Thread: Living a Digital Existence Week 5

You have some good points. They did take ideas from nintendo about the avatars but I dont see much of the playstation dashboard in the new NXE. They have taken the ideas but improved on them in my opinion. Install games to your hard drive is a massive improvement (Not 100% if the PS3 or Wii has this). Also group private chat I hear is coming. Too me it's a massive update probably because iv not seen much of the Wii and PS3 so I can't compare alot.

Firstly as always another great living a digital existence post David, I do agree Microsoft’s Avatars are a copy of Nintendo’s Mii’s... then again who doesn’t copy each other these days? Microsoft hit it big with achievements when the 360 launched, now Sony have copied them with “trophies” and Value have added achievement support to some of their games on Steam.
I would personally say the 360’s NXE is more copied from Windows Media Centre rather than the PS3.

Vista MCE


360 NXE


PS3 XBM


Let’s be honest there all pretty similar and have probably all stolen ideas from each other somewhere down the line, I think its more of what you can do from in the interface that matters. Example with the new NXE on the 360 you get access to a lot of your content and features of the 360 directly in game. Unless the PS3 has changed there’s not a lot you can do from the in game xbm from what I remember.

Most games these days to be honest are nothing new and most of them not that good, any series that is good seems to get bought by EA then they make sure there’s a new copy of the game on sale every year sadly. Its the small arcade games that impress me the most these days, Marble Blast, Geometry Wars, Mutant Strom, Heavy Weapon and even old classics like Bomberman remade with online play and Vision camera support.

the nintendo wii is real money spinner, you need 4 remotes which are £30 with £15 for a nun chuck... lets not forget the adapters developers want you to buy at £10 a chuck, steering wheel, fishing rod, tennis racket, gun... the list goes on...

wii fit = dust collecter

if you want inovation and inventive games by a ds

dont support development of these consumerist "inovations"

i hope sony and microsoft have better sense than to fall down this path way of add - ons

dont get me wrong i love guitar hero, but please no more plastic shit for my house...

edit :

keep up the good work, its nice to see some opinionated people are still out there

Originally Posted by mattyd38

the nintendo wii is real money spinner, you need 4 remotes which are £30 with £15 for a nun chuck... lets not forget the adapters developers want you to buy at £10 a chuck, steering wheel, fishing rod, tennis racket, gun... the list goes on...

wii fit = dust collecter

if you want inovation and inventive games by a ds

dont support development of these consumerist "inovations"

i hope sony and microsoft have better sense than to fall down this path way of add - ons

dont get me wrong i love guitar hero, but please no more plastic shit for my house...

edit :

keep up the good work, its nice to see some opinionated people are still out there

Actually, you make a good point. I completely forgot about the DS. Great little console which adds something new and different. And i agree about the Wii being a bit of a money spinner. The point I was trying to make was that it is something new and different and not the same old.

Good post!

Mirrors Edge?

Can't say I'm too fond of it, but you gotta give EA something for trying something totally new!

Only real comment I can make is that while you say NXE is like the PS3, yes it is. But its only Microsofts Windows Media Center interface which has been out longer than the PS3 or PSP. If anything, Sony copied Microsoft but twisted it 90 degrees. Its also the same interface they use on the Zune and other Microsoft Devices so it was expected. But then again, who did Microsoft get the idea in the first place?

Sony this round has done nothing to invovate and they know that, thats why they are losing (plus there terrible price).

Avaters have been around longer than Nintendo Wii's Mii's. Years and years they have been done on devices, websites, etc etc. Microsoft and Nintendo copied that, though it should be said Nintendo did a basic version on a games console first out of the major three.

Id anything, Id give credit to Nintendo knowing how to rip kids and families off, while yes they are inotive, they are also the biggest rip off in the history of games consoles like MattyD said. Cost of a machine must be less than £40, yet they charge £180. Controller costs at a guess, £4? Yet they charge £45 for the lot. As much as I love my Wii, I wish I didnt support Nintendo by giving them money yet no one else seems to feel the same.

Originally Posted by MunkyMagikUK

[SIZE="3"]Now, here’s my problem. I’m sure I’m going to get flamed for this, but does anyone else think that they have just “copied” elements from Sony and Nintendo here? Avatars, or should I say “Mii’s”, are nothing new to us, anyone who has ever used a Wii will know about these, and although Microsoft have expanded on them (e.g. clothes etc.)

Agreed, it is fair to say I wasn't overjoyed when I first saw the preview of this update. I've always had a resentment for avatars as pointless, detracting crap. It's a gimmick, and not a very good one. Frankly I like the current dashboard very much, and have no desires for any major changes to it or the radical and entirely pointless increase in profile sizes.

Originally Posted by MunkyMagikUK

I think that it isn’t even just Microsoft and Sony though. Game developers are just as bad, I mean, how often is it now where a game is created, and you think, “Wow, I haven’t actually played anything like this before!” I’ll tell you, not very often.

Don't blame us developers for this, give a developer a free hand and funding and you'll see something new. Creative talent has not stagnated, but the publishers that have grown up in the games industry much like in the film industry are relying on "safe bets"; sequels of successful games rather than trying something oustandingly new, and risky ideas. I've been turned off playing games a lot in recent years because of the samey nature, I'm tired of playing a game half a dozen along a chain of sequels from something that actually was a good original game.

It doesn't help that the monster/enemy of innovation known as EA is going round swallowing up every brilliant studio and then systematically destroying it. I've got no objection to a company buying another, but if they're like Westwood Studios with a brilliant talentset and setup leave them to their own devices. Take your bit of the profit, but let them get on with what they want to do. Really getting bored of EA's bad film licensed games, sport sims and Need For Speed 17 games. It is my opinion however that the industry will hit back strong with the complete opposite, a range of new IP and ideas to combat this rising problem.

Originally Posted by Nimrod

Only real comment I can make is that while you say NXE is like the PS3, yes it is. But its only Microsofts Windows Media Center interface which has been out longer than the PS3 or PSP. If anything, Sony copied Microsoft but twisted it 90 degrees. Its also the same interface they use on the Zune and other Microsoft Devices so it was expected. But then again, who did Microsoft get the idea in the first place?

The XMB made its debut on the Japanese PSX back in 2003, if I remember an old Edge magazine correctly. But let's face it, you wouldn't call a linear menu a copy because it's logical, and a 2 dimensional menu is only an extension of that. A linear menu within a linear menu, the concept is so simple that it's pointless saying either person copied each other.