Home Gaming Nintendo gave out free Wii U’s

Nintendo gave out free Wii U’s

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Mario Southwest3

Sometimes two companies come together for a partnership that makes sense, and other times the collaboration seems a bit tenuous. In a strange twist, Nintendo has partnered with SouthWest Airlines in the States. To kick off that partnership, Nintendo let Mario surprise a bunch of passengers.

SouthWest Airlines gained international notoriety years ago when they were the first low-cost airline to require overweight passengers to book an extra seat on the plane. Well, now they’re sharing the fat of the land as they gave over 100 passengers free Wii U consoles.

During a flight from New Orleans to Dallas, Mario surprised customers with the announcement that each of them would be getting a Wii U. And just look at these happy travelers. I wonder if Nintendo also sponsored a can of Ginger Ale for the passengers seeing as all refreshments cost extra on SouthWest Airlines.

Southwest nintendo

It’s all part of Nintendo’s bid to get more people to experience the Wii U. Their partnership includes rolling out kiosks in airports where passengers can get hands-on time with the Wii U during the heavy traffic period in December. I’ve got to say, I think that’s pretty clever. The Wii U is hard to understand until you’ve played with it – it’s fantastic, underused technology. Given that the kiosks will let passengers play Super Mario 3D World, it could almost be enough to make Geoff want to fly domestic in the US of A.

Last Updated: November 27, 2013

31 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief Duke

    November 27, 2013 at 13:33

    • Sageville

      November 27, 2013 at 14:13

      I like watching this, over and over

      Reply

    • oVg

      November 27, 2013 at 14:58

      BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      Reply

  2. Admiral Chief Duke

    November 27, 2013 at 13:33

    TBH, I won’t mind a WiiU

    Reply

  3. TiMsTeR1033

    November 27, 2013 at 13:34

    I wish they did they special again R999 for a wii u!

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Duke

      November 27, 2013 at 13:36

      As do I

      Reply

    • RyseandRepeat

      November 27, 2013 at 13:45

      I missed that too man 🙁

      Reply

    • RyseandRepeat

      November 27, 2013 at 13:45

      PS. It’s John’s birthday today!

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        November 27, 2013 at 13:45

        really?

        Reply

        • RyseandRepeat

          November 27, 2013 at 13:47

          Yeah. wanted him to come to the dev evening but he is celebrating.

          Reply

          • TiMsTeR1033

            November 27, 2013 at 13:50

            eyeliner john?

  4. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    November 27, 2013 at 13:40

    Come on! Missed opportunity!

    You cannot tell me that not ONE of those passengers shouted “Sorry Mario, but the princess is in another plane!”

    Coz if they didn’t then they targeted the wrong crowd man

    Reply

  5. RyseandRepeat

    November 27, 2013 at 13:46

  6. RyseandRepeat

    November 27, 2013 at 13:46

    Well played Nintendo.

    Reply

  7. TiMsTeR1033

    November 27, 2013 at 14:00

    Dear Lazygamer Santa

    I have been a loyal fan for quite sometime…please make my Christmas special by donating me a Wii U. You will make my year end happy, so much so i will cry tears of joy!

    Your biggest fan.
    Love Timmy

    Reply

    • Sageville

      November 27, 2013 at 14:28

      Dear Timmy,

      While I think we can all agree that we’d all love a “Happy Ending”, I’m afraid I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request, primarily because I struggle to find suitable environments to use the words “Disinclined” and “Acquiesce”.

      Yours with great animosity.
      Lazygamer Santa

      Reply

      • Unavengedavo(aka. MadeYouLook)

        November 27, 2013 at 14:59

        I had to google what Acquiesce means :O

        Reply

  8. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    November 27, 2013 at 14:25

    Wow… NIntendo is in a very bad way…. :/

    Reply

  9. Sageville

    November 27, 2013 at 14:32

    Promoters: “FREE WII U’s for EVERYBODY!!!!”
    Passengers: “…so what else have you got?”

    Reply

  10. Cat Kittyface

    November 27, 2013 at 15:07

    If i were there i would sell it to ebay for $100 US dollars.And i’m Singaporean.FREE MONEY!
    Problem? 🙂

    Reply

  11. nonscpo

    November 27, 2013 at 19:33

    OMG…It took them this long to start giving them away? They should have done this months ago to build momentum for zelda and mario. Hopefully youll start seeing some commercials of people landing of the runway with mario greeting them with the WII U!

