The problem with Apple in this case and in many others is that they do not enforce every app's compliance consistently and see no problem with the fact that they don't.
The problem with Apple in this case and in many others is that they do not enforce every app's compliance consistently and see no problem with the fact that they don't.
This is the crucial point. You can talk to a human at those companies if you have any doubts whatsoever about what is allowed and what isn't, or if you're trying something that sails a bit close to the wind. They do occasionally change their rules, but there is usually some wiggle room, and they give you notice. The changes are generally also not as drastic as this. With Apple you don't find out until after you're done and have submitted your app.
Besides, the rules tend to be fairly obvious and predictable stuff, with the occasional technical subtlety, not the kafkaesque nightmare that is the iPhone SDK Contract.
The Nintendo developer newsgroups are pretty friendly and staff (real humans!) are very keen to help you out - I guess the barrier to entry is also somewhat higher than to iPhone development, but it's much more pleasant and predictable than Apple, which only ever seems to act as one faceless corporation.
I'm under the impression that the bigger name developers do have more contact, and if you have the budget to develop something big, you probably have access to them as well. If this is not the case, this is clearly something they should do, because otherwise it will stunt the development of big software projects on their hardware.