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• If there exists no approved method for end users to make and run code, or if running code requires a substantial additional purchase and recurring fee, it's a "jailbreak".
• If the end user can trigger it by accident, it's a "hole".

The owner of a Windows machine is the administrator. Windows supports configuring a "software restriction policy" requiring validation of Authenticode signatures, but this mechanism explicitly allows the machine's owner to sign software. So any vulnerabilities are holes.

But for iOS devices, the approved method of running code outside the store involves buying a $599 additional hardware device made by the same company (Mac mini) and a $99 per year subscription (iPhone developer certificate), so this is a jailbreak. And in the case of Wii homebrew (which was restored on 4.3 within the past week), it's also a jailbreak because Nintendo is even stricter: becoming an authorized developer involves leasing office space, not coding out of a bedroom. And yes, this is affecting developers: see Bob's Game.

Maybe there needs to be a front company to sell the work of somebody else. But I believe this should only be true for circumstances in that the producer(s) can't maintain the quality of their work

Given what is known about console game developer qualifications, Sony and Nintendo appear to be under the impression that micro-businesses "can't maintain the quality of their work".

Now if there were a smoother way to translate a game from PC / platform to another

It's not the smoothness that I'm concerned about as much as the fact that the console makers tend to frown on micro-businesses in the first place. Slashdot user CronoCloud likes to recommend making a PC game as a "pilot" and shopping it around to publishers, much as a TV production company makes a pilot episode in hopes of getting a series picked up by a network.

I suppose they could, in theory, restrict it to only established companies but that does not jive with what I've seen.

What I've seen of qualifications: "We typically look for companies that are established game developers [...] Home offices are not considered secure locations."

As a practical matter as a small developer, you can just use XBL marketplace to sell your game, and XNA to make it.

I've considered XNA and found a few drawbacks: XNA lacks a practical way to play procedural audio, you can't easily port a game from another platform because Standard C++ does not meet the requirement of being verifiably memory-safe, games are exclusive to hardware that has a reputation for unreliability, and Microsoft won't give you any help in promoting your game; your customers will have to find the needle in the haystack.

Also, I claim that now with the Internet you don't have to. You don't have to be in major stores to sell your wares.

Some genres of music are more popular among people who don't have a PC and broadband.

2Dboys did manage to get World of Goo on wiiware, but it was well after the game sold like hotcakes with free ponies on PC/Mac/Linux.

That and the fact that after it became well known what 2D Boy did to satisfy Nintendo's "not a home office" requirement, Nintendo isn't likely to let it happen again.

Only if you need to be physically near the people that you work with.

I once telephone-interviewed with a video game developer halfway across the United States. I was turned down because they don't telecommute, and they don't telecommute in part because of console makers' home office bans (example).

How expensive do you think a devkit is?

I've been quoted $10,000. Nintendo made the Wii devkit cheaper than that, about $2,000, but one first has to spend $10,000 on an office lease to qualify because Nintendo does not deal with home-based businesses. Do the other console makers post their qualifications to apply to become an authorized developer?

The Xbox arcade and Wii are full of independent titles.

True, Xbox 360 has Xbox Live Indie Games powered by XNA. But the impression I get from Nintendo's site is that WiiWare is for medium or large businesses, not small businesses. You have to have an office, and you have to have released a commercially successful PC title first. To get World of Goo onto Wii, 2D Boy had to cheat Nintendo by sub-leasing office space from a local Starbucks franchise.

If there is need for a product, some company will make it.

Not if no company recognizes the need, or the one company that does recognize the need gets blocked by patents.

Content doesn't magically appear so I don't understand your point. Someone has to create content.

Yes, somebody has to create works,* but everyone who creates works starts out by consuming works.

They will always be individuals whose need to create is their sole purpose in life.