    Reply

  12. Joey1013

    November 27, 2013 at 19:37

    No one is buying Wii U Consoles, the only reason Nintendo is giving free Wii Us. They are hoping those with free wii u will buy their 1st party games to earn money. Nintendo is desperate not being nice.
    Reggie the moron and Nintendo lackies don’t want to look bad with their lameduck system. Get a ambulance for the Wii U, let the sirens go off “Wii U, Wii U, Wii U.”

    Reply

    • InsaneZucchini

      November 28, 2013 at 07:43

      Yea. That must be why Sony partnered with Taco Bell to give away free PS4’s because no one would want one.

      No. Because it’s a good promotional move. Especially for Nintendo who find it easier to show the joy of Wii U by getting it into peoples hands more reliable than trying to explain it to them.

      Reply

  13. David Kavic

    November 27, 2013 at 19:43

    I think this is a good promotional move. Nintendo needs to do a whole lot more marketing and then this system can begin to flourish. I really enjoy it, and I have a PS4. Splitting time between both when I am not working.

    Reply

  14. Zorbo85

    November 27, 2013 at 20:15

    LOL the Wii U is finished!!it had its year head start and failed big time due it it not being ready in the first place and Nintendo STUPIDLY forgetting how long it really takes to make a HD game!!
    The first year has been slower than the Dreamcast and the Dreamcast had games!!!
    Just like they did with the 3DS Nintendo used the success of its predecessor thinking everyone who bought a Wii would rush out and buy it even tho it was stuck with a ridiculous price tag!
    The Wii U should have been launched a month before the next gen not a year!!!
    Yeah Mario is getting amazing reviews but in the UK sales of the Xbox One are ONLY 55K behind Wii U lifetime sales in the UK which is a disgrace for Nintendo!!
    The main issue is the Gamepad been out a year and still NO games that fully utilise and make use of it!!
    Even Nintendo still do not know what to do with the Gamepad so how can they expect 3rd party developers to do so?The Wii U should have come bundled with a new Wii Sports game like the Wii did to show off the new Gamepad.
    If Super Mario 3D World does not make sales of the Wii U go through the roof all over the world then the Wii U is seriously dead!!!

    Reply

    • InsaneZucchini

      November 28, 2013 at 07:41

      You’re an idiot.

      Nintendo can’t have forgotten how long it takes to make an HD video game because they’ve never made one before. There was nothing to remember. Though I’m sure it’s not something they’ll forget in the future.

      Dreamcast having games making it sell faster than the Wii U, (assuming that’s true, which I doubt), would makes sense and it’s doesn’t help you make any kind of point.

      What ridiculous price tag? The Wii U Basic at launch was $300. $500 at launch is what’s ridiculous.

      The Wii U’s sales to date in the UK are bad. That’s true.

      There is a game that thoroughly utilizes the gamepad. It’s called Nintendoland. Have you tried it? There are a lot of great mini games in it that use the gamepad in varying ways. Although you can’t honestly expect them to be pumping out several games the utilize every aspect of the gamepad, that’s asinine.

      The Wii U deluxe did come with a bundled game to show off the gamepad’s features and abilities. I mentioned it earlier. And Nintendoland is pretty great. Unfortunately it’s not as accessible as Wii Sports because you don’t just swing your arms.

      The Wii U can’t be called dead until the end of 2014, because there are still many major titles that haven’t been released. Like Mario Kart 8. Mario Kart Wii sold like 34 million copies, more than every individual top selling title on the PS3 and 360. And more than most of them with their titles across every platform combined (i.e. Call of Duty Black Ops II for PS3, 360, and PC sales combined.) And even then it won’t be dead, just confirmed 3rd place this console generation.

      Reply

  15. NatT96™

    November 28, 2013 at 04:20

    Nice marketing trick, give 100 people Wii U’s and see it spread…wait did they explain that its a Wii 2?

    Reply

  16. Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

    November 28, 2013 at 11:00

    Well.. That should raise some alarms. (WII U WII U WII U WII U WII U)

    Reply

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