give free digital games and use this to help to advertise.

The NES is still a success, and a pretty major one. Do you think the games industry was the same back then? It was nowhere near as big and open as it is now, I hope you know that.

And you actually think the XBO has a chance at 60+ million?

smh it's funny Sony sells  over 80,000,000 in video games but always seems to lose billions every generation ...meanwhileNintendo every generation puts out a console that profits every generation....that is what the definition is as far as having a hit ......people also always seems to forget the money is in the software ...first party software ...why do you think you heard Sony say they want their first party to sell better that's where the profit is made (no middle man )....it's funny people forget that nintendo dominated the home and portable business for 8 years(2006-2013) and has has won 3 of the 7 generations ...smh at some people's meaning of success or hit ...I've been gaming since the 70s had almost every game system and currently owns all three 

Definitely advertisement. By this point in the Wii's lifetime, EVERYONE knew what it was. At this point, it's practically non-existent to the average customer. They need to let people know they exist, they have awesome games and offer something the competition doesn't.

Not all parents are necessarily gamers. And one area that Nintendo should be targeting is parents that will be buying for their kids. Advertisment is to raise awareness and educate potential buyers, whoever they are.

My kids read the Beano comic - this week's issue has a full back page advertisement of Mario Kart 8, it advertises the Wii U MK8 bundle, and even mentions Smash Bros and Sonic Boom games coming out. There's a competition to win a Wii U as well.

Maybe they're getting the idea, now, but it needs to be everywhere. Billboards, TV, everything.

Today's standards, sure 40 million - 65 million may be a moderate hit in console sales.
Although, in the 1980s those sales were considered a big hit for any given console. The Nintendo Entertainment System is often referred to as revitilising the console market. Neither Sony or Microsoft have that claim because there was nothing to revitilise, merely to capitalise on a concept that had expanded exponentially.

Sure Wii U sales have not blown any records out of the water; however you are severely underestimating the impact of the Nintendo Entertainment System and to a lesser degree the Super Nintendo Entertainment System for that matter.

This ... 

Neither of the aforementioned moves would work.

Everyone says this and they forget something inportant. For Nintendo, Hardware creation takes normally about 4 years. Early this year Nintendo said they had no plans of dropping the Wii U, AKA now replacment console in development for this generation. If they wanted to do one now, 2014+4=2018, and that would be 9th gen, so it makes no sense to not support a salvagable console for 4 years.

Also if they DID drop it, they would be doing what SEGA did with the: SMS, Sega CD, 32X, and Saturn, and that is one of the main causes to their demise. 

Addvertising.

On topic:

Nintendo should definitely look at advertising the Wii U properly.
They could even rebrand the console with a new name.

A couple of weeks ago at a party I hosted, we had two Wii U consoles setup with Mario Kart 8 booted up.
This was so people could play drinking games, socialise, and of course it was optional to play said consoles.

What I noticed was interesting was people come up to me and they asked about the console.
They said they never realised the Wii had HD graphics and what the controller with the screen on it was.
Of course I explained to them the controllers use and that this was in fact a new console. What surprised me was that they were unaware that Nintendo had even released a new console.

Nintendo has marketed the Wii U poorly. Just saying that the marketing is poor is somewhat of an understatement.