Poll: Which of the Big 3 Has Had the Largest Impact on Gaming?

[J Tyran]

Sony, they where the ones to fully link multimedia devices with consoles. Others tried but Sony where the first to get it right, they have almost put more consoles in homes than both Nintendo and Microsoft put together.

I don't know where this idea that Nintendo saved gaming comes from, they did nothing of the sort. They kick started console gaming again but gaming in general was still fine and didn't "die" only the North American home console market collapsed, domestic home computer (C64 & VIC-20 etc), Apple and IBM compatible PC sales more than matched NES/Famicom sales. They had a huge library of games, they where a good con for many a kid that claimed they would "help with school work".

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

nintendo did save the american industry back in the day, and have had some interesting impacts since then (not every single game they made was a classic, and not every game made since then was based off of nintendo games) but as of late i'm having trouble giving even a molecule of fuck about them, so we'll see how much of an impact they keep having, as sony and even the dreaded xbone has more attention from me than nintendo does.

 

[Yuuki]

That's a bit of an unfair poll, Sony and Microsoft weren't even into gaming back when Nintendo was literally building the foundations of gaming as we know it.

Even if this question is asked in 2020 or 2025 the answer will still be the same. Even if Nintendo completely crashes and burns in the future due to a complete lack of sales/interest in any of their products...the answer sill still be the same.

 

[BarkBarker]

Nintendo, but from that SEGA, do you REALLY think without that superb competition they had that the industry would have pushed forward as it had? Competition in the market pushes us forward, however console WARS like nowadays aren't improving just siphoning off what they can as a speciality, never mind actually being better or giving more, just stopping me having it ENTIRELY.

 

[Batou667]

I voted Sony. The Playstation 1's success in popularising gaming isn't to be sniffed at - I remember back in 1996-7, gaming really entered the general consciousness in no small part thanks to PlayStation. Consoles were mostly regarded as toys for children before that.

Nintendo laid the foundations, sure, but if you want to go down that road we should all be thanking Atari for creating the VCS.

snip

I dunno, arguably modern controllers take a lot more from the Sega side of the console war. There's a fairly clear evolution from Megadrive 3-button --> Megadrive 6-button --> Saturn --> Saturn Analogue --> Dreamcast --> Xbox --> Xbox 360, whereas Nintendo controllers have been screwy and experimental in every console post-SNES. The four face-buttons in a diamond layout is probably a Nintendo influence, granted - probably the cross-pollination there happened when the Sony/Nintendo CD expansion flopped and, as if by magic, the PS1 controller popped up looking like a SNES controller with legs...

 

[Kinitawowi]

While it's perhaps worth pointing out that the Crash of '83 never killed the games industry in Europe and Japan like it did in America, Nintendo still made the industry what it is today by making home gaming something to celebrate again.

This is precisely why I can't get behind Nintendo as the saviours of gaming - I'm British. As far as I'm concerned the ZX Spectrum and the arcades had infinitely more impact on gaming - certainly my own experience of it - than anything else and Nintendo had negligible part in either market.

As such, I'm inclined to agree with the suggestion of Microsoft above - not for the online capabilities of the XBox (although that's the driving force behind much of current gaing, not that that's necessarily a good thing), but for the development and popularisation of Windows and in turn the PC itself. There's millions more installations of Windows Solitaire than there ever will be of Wii Sports, and while it's probably mostly done on Macs and bespoke systems with a smaller chunk on Windows, I'm pretty sure that virtually nobody is writing C++ code on a PS3.

 

[Evonisia]

I'd probably say Nintendo for their *ahem* contribution back in the early 80's. I know they only saved America but America is a large driving force in video gaming today.

I would also say it because they're still trying new and interesting things to play games with. Sure I don't like the Wii's motion controls or the WiiU's horrible pad but hey, I could not play games like that anywhere else.

 

[Roxas1359]

Don't forget, Sony got into the console business after working with Nintendo on the original collaborative CD console that was ditched in favor of the Playstation.

Actually Nintendo dropped Sony and ended up partnering with Phillips for it after Sony had already been working on the CD drive for the Super Famicom and as a result the Phillips CD-i was formed while Sony took the incite and knowledge and began working on the Playstation.

OT: As others have said Nintendo has the largest impact because they've been around the longest in the industry and the basically saved it. However Sony has also contributed to the industry by popularizing the disc-based format for games that all 3 companies use, as all of the Big 3 use some form of Bluray disc on their console (Wii U disc is a modified Bluray disc, Xbox One is using Bluray discs, and PS4 uses Bluray). Microsoft has contributed to gaming by popularizing online features for games. While some people don't like the directions that companies might go in, the Big 3 have each contributed to gaming a lot.

