Fair does, my video game history isn't all that up so I'm sure I missed a few out :P. I don't see any 'realistic' purchases on the market right now though, but I guess it can happen.

 It's a bit of a grey area to me, at the moment it feels like whatever investment spent on buying an IP, would probably be better spent on creating a new IP yourself. The only exception was that Warner picked up Mortal Kombat for $26 million (I think) - which is a potential steal.

 I don't think anyone can typically justify buying an IP if they're going to make it exclusive to one platform though, right there you're limiting it's potential appeal.

If GTA was ever 'for sale' it would never, ever be bought by Nintendo.

 Simple fact is it'd be worth alot more to every multiplatform publisher then Nintendo could ever justify bidding.

 It's a dumb example anyway, as it's worth more to Take 2 then they could ever sell it for. That game brings them a billion dollar revenue every 3 years - that's priceless.

I don't think Nintendo needs IPs. Development teams, maybe, but not IPs.

Blinx

I know this wasnt very popular and that Microsoft arent in trouble, but think it would work better on the Wii than the 360 and Nintendo would do better with it than Microsoft.

It also wouldnt hurt Nintendo to make a proper Donkey Kong game, because wasnt it quite popular and had good sales before they started making lame ones?

I still say RIIIIIIDGE RACEEEEEER!

what companies are in trouble atm?

Kid Icarus, maybe. But Pikmin 1 and 2 sold at least one million copies each and that is very good for a new IP that debuted on the Gamecube.

And @ topic. There isn't really any IP that Nintendo would consider buying. They already bought the Fatal Frame IP and did almost nothing with it.

What Nintendo should do is build some more studios to make new fresh IPs for them and keep shovelware-making third parties (namely Ubisoft and Activision) away from their platforms.

I honestly don't think many of their own dormant IP's are worth that much. Well, these are what I think would be worth buying:

Timesplitters. I know Crytek owns that now, but when it was available (and it may still be for sale, you never know) it would have been a perfect fit as Nintendo need to disrupt FPS's, third parties don't seem to be trying hard enough, and it already has a good presence among Nintendo fans.

Burnout. EA seem to have sidelined this in favor of Need for Speed. Burnout did well on the GC, and Nintendo are in need of a good racer that's not a Kart Racer.

Burnout is another game i would love to see on the Wii. So that gets my vote too.