Some VERY lucky Southwest Airlines passengers recently received a VERY cool treat courtesy of Nintendo of America in the form of a voucher for a FREE Wii U, and as you can see above, yes indeed that made plenty of people really pleased that they now have one big gift crossed off their holiday lists. Granted, as awesome as this promotional stunt was, the company NEEDS all those people and more to actually BUY Wii U games and not just stick with that pack-in game. But I guess a bit of word of mouth will go a long way if these people love what they got gratis for what they discover once they need to see what else is out there to play. My more cynical brain sees this as a slickly played desperation move on the part of Nintendo because Wii U sales seem to be lower than expected according to every industry site I read.

That said, Nintendo has always followed its own drumbeat and despite the analysts and naysayers tossing doom around over the company’s head, that’s not going to happen thanks to their deep pockets and the fact that every other game company seems to copy things they do to varying degrees of success. The Wii U may not move as many units and the competition, but Nintendo’s longer range plans are always out of sight of those who want huge numbers by the minute and don’t see the longer view to the horizon…