Forget Apple getting into games; should Nintendo get into smart phones?

Game Informer editor Andy McNamara argues that a convergent portable device, both for games and phone crap, is inevitable.

In a printed column titled The future is ringing, will someone please pick up, he writes, “I can’t wait to play the 3DS, but I get the sinking feeling that it will only pacify us until this inevitable [convergence of gaming and smart phones] happens. If Sony and Nintendo don’t build the one device to rule the pocket of gamers everywhere, someone else will.”

Let’s see: Nintendo’s coffers are overflowing with portable moo-la from a gaming only device, not to mention its home console. Convergent devices rarely, if ever, dominate an entire industry. And the 3DS is the most anticipated hardware in gaming right now.

Yeah, Nintendo should totally forget all that and pick a fight with Apple.

Sarcasm aside, this whole argument of convergent devices ruling the future is getting embarrassingly repetitive and trite. Wasn’t “multi-media” suppose to rule the ’90s? Wasn’t our fridge suppose to be talking with our lawnmower by now? Wasn’t the Xbox 360 and PS3 suppose to rule this generation of video games?

Not that those consoles don’t have their strengths and conveniences. But the only real reason people buy ’em is because they have good games associated with them.