Thus we have to deal with the transition around the time when someone discovers his purpose, and make sure that becoming an author does not pose an undue entry barrier. As of right now, this is easy because common Internet consuming machines (desktop and laptop PCs) can also be used as low-end creating machines. But if it costs two months' wages to get an entry-level creating machine because all the mass-market machines are consuming machines, these individuals won't fulfill their sole purpose because it is cost prohibitive to get started. For example, I think my purpose in life is to create video games that can be played by multiple people in a living room. But there still aren't a lot of home theater PC users in my audience, so in order to do that, I would need a console license, and that in turn requires a corporation or LLC, a dedicated office, and a track record on another platform.

* I prefer the term "works of authorship" over "content".

Say my indie developer team has a feature-complete PC game. How do I get in touch with Sony in order to start porting the game to PS3 for release on PSN? Do I have to start a company, get a dedicated office, and publish an unrelated PC or iPhone title first, like I would with Nintendo's WiiWare (source)?

Citation needed? Including compared with things like the DS?

We require that companies are working from secure business offices. Home offices are not considered secure locations.

I didn't see anyone talking about mobile development, which seems a way to add greater complication to your game, as you now have to worry about things like limited resolution and power, unless you intend to make a mobile game.

I don't understand your point. A game that runs on a handheld device is by definition a mobile game.

Most gamers are switching to PSN, where there are no subscription costs, better exclusives and less jerks.

And no indie games. Nintendo requires a stable business with a dedicated office and prior commercial titles; I haven't read anything stating otherwise for Sony. So if a team of developers that work from home want their game on a console, the only way is through Microsoft's XNA environment, and if this were real, I'd bet XNA is why the developers would have chosen Xbox 360. In fact, one of the drawbacks of XNA can be turned into a positive: it forces a rewrite that solves the issue of copyright on a forked work.

Programming resources are finite and (since the gamer gets more bang-for-his-buck) consoles enjoy greater market penetration. If you were coding where would you aim your efforts?

Probably PCs, because Sony and Nintendo don't want to deal with micro-ISVs. I get more bang for my buck from actually developing the software than from trying to satisfy business overhead requirements such as "Home offices are not considered secure locations." And then I get further bang from my buck by porting to Mac OS X for two reasons: the game market there isn't as crowded, and more affluent Mac owners tend to buy more proprietary software.

Eventually the console makers will decide to release new hardware to try to coax them back, and we'll repeat this cycle again.

Except it appears the next generation of actual console hardware is far off. The new gimmick won't be better graphics but instead "Mii-too" motion control. Sony has the PlayStation Eye and the new Move controller, and Microsoft has Natal. And among the big three, the only console maker that has taken any effort to coax the smallest developers away from PCs is Microsoft with its XNA Creators Club; the others require a dedicated office and prior commercial titles.

The only difference from the XNA kit is what you need to pay for it

Are there any other "special" qualifications for this like Nintendo's requirement of a prior commercial title on another platform and ban on home offices?

That being said, they are only rivaled by Apple in their record of locking down their proprietary systems

Not even Apple is a rival. Apple compares more to Microsoft; in fact, the iPhone developer program was a dead ringer for XNA Creators Club on the Xbox 360. Nintendo won't let you in unless you're an established company with a "secure business location" (specifically not a home office) and a published commercial title on another platform (citation).

for games, a dedicated console is a better choice.

A console like a PS3 or Wii isn't the best choice if you like to play mods, or if you like to play video games developed by microISVs that are too small to have a "secure business office".

we're not obligated to buy games from any maker. If we don't agree with the pricing, why don't we MAKE OUR OWN?

The article is about Nintendo DS. Without copier hardware, all DS games must be digitally signed by Nintendo, and Nintendo has a notorious "your organization must be this tall" policy. This policy is why you won't see Bob's Game on a DS.

You have to remember the fact that console gaming died because of the pile of shit that was being dumped onto those systems. Nintendo was strict but to be quite honest it was needed at that point. Nintendo isn't that strict any more. Perhaps the last time they were was on the N64 which arguably helpful towards publishers as well since it was such an expensive platform to develop for due to the use of carts.

