After Iwata's speech at GDC I guess it isn't all that surprising that Nintendo is chasing the core audiences right now. I think they understand that the casual audiences will always be dominated by the iOS's of the world these days and going forward and what's the main way to offer experiences that people can't get elsewhere, and that would be 1080p, large games that only work with complex/unique controllers (like 360 controller/DS3/gamecube controller/etc...). Although I'm not saying certain games can't be replicated on smaller platforms I do think it's the best bet to differentiate from casual games.
In the end Kaz HURRRRRRai was right. Core audience will support you forever if you keep catering to them, casual audiences are fickle whores. Who knows what they'll do next, nobody does. Ok, I through the word whore in there, not that there is anything wrong with being "casual", whatever that means. Now if they really want to get serious about differentiating their products from the iOS's they need a robust online system that these HD games can take advantage of.