Torillian said:
You seem to use the idea that Nintendo spent time and money on R&D to show that they weren't just copying the Vertrex while Sony was copying them, but I'm curious if you have any actual proof that Sony spent significantly less money on R&D to get the dual analog to work on their controller than Nintendo did to get it to work on the N64. Just because you see something working doesn't mean you can copy it without any kind of effort now. You see planes flying but if I asked you to build one in your backyard from scratch I'm sure it would take you quite a bit of R&D to get one going. Therefore if the whole argument is that Sony copied (not just a natural progression of controllers) because they put less effort into it's development, I'd like to see some proof. |
it's a burden I can't carry, that burden of proof. It's something most of us presume due to lack of insider information on the matter. The term used is called reverse engineering, and it's a sound preconception to think Sony's ability to reverse engineer the N64 controller helped to radically cut R&D costs. It's not really necessary for me to provide proof since this kind of logical step is typical in the industry, and reverse engineering is a common discipline in the tech industry. Much easier to run off existing tech than running off nothing if you know what I mean. Example: digital cameras. Once one manufacturer came up with it, everyone else was reverse engineering and next thing you know, all offered digital cameras.
@italics. It was but one of many other important points to show that Nintendo brought the thumbstick to gaming as is. The vectrex, if it was to be used with your thumb, is still very shady imho.
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I'd argue that just like Nintendo getting their collective heads out of their asses when it comes to online is natual progression because they see it working very well for their competitors, and see it as an improvement that they should get on, dual analogs was done because they saw that people liked the N64 controller, or MS and Sony looking into motion controllers because people like the Wii. Seeing what your competitors are successfully doing and giving it a shot yourself is just the way business works, and there is no difference between what Sony did with dual analog and what Nintendo is doing with the Nintendo Network (I realise that they had these capabilities before, but they are obviously focusing on online more because it has shown itself to be important largely thanks to the heavy investment by MS and partiallly Sony) |
I think the main difference between online and the thumbstick innovation is that, for online, Sega was actually the first that gen to come up with it, and Nintendo actually had some revolutionary ideas back in the NES days which didn't take flight. It's not that Ninty lacked the ideas, it's more that they lacked the business vision when they flat out refused to make it "really" happen in the cube days. It wasn't a lack of innovation, but a lack of business vision. They already had the ideas in the NES days, so that wasn't the problem. The issue with Nintendo lagging so far behind in terms of online goes back to resentment of past failures and lack of faith in the web strategy at the time of the DC/GC. In contrast, had Nintendo not come up with the N64 controller, the idea to refuse it did not even cross Sony's mind prior to Nintendo's announcement, and that's because they didn't even have the idea in mind. Just my point of view.
