Sony Copied Nintendo's Copied Ideas

In an interview in Brazil in 2012 ( http://youtu.be/vToX4dJ-oTQ ) , Reggie Fils-Aime of Nintendo America was asked a question by the interviewer. The answer, in my opinion, was probably the most arrogant, unprofessional, and surprisingly uninformed answer that he could probably have given. It really questions if Reggie should be in the position he's in, in Nintendo.

The question was: "What do you think the competition will do to catch you guys?" To which Reggie replied: "Here's the interesting history of Nintendo: Every time we do an innovation, we see others copying the idea, whether it's joystick control, whether it's rumble in a controller, motion controls, touch screen in a handheld... I mean, do I need to go on?"

His answer reeked of either hypocrisy, a lack of knowledge, or perhaps both.
Nintendo, and their fans, have been saying for years that Sony copied the features mentioned above from them, but Nintendo didn't invent any of those things. Let's go through those things one by one:

Joysticks: The first joysticks appeared way back in 1976 on a console called the 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System that was made in Europe by a company named Radofin. It was cloned, and likely improved, by many companies after it's release. The joystick on this console wasn't perfect, as it couldn't self-centre when you take your finger off it, and the design was later improved by Sega, Atari, and of course, Nintendo. Nintendo didn't invent joysticks, they just improved on an already-existing idea that someone else put out before them.

Rumble: Rumble is one of the most common things that people bring up when listing out what Sony supposedly stole from Nintendo. The truth is that Nintendo weren't the first to use rumble. Rumble, or Haptic Feedback, was used in various industries, from aviation to telecommunication, to a device called the Optacon, which was a device that lets blind people read printed material that hasn't been transcribed into braille. Rumble was first used in gaming by Sega in 1976 on a game called Moto-Cross, a motorcycle arcade game that used a set of handlebars, that vibrated upon collision with other motorcycles, as it's control input. So, like with Joysticks, rumble is something Nintendo improved upon, they didn't invent it.

Motion Controls: This is where people - and Nintendo themselves, apparently - get a little confused. Motion controls appeared on a Nintendo console first, via the Power Glove, but Nintendo didn't invent them. You see, even though the Power Glove was an officially licensed peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo didn't have anything to do with its production. The Power Glove was designed by Grant Goddard and Samuel Cooper Davis for Abrams Gentile Entertainment (AGE), and made by Mattel in the United States and a company called PAX in Japan. Motion controls appeared first on an Nintendo console, yes, but again, they didn't invent it.

Touch Screen On A Handheld: Sega were planning a successor to their Game Gear in the 1990s that was to include a touch screen, but it was abandoned after they decided that it would be too costly. Instead, it was a device called the Game.Com, (Game Com) that first used a touch screen. The 'Game.Com' was created by Tiger Electronics way back in 1997 and also featured access to a modem to upload scoreboard stats and check your email. It was ahead of its time but it flopped, partly because of it's anti-gamer marketing and limited number of games. Regardless of how it performed, though, it was the first handheld to have a touch screen. Somebody needs to remind Nintendo, or Reggie Fils-Aime, at least, of that fact.

I'm not saying that Nintendo stole all these ideas. I'm saying that a lot of people think that Nintendo invented these things, and they are misinformed.

Here's the thing, though. Although, Nintendo and their fans falsely accuse others of stealing things that they didn't invent, companies like Sony have indeed copied them with certain things.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is one example. Yes, there are games in the Arena Fighter genre other than Super Smash Bros., but PlayStation All-Stars is too similar to this particular game to not be a copy. Another example is the recently announced PlayStation Vita Pets, a blatant, shameless copy of Nintendogs. Shame on you, Sony.