Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has said he is flattered that Microsoft pinched his Mii idea.
"To see that a company like Microsoft has taken something we've done and kind of looked at it in a way and brought it out on their platform to kind of show that we've done has become the standard, I find quite flattering," Miyamoto told IGN.
Miyamoto is confident that each company will take its avatar system two separate ways for two different audiences, despite Microsoft appearing to be after the casual audience that has been so lucrative for Nintendo and its Wii.
"On the other hand, I think probably the basic ideas behind perhaps those two different systems are different, and because of that I think they will probably develop in different ways," said Miyamoto.
Microsoft unveiled its avatar system during its E3 press conference on Monday evening. It is to be part of a completely redesigned Xbox 360 dashboard that will go live this autumn.