A gross misunderstanding of the Nintendo franchise. Mario is not popular because of a cartoon but because of his roots and Nintendo fanboys. Nintendo have the most die hard supporters and they will buy whatever spiel Nintendo shovel out because it has the Nintendo label of approval on it. This is an impenetrable and unsustainable market that should be ignored, not imitated. Once these guys grow up and leave Nintendo behind them, Nintendo will not have a new audience as their games were focused on satisfying fan's needs for franchise titles, which to the outsider are a steaming pile of dated garbage. Therefore Nintendo are not a sustainable market, and that is not a position any company with sense wants to emulate.
The problem with Sony's exclusives is that they just aren't special enough. Killzone 1 was meh, and 2 didn't have strong enough characters. Whilst I loved the MP, many didn't. Nathan Drake is nothing special and MGS stopped pretty much on release of the PS3. Sony could have been onto a winner with Trico but that's looking more and more like vapourware, and if it does emerge, it'll probably horribly dated. After SotC Sony really should have pushed a more arty unique angle but tried going mainstream which just help it get lost in the multiplatform cavalcade of medicority that has been this generation.
