As it geared up to promote its new Wii video game console, Nintendo of America Inc. looked to a group better known for nagging kids to stop playing video games: moms.

The Japanese game company merged viral marketing techniques with Tupperware parties in the months leading up to the Nov. 19 launch of the Wii. Nintendo recruited a handful of gregarious, tech-savvy moms - whom it dubbed “alpha moms” - to share the console with their friends. “Most people were like, ‘I don’t play games,’ ” said Perry, 41, of Venice Beach. But by the end of the night, she said, “everybody was playing it. People were working up a sweat.”