Nintendo's requirements are going to be the same as any other console developer except for maybe those creating indie games for xbox live and to be quite honest their requirements aren't that bad. You can see them here: http://www.warioworld.com/apply/

Asking that you're actually proper business isn't that bad and considering Wiiware game are developed by small timers including 2D Boys' World of Goo so it's not like you have to even be a big company. You just have to be a legit development company and in return they'll do more to promote your game than Apple will.

People forgot that, as you mentioned, Apple does freely let anyone start development and you can publish your app easily as long as you don't compete with them or do something that will run unapproved code and you can deal with your app potentially being removed after its launch. Something that won't happen on the consoles. So I would agree that it is worse on the iPhone.

If people want true freedom then need to develop for any other phone using an OS like Symbian, Windows Mobile or Android. Then you can do whatever you want but live with the fact that you have to consider many more variations in hardware.

So what should an indie developer with a concept for a video game for multiple players on one screen, and possibly even a proof of concept implementation for home theater PCs, do in order to grow to meet Nintendo's requirements for a WiiWare license? This includes having "relevant video game industry experience" and affording a "secure office facility".

But who is eligible to purchase a debug PS3? These searches didn't immediately turn up anything useful. Is Sony's policy like that of Microsoft's XNA Creators Club, where anyone with a couple hundred dollars who lives in an eligible country can get started? The current worst-case price for the XNA devkit is $1200: a PC with Windows and a gaming video card ($450 at dell.com), an Xbox 360 console ($300), and three years of Xbox Live Gold and XNA Creators Club ($150 per year). Or is it like Nintendo's policy, which requires a dedicated office and apparently a published commercial title on another platform?

I just want people to carry on making games

People don't make games for Nintendo; companies do. From Nintendo's developer qualifications: "In addition, an Authorized Developer will have a stable business organization with secure office facilities separate from a personal residence ( Home offices do not meet this requirement )". You must have Nintendo confused with Microsoft and its XNA Creators Club.

how many people who have never touched emulation have been playing emulated titles on Wii without even knowing?

They know it's emulation; it's called "Virtual Console" for cricket's sake. The big problem is that Nintendo isn't willing to rewrite Earthbound for Super NES to take out the Beatles music.

yet my PC is full of every genre of game.

Except possibly the sort of multi-controller party game that sells well on Wii (and on the other consoles). Well-known publishers don't see a big market for those on PC because PC monitors (e.g. 13" laptop or 17" desktop) tend to be much smaller than TVs that four people can actually fit around. They haven't yet made PC games to take advantage of the fact that flat-panel TVs work as PC monitors too.

Nintendo DS, PSP, and PS2 are unfriendly to small businesses.

Nintendo DSi changes that

No it doesn't. Nintendo's qualfiication page hasn't changed much from the GameCube days: "The authorization for [the platform] will be based on your relevant game industry experience [...] Home offices are not considered secure locations." This rules out releasing a company's first title on a Nintendo platform, and it also rules out a company pulling itself up by its bootstraps by putting revenue from one title toward the lease for a dedicated office.

doesn't Sony have some kind of support for indy devs nowadays in their online service?

If Sony has made PSN nearly as open as XNA and Xbox Live Indie Games, I'd like to see a citation. But as of right now, Microsoft is the only console maker known to be willing to give micro-ISVs the time of day, and its console exclusively uses DirectX.

DirectX has networking/input/graphics drivers? Then write those and attach them to OpenGL.

SDL and Allegro fit, but as others have pointed out, they need to be marketed better as designed specifically to work alongside OpenGL.

DirectX can be ported to Xbox? Fine; then get off your bony butt and go talk to Sony and Nintendo about enabling trivial porting of OpenGL apps.

First you'd have to convince Sony and Nintendo to make something like Microsoft's XNA Creators Club or Apple's iPhone developer program. Nintendo, for one, is vehemently opposed; its developer qualification page excludes businesses based out of homes and businesses working on their first title.

