I remember a Swedish game magazine having an article about a Nintendo/Microsoft partnership. This was before this gen. If I remember correctly they even had a picture of Miyamoto holding an Xbox controller or something like that. Of course it was a joke, but it was well done.
I don't think my parents have any trouble with console companies, though they have a hard time remembering some game titles. My mom usually says "that something fantasy" when referring to Final Fantasy.
One of my ex's mom was a true Zelda fanatic and when Gamecube and Xbox had been released she called and asked for advice on which console to buy. I said she should buy the GC so she could play Zelda, but she wanted an Xbox because it had a DVD-player...it took 15 minutes minimum to explain that you can't play Zelda on Xbox...
