Sony is copying Nintendo

No one expected the Wii to do as well as it did.

People were laughing at the name from the start; game companies got nervous at the thought of having to make gamers move around – and the ‘hardcore’ crowd scoffed at the titles being launched along with it.

I bet Sony and Microsoft execs were gathered in the same room during the launch, passing around champagne and laughing heartily together.

Yet the Wii went on to sell more units than both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, making everyone, including myself, choke on our words.

Nintendo were obviously onto something, and years later, the other big companies kind of clicked to the fact that they were missing out on a rather large market here.

But Sony, it seems, isn’t just inspired by Nintendo – they look like they’re just fine with doing whatever they do; even if it’s stupid.

Let’s look at 4 instances where Sony have simply ripped an idea from Nintendo’s idea pad.

Playstation Move

When Sony and Microsoft caught onto the fact that motion sensing games were actually pretty cool (at least for the mainstream gamers) – obviously they needed to release their own versions to compete with the Wii.

While Microsoft decided to go in a new direction with the Kinect – Sony opted to keep some degree of controller-based gameplay; cue the PlayStation Move.

Trouble is…it’s not very different to the Wii controller.

Sure, it looks different, and the games you play are HD and stuff – but functionally, they’re exactly the same; it even has its own analogue peripheral, and a wealth of banal accessories.

Portable Touch-screen interface

Following Nintendo’s trend to innovate, the Nintendo DS did a lot of new things – it gave you two screens; one of which was touchscreen, giving you new ways to interact with your games.

While the PlayStation Vita looks and functions nothing like Nintendo’s portable – it does have a touchscreen interface…that gives you new ways of to interact with your games.

Maybe it’s a bit unfair to say that Sony is copying Nintendo in this regard, as touchscreens aren’t exactly a new idea – but it was implemented into a very popular portable gaming device by Nintendo first.

A portable gaming device that found mainstream success and sold more units than its graphically-superior competition, the PSP.

Playstation Move Heroes

Nintendo has this little game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl – you may have heard of it.

The colourful party game is one of the best and most popular games ever made – racking up a Metacritic score of 93.

It features a load of Nintendo characters (and others) from across a load of different titles and genres – all battling out and competing in various areas and different challenges.

PlayStation Move Heroes isn’t the same kind of game, but the similarites are there – with a handful of popular PlayStation characters crossing over into each others’  personal space.

On top of that, a rumour started circulating that PlayStation 3 would be getting its own Super Smash Bro. Brawl-esque game that would play pretty much exactly the same as its Nintendo counterpart.

An unsubstantiated rumour that could very well be completely false – but would it really surprise anyone?

Biometric Controllers

Anyone who follows gaming – and ridiculous technology proposals – will remember Nintendo’s Vitality Sensor.

It was first unveiled at E3 2008, and was pegged by Nintendo as a massive technological advancement in the way we play games.

You attached the sensor to your index finger, and it would read your biometric data as you played the game (heart-rate, the amount you were sweating, etc) and – in theory – the game would adjust itself to suit you.

Basically, if you were playing a horror game and not getting scared enough, the game would change to give you more scares.

In theory.

While the concept was intriguing, it never caught on – and most people cite it as one of the most ludicrous, badly thought-out ideas to come out of Nintendo (very much like the Wii, hmmm?) – until now, it seems.

According to a report over at Gamespot – Sony have patented their very own biometric sensor technology.

According to the patent, there’s room for bio-sensory technology to be put into a DualShock 3 controller, Move controller as well as what looks to be a handheld device of some kind – likely the PS Vita.

The patent describes effects akin to what was described above – with the data being used to alter the game-state.

Sound familiar?

It’s difficult to sit back and resort to school-yard tactics of yelling “Copycat! Stole a rat! Put it in his Sunday hat!” at Sony – but there’s a striking pattern forming here.

Either Sony are blatantly mimicking everything Nintendo does – or Nintendo are simply too far ahead in the game and do everything first.

I guess the best we can hope for is that if Sony are copying Nintendo, they learn from Nintendo’s mistakes and try to do things better.

Source: Gamespot

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