You know what would look better on this box? The bar.

If you've followed the portable wars during the seventh generation of video gaming, you've no doubt noticed that, while Sony's PSP has seen reasonably impressive sales numbers in some years (sustainable numbers, anyway), Nintendo's DS has basically trounced its competition. To illustrate, I'm going to deploy a really stupid analogy here, just because it is late (why oh why do I always blog in the middle of the night, anyway?) and my inhibitions are gone. Do you remember that part in Wind in the Willows where Badger takes Toad behind closed doors and berates him for almost an hour until the latter (temporarily) repents of his self-destructive ways? Let me quote, just really quickly:

"You knew it must come to this, sooner or later, Toad," the Badger explained severely. "You've disregarded all the warnings we've given you, you've gone on squandering the money your father left you, and you're getting us animals a bad name in the district by your furious driving and your smashes and your rows with the police. Independence is all very well, but we animals never allow our friends to make fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and that limit you've reached. Now, you're a good fellow in many respects, and I don't want to be too hard on you. I'll make one more effort to bring you to reason. You will come with me into the smoking-room, and there you will hear some facts about yourself; and we'll see whether you come out of that room the same Toad that you went in."

He took Toad firmly by the arm, led him into the smoking-room, and closed the door behind them.

"That's no good!" said the Rat contemptuously. "Talking to Toad'll never cure him. He'll say anything."

They made themselves comfortable in armchairs and waited patiently. Through the closed door they could just hear the long continuous drone of the Badger's voice, rising and falling in waves of oratory; and presently they noticed that the sermon began to be punctuated at intervals by long-drawn sobs, evidently proceeding from the bosom of Toad, who was a soft-hearted and affectionate fellow, very easily converted -- for the time being -- to any point of view.

After some three-quarters of an hour the door opened, and the Badger reappeared, solemnly leading by the paw a very limp and dejected Toad. His skin hung baggily about him, his legs wobbled, and his cheeks were furrowed by the tears so plentifully called forth by the Badger's moving discourse.

"Sit down there, Toad," said the Badger kindly, pointing to a chair. "My friends," he went on, "I am pleased to inform you that Toad has at last seen the error of his ways. He is truly sorry for his misguided conduct in the past, and he has undertaken to give up motor-cars entirely and for ever. I have his solemn promise to that effect."

Of course, this scolding doesn't take, and a few short lines later, Mr. Toad has repented of his repentance, but never mind that. In a lot of ways, the Nintendo DS has acted like Badger, scolding the PSP's Toad into doing something less reckless and more productive with itself. Look at how the PSP's squandered its inheritance, throwing away the PS2's hard-earned dollars on stupid proprietary format slots and optical disc drives! That's not a portable system; that's a mobile workstation! It's a console without a TV set. It's all excess. For shame!

And of course now rumors are circulating that Sony may be releasing a new UMD-less PSP soon. And if they aren't, then obviously my Wind in the Willows analogy is perfect.

But forget all that. What I'm really interested in here is the subtle (?) way that Nintendo's marketing the DSi, the new successor to the DS and DS Lite. The new portable has a few features not seen in previous DS models, like its two cameras, its SD card slot, its ability to play music, that sort of thing. Naturally Nintendo wanted to capitalize on those new features, and so the DSi presents itself as a multi-purpose portable gadget, not just a gaming system. Look at the picture at the top of the post again, and you can see how Nintendo represents the DSi's capabilities on the packaging.

Oh, and by the way, does it look familiar? I expect it does:

Or more to the point:
Hmmmm. This isn't a difficult observation to make, but Nintendo is horning in not only on Sony's niche (which arguably was Apple's niche before Sony expanded the portable media player concept to include video games, and which may become Apple's niche again) but also on Sony's brand. That familiar "XrossMediaBar" look is in full effect on that DSi box, just Nintendoed up a bit, what with the softer colors and the minimalist Apple/Wii aesthetic.

If you aren't familiar, the XrossMediaBar is the thing in the blue picture up there. It's this row of icons that lets you select categories of functions that expand into columns so that you can then choose specific items. It's well known from its implementation in the PSP and the PS3, and now it's even being used in several of Sony's HDTV sets, cameras, and apparently newer VAIO laptops. It's iconic. It's Sony's.

I would also think it would be distinct enough that Nintendo's obvious appropriation could be interpreted as some sort of infringement. I mean, I love Nintendo's moxie, but this seems risky to me. Playful, cheeky, fun, even great, but risky. So what I'm wondering is, how aggressive is Sony's legal department when it comes to stuff like this? Is this potentially actionable? Or am I just making too big a deal about something no one else will be interested in?

Picture credits: DSi and PSP packaging from Amazon.com (lazy me); XrossMediaBar from crystalxp.net.