I really wish Nintendo had gone out and bought a few more studios. They have great IP, but not enough staff to properly develop it for multiple platforms.
Agreed. Third-parties cannot be relied on for exclusives. With costs so high, multiplatform is the only business model that makes sense for them.
But exclusives are what sell hardware. Nintendo should've seen how the Wii was going in 2008 and reinvested heavily in studios that could match their development culture, even if those studios produced games radically different than Nintendo's (like Rare or Retro).
When those moves should've been made, I feel Nintendo was still in love with its own success. They probably felt they could ride the casual boom forever (witness E3 2008).
Now, they've got an HD console, but it will likely experience the same drop off with support once the PS4rango comes out, and the Wii U loses ports. Once again, Nintendo will be left supporting two platforms, and they just don't have the sheer quantity of games or studios to do that.