Actually, Cognition was "first". But that's life - there were pop quartets before Beatles, but it was with Beatles that the mania spread and rock bands started growing hairs, shake, twist and shout.
Someone has to be the "first" one, or remembered as such, which is Double Fine for Kickstarter. And it's kinda natural that others will try to use the momentum. But it's really more than the "Kickstarter" - as the rise of "indie" philosophy, it's the connection between fans and developers, something that wasn't imaginable before. Just like we've come a "long way" from calling Hint Lines when we're stuck to looking up the solution on internet in a matter of seconds, now we're able to communicate with developers, we can look on their Twitter and FB and see what they're up to... and we can actually fund the game in production.
There're good things, and there're bad things in all of this - i'm not overly enthusiastic to see what Tim Schafer is thinking while making the game, or how is he doing it, as i'm curious to actually see and play the finished game. It's just like those game surveys (i can't seem to find the great quote from these forums on the topic of how players should not over-influence the developers, but it was something along the lines of
this thread) - because they reflect how the "boundary" between fans and developers is gone. But there's more to gain, really. We'll be just seeing more and more of the campaigns which might overshadow the true and quality efforts, but they will find the way this way or another if fans want it. There are already similar sites to Kickstarter, like
this one with unofficial Day of the Tentacle sequel.