Topic: Nintendo's frustrating history of being endlessly ripped off: a retrospective

http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/blaze_ps3_remote_10_1...
http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=100261
You forgot this one.

Edit: Opps, never mind someone else posted it already.

actually, Nintendo didn't like what was in their contract with Sony for the SNES-CD (as in Sony would have final control over what was and what was not released, or something along those lines where Nintendo would be giving away control over their games to another company), and that's why they partnered with Phillips -- they kept the control in the contract with Phillips that they had (accidentally?) given away in the contract with Sony. It had nothing to do with piracy.

How they almost accidentally gave away control of their own games is beyond me. Sony was going to have their own console to run side-by-side with the SNES. Imagine the Playstation's library plus the SNES's in one console. I would never have bought another console.

@Adam: it had something to do with the SNES-CD format... while Nintendo would have kept control over all SNES cartridge games (of course), Sony would have had final control over what did and did not get released on the SNES-CD format discs. That's why Nintendo welched out of their contract with 'em; Hiroshi Yamauchi didn't like that at all.

I understand that. What I'm saying is, how did Nintendo not notice this in the contract to begin with? Seems like a pretty big mistake.

@Adam: seriously, it was a gigantic mistake on their part... but it's like i said before -- Nintendo screwed people over, and the consumer won, so it all worked out for the best IMO. :3

You said that before? That seems uncharacteristic of you, for some reason. I didn't think you were that hard on the Big N. How did the consumer win? I would have thought the unbelievably awesome combination of Playstation and SNES, two of the more successful and acclaimed platforms around, each with a huge library, would have been a "win" for the consumer. I could have played Symphony of the Night years ago, and saved a whole lot of money not buying all these other consoles!

if both systems were merged together you may not have seen as much mature content on the playstation. the big selling point that made that system a success was that it was marketed to adults more than kids. although thinking of that contract, maybe nintendo wouldn't have had any control over the content anyway...

the playstation really broadened console gaming's horizons especially as far as gaming outside japan. It also mandated optical media for all systems in the future. sony was doing things great until the ps3 where like the xbox360 largely tried to make console games like pc games, and in the process pc games also became more console friendly and some would say watered down.
Then the wii came and besides the casual fare actually largely continued the type of niche fare seen on the ps2 or even ps1. hack and slash, shmup, roguelikes and all that as well as unique games.

Anyway I liked both the OP and the rebuttal which shows the general truth that especially in the games industry very many ideas are copied. However, depending on what is copied, how much, and the context it can lead to innovations of its own.

All the major videogame companies have had their share of innovations and copied ideas. Though I'd argue Microsoft hasn't specifically brought all that much to the console gaming table except with some of the online stuff

that was a good read!