Head of Capcom R&D slams Sony's Sixaxis Controller

[Bodhesatva]

Silver_Z said:

This thread has degenerated into "Who's copying who?" Not specific to functionality, that is why I threw out this example.

If you believe that extension is nothing different, then... you should also believe that the joystick is no different than an analog stick or a Directional pad. As they are all for the purpose of controlling the direction. Ohh... and Sega Dreamcast controllers has some nice hand grips, which they look nuttin like PS1. Somehow Nintendo's N64 has so much similarity.

Btw, the 6-buttons can never be evolved from 4 button PS controllers, coz Sega was the first to have 6 frontal buttons on their controller for their Genesis.

 Ah, thanks, thats a better example. Although I didn't actually believe 6 buttons was a real evolution anyway -- my point was that it isn't :p

Again, this is getting pretty nitty-gritty, but there's a big leap from a Joy stick to a D-pad, while there really isn't one from the "hand pad" to the "hand grip" for several reaons, not the least of which being that they function in the same manner (while D-pads and Joysticks do not). Obviously, you could claim that any change was an innovation: Sony, for example, invented the "circle" button, as well as the "square" button. Those were invented by them, no doubt, but they don't show any real degree of any innovation over, say, an "A" button or a "B" button. So too, the hand grip really wasn't a serious step forward from a hand pad. I'll give credit to whomever originally started designing controllers with ergonomics in mind (again, I believe it was Sega), but not for someone who thought: "hey, let's make this even MORE ergonomic!"