22nd September 2005, 11:14 PM
Ryan Wrote:I don't understand how replacing a joystick with a pad that can be manipulated with just a thumb is a mere improvement, yet if you take that same exact pad and make it cross-shaped, it's the Jesus Christ of videogame technology. The Intellivision was the first console to use a pad. It made many games much easier to play. It changed the way videogames are played. Just because everyone credits Nintendo for 'creating' a technology that existed years before they came up with it doesn't mean a thing, except that most people are ignorant.
It's a shame all of you say so many things without ever even touching one of them.
Regardless of what you all choose to believe, the technology is the same. The shape is different. The cross-shaped D-Pad was an improvement, but by no means at all was it a major catalyst that forever changed video games. The NES was such a catalyst, but the shape of the D-Pad had nothing to do with it. As someone who has actually used both extensively, I know better than all of you the differences and similarities. The NES D-pad is more responsive and comfortable to use over extended periods of use, but it doesn't operate any differently. It doesn't make games any different, nor did the changes in design that appeared on the Genesis or Playstation. They all look and feel slightly different, but they do the same thing the Intellivision's pad did. Nothing more, and just a little less.
So please, actually use one before you try saying anything about it.
1.) You're arguing your points by agreeing with mine and others.
2.) As I told you before, I played Intellivision many times growing up and found it to be 'another Atari' which I quickly got bored with. Let's recap: It's a disk... with a TELEPHONE PAD. it is not a good controller for any type of video game from any era unless you have to dial a phone in the video game. It is uncomfortable, it is useless, it is a bad design, it is not used in any video games today or since, it is a failure.
3.) If it was not a major catalyst to the improvment of all video games then why do all 8-bit, 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit and all current gen and all NEXT gen controllers have a directional pad that is based off of Nintendo's and not Intellivision's disk? To offer a radically different design that renders other designs of the same function obsolete and creates a new tier or industry standard is innovation; That is a fact.
If you want, we can take a step back and see that Nintendo innovated the d-pad again with the introduction of the analog stick.
No one here is being a blind fan-boy except for you (and with Intellivision no less...). It's obvious that Sony innovated the idea of controllers with dual analog sticks which is now in use on all current gen systems and most next gen. Nintendo opted for 'C-buttons' instead of a stick and the idea failed, as you can see no other company used that idea again. Sony's dual sticks set the standard. They innovated the standard. The same can be said about Nintendo's d-pad. They took an idea, and made it better. So much better, that it caused a major change in the industry.
4.) You have already proven your own ignorance in this thread (which is really, really confusing me) by arguing something that makes no sense. You are doing more of a job trying to convince yourself of your opinion and doing a bad job at that. The facts are in front of you, but you choose not to see them in the hopes that your OPINION will be seen as fact.
Bottom line-
*We all agree that the Intellivision disk was a step in the right direction.
*We all agree that Nintendo's directional-pad is better.
*We all agree that no matter how much you or anyone wants to believe that the Intellivision beats Nintendo hands-down in the area of innovation in the creation of how we interact with games, it will always be a failed system that is quickly being erased from the history of video games due its lack of cohesive content and inability to withstand time (ie: sales of retro-Gaming packages including Intellivision games do not sell while Nintendio releases a 20 year old game for full price and makes money). if the disk was true innovation, THEN IT WOULD BE IN USE TODAY. But it's not, the D-Pad is. Long live the King.
*We all agree that this is a DUMB ARGUMENT.
*The tomato is possibly a fruit.
DJ/ It's more involved than just the shape, but the idea was simple. A speaker with 2 to 3 mid and high range outputs (tweeters) would have a more direct sound if placed vertically to 'hug' the shape of the TV. What you're thinking of has more to do with cross frequency and dynamic range which translates to quality of the sound. The center speaker is part of a package ranging from 3 channel stereo, 5.1 (poor man's theater) to 7.1 (multiple sub) with self-powered speakers which is the truest theater sound. The idea is that the 4 (in the 5.1) or 6 (in the 7.1) speakers shoot towards the middle creating a diffusion of sound that is like a bubble around the audience (the subs being the main drivers of all low frequency and a 'buffer' for mid range to complete the 'bubble'). But most sound mixers dont understand that concept and they just throw sound at you as they see fit
The idea of the center speaker was first created to be the main 'voice' speaker. Even during stereo mixes where the character is on the right, 25% of his voice is in the center. Later mixers started playing with the center speaker to include any high frequency information they could fit without compressing important audio, like voice. But the basis was always the same: L, R, Rear, Surround create the diffusion field, Center is direct and only functions correctly when pointed directly at the audience.
Next time you're in a theater, try to look behind the screen, you'll see the subs and centers and sometimes the stereo placement. In most theaters, you'll find the center and subs in front with the self powered rear and surround channels placed WAY above you along the walls. They're not meant to be direct like the center channel.
But then you have theater mixes Vs. DVD mixes and cross over and speaker placement and the oh lady with the pink noise and the hurting and that's just a can i dont want to open right now.