Nintendo has the industry's most recognizable and universally well known mascots. The problem is, kids these days aren't buying Nintendo products, and therefore are not exposed to NIntendo's franchises like their parents before them. Angry Birds and Candy Crush have stolen Nintendo's place in many a young mind. Their answer to this is to release smartphone games of their own, make film deals, amusement parks, etc. Which will function as a bit of a "trojan horse" to extend their mindshare to the new generation and worm their way into the hearts of our little ones, eventually leading them back to Nintendo's own lucrative hardware.
I think the steady loss of the younger gaming audience to smartphones has hurt Nintendo a lot more than the loss of "hardcore" adult players to M$ and Sony in the last decade. This is a smarter, and safer strategy than trying to appeal to the older gamers who have already left by (A: Wasting precious development resources on making expensive, gritty titles that won't even appeal to their current dedicated fanbase and have no real guarantee to attract many new consumers, and (B: Getting involved in the unhealthy bidding wars for 3rd party marketing deals.
