E308: Miyamoto 'flattered' by Microsoft Avatars

WTF? He brought it to CONSOLES. Nobody is saying he invented the damn thing.

I think you misread what I said. The analogy was that Microsoft didn't invent any of those things either and instead just made it mainstream.

Avatars have existed on consoles for a long time now - I'm not sure why you think consoles never had them before. What Miyamoto did was made the idea mainstream. Well, technically the marketing department did, but you get what I mean.

I just don't like how he's so eager to point out cases of other companies adapting their ideas when his company does the exact same thing to them many times over.

Who's eager? IGN approached and asked him for his views on that specific subject. I thought it a pretty humble reply considering that MS's Avatars are obviously inspired by Miis. And what past user-created console "avatars" are you referring to?

I'd say any game that has a sufficiently deep create-a-player mode. The difference between that and Miis is that one is a niche feature for hardcore players and the other is enjoyed by millions of casual players worldwide. Hence, taking a feature and making it mainstream.

I know we're going to disagree here, but I think being humble would be pointing out that every company is inspired by others and that their claim to fame is making an existing feature more accessible, not by throwing them under the bus and acting like Miis are somehow above being avatars (despite being similar to any other community-based avatar system) and are becoming the next industry standard. To me, that reads like the opposite of being humble.

"I'm sure Microsoft is flattered about Wiiware, the channels system, friend lists, and eventually the storage solution"

These are generic features, and the Wii's implementations look little or nothing like the 360's. (In fact, the Wii's channels looks nothing like the 360 blades or menu system.) And friend lists have been around since the mid-90s at least.

While avatars are nothing new, Microsoft blatantly went after the Wii's implementation: the avatars are external to the games and are cartoony. And Microsoft has not pursued a cartoony style for the 360 until now, when it realized from drooping sales that it needed to follow Nintendo's lead.

I like the 360 for its own reasons, but your points are not really valid because Nintendo isn't following the 360's implementation.

"I'm sure Microsoft is flattered about Wiiware, the channels system, friend lists, and eventually the storage solution"

These are generic features, and the Wii's implementations look little or nothing like the 360's. (In fact, the Wii's channels looks nothing like the 360 blades or menu system.) And friend lists have been around since the mid-90s at least.

While avatars are nothing new, Microsoft blatantly went after the Wii's implementation: the avatars are external to the games and are cartoony. And Microsoft has not pursued a cartoony style for the 360 until now, when it realized from drooping sales that it needed to follow Nintendo's lead.

I like the 360 for its own reasons, but your points are not really valid because Nintendo isn't following the 360's implementation.

"I'm sure Microsoft is flattered about Wiiware, the channels system, friend lists, and eventually the storage solution"

These are generic features, and the Wii's implementations look little or nothing like the 360's. (In fact, the Wii's channels looks nothing like the 360 blades or menu system.) And friend lists have been around since the mid-90s at least.

While avatars are nothing new, Microsoft blatantly went after the Wii's implementation: the avatars are external to the games and are cartoony. And Microsoft has not pursued a cartoony style for the 360 until now, when it realized from drooping sales that it needed to follow Nintendo's lead.

I like the 360 for its own reasons, but your points are not really valid because Nintendo isn't following the 360's implementation whereas the 360's avatars are similar in form and function to the Wii's.

Actually, Nintendo was the first to bring storage and downloads to systems, it was called the Nintendo 64dd, but It was only released in Japan.