My god, its lucky you guys don't run the company!

Of course when you've got a big a franchise you're going to milk it, and not just with games: T-Shirts, Caps, Toys, Cars, Boardgames, Cartoon Series, Comic books, Live Action movies etc.

There's $billions to be made, and done correctly (well not the Mario Bros movie) the franchise grows along with your wallet. There's a reason Nintendo is such a successful company and its certainly not because they let their main mascot slip into the back of people's minds!

This is honestly bizarre. The fact that the Nintendo's Mario games are admittedly varied and reasonably spaced is somehow proof that Nintendo is milking Mario?

I don't think you really understand the concept, as the above is diametrically opposed to milking. They're not rehashing the same gameplay or re-issuing the same game. Instead they're expanding, at a reasonable rate of release - except when it comes to Mario Party, where they are very clearly milking the core gameplay.

Poor service as in no HD solution and refering to COSTUMERS demanding one as geeks and otaku. Poor service in charging 279 (roughly equivalent to xbox core pricing) for 8 year old technology. Poor online service. Exploiting to no end their most beloved franchises, primarily Mario.

As far as quality games are concerned, you mostly have to rely on a few actual hardcore first party Nintendo games (though hardcore is relative in this case as well as TP, SMG and MP3 were one of the easiest games in their series) and as far as third party, mature quality fun is concerned you're better off looking elsewhere because the Wii largely the destination of shovelware and casualized games.

As far as finding games with in depth, well realized deep storylines...let's not even go there, because Nintendo's obsession with "gameplay" has led to a situation where most third parties are left to focus on gameplay as well in order to compete effectively at the expense of deep, story driven games.

I still remember what my business studies teacher used to:
'The ideal situation for a company to be in is having a cash cow and knowing how to milk it, as well as having rising stars ready to take its place when the product lifecycle ends.'

OMG, the OP was right!

"(Nintendo's) been milking their 3 franchises for so long now that people aren't noticing cause it's just different names without the "part 1, 2, 3" in it."

We've all been brainwashed by the Big N, and only whatshisface has realized it!

I understand perfectly, and think that it is you who doesn't, but since that argument will never go anywhere I'll just leave it at that. 

Q: What does Mario have to do with an ancient Greek athletics contest?

A: Absolutely nothing!

There is only one reason to put Mario in a game based on the Olympics, and that is to increase sales of that game.  Without Mario's and Sonic's names in the title that game would have struggled to sell a million.  If you can explain to me how that does not constitue milking I'd love to hear it.

Please explain how providing your customers with products, services and features they care about (while not including products, services and features the don't care about) at a price they're happy to pay is poor service? Your argument is basically like saying that Sony offers poor service because when you buy a PS3 it doesn't include a pancake breakfast ...

As the case should undoubtedly be, after all, we're talking about 'games'. If I wanted entertainment for storyline alone I'd watch a film. If I want both I'll play some Zelda...

Everyone milks there big titles as much as they can. Keep making them as long as they make money is a good policy for anyone. Mario has been milked the most because he is the most popular video game character in history. Trust me, we'll being seeing Halo 18 if Microsoft makes a system for that long. Also, is this Groundhog's Day or do I see this exact same thread every day? This and the Wii's third party games stink.