Uhh... no. That's not how it worked.
Back in the day, Nintendo and Sega discovered a new medium, called the CD-ROM. It really wasn't new, the PC world knew about it, but that's not the point. Consider it the cold war of video games, just like with the space race, and the arms race, they had their own little CD-ROM race. Sega announced that they would put out this great new format. Of course, what most of you don't realize, is that Sega partnered with Sony to make the Sega CD.
So now Nintendo has to catch up, they also chose to partner with Sony for the project. So Nintendo announced the plan at the winter CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in '92. Problem is, by that time Sony was already planning to make a console of their own. So then Nintendo questioned whether they should allowed Sony to help them with the drive. After all, why would you want a new guy to know how to design a video game console?
But Nintendo didn't play nice. They let Sony announce the plans for their new console at the CES, and then, just the next day, turned around and announced they found a new partner for the project, Philips. Ouch.
They didn't copy the system code, and the system would've existed with or without Nintendo. For the record, NEC released the TurboGrafx-CD 2 years before Sega. So neither of them was first with a CD-based console. Nintendo later decided they no longer wanted a CD-ROM drive, and by 1995, Nintendo becomes the only major video game company without a CD-based system.
|