 

[verdant monkai]

I don't like their stuff as much as most people, but they have made some of my favourite games like Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country and Pokemon (my favourite game series).

Nintendo they've been in gaming pretty much since day one, and their simpler games and characters have a more widespread appeal. Than the bigmen like Nathan Drake and master Chief. Nintendo games are traditionally more simple than the things Sony and Microsoft make even today this is true, making accessible to a wider audience.

This is what I dont think publishers get these days. The wider audience doesnt want to play Resident evil or Dead Space. It wants games that don't require too much thought or time investment. It's why stuff like Mario and Angry Birds are so popular.

 

[Silvanus]

Nintendo. I don't see much of a contest (though I'm sure many will disagree).

The N64, the Gameboy, and perhaps the Wii are the most influential consoles there have been. Many of the most influential franchises are theirs too.

 

[Kinitawowi]

...Saturn Analogue controller?

*Goes to check Google*

Mother of Christ! Kill it! Kill it with fire!!!!

I don't think there's much to be said for the lasting influence of the Saturn controller, given it looks nothing like a modern gamepad. Similarly, while there is a consistency to Sega's controller designs, it's difficult to pin anything in particular they created that modern gamepads still use. Modern controllers don't tend to have face buttons in multiples of three. Maybe you could cite the 360's disc-based D-pad as a Sega influence, but the 360 D-pad is seen as one of the worst D-pads in existence, so not exactly a point worth arguing there.

The main thing that's immediately visible that's still around on the 360 is the position of the analog stick, above the disc for the digital control. Sony's Dualshock and its descendants have always had it below, between the disc and the RHS buttons; even the Gamecube went with the Saturn's (and Dreamcast's) approach from then onward, changing from the central stick on the N64 (and the N64's diamond+2 is a clear borrow from the six-button version of the Megadrive controller - which in turn owes most of its existence to Capcom's arcades).

 

[Strelok]

Nintendo, whoever holds the casual crowd in the console world wears the crown. So without a doubt that is Nintendo. I'm so glad it's not Micro$oft, I hope that it never is. With the XBone disaster I doubt it ever will.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I'd say Nintendo seeing as how they saved gaming from the crash that Atari made and contributed years worth of innovation towards gaming as we've come to know it, that and I grew up with quite a few nintendo games/consoles in my days and loved every moment of the memories.

 

[Batou667]

I don't think there's much to be said for the lasting influence of the Saturn controller, given it looks nothing like a modern gamepad.

Really? There's a fairly clear progression I think.

Spoiler: Saturn

Spoiler: Saturn Analogue

Spoiler: Dreamcast

Spoiler: Xbox

Spoiler: Xbox Lite

Spoiler: Xbox 360

The Saturn Analogue to Dreamcast transition is marked by changing from six to four face buttons and adopting the Nintendo-style diamond layout, and the original Xbox pad barely expands on this apart from adding a second analogue stick (and, note that the white and black buttons almost take us back to the Saturn-style two rows of three buttons).

I agree that the Nintendo pads you showed all have connecting features - but ye gads, that Gamecube pad is an unholy mess.

 

[Darren716]

Nintendo without question, let's go through some of their accomplishments shall we?

Created the first 2D platformer, saved the American game market, created the d-pad, started the idea of open world game play with the legend of zelda, created battery backup to save games, created the idea of a non-linear 2d game with metroid, introduced shoulder buttons with the snes controller, created the first successful hand held system with the gameboy, laid the foundation upon which all 3d games are built with the analog stick and player controlled camera, introduced player controlled targeting in order to make 3d adventure games possible, brought gaming to an untapped market with the Wii with motion controls that its competitors are trying to copy to this day.

 

[klaynexas3]

Richard "Lord British" Garriott. With his Ultima series it's a wonder that anyone would think otherwise. He is basically the creator of all CRPGs. Who else could claim the throne of the greatest person in the world??

In all seriousness, while I might not like what they've become, Nintendo definitely defined console gaming as it is today. Later companies kept the ball rolling, but after Atari lead the ball to stop, Nintendo got the ball back to moving by leading games away from the wood age(where everything was made out of wood). Even now they aren't a bad company, but they are a shadow of their former self, pushing little innovation here and there, and honestly just becoming the old guy down the street. He may be a nice guy and he might make cookies day after day for the good people, but they cookies have not changed since he first started making them, and even the ingredients to them are starting to look like he bought them back when he started.

 

[Strelok]

Nintendo.

They pretty much brought the gaming industry out from the brink of death after the last crash.

For consoles maybe, I was still playing video games in 1984. Just on a Commodore 64, not a console.

 

[Weaver]

Like everyone else said, Nintendo basically saved the gaming industry.
That's not to say some other company wouldn't have if they hadn't, but Nintendo did so I feel they deserve the credit.