22nd September 2005, 3:21 PM
Well, the rest of lazy's post up there aside, I have a question. What is accomplished by putting a speaker on it's side?
That is to say, if there was a double blind test wherein the listener had no idea which speaker he or she was listening to, and the answer list was hidden from the person taking down the guesses from the subject, would they get a success rate greater than chance would allow, like oh say, 80% success rate?
I only ask because I fail to see how that would matter at all.
Anyway, you are BOTH right. On the one hand, functionally, the d-pad does exactly the same thing. In that respect, it's nothing new.
On the other hand, the shape change, while no controller has EXACTLY copied Nintendo's design for copyright reasons (that's the entire reason every non-Nintendo system uses some odd shape instead of a +, but is close enough that it's pretty much negligable), is still the influence behind most d-pads of today and it is the standard. In that respect, Nintendo changed the market, even if they didn't alter function but merely ergonomics.
So, take whichever definition you want. What is and is not innovation is a bit of a rough seperation anyway.
That is to say, if there was a double blind test wherein the listener had no idea which speaker he or she was listening to, and the answer list was hidden from the person taking down the guesses from the subject, would they get a success rate greater than chance would allow, like oh say, 80% success rate?
I only ask because I fail to see how that would matter at all.
Anyway, you are BOTH right. On the one hand, functionally, the d-pad does exactly the same thing. In that respect, it's nothing new.
On the other hand, the shape change, while no controller has EXACTLY copied Nintendo's design for copyright reasons (that's the entire reason every non-Nintendo system uses some odd shape instead of a +, but is close enough that it's pretty much negligable), is still the influence behind most d-pads of today and it is the standard. In that respect, Nintendo changed the market, even if they didn't alter function but merely ergonomics.
So, take whichever definition you want. What is and is not innovation is a bit of a rough seperation anyway.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)