An SNES is far more complex than a minimal CD player

Which is why I compared the game to the "Ogg Vorbis version" rather than the linear-PCM version on a CD.

It should also be noted that the information in the Eminem album was far easier to come by than the information in SMB3. If the singer mispronounces a word, or a microphone pics up some static, or a mixer doesn't adjust the levels just right, it's no big deal.

Likewise, minor errors in map data or texture data or music data might not get noticed as defects, as long as they're not in "sensitive" parts (the program itself or large-scale map objects). TV Tropes has a page about "good bad bugs". World -1 anybody? How about Missingno.?

Given that all major gaming consoles have their own Net stores that mostly sell just such games

Nintendo publishes a notice on its developer support web site to the effect: "You must be this tall to make WiiWare." Individual developers do not qualify ("home offices"), nor apparently do teams on their first or second title ("relevant game industry experience"). Microsoft is significantly more open with the XNA model that Apple copied wholesale for the iPhone's App Store. But Sony Computer Entertainment's web site is silent on developer qualifications.

PC has Steam and a number of independent publishers

As far as I know, Steam and other PC game stores have a distinct lack of "party games", or PC games designed for a TV-sized monitor and four players holding USB gamepads connected through a hub. On whose part is this oversight?

Besides, the amateur and indie market is expanding, if anything, thanks to the online presence the major console-makers have

Nintendo still has rules to the effect that a business must be at least this tall to develop WiiWare: "relevant game industry experience [...] Home offices are not considered secure locations". That sort of shoots down plans for publishing a first or second title on a console.

and thanks to digital distribution platforms (Steam), and companies developing games to non-hardcore demographics (like Popcap).

PCs aren't well suited for every genre. Party games like Bomberman, for instance, typically have four players looking at a single view. The typical PC monitor is big enough for one player with keyboard and mouse or two players holding USB gamepads, but not four. (I know LCD HDTVs have VGA and HDMI inputs, but that doesn't help households with SDTVs or without another PC in the TV room.)

A smart company, designing a platform, should put third party developers above everything. Making your platform easy to develop for should always take precedence over anything else

Then how do companies like Nintendo get away with flatly banning people who work from home and people working on their first title from the platform?

No one is going to want to fight with Symbian weirdness and 1990's style C++ when they could be doing AJAX on webOS or Java on Android.

Unless a developer wants to reach the millions of potential customers who already use a Symbian based phone.

Oh yeah, you know all those XBLA and WiiWare games must have gone through "an established publisher."

I haven't looked at XBLA closely, but WiiWare development has the same requirement for a dedicated office and a track record on another platform as Wii Game Disc development.

Music downloads now exceed physical sales

A single at typical encoding settings is 4 MB; even over dial-up, a single takes only 15 minutes to download. Your video game is probably at least 10 times that if not 100. And to distribute a game in a genre not well suited to PCs, you have to gain the approval of a console maker that prefers to work with big publishers instead of small self-publishing developers. Music doesn't have such a gatekeeper.

I guess complex software never gets written by hobbyists

Nintendo flatly refuses to work with hobbyists.

or by sponsored professionals

Video games are more than complex software. They are also complex meshes, textures, audio, etc. I don't see as much evidence of mass collaboration on those as I do on system and business software.

...And will we be able to play SuperTux?

Not on the TS. Nintendo doesn't associate with amateurs or semiprofessionals. Seriously. If you want to run Linux on a gaming PDA, get a Pandora once it comes out.

All Sony/Nintendo has to do to compete with this is write a DS/PSP Itunes sync program, and the problem's solved. Change the image of the DS/PSP from being mostly gaming devices, to a multifunction device that happens to play games and they'll be OK.

Fat chance of that happening. Apple and Microsoft are fine with an environment where any developer working from home can buy a complete devkit for $1000 (either Mac mini + iPod Touch + 1 year developer certificate, or a Windows PC + Xbox 360 + 1 year XNA certificate), upload an app, and charge 500 bells for it. But Sony and especially Nintendo prefer developers who have "relevant industry experience" (that is, done an internship at a major video game studio in another state) and a "secure facility" (that is, a leased office). Developers with a day job in another industry need not apply.

