Nintendo puts it simply: Mario and his fellow franchise comrades will never appear in an Apple or Google app store

Then why don't you just thank Nintendo instead of dissing them. For without nintendo you would not have those awesome nes, snes games you illegally are stealing from them to play on your phone.

That's a pretty broad statement to make there, buddy. Technically, emulated games are not "stolen" if you paid for the original game. If the original hardware fails, but you still have the cartridge, using an emulator could be the only way to actually play.

While pirating does mean downloading proprietary software, downloading proprietary software does not always equate to pirating. Cross reference: fair use, US Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (extended to other copyrighted works through the court).

"Some" might say the iPhone is pointless, but they'd be trolling. :) If you want a pointless smartphone, maybe look at the Kin. I think everyone can agree that
*that* was a "wtf were they thinking" moment for MS. (Looking back at my post, I realize I'm coming off as a haughty iPhone guy, which wasn't my intention at all. My thinking applies to whatever smartphone platform you'd like it to, since they're all capable of supporting great games.)

Your second point is kind of what I'm saying, though: you totally are buying into more than a piece of hardware, you're buying into the range of software you'll be able to use with it. A smartphone is a general-purpose computer while a DS or (to a lesser extent) PSP is a specialized game device. For the physical space you sacrifice, you can do more with a smartphone, and still include tons of gaming in that.

All I'm saying is that I don't think it would actually hurt Nintendo at all to release a few games for the more-than-capable smartphone platforms that are out there. Their platform exclusivity made sense in the past when they were only competing against other gaming devices (and still does make sense within that realm — no need to release Mario on the PSP!), but I suspect smartphone owners aren't as likely to see a couple of extra games as incentive enough to add on an entire second device to carry around with them, so it's not like "Mario for iPhone" would steal sales from "Mario for DS" that weren't already heading in the iPhone's direction in the first place.

Anyway, I guess the SMG series must be pretty awesome to warrant dropping the dough for a new console just to play them...but I really hope you end up getting more value for your money than that, because that'd be kinda sad. Like, I dunno, getting a second toaster to use specifically with cinnamon raisin bagels? I'm clearly not that great with analogies. :P

so by your logic Evenio, it would make sense for all games to be released on all consoles, PC, Android, iPhone and every possible platform and completely forgo exclusive titles? platform exclusive titles are what drive console sales. i think you would see a lot less Wiis sold if Mario and Zelda were on Xbox.

standalone OSX for Intel and AMD platforms is the perfect analogy. if it was possible to buy a $400 PC and throw OSX on it a LOT of people would do that. hell i might even do it. instead they want OSX bad enough that they are willing to pay through the nose for Apple hardware. bottom line if you want the software bad enough you have to buy the hardware. obviously you don't want it bad enough.

oh and Sebastian, do yourself a favor and pick up Twilight Princess. you won't be sorry.

Well, OK, I'm not saying everything should be released everywhere, but I just don't see smartphones and handheld gaming devices to be *direct* competitors. When I think of Nintendo releasing something for iOS, I don't see it being the same game as they'd put out for the DS; it'd be something different, more suited to the hardware (i.e. one touchscreen, no buttons), and likely much lighter-weight in terms of gameplay and content than their offerings for their own systems (duh, why would they save the best stuff for someone else?).

My point isn't that they should *have* to release games for other platforms, but that it likely wouldn't be such a horribly detrimental thing for them to do. Heck, even Apple reaches out and offers software for Windows in an effort to entice people into getting the "real deal" (even if *they* happen to do an absolutely horrible job of it).

I don't think the OS X analogy is quite right, because operating systems on handheld gaming devices are very appliance-like to allow you to get straight to the game without any fussing around. Nobody would really want to run DS firmware on a PSP or vice versa. Apple does, however, make OS X-exclusive software like iLife, Logic, Final Cut, etc. which would be a closer analogy to Nintendo's individual game titles. And personally, I don't think Apple would exactly be in jeopardy of going under if, say, they ported iMovie to Windows to lay the smackdown on Windows Movie Maker. Sure, keep the pro apps (and flagship Mario and Zelda titles) on their home platform, but let your entry-level products do a bit of evangelism on other platforms, too — maybe even make a little money on the side from it in the case of games.

iPhones and DSes are indeed different niches, even if they have started to eat into one another a little — there's certainly a market for DSes just as there's still a huge market for dumbphones (which I think is a derogatory misnomer...they're not dumb at all, just simple).