Wii

[big brother]

A W followed by two I's? Sounds reminscent of the shorthand way of writing World War 2...

And didn't the Japanese lose that war? I seem to remember something about Truman pulling a switch or something. It's just all so hazy.

How can those marketing assholes have forgotten recent national history? I mean, aren't there still fallout effects in Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

I think the name is an obvious example of groupthink. These are the same people who slap X-Treme in the title of snack food or use a Z instead of an S in a product name because it's more "urban". (You know, since that's our target audience, let's condescend them.)

Gay gay gay gay gay.

[Kinoko]

The best thing to come out of this is the jokes and joke images. So far, this one is my fave:

[LGM]

I'm actually quite excited. It's the only console that seems to have a solid structure behind it and the name is intriguing... And the price tag is one I can actually afford.

If I make some extra dough in college, you can sign me up for a Wii.

[iamus]

I really didn't like the name to begin with, but it's starting to grow on me. It's totally nuts, and I can't actually tell if the name makes more sense or less sense the more I think about it. It's definitely got people talking though, and any publicity is good publicity. I think there's a definate Apple (iPod/Book/Mac) influence here, that's what it makes me think of more than anything else.

I can also say that's it's the only console of the next round that interests me, though It should be noted that I'm a total Nintendo fanboy at heart and they could probably take a dump in a jar and I'd still buy it.

[EldKatt]

And the price tag is one I can actually afford.

That is of course a concern. Personally I tend to buy price tags printed on non-bleached paper. They are also very affordable.


Sorry.

On another topic,

"Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii."

Is Wii the new Esperanto?

[CaptainBinky]

Has anyone seem the logo in action (so to speak)? I think it's kind of cool.

http://revolution.nintendo.com/

...and to be fair, it's missing a "W" and the "i"'s would need to be uppercase before anyone could really start confusing it with the second world war.

[ManicMatt]

I'm much more optimistic about a console which is driven around an interesting concept (the weird remote stick thing to wave at Wii) than a console who's only real claim is "wooo! whizzy graphics!"

But haven't you seen the PS3's controller? it's a joypad AND a boomerang in one!

I'll take whizzy graphics over weird remote stick thing anyday. But then I can be superficial at times. Mind you, I'm hardly getting excited about the PS3 either. And I doubt I'll bother with the 360.

At least PS3 dynasty warriors will (hopefully) have a new fecking game engine!

[PaulSC]

Nintendo are brilliant but also regularly so mind-numbingly idiotic that I really wish someone would go down to their offices and slap some sense into every single person that works there. Their Fisher-Price approach to the Gamecube was wrong-headed and I suspect seriously harmed that machine's credibilty and commercial viability. An abstract name like 'Wii' could've worked fine, had they chose a word that doesn't mean friggin' "piss". I can't help thinking they've pointlessly doomed the fortunes of a potentially excellent console.

[MrColossal]

I recommend reading the wired article then Paul, I'll quote a bit from it:

"Is it a homophone for a British slang word that means "urine"? Yes. But so is the first-person plural pronoun. If I said, "What are we doing tonight," would you repeat back to me, "What are wee doing tonight? Huh? Huh? Get it?" I would wonder what the hell your problem is, quite frankly.

The French word for "yes" also rhymes with "wee," and indeed this was the subject of much hilarity in French class. When I was in sixth grade. By seventh grade, when we turned thirteen, we were over it. That the Internet in toto is less mature than a group of thirteen-year-olds is not surprising, but neither is it damning to Nintendo's fortunes.

Of course, I expect the Internet to brim over with toilet humor; that is what the Internet is for. But the Internet is not real life. They've already proven this in a variety of ways related to Nintendo product announcements. Remember the almost universal outpouring of disdain following the announcement of the Nintendo DS? Nintendogs?

And look where that got the Internet. Nintendo DS is nothing short of a nationwide cultural phenomenon in Japan. Nintendo pushed hard away from the traditional notion of a video game system and did quite well for their efforts

In short, the fuss over Wii is an Internet Problem, not a Real Life Problem. In real life, the name's soundalike will pass almost entirely without notice. The positives of Wii will vastly outweigh the negatives. "

[PaulSC]

The problem for me is that for me the sound 'wee' when used as a noun is inextricably linked with piss, which makes it hard to look at the name objectively. If it was pronounced "why" or even "ooee" it might be easier. I'll be very interested in how they market the thing to english speakers. I have a hard time seeing a machine with a name like that becoming a runaway success.

Incidentally I remember getting the exact same feeling when I heard the titles to the first two Star Wars prequels. Unfortunately I can't honestly say the years have made the name 'Attack Of The Clones' much more appealing, but you know... we'll have to wait and see.

[EldKatt]

Well, in my opinion, "PlayStation" and "Game Boy" are also terrible names (of the same caliber as that awesomely bad movie "Evil Dead"). They were pretty successful, though.

[Mr Jake]

Dont you think some people are overreacting a wii bit?

[LimpingFish]

There IS a possibilty that it won't be call Wii in the west.

Megadrive/Genesis, Famicom/NES, Super Famicom/SNES, PC Engine/Turbografix, etc.