That's peanuts compared to the cost of doing an internship in another state and then leasing an office. Nintendo requires developers to have a dedicated office and experience in the mainstream video game industry.

Nice barrier to entry there. I bet current game developers just love that.

They don't. But that's the whole point. Only companies with a chance to produce a decent game are allowed to even try.

Don't get me wrong, I don't approve. I'd love an open platform with lots of indie developers, but Nintendo has always tried to maintain a certain quality level, and I understand their reasoning.

That's peanuts compared to the cost of doing an internship in another state and then leasing an office. Nintendo requires developers to have a dedicated office and experience in the mainstream video game industry.

Nice barrier to entry there. I bet current game developers just love that.

Same with Apple and iPhone apps. You pay $100 and off you go.

Plus $600 for Xcode if you don't already have an Intel Mac, but your point is still valid.

But Nintendo...$2000 for the SDK? Ick.

That's peanuts compared to the cost of doing an internship in another state and then leasing an office. Nintendo requires developers to have a dedicated office and experience in the mainstream video game industry.

When developing for PC, develop for the KB and mouse first

What library do you recommend for reading distinct actions from multiple keyboards and multiple mice under Windows? For example, how can a program distinguish a space bar press on player 1's keyboard from a space bar press on player 2's keyboard?

A mouse and keyboard is more configurable then a console controller.

"Press a button or a key for each of the following actions in order: Move left, Move right, Jump/climb, Crouch/climb down, Normal attack, Special attack, Shield." The player can choose to use a gamepad or a keyboard. I don't necessarily depend on a gamepad being present unless more than one player wants to join a game.

Did you mean that no console had had more then one controller since the Super NES era.

The first production run of the Super NES, which included Super Mario World as a pack-in, was the last major console that came with a controller for each of its two ports. All consoles since have come with only one controller and one or more empty ports. For example, a Wii console can use four Wii Remotes but comes with only one. So whether you're on the PC or on a console, you still have to buy something extra for more than one person.

I suspect you meant to say that all consoles since the super NES came with more then two controller ports

And almost every PC has six such ports: one for the keyboard, one for the mouse, one for the printer, and one for each of three gamepads. Hubs add even more. But each PC or console comes with enough controllers for one person: one keyboard and mouse for a PC, or one gamepad for a console. The other ports have nothing connected to them.

If you are making a beat em up, then target the consoles exclusively, Wii and Xbox360.

Allow me to rephrase: How can a small company produce a first title in a genre for which you would recommend that a developer "target the consoles exclusively"? The console makers want to see established companies with full-time employees in an office, not startups whose employees telecommute. (Source) What's the best way to get around "Concept declined; your company isn't big enough"?

Just because you can find some obscure studio with 5 sales to it's name that wants consoles to die doesn't mean EA, Vivendi, Activision/Blizzard, aka pretty much all the major players in the industry, want consoles to die

My hypothesis: In general, major players want consoles to live, and minor players want consoles to die.

There is no "qualification" for a console license.

Nintendo Developer Qualifications would disagree with you. Executive summary: People who have a day job outside the mainstream video game industry and develop video games part-time would find it hard to qualify.

This is why the Wii is so popular. And as technology keeps getting better, it becomes easier and easier for independent developers to produce graphics, game play, and complexity that are passable

But it still remains hard for independent developers to meet the minimum bar that Nintendo and Sony have set. For one thing, Nintendo is still openly hostile to a developer preparing its first title:

We typically look for companies that are established game developers, or individuals with game industry experience. The authorization for Wii/WiiWare or Nintendo DS will be based upon your relevant game industry experience.

We require that companies are working from secure business offices. Home offices are not considered secure locations.

The bar needs to be lowered on consoles for independent developers.

