Despite pulling in billions of dollars each year, it would appear certain videogame heavyweights prefer to take their inspiration from industry rivals rather than invest profits into true originality.
Not that lifting ideas from the competition is in any way new to the technology industry (how many pseudo iPods currently exist?), but should that justify the constant pocket pilfering going on between the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo?
More pointedly, Sony Computer Entertainment is this week hollering from the rooftops about the introduction of its new ‘Life with PlayStation’ online service, which, while expanding its own portfolio of user variety, looks not entirely dissimilar to Nintendo’s established Channel service.
Described as a “new lifestyle service” for the PlayStation 3, Sony’s latest attempt to drive the popularity of its PlayStation Network (PSN) launched globally yesterday and offers users “a new visual and interactive way to use their PS3 to access news and information from around the world.”
Sony also notes that Life with PlayStation is “only possible on the PS3’s feature-rich platform.” Yet, its initial Live Channel provides users with international news and weather focusing on a selection of cities around the planet, which is remarkably similar to the basic version of the Channel-based online user service initially rolled out on the Nintendo Wii.
Of course, Sony expects to expand the Channel variety it will deliver through Life with PlayStation, but Nintendo has already been there and ‘created’ the T-Shirt, there’s little denying that Sony’s service is neither original nor only possible through the PlayStation 3.
And this isn’t the first time Sony has performed a reach-around and liberated an idea from the opposition without bothering to at least buy dinner and splash out on a movie.
At the beginning of this hardware generation, it (poorly) aped the Wii’s motion-sensing capabilities via the SIXAXIS controller, and more recently it unveiled the Trophy system, which sees the profiles of PlayStation 3 users bestowed with awards unlocked during gameplay -- essentially re-labelling the Achievement system long-since created by Microsoft for the Xbox 360.
Sony’s not alone in the criminal line-up however. Microsoft unveiled its personal Avatars with bold aplomb at this year's E3 while papering over the fact that the concept borrows heavily from the user-created Mii avatars already used on the Nintendo Wii. Set for inclusion on the Xbox 360 Dashboard, Microsoft’s take on avatars will arrive through an imminent Xbox Live downloadable overhaul.
While Nintendo might not be quite so guilty of light-fingered swiping when it comes to market rivals, gaming’s supposedly shining beacon of innovation is far from being without reproach.
Specifically, it is presently facing a patent infringement lawsuit from Maryland-based electronics lab Hillcrest in relation to its cutting-edge Wii controllers, while Texas-based Anascape is looking to have the courts ban the Wii’s classic controller for patent infringements related to its design.
Of course, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and consumers favouring one platform over another are bound to want to experience the best features of rival consoles for themselves, which likely motivates the suits holding the purse strings to copy rather than create.
That being said, beyond the smoke and mirrors employed to pass off revamped ideas as their own, it would be refreshing to see gaming hardware companies (or any tech player for that matter) actually admit they’ve changed the name, spruced up the aesthetics, and added just enough differentiating features to avoid a courtroom beating.
That’s not likely to happen through, is it? It’s not as though Bill Gates publicly held his hands up while launching Windows.
One extension of Sony’s actual originality that is attached to Life with PlayStation and certainly worth a mention is the connection to Folding@home.
Specifically, those PlayStation 3s registered for submitting processing power to Stanford University’s ambitious protein-folding project will be able to contribute whenever launching Life with PlayStation. They will also be able to monitor where they stand in terms of total contribution via the inclusion of a special Folding@home ranking system.
By joining the project, PlayStation 3 users freely give processing power from their console’s Cell chip to a supercomputer of networked consoles. This massive global input is designed to help Stanford University perform complex protein-folding simulations and better understand and investigate the causes and possible cures for a whole host of diseases.
Set to follow the emergence of Life with PlayStation is Sony’s eagerly anticipated and delay-addled PlayStation Home virtual user environment for the PlayStation 3, which will see personal virtual avatars existing in a massive interactive world… (cough) not unlike Linden Lab’s hugely popular online world Second Life.
From : http://www.thetechherald.com
