Given how the DSi has added features beyond its ability to play DS games (such as the very prominant camera and some of the less prominant other multi-media functions) it almost seems that Nintendo has grown concerned over mobile gaming available through cellphones and I-Pods/Phones. The theory behind this line of thinking is that if Nintendo wasn't concerned, they wouldn't be adding features that would make people who can afford one but not both go "Well, I'd like the DS, but with that I-Pod/Phone/Whatever I can have games and music and websurfing and whatnot all at once."
The questions about this theory have been brought to the attention of some of the higher-ups at Nintendo from time to time and it seems as if at least one man has had a response ready for them.
In a recent interview, The General Manager of Nintendo's United Kingdom branch, David Yarton, completly denied that train of thought:
We could have added lots of things, but then you become a jack of all trades, and a master of none. One of the things we are really honest about is that we stay faithful to our roots, of being a games company. The most important criterion is to make sure that what we're offering can do the best games.
Fair enough, I suppose, since you could equally argue the new features are just amusing doo-dads Nintendo wanted to try out while still keeping the entire DS library available and even offering new additions in the form of DSiWare.
This is also not the first time Nintendo has used the "we are not dirrectly competing but offering something else" argument too, since that claim has been used more than once when Nintendo was asked about the status of the Wii compared to the X-Box 360 and the PS3.
Of course, there are many who never believed that argument either and then you have Yarton saying this in the same interview:
Mobile phone gaming has been 'going to happen' for a long time. We're still waiting.
Ouch. Sounds like a slam coming from someone expecting dirrect competition, doesn't it?
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