| Andrespetmonkey said: The playstation move was in development before the Wii was even announced, and the Eye toy (kinect-like motion controls) was out in 2003. They definitely didn't introduce motion controls, nor did they introduce touch screens or analog sticks. |
Move was supposedly in development - we only have Sony's word for it. But even if it was, the fact of the matter is that Nintendo did it before Sony did it, and you don't get an award for coming in second place.
What's more, there is absolutely zero doubt that, if Sony was already developing it, it was purely as a side-bar experimental development, and Sony only pushed it to become a product because of the success of the Wii.
Eyetoy is the one innovation I actually give to Sony. One innovation, across three consoles. Meanwhile, let's look at the fun observation:
SNES: Nintendo adds two shoulder buttons to controller.
PS: Sony puts FOUR shoulder buttons on controller.
N64: Nintendo creates rumble pack, adds analog stick.
PS2 (and late-release PS1 controller with only partial support): Sony adds "dual shock" - that's TWO rumbles - and TWO analog sticks.
I'd add GameCube and PS3 here, but Nintendo's only "innovation" there was connectivity, and it's not like Sony could double the connections.
Nintendo DS: Nintendo adds a touchscreen.
PS Vita: Sony adds a touchscreen and a touchpad (TWO touch interfaces). They'd probably have made it a four-screen system, if they could get away with it.
Sony has a history of taking Nintendo's innovations, and doubling them - mind you, adding Nintendo's innovations wouldn't concern me in the slightest, as innovations usually become standard... it's the "doubling" that is the issue. And I feel I need to emphasise that "innovation" isn't the same as "invention", as some others have already pointed out. None of the innovations from any of the three companies are inventions by those companies. The 3DS's 3D screen wasn't made by Nintendo, they're just the ones who innovated the use of the 3D screen for gaming. Cameras and motion tracking weren't new when Sony came out with the Eyetoy, but they were the first to use it in a console.
It's worth noting, by the way, that a failed attempt doesn't count as innovation, because it didn't work. Innovation is taking an invention, and successfully using it in a new way. MS's 3D-sensing joystick doesn't count as the innovation of the motion-sensing controller - it flopped. Sega's use of a screen in a gaming controller isn't an innovation because the Dreamcast flopped. Nintendo doesn't get the award for 3D gaming with the Virtual Boy because it flopped.