I know console name changing has kind of died out in this age of the brand identity and global launches, but there's always a possibilty.

Also, it could've been worse. Wonderswan?

The Dreamcast started life as the Katana, then Dural. When the name Dreamcast was finally unveiled the videogame media laughed their collective fat ass off.

Hell of a good machine, tho.

Would the Gamecube have faired any better if it had retained the name Project Dolphin?

Anyone who would be swayed in their purchase by a console's name are...well...a bit strange. And not in a good way.

If it offers me new and enjoyable ways to experience games, a console could be called "Hyper T.U.R.D" and I'd still buy it.

Note: Actually, I think Wonderswan is the greatest name for a console. Ever. I think I'll name my firstborn, Wonderswan. Boy or girl. Doesn't matter.

[big brother]

When marketing is concerned, an internet problem translates very easily into a real life problem.

Sure the name might not affect the capabilities of the system, but it hurts the reputation. If the intention is serious, it's not good when your target consumers end up laughing at it. Let's face it, I would rather not say the new name in public. To someone unfamiliar with consoles, it makes any sentence sound goofy. The marketing has successfully widened the gap between the marginal consumers and the devoted gamers. As Eric mentioned, the gamers will get over it. Whether or not other consumers want wee in their living room is another matter.

The name is certainly not arbitrary to Nintendo, which they proved by changing it in the first place. They could've picked anything, and they picked 'pee'. Oops, 'wee'. Retarded.

As for the joke being short-lived, I think Uranus has been around for a while.

[bspeers]

Well, I guess we'll wait and see then.  If the Wii is an economic disaster, Big Brother, you win, you're vindicated.  If not, you're wrong.

Endless speculation is so tedious, though.

By the way, Duke Nukem Forever will suck.  And I say that based on absolutely nothing.

[Helm]

I detest this kind of communicational marketing. "Well let me tell you what Wii stands for! It stands for we it will bring us together!" and all that bullshit, but of course people (of similar education to the one big brother got) are given millions to do this exact sort of lowest-common-denominator target marketing to make sure that they make as much an impression as it is possible. Remember, short-term profit is not the only goal of conglomerates, Brand Inflirtration in everyday living insures the continual growth far more than putting out good product does. So if every internet forum in the world has now freely publicised the new name of the nintendo game system, regardless of whether the users wanted to know or not... that's a good step towards raising public awareness. In this sense, a console named 'poo' would possibly do more for the company than a console named '23xz55'.

[Las Naranjas]

hah, if internet problems were real life problems there'd not be a single new book-movie-game system-comic-song that was ever popular. Only people who illogically disdain [or occasionally illogically gush] post endlessly, and false consensus is reached.

Then in the real world, the good sells anyway.

"Everyone on the internet thinks everything is stupid until they see it, and then they're getting it tattooed on their butts"

[iamus]

Remember, short-term profit is not the only goal of conglomerates, Brand Inflirtration in everyday living insures the continual growth far more than putting out good product does.

Bear in mind that Western and Eastern buisness practice is generally very different. Traditionally, it's the American/European companies that focus on short-term profit whereas the Asian business model tends to project at least ten years into the future.

I can kind of see what they're doing here. The focus of Wii has been in total differentiation from the rest of the videogame market. Nintendo know that they are unable to compete with either Sony or Microsoft, so they're employing a different tactic and heading sideways. The new name is only one of the ways they are attempting to accomplish this.

They know that the Nintendo faithful will buy the machine as long as it delivers something unique, but they're courting a far broader market than that. Yes, they want to snare the non-gamers, but they also want the non-nintendo gamers. Crucially, instead of trying to steal gamers away from those machines, they want Wii to sit alongside them, hence the lower price point, lower specs and different control mechanism.

I think that Wii, as a name, is so bugfuck because they don't want a brand that can be easily grouped with Playstation or Xbox. It's seperate. It's an invented word, has no point of reference (except pish of course, potential hurdle there) so they get to define it from the ground up. It might be be a stupid move, it may be short-sighted groupthink but I'm not so sure. At any rate, you kinda have to admire their balls for trying it out.

[MarVelo]

You have no idea how popular the gameboy is. People are still buying Gameboy Colour games and the GBA is amazingly profitable. The DS makes up something like 40% of Ninetendo's revenue.

I know exactly how popular the Nintendo handhelds are. I have a gameboy colour and actually still use it. I didn't say anything bad about the handhelds. Only consoles. I am just a big 'ol nintendo hater. Its just how I was raised.



Oh and the fact that the DS makes up almost half the profits of Nintendo is somewhat sad.



Some of those quotes sound like Nintendo is trying to control us and make us join together and rise up in rovolt. Lol

[vict0r]

I don't mind about the name really, but i just don't like Nintendo. I loved the nes and the snes and mario 64, but they are really pushing it. How many games about mario and friends/fiends can you make? And the gamecube? Too much plastic! I don't really know why i don't like the nintendo, but sony really know how to make their console glow freshly of quality!

And besides: (adult toy)
(Wii controller)

And the Wii controller also comes with a vibration function!