1. LittleBigPlanet approach - users are able to create their own worlds with a limited toolbox that is included.

2. Unreal approach - User designs everything on computer based on a licensed engine then runs a compiler for specific console. Burns to media. Game is activated online whether a developer charges or offered for free. All versions must be activated online for play.

50% Developer, 30% engine/designer, 20% console maker

3. Reduces costs to zero for past generation consoles. PS1/PS2 for PS3, Xbox for X360, etc... Allows independent developers to design games but doesn't affect the big studios working on the latest consoles. Must be activated online for play.

70% Developer, 30% console maker.

For a better indie game, consider World of Goo: two coders, $10,000 development (including food and rent)

How does that mesh with Nintendo's policy against working from home? Or are you talking about $10,000 to develop on and for the PC and an unspecified amount to port the completed PC game to Wii?

This is why the Wii is so popular. And as technology keeps getting better, it becomes easier and easier for independent developers to produce graphics, game play, and complexity that are passable

But it still remains hard for independent developers to meet the minimum bar that Nintendo and Sony have set. For one thing, Nintendo is still openly hostile to a developer preparing its first title:

We typically look for companies that are established game developers, or individuals with game industry experience. The authorization for Wii/WiiWare or Nintendo DS will be based upon your relevant game industry experience.

We require that companies are working from secure business offices. Home offices are not considered secure locations.

Play indie games and other PC games.

spend 500 Wii points ($5) for Opera for the Wii

Did you mean only JavaScript games and Flash 7 games?

Yes, because the wii being a "video game console" doesn't have any games on it other than those on the damn web browser.

Due to Nintendo's blanket policies against micro-ISVs, every Wii game not published by a major label has the overhead of JavaScript or Flash 7. PC games, on the other hand, can have more performance because they run as native code.

What did Nintendo do that is akin to Microsoft or Sony's shenanigans?

Nintendo was the first to introduce a "lockout chip" in a home video game console. From 1985 to 2007, if you wanted your game to be displayed on a monitor large enough for more than one person to see, you had to release your game on a system with some method of crypto designed to prevent "unlicensed" companies from publishing. The trouble was that the standard form-letter policies of console makers excluded students, hobbyists, and small businesses from getting a license. Instead, their games had to run on PCs, where a multiplayer game requires a separate computer for each player. That could get very expensive very fast.

The standard workaround for this in the 2000s was a PC with the ability to output a signal to a TV. But PCs with this capability were few and far between until 720p LCD HDTVs, which can display standard XGA signals from a PC, began to dominate sales of new televisions. Now it's easy to build a home theater PC: buy a slim PC, connect your game controllers to USB ports on the PC's front panel (possibly through a hub), and connect the VGA out to your TV's VGA in. But it will still take a few years for major video game publishers to discover this market, in part because the lockout chip business model benefits them. At this point, it appears indies have a chance to enter this market (games designed for PCs connected to TVs) before the majors do.

Both are examples of modifiying hardware in an effort to cheat someone, and both are against the law.

The article gives no evidence of what kind of "pirated games" the accused was dealing in. If I develop a game for my Wii console, and I mod my friends' Wii consoles to play it, who gets cheated? Certainly not Nintendo, who wouldn't sell me a devkit anyway because students and hobbyists don't qualify.

You don't want to go to jail? Don't break criminal laws.
And especially don't make a full-time business out of breaking the law..

It was once a crime to possess alcoholic beverages.

How are consoles less friendly to students?

Perhaps I wasn't unclear. I didn't mean student gamers but students learning the craft of video game development. Look at Nintendo's criteria to get a devkit: established businesses only.

Ah, that is clearer. Unfortunately, I'm a game PLAYER, not a developer, so it's also irrelevant to me. There is already enough shovelware out there (especially on the Wii and DS) that I'm not going to bemoan the fact that Joe Random Student can't get his "visionary re-imagining of Dr Mario" onto a console. But if they really want to, there's that XBox Live thing. Far cheaper than Nintendo's requirements.

