We
weren't sure why the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences decided to give Sony's
evolutionary SIXAXIS controller a Technology and Engineering Emmy and, evidently, neither were they. After Sony blasted out
a press release proudly proclaiming the honor -- and after the internet rubbed its collective eyes raw -- we've learned that Sony wasn't alone in receiving an honor from the Academy. The
list of Emmy Award winners for "Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers" include Sony Computer Entertainment of America and ... Nintendo! Did Nintendo's innovative Wiimote share the honor with the motion-sensing SIXAXIS? Not quite ... Séamus at
Hydrapinion did some legwork and discovered that, while Sony
had won an Emmy for Technology and Engineering, it wasn't for the SIXAXIS. Instead, Christine Chin from NATAS confirmed that Sony's Dual Shock as well as Nintendo's D-Pad (NES pad?) won "for the development of the generation of controllers that followed the classic joysticks." Oops! You know what they say happens when you assume ...
[Thanks, Ben]
Read -- SIXAXIS innovation Emmy - a joke? (UPDATE: Sony was wrong)
Read -- Technology and Engineering Emmy Award Winners
posted Jan 9th 2007 at 7:43PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Russell @ Jan 9th 2007 7:59PM
LOL, so the one thing they one an "emmy" for, dualshock, is the one thing missing from their new craptastic ps3 controllers.
(yes I own a PS3, and the better half the 360)
JV @ Jan 9th 2007 8:00PM
Yet another ooops for Sony. Geez. Get it together guys.
Kris @ Jan 12th 2007 2:11PM
ha ha ha that is pretty good.
Ken @ Jan 9th 2007 8:07PM
LAWL!
That's good stuff. But again, I can see why Sony did that. I mean, with all the bad press they've been getting lately (and yes... deserving every bit of it), they had to be glad about... something!
Shane @ Jan 10th 2007 12:12AM
In the words of Nelson Muntz....
HAW HAW!
myscrnnm @ Jan 9th 2007 8:11PM
Do any of you realize that SCEI had the idea for the SIXAXIS as early as 1997? There's a page in the USPTO website for a patent for a video game controller with motion-sensing capabilities. In a sense, Nintendo copied Sony.
robotrock @ Jan 9th 2007 8:18PM
The hell do you think the powerglove was? That was 1989.
someone @ Jan 9th 2007 8:11PM
and hell once again unfroze
EDubya @ Jan 9th 2007 8:22PM
Does anyone else have a problem with handing out such stupid awards?
"Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers" and the award goes... to a product about a decade old. Worse than Steely Dan winning "Best Rock Album"
myscrnnm @ Jan 9th 2007 8:23PM
"The hell do you think the powerglove was? That was 1989."
THe Power Glove is very scary, like some sort of alien/robot device from a lame 80s sci-fi horror movie. With the SIXAXIS, SCEI is introducing to the market a very user-friendly device that most consumers will be familiar with due to its iconic and easily-recognizable form factor.
Joshua @ Jan 9th 2007 8:25PM
No, Nintendo did not copy Sony. The Wii Remote and the PS3 SIXAXIS are two completely different controllers, only related in that they are both devices used to control video games, among other things.
That said, the DualShock still winning anything makes no sense. It seems the only reason it got this award is because it is so common. In no way is it comfortable or intuitive to use.
Roll3r @ Jan 9th 2007 8:33PM
myscrnnm: fanboy/apologist or plant? You decide!
editor @ Jan 9th 2007 8:57PM
seems its about time that we see the exec's starting to bale!
Their attitude cost them a AAA console, their developers have cut and run, and now they see the error of the whole Immersion plan!
I wonder what the new management will do to address the problem in March!! (drop the price by 20% and open the web ability wide open?)
bryant @ Jan 9th 2007 9:03PM
On a day where CES and Mac world is going on and you xbox fanboys find a way to post something to bash a company. Hey, what's worst than a mac fanboy?....xbox fanboys who post stupid blogs.... The more Sony bashing blogs you guys post the more you guys are starting to look like dumb ass fanboys.
Dixonij @ Jan 9th 2007 9:16PM
Sheesh dude, they aren't fanboys posting it. Sony brought it on themselves this time. They were trying to herald their new SIXAXIS controller claiming they won an award when it was their DualShock that won the award. They jumped the gun with their press release and that is what people are giving Sony shit for now.
Joshua @ Jan 9th 2007 9:09PM
If you don't like the truth, bryant, then simply leave and don't come back.
Jason @ Jan 10th 2007 7:27AM
Where is the truth in any of this crap??? Even the NATAS person thought it was for the SIXAXIS controller. Sounds to me like a miscommunication problem and not the devious plot by Sony that everyone accuses them of every time they breathe.
Castle @ Jan 9th 2007 10:17PM
So they DID win an Emmy for "for the development of the generation of controllers that followed the classic joysticks." . . .
Veritas II @ Jan 9th 2007 10:38PM
And an Emmy for the XMB Interface too.
icepop4who @ Jan 9th 2007 10:42PM
a big LOL to that. i guess rumble feature beats out motion-sensing in the controllers.
The Soup Nazi @ Jan 10th 2007 12:50AM
Who care about Emmys? I care about soup, and because of this I say NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!
Taylor Mansfield @ Jan 10th 2007 7:18AM
I'm not sure which is more confusing, that they gave an emmy to someone who didn't even own the patents to a product that was released over 8 years ago, or that they also gave it to a component of a product that was released almost 20 years ago. It's like these people don't even know what year it is or what they are giving awards for.
yonderboy @ Jan 10th 2007 8:16AM
"With the SIXAXIS, SCEI is introducing to the market a very user-friendly device that most consumers will be familiar with due to its iconic and easily-recognizable form factor."
That made me laugh more than the supposed-Emmy announcement yesterday. What Sony Press Release did you copy-n-paste that from?
For the record, I vote "plant"
johnnyg0 @ Jan 10th 2007 8:50AM
myscrnnm :
Do you realize Gyration has been making motion sensing devices for like 20 years now. So in a way Sony and Nintendo copied them (or the guys who invented it), BUT, Sony had NO PLANS to have a motion sensing device in the PS3 before Nintendo unveiled the Wiimote, the rest is history.
KYXX @ Jan 10th 2007 10:27AM
Wouldn't they be talking about the actual control methods, and not the controllers themselves?
Sony introduced the popular dual-analogue control sticks.
Nintendo introduced the D-pad.
Both were major leaps in the ways to control games.
RTFM @ Jan 10th 2007 10:44AM
WTF does a console have to do with a BROADCASTING TV award? Seems like the Emmys need monies !