Although it will be nice seeing two of the most reliable companies joining forces to bring better services to gamers, gaming research firm DFC Intelligence says we shouldn't bank on the Apple-Nintendo merger.

According to DFC Intelligence President David Cole, in light of the upcoming Wii, now is not the best time for Nintendo to sell. Although notably the loser in the last generation console war, Nintendo will now have a chance to redeem themselves and to "restart their market share" with the advent of the next generation.

Cole also pointed out, "Obviously Nintendo has done really well in terms of their profitability and their market value has really held upÂ?if you go back and look at how their market value has held up over this past generation compared to, say Sony and Microsoft, who have seen drastic declines in their market value."

If the Wii comes out and if it flops, then talks of a merger with Apple and Nintendo may as well be more believable. Yet if this happens, one should also put into mind that "news" like these always lean on the speculative side rather than conclusive. "When you're talking about mergers of that size, there's always so many moving parts, especially when you've got an established Japanese company possibly merging with a North American companyÂ?and that's always just very speculative. Even if they start talks, it's just months and months of trying to get together and oftentimes they just clash at the last minute," explains Cole.

However, it is not unlikely that Apple is interested in Nintendo, says Cole. What made the whole talk "pure rumor" is the fact that Nintendo will most likely turn down such offer by Apple. Cole offers, "[Apple] could start reaching out to see if Nintendo is interested, and then [Nintendo] say no. That would probably be the most likely scenario that I would see. You know, companies are always talking with each other... which can lead to rumors and speculation. It just goes on all the time. The chance of something actually getting finalized is a totally different ballgame."

So although the fact that Apple may start being more active in the gaming race, considering talks that they have LucasArts' tech director Mike Lampbell onboard, they just have to do their gaming ventures without the aid of Nintendo. And Nintendo has to wage its next-gen battle without Apple.