On the point about 'why can't Nintendo make a game that sells as well on day 1 as COD', I don't really see why they need to.
The best sellers of all time top 20 is dominated by Nintendo titles from this generation and generations past, be they bundled games or otherwise. I don't see why it matters for them to have a massive amount of sales on day one when they're getting a massive amount of sales over a number of years.
In fact it makes better business sense to have your product sell well for years rather than burn extra brightly for one week before fading away.
Furthermore, suggesting that COD (with it's mass market appeal), is somehow more 'core' than DK or NSMB, simply because they have mass market appeal, is just another example of how the 'core/casual' definitions have switched to suit peoples agendas.
The fact is they are all 'core' games with 'mainstream/casual' appeal, thanks to their inherrent appeal of pick up and play gameplay, and there isn't a developer in the world who wouldn't want a game with that perfect market balance in his/her portfolio.
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