Apparently, right, Sony didn’t copy Nintendo’s controller idea. I mean, I know how it looks – Nintendo announcing their all-singing, all-dancing motion-sensing position-sensing WiiMote earlier this year, and then Sony announcing some months [i]afterwards[/i] that they’ve got some half-assed tilt sensor in their controller, developers not getting wind of it until a month or so before E3, and nothing actually being delivered to developers until the weekend before E3 – but really, it’s all to do with technology becoming available, and nothing to do with trying to take the wind out of your opposition’s sails by half-assedly ripping off their gimmick. At least, that’s according to Sony’s irritatingly self-satisfied mouthpiece, Phil Harrison, in his interview with Der Spiegel Online.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How do you respond to people who say you stole Nintendo’s idea for a motion-sensitive controller?
Phil Harrison:On one level I understand why people say that. But it’s a little stupid, if you don’t mind me saying so. When we launched Playstation in 1994 we introduced the concept of real-time computer-generated 3-D-graphics for the first time. That was the innovation that drove the platform. When Nintendo
released the N64 in 1996 and they had real-time CG 3-D-graphics, did you hear us say, “Nintendo, you’ve stolen our idea?” Of course not.
There you go. Before 1994, there was NO SUCH THING as real-time CG 3D-graphics. Anyone who says otherwise is clearly lying.
Also: Sony’s E3 Press Conference in One Minute – possibly the most pathetic thing you will ever see. Ever. It’s Ridge Racer! RIIIIIDGE RACER!