HD, I believe, is a moot point at this point in the generation. Pachter and others, in my opinion, are wrong in proposing Nintendo re-release the Wii with HD capabilities.
I am in the school of thought that software sells the system. Nintendo from NES has been known for their "seal of quality" otherwise known as their unrivaled, top notch first party software. This is their biggest strength and is the reason why, ever since the SNES vs. Sega Genesis Red Ocean War, they have not needed to compete on a graphic-for-graphic basis.
Graphics do matter and anyone who denies it looks just as silly as the Mario hater claiming only nostalgic gamers buy Mario games. When Nintendo's younger market reaches their teens, just like a lot of us and myself did in the late 1990s, there is a gravitation towards more mature content, which developers have always used the most realistic graphics for. Is this inevitable? To a certain extent for a certain segment of teen gamers. Can Nintendo do anything to stop it? No, not really, which is why Nintendo with the Wii blew up the traditional school of thought for new consoles with a console aimed at getting everyone to play, not just the vocal minority.
Nintendo going HD would come with the expectation of software with mature content. Nintendo did not win against the Genesis by having the best looking Mortal Kombat game, it won with games like Donkey Kong Country, which have great stylized graphics along with accessibility to any and everyone from the grandpa on down to the 4 year old. So why would Nintendo jeopardize their winning formula just to win a meaningless graphics arms race?
Nintendo has gone down the road of mature content on the N64 and the games were fairly decent. Turok and Goldeneye 007 were awesome for their time. However, for other reasons the N64 got spanked by the PS1.
I just don't see HD as a primary thing Nintendo has to do.
