I really don't know. With so much money just piling on Nintendo's lap im not sure. Invent in their NEW console. Buy Franchises didn't they buy Fatal Frame series? 

Don't the Higher ups in Nintendo own a majority of the shares anyway? Why would they vote to give the money to shareholders then? It would make more sense for them to give themselves massive raises.

...

Anyway, I think the best use of the money would be to dramatically expand their first party development arm, perhaps doubling it. Nintendo could use its vast reources to syphon off the best and brightest to new stuidios they create, crippling studios that are struggling due to overly supporting the HD consoles. If Nintendo follows this strategy and is just as sucessful as they are this gen, in 2 gens time they could probably have a highly sucessful, self sufficent console and massive profits.

They should buy me a pony.

I expect that the next Wii, whenever it should arise (prolly not for a while), will be headed down the same path as the current model.

Just talking out my ass, but it occurs to me: with the current Wii-tech (duct tape & all), 1:1 motion is possible as are 3d effects from "head tracking." With the balance board, etc., we're integrating full-body motions into game input. I think Nintendo plans on making video games more and more immersive.

Not Virtual Reality, not by a lot, but in that direction.

This is the most likely course of action.  Nintendo is a corporation and thats what corporations are about (sony and M$ included). Don't think it means free games or anything else in wonderland. Just ask former Exxon CEO about his 500 mil retirement money and you'll know what Iwata & Miyamoto probably have up their sleeves.

I hope they release a really good game console next time that has a lot of high quality third party games, enough storage for more advanced games, and that they get back to releasing the types of games that they were during the SNES era instead of another faddy motion control toy.

I would love to see a Zelda in HD with a regular pad.

I'm certain that Nintendo is already hard at work on "what's next". But I don't think it's going to be what people are clamoring for around here (ie. return to classic controllers, focus on HD visuals, etc.). Nintendo is all about surprising people, pleasantly if possible. Going HD or reverting to the old gamepad style would not surprise anybody (though I'm sure it'd please a lot of the core users).

As for what they should do, the most basic answer is "assure the industry won't collapse while making themselves the inevitable leaders of the industry in the process". Which is what they're doing already, but that'll only work so long. As soon as somebody comes out with a Wii-alike that better suits the interest of the core demographic, things are going to get hairy. We could easily see a repeat of the 16-bit era "console war" should Nintendo go the direction people are pushing for.

The best move they could make is actually to stick with the Wii and DS for as long as possible, all the while custom-crafting and perfecting the next cycle of gaming, and once the Wii and DS are no longer profitable, turn the industry upside-down again with another disruptive technology that completely catches the competition off guard and gives them the edge. Nintendo has only ever suffered when they've tried to play hardball in the industry, and only ever benefited when they've thrown a curveball and mixed everything up. It would make good business sense to keep throwing curveballs instead of going back to hardballs.

I would not. I don't own an HD TV and 1:1 sword control could be more fun.