But the final product of this Phone/game device contraption was rejected.

Japan meets Finland

A development source, who preferred to remain anonymous, has revealed that there was a skunkworks R&D project run by Nokia and Nintendo in the early 2000s - about the same time Nokia was working on its original N-Gage phone.

The R&D efforts, which were located at Nintendo's Japanese HQ, were successful enough that the concept of a Nintendo phone was taken to the company's board of directors for approval. It was rejected.

At the time, Nintendo was starting work on what became the DS, and presumably thought a dedicated portable console made more sense.

In light of the N-Gage's failure and the success of the DS - four hardware redesigns and 120 million sales down the line - you'd be hard pressed to prove Nintendo wrong.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/Exclusive:+Nokia+Nintendo+phone+went+through+R%26D+at+Nintendo+HQ/news.asp?c=22738

Even today a lot of people is still cheering for a future of portable  gaming focused on devices like the iPhone or the iPad. Seems like NIntendo tried 10 years ago and decided to go the other way.

Odd that they were willing to work with Nintendo, then found themselves cast against them. It's a tiny bit like the PlayStation story, except this time the "PlayStation" failed horribly.

Usually when everyone else wants to zig, Nintendo zags and makes money doing it.

So be very careful thinking that something Nintendo rejected is going to succeed for someone else.

Mike from Morgantown

Sometimes, it's not a question of whether the move is right, but a question of whether the time is right. For Apple, the time for a touchscreen tablet wasn't right in 1993, but it certainly was in 2010.

Certainly, the time for a gamerphone wasn't right in 2000. And it looks like Nintendo doesn't think it's right in 2010, either.

I think I remeber seeing the patent for something liek this, might have been fake though

That would've been awesome. I have to carry my phone and DS. Combining then would be so much easier

I think that nintendo made a wise choice b/c they have no experience with making phones, and there games wouldn't translate well to phones, b/c cellphone games are far too simplistic even the high powered Iphone 4's

well nokia failed in gaming but their smartphones sales since 2004 are way bigger than alll nintendo DS.

nokia averages 60m-80m smartphones each year, 400m phones overalll.

The N-Gage was ahead of its time.

Thank god they didn't go through with it. O_o'

Also, that pic in the OP is grossly nasty.