Just because Sony and Mircosoft would/do (Masterchief in DOA4) also whore their franchises out, doesn't mean Nintendo isn't doing it.
No, I am not saying to put master cheif in some ridiculus situation (i.e. Masterchief in DOA4), what I am saying is Sony and Microsoft would really benifit themselves by having a character(s) or franchise(s) that was as flexable as Mario is. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but neither have anything like that. They are all inflexable, Sam Fisher would be out of place anywhere but a stealth game, Master Cheif would be out of place anywhere but a FPS. What the hell else would you do with Blix? He's just this badass cat with attitude. Same with Crash Bandicoot. These are personas / personalities targeted at a very specific customers. The reason why Mario is so popular is because he can be enjoyed by everyone. Yes, children and athletic jocks alike can and DO enjoy mario. He's not just a stealth agent, or army general, or bad ass cat, or strange ape looking thing. Mario, Bowser, and his goonies (be it koopa troops, Bullet Bill, or his children) are characters you can really get to know and really like. Unlike Sam Fisher or Master Chief who's image you either identify as cool or not.
So would you say that DDR with Mario, SSX on Tour, and NBA Street v.3 are not examples of Nintendo allowing Mario to be in random games too freely?
DDR is a really fun and popular game. Mix DDR w/ Mario Tunes, graphics, and the characters that we all know and love and you've got a really great combination, its an excellent expansion of the Mario universe. You're a fool if you can't see this.
As far as the NBA Street, its a cameo first of all, not a lead role. And second its a great clash of stereotypes. "Oh you think you're such a bad ass, eh? Well i'm going to lay the smack down on you know with PEACH!" And as for SSX I didn't even know he had a cameo in there, doesn't suprise me though, he is univerally well liked, and probably a nice unlockable.
You know what is really pathetic? That for SoulCalibur 2, neither Sony or Microsoft had charaters to fit in as the system exclusive selectable character. Sony had to bring a weapon less fighter character in to a weapon based fighting game and Microsoft had to contract out for Spawn who supposedly is a good fit because because his costume is all black and shoots neon green goo.
It would almost be better if Nintendo had made new characters to be having parties and playing sports... [...] If this stays the same and never changes, they'll wither and die.
The idea of Mario kart/baseball/tennis and such is that Bowser and Mario can set aside their differences for a moment and just have some fun togther. You personally may not enjoy the game, but thousands of other people do. You wonder why Mario Party continues to sell well? Geez maybe because its constantly changing and its just a good party game?
Many Nintendo fans have to be experiencing a Mario saturation. Nintendo's entire line is practically Mario.
You're got very limited sight then. What about Pokemon? What about Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Nintendogs? What about those nice 3rd party games like Megaman, Castlevainia, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem. There are plently of other games to play.