The Pixar and Nintendo comparison is actually quite apt. The difference, of course, is whereas people still like to go watch family friendly movies, people don't seem nearly as interested in family friendly games.

Heck, from what I've heard in the voice communication in games like GTA/GoW/CoD/BF etc, it seems kids hold a greater dislike for family-friendly games or anything perceived as childish than adults do.

No chance for outright aquisition. Nintendo being a 125 year old Japanese company and Traditionalist Kyoto company at that, makes there a zero percent chance of any American company or (any company really) having a contolling stake in Nintendo. However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a partnership between the two companies to form a jointly owned entity (ala: The Pokemon Company) where the two companies work together in trying to expand Nintendo IP's across new outlets like animated movies, theme park attractions and possibly toys/merchandise to take advantage of Disney's supply chain and distribution.

The main issue I can see that might prevent this from happening is disbute over who would have "final say" or "veto power" in regards to development and execution. Right now I cannot see Disney agreeing to a deal where they did not have the creative freedom and control in regards to product. Neithier can I see Nintendo giving up "final say" as a part of any partnership because for their tradtionalism, and vertically integrated structure where ideas have to go through a "chain of command" for approval of ideas and product development. Especially when it comes to a Third-party handling their IP's. 

If Nintendo is willing to grant Disney the creative control and freedom for their projects along with collaboration and consulting from Nintendo, then I could see this merger of sorts as possibility and would personally be pretty pshyced about it. After seeing what Disney as done with Pixar and the MCU their is no doubt that they have the chops to take Nintendo to new heights.

To those saying a partenrship with Sony being more likely because they are both Japanaese companies, I would definitely reconsider that position. Sony is struggling to keep their buisness above water right now(much more so than Nintnedo) and can't hold a candle to Disney in terms of growth potential, brand expanison and delivering a quality product with consitancy.

Interstingly enough, Nintendo has partnered with Disney before and probably wouldn't exist today as we know it if it weren't for Disney. In 1959, back when Nintendo was private, local trading card company, Nintendo struck a deal with Disney to have them allowing them to use Disney's characters on Nintendo's playing cards. The tie-in was a success and the company sold at least 600,000 card packs in a single year. Due to this success, in 1962, President Hiroshi Yamauchi took Nintendo public, listing the company in Osaka Stock Exchange Second division (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nintendo)

I doubt that nintendo handhelds have a real future beyond the next 5-7 years if that.  The need for mass quantaties of a standalone handheld is very small in the future.  That's why Nintendo as a hardware platform of any kind will be really unlikely.  Even Sony has a limited chance of having much of a hardware future past MAYBE the PS5 if it is even needed.

The streaming model will eliminate the real need for any particular hardware platform.  Lucky or planned, both Nintendo and Sony have a place in the future with their large 1st party catalogs.  Even with that, I doubt that either of them will stick around as independent companies.  They will more than likely get folded into/bought by some other company.

As far as M$ goes, they don't really have a future as a studio or anything of the like.  They have a better chance of being a simple interface as they are now with windows or their app store.  If they don't just become a blip on the radar of google or apple.