| UncleScrooge said: When talking about Nintendo and Atari I meant that Nintendo's NES controlles was so different from Atari's that they surely didn't copy the controller. I wasn't talking about the concept of gaming consoles itself. As I said I could be wrong here but I remember my neighbour saying the NES controller felt weird because it had a D-Pad (instead of a Joystick). The foundation for all current controllers (besides the Wii remote maybe) is the NES controller. The Dual Shock surely's got some twists on its own (as I said Dual analog sticks where quite an idea) but basically it's a NES controller with added features. And Dual Shocks do look similar to NES controllers. You just think they don't because most controllers look exactly the same And it doesn't matter if there are videos from 2003 or 1890 or even earlier. Sony tested some ways to control games and they thought it wasn't worth it. Nintendo developed the Wii remote and built a console around it and when Sony saw that it worked they made their own motion controller. You can pretty much tell Move was inspired by the Wii remote because it looks almost exactly the same (don't compare those tiny things that are different on the Move controller. Compare Move and Wiimote and then compare Move and a Dual Shock - which was the source of inspiration? But I don't think inspiration from other companies is bad anyways. As long as you improve on the existing concept I highly appreciate it. I just think it's silly to say Sony wasn't inspired by the Wii Remote - sure they were! It's pretty obvious. But that's not bad. Some (do I dare to say "most"?) of the very best pieces of art, literature, music, etc. were inspired by others. That's how civilization works. Imagine the guy who inventend the wheel killing everyone else because they were "copying" him
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Actually, todays controllers are based on ideas from other controllers predating the NES. The NES controller was more a collection and tweaking of these ideas. The Vectrex of '82 has a similar rectangular design, only slightly larger. Instead of a D-Pad it had one of the earliest analog sticks (I think either it or Atari 5200 was the first), as well as four face buttons instead of only 2.
Even the D-Pad has been around, albiet in a rather rough form, for a few years before the NES. With the Intellivision, Entex Select a Game, Atari Game Brain (was discontinued right before release), and a handheld game called Cosmic Hunter for the Microvision.
Of course, there is no denying that Nintendo's ability to combine all these, while improving upon them, has left its mark on gaming history. It's the same way I see the Dual Shock controller. Some wish to credit Nintendo with making analog sticks popular in gaming. However, the stick that came with the N64 was actually digital, but offered a much greater range of motion than a standard D-Pad. Nintendo did this because of the moving parts associated with an analog stick, fearing malfunctions. Sony, however, saw the impact analog could have on gaming and invested in the tech to improve upon it. In April 1996, they released their first analog controller, a flightstick. In April 1997, they released the Dual Analog Controller, a precursor to the Dual Shock.
Something interesting to note is that the Japanese DA controllers (again, released April 1997) featured vibration feedback, but it was removed in other areas for patent reasons. The first Rumble Pack was released in Japan in April 1997. I think this is why some in America and Europe think Sony copied Nintendo with the rumble feature, even though they released the exact same time in Japan. Thank God for the interwebs. 
