Waggle waggle
Image: Bob Riha, Jr / Nintendo of America

Nintendo has a reputation of innovation within the games industry which runs all the way back to the '80s, when the company blazed a trail with its Game & Watch series - the first hardware to showcase the now-commonplace D-pad. Since then, we've seen the company embrace cutting-edge tech ahead of its rivals - analogue input, touch input and motion control being just three examples - and with the NX just around the corner, the entire industry is waiting to see what Nintendo does next.

That includes Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg, who has been speaking to VentureBeat about the current state of the industry. When quizzed on Nintendo's place in the market and what it was working on right now, Greenberg replied in very positive terms:

I'm not sure what Nintendo's doing. I hear the same rumors and stuff that you do. I guess we'll react to that when we know more. Nintendo's always been innovative. They've always differentiated in their own way. They've always danced to their own tune, if you will. It wouldn't surprise me if they do their own thing when the time is right. What they've done is unique and different. How they'll compete with us remains to be seen.

It's interesting that Greenberg says that Microsoft will "react" when it knows more - an indication of just how much importance Nintendo's rivals place on the actions of the Japanese veteran. When the Wii launched, both Sony and Microsoft tried to muscle in on the motion-control market in different ways, and the second-screen aspect of the Wii U hardware has been emulated on other platforms somewhat with features like companion smartphone apps and remote play.

No one seems to have a solid idea of what the NX will be, but if it's a major innovation and captures the imagination of gamers all over the world, you can bet that Nintendo's rivals will sit up, take notice and try to replicate it in some fashion.

Thanks to Ryan Miller for the tip!

[source venturebeat.com]