from the start) even though a lot of 3D games were made for it shows that Nintendo thought outside the box.
Eye toy did motion controls first, long before the Wiimote was born. And the Wiimote includes technology that existed before and was used in non gaming products. But the gaming expirience that the Wiimote offers is totally new. You can't compare playing Golf or Tennis with the Wiimote to playing the games that use the Eye toy. (I'm going to admit that I never played an Eye toy game.) Again, the technology existed, some kind of motion control existed before, but the usage and the expirience was new.
Also, let's not forget that motion controls isn't the only new thing that the Wiimote brought to console gaming. The pointer is a great addition. It allowed for new expiriences too. Also, the Wiimote isn't hold with two hands (in the standard orientation). The seperation of the Wiimote and the Nunchuck is a great innovation IMO, as it's a lot more comfortable to hold. And it made the Wiimote flexible in usage like no other controller ever was.
I fail to see how the storage medium is an innovation. It was kind of obvious to use in gaming, because CD's became standard for audio at the time. Also, it just increased storage space, so it was just more of the same. I don't call that innovation but evolution. So Sega will get credit for evolving storage space for games. I will say that sometimes, this more storage space was used to create new expiriences. But that happened every time when games got bigger because of more storage space. Just because the change from cartridges to CD's was that visible to all, it's often singled out.
Expanding the gamer base... well, there have been several big leaps. Sony's PS was one big leap in audience expansion, that's for sure, but it wasn't the first. NES brought gaming to a lot of people that weren't gamers before. Just like DS and Wii are doing now. But expanding the audience isn't innovation.
Online... yeah, Sega 'innovated' by bringing it to gaming consoles... which again was pretty obvious, because PC gaming did it before. Let's call it a step foreward for console gaming, but not an innovation.
