If Nintendo does not return to the top, it will have NOTHING to do with "hardcore" games or gamers, and everything to do with Nintendo's own stubbornness to continue to produce games that will appeal to a mass audience. They did this during the DS and early Wii era or 2004 - 2009, but reverted back to their ways of creating niche games the past couple years, which is why they have fallen back to the bottom again. If anything, Nintendo trying to go the "hardcore" route (which they are now), will be what leads to their downfall.
Most people thought the same way you do during the Gamecube era, and that Nintendo did not posess the ability to return to dominance. Well, we all know how that turned out. The Wii was a sales beast and shattered all kinds of sales recordes, even with no HD support and virtually EVERY third party developer not supporting them. Nintendo proved they very much hold the ability to not only be on top, but to completely dominate the gaming industry at will. The question is will they want to? Most will say of course they will, but for some reason Nintendo is once again content with creating only games THEY want to create, which are usually niche games, even at the expense of low sales.They need to go back to creating more games that go outside the box and draw in an expanded gaming audience that is otherwise shunned and ignored by the rest of the industry, more games like Brain Age, NSMB, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, etc, and less games liks Metroid: Other M, Fire Emblem, Sin and Punishment, etc..
The only thing that will stand in the way of Nintendo is Nintendo.