Is "computer meeting the hardware specs [...] for Windows Vista [...] " a standard?

Now you're just being obtuse. The answer, of course, is an unqualified "No."

I don't see how not. Obtuse? Perhaps. Deliberate? No.

Microsoft and the OEMs can't even determine what that means. There was a fracas not too long ago where even "computers meeting the hardware specs recommended by Microsoft for Windows Vista" would not even run Vista.

Frozen bubble is 15 years old (or rather, a clone of a 15-year-old game)

Yet 15-year-old games show up in your precious consoles' online download stores. On Wii, all of "Virtual Console" is emulated games, and a good percentage of "WiiWare" is remakes (e.g. Tetris Party, Dr. Mario Online Rx).

And those are crap too. I don't and probably never will buy anything from XBLA or the Wii store. Hell, I won't even buy DLC for box games.

Be careful. You're slipping into the fanboy zone by saying things like "[my] precious consoles." If you like PC gaming, more power to you. Other than Guild Wars and the occasional period where I'll get a hair up my ass and goof around with modding some game, it doesn't have anything to offer me.

How are consoles less friendly to students?

Perhaps I wasn't unclear. I didn't mean student gamers but students learning the craft of video game development. Look at Nintendo's criteria to get a devkit: established businesses only.

Is "computer meeting the hardware specs [...] for Windows Vista [...] " a standard?

Now you're just being obtuse. The answer, of course, is an unqualified "No."

I don't see how not. Obtuse? Perhaps. Deliberate? No.

Frozen bubble is 15 years old (or rather, a clone of a 15-year-old game)

Yet 15-year-old games show up in your precious consoles' online download stores. On Wii, all of "Virtual Console" is emulated games, and a good percentage of "WiiWare" is remakes (e.g. Tetris Party, Dr. Mario Online Rx).

AFAIK, the console manufacturers cannot dictate anything but the quality and content of the game through the licensing process.

Console manufacturers can dictate what kind of office your business uses. They can dictate the platform on which your company publishes your first title: it has to be the PC. Source: Nintendo

Seriously, what's the big fuss?

It has to do with the console makers' qualifications for developers. Nintendo, for one, states on its web page that it requires developers to have a leased office and previous published titles on some other platform. This means a smaller studio might not be able to port even a finished PC game to a Sony or Nintendo console or a Sony or Nintendo handheld. So I'd almost venture to define "indie" as "not qualifying for a PS2, Wii, PSP, or DS SDK".

I'm not saying that the iPhone doesn't have the user-base. I'm saying that it's the hardest mobile platform to start developing for.

Are you including the DS without jailbreak and the PSP without jailbreak? Nintendo states on its developer application page that it won't even sell you a DS devkit unless you have a leased office and a track record on some other platform.

Plus, the Wii is so much cheaper to develop for.

Once you have the devkit. But before Nintendo will even sell you the devkit, you must have a corporation or LLC with a leased office and a track record. That's a lot of overhead for a new business. Compare to Xbox Live Community Games: anyone with a PC, a C# book, and $794* can get started.

* Price of an Xbox 360 plus a 5-year subscription to XNA Creators Club.

I could definitely see myself buying one if they do come out, especially if I could easily program my own games for it.

The DSi has a DSware store like the WiiWare store.

To become an authorized developer for any Nintendo platform, you still need a corporation ("full legal and incorporated company name"), a separate office ("Home offices are not considered secure locations."), and a track record ("relevant game industry experience"). The DSi Shop doesn't change this. These requirements, along with Nintendo's successful crackdown on Wii homebrew through Wii Menu 4.0 (not jailbroken in over a month) and reports of inflated prices charged to homebrew users for out-of-warranty service (source: hackmii.com), make the iPhone and XNA business models seem positively open by comparison.

Because Nintendo built it's business on locked-down hardware. Every other gaming console so far has done it. It's the business model.

And sorry to disappoint you early, but becoming an official developer is tedious and expensive. And it is intended for commercial companies. More info here