If Nintendo wants to give me a (pleasant) surprise, they should come up with a brand new FPS game which would be their answer to Killzone/Halo. The other guys have their own entries in the FPS genre, but Nintendo is completely absent. In order to be competitive Nintendo needs to fill this niche with something because right now they don't have any counter to it at all, and if they aren't going to bother competing in this area then there is no possibility whatsoever for them to regain the hardcore market. I'm not saying they have to necessarily have the best (at least initially) game, but they should at least try. All I ask is that they try, and I don't think that's an unreasonable request.
FPS games might not sell in Japan at all, but they sell extremely well in North America, and if Nintendo wants to improve their standing in western markets (which they should, because money is money no matter what region it comes from) then they need to cater to the tastes of that particular region. Making games that appeal to Japanese gamers is a tactic which works in Japan, but Japan isn't the entire world or even close to it. The bulk of the market exists overseas. Maybe in the 80s and 90s Japan was king when it came to video games, but nowadays I think Europe and North America have surpassed it. If you want to win globally you have to compete globally.