Nintendo decided to make a shift in their target market, for better or for worse, when they came out with the Wii. They wanted to go after so called "casual" gamers. The Wii was a great success, however the Wii was more of novelty than a gaming console. For most of the "casual" gamers that novelty has worn off, or they are satisfied with the Wii and have no desire to move on to a "next gen" system. Also, it is very difficult to keep coming out with "casual" games, how many tennis, bowling, baseball games can you make? Once you start going into RPG games, first person shooters, etc. you just broke away from the "casual" player. Gamers grew up and matured, Nintendo however did not, Nintendo has always been marketed as "kid/family friendly".
>If you're going to hire someone to do it, asking them what their preference is might be better than saying, "We're going to use x."
YES! This. I wouldn't worry so much about which framework is the "best". They are all good. I would say it is more important to find a programer(s) that you "click" with.