Yeah, I don't get the point of porting BIOSHOCK to a cellphone either.

Ok, if you think Sony & Ms should follow that route too, then you are being logical & that's your opinion.

I was afraid that this path was only a "salvation" for Nintendo.

Yet I don't agree that future of gaming is the mini-app tablet/phone model. Of the 3 console makers though, I only see Nintendo pulling it with some success if it comes to that, they have a large experience of quick portable games on the go! On top of that they the franchises that would fit the better in this kind of games.

Sony & MS cinematic & immersing type of games... not so much. Sony has proven well enought that they don't understand portable gaming, all they do is port home console games to portable.

Nintendo should make an hybrid portable device: Phone/console, with 2 distinct E-shops, 1 for regular games & one with mini-app king of games.

See the problem with that line of thinking is you fail to see how the shift will affect Nintendo as a game developer.

One of the reasons, Nintendo is as successful at game development as it is today is because their teams are working with their hardware. They don't have to go out to get middleware or other development tools to move development unless they want to as nearly everything is developed in house or shared once available. They also don't have to pass someone else's quality to reviews to release their own games.

It also boils down to whether Nintendo can really make games that work on the mobile platform. While the technology is there that any Nintendo game can be displayed on such, the majority of Nintendo's stable outside of some racing, RPGs and simple platformers aren't really designed to work well with the standard smart phone input methods. Heck, how many people complained about the Wii games and preferred using the classic controller or GC on anythat allowed them to? The IPs may sell themselves for a while but if Nintendo isn't able to adapt their style to mobile quick enough they will wind up losing all the good will they had. And releasing even mobile ports to smart phones also reduces the amount Nintendo regualrly charges in re-releasing/remaking their own games on newer systems either as bonuses or cash grabs.

Just as Sega lost a lot of its own fanbase as they transitioned from hardware/game publisher to full on third party game publsiher why do people think Nintendo ever doing the same will lead them to more success when it just opens the fanbase to be more divided?

Oh boy.. Good ol' Yahoo never disappoints when it comes to these GENIOUS articles! Never!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JzbWVDzac is the best Comment for this.

we said the same about consoles and fps, but they somehow got big, even with terrible controls.

Marketing is a helluva drug.

man, tell me about it!, such a butt hurt load of garbage. 

While I do not agree with this article, I do believe that Nintendo needs to move into the smartphone market for their next gen. In the 80's, kids were growing up in front of televisions and Nintendo took advantage of that concept and made fortunes. Today, kids are growing up in front of Smartphones and Tablets while dedicated handhelds are antiquated and I even think that traditional living room TV's are starting to become a "parent's thing."

Obviously, selling touch-screen only games on ios for $0.99 would be disastrous for Nintendo. Nintendo never has done well competing directly with other companies. Nintendo needs to innovate, carve out a new market for itself and then establish itself as the leader in this new market before the competition has a chance to catch up. This is how Nintendo succeeded with the NES, the Gameboy, the DS, and the Wii.

I have mentioned this before, but for the next gen I think Nintendo should just give up on the dedicated handheld business and start manufacturing smartphone cases/protectors that come with circle pads and buttons. Nintendo can start marketing games that can play on the smartphone but will require the use of these buttons (ie. Nintendo would still retain some control over the hardware side via their protector cases) and this will become Nintendo's new mobile platform. Nintendo should not sell these games on ios but set-up a parallel shop for purchasing full priced games only after the protector case and driver software has been installed on the phone. The key will be for Nintendo to make these protector cases "cool" and "attractive" so that people will want them for asthetic reasons as well as for gaming.

I really believe that this is a huge opportunity for Nintendo. I wish Nintendo's management would read this thread but then I keep forgetting that I am not a big-shot and my idea"s probably not that great.

I am just a fan who wants to see Nintendo survive...

Nintendo has good quality so I don't think that's a problem for them to make quality releases on other platforms.  For ports it's easy to just outsource them as well, there are many teams that know the tools and do contracts for that kind of thing.  Mobile is not highly regulated so they can release on their own terms there.

If you took something like Mario Kart 8, pumped up resolution to 1080p with antialiasing on PS4/XB1 they would sell millions and generate a lot of profit and brand awareness for Nintendo.

I think Nintendo is a much stronger game publisher than Sega, so I don't think they would have the same fate.  Also I'm not suggesting they get out of the hardware business, but I'm suggesting that using their IPs on 3rd party platforms would be better business than using them exclusively on the U.