Nerd Mentality

What Wii Think

Posted April 28th 2006 by Daisy Garcia and Various Authors.

When the news came out that Nintendo was about to release the final name for its next generation console, nicknamed "The Revolution" for the better part of a year, the gaming world waited with baited breath to find out just what it was going to be. Many had been playing the guessing game for months now and were eagerly anticipating yesterday. Here are some of our own staffers thoughts on the "Wii", some of which represent the very same thoughts as a lot of Nintendo fans.

Please note that all opinions stated are that of the authors and not of N-Philes as a whole.

Desire

Here come the barage of pissing jokes. Nintendo has always been known as Nintendo with a twist and while some of the names haven't been all that inventive, ie. "GameCube" for a cube shaped console, the N64 for a 64bit system, etc., they were at least descriptive enough that you knew what someone was talking about. People complained when they released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, shortening it to SNES, which still didn't roll off the tongue. People complained about the N64 as a name because it didn't have enough oomph. People complained about the GameCube because it was too obvious for a cube-shaped console and now people are complaining about "Wii". Sure, "Wii" is strange, especially given the fact that for over a year now we all have been eagerly anticipating a Revolution. Yes, yes, we knew that the rev was merely a placeholder name, but after so long one simply grows accustomed to hearing, saying and reading what one is used to. Wii will take awhile to properly take it's place amongst it's bretheren, but we will be there when it does. Now back to all the lame jokes. Oui? Wii.

John S.

My thoughts are probably unprintable, but a horrible damn name comes to mind. I hate the whole childish image that Nintendo has but this doesn't help it at all. I tried telling my friends about the new name and I was embarrassed. It sucks. I'm just gonna say 'new Nintendo' from now on. If anything this has made me look toward to E3 less because if Nintendo [fouled] up on the name like this what else have they [fouled] up on?

Their whole marketing department should be fired.

Ben

This morning, after spotting news about a WWII game for the DS, I went to N-Philes' forum to discuss it, when an uncertain thread had a fishy picture with three letters: Wii. I pushed that aside like I did to Nintendo Go, Swing, NE5, Revo, V, and all the other fake names until I saw it on Nintendo's official site. Like pretty much all gamers, I wanted a more substantial, a meatier and edgier name. People like Revolution. It isn't so much that Revolution is a beloved name as much as it's been accepted through repetition over the past year. But Revolution isn't mainstream. A console that wants to be in every house can't sound complicated nor can it connote uprising, violence, or sex.

Nintendo's reasoning for the name has helped me to accept the name. Inclusive. Innovative. Unique controller. I feel neither for it nor against Wii. It just doesn't fit in a sentence, "visit new worlds and blast friends online in Metroid Prime 3 Extinction only on Wii!" I would have loved iDea, or iNi, or even if they dusted off iQue. The new name hasn't appeared as Nintendo Wii either, which smacks me as unusual, coming from a company who insisted that their current-gen system be called NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Just Wii. Note how the DS lite doesn't have "Nintendo" on it at all. Is Nintendo un-branding itself?

Just like Revolution, people will adjust to Wii and move on. People will make their YTMND pages and inappropriate animations, but come E3, it isn't the name that'll be on everyone's minds, it'll be the games. They will make us say "Wii".

Danny

Wii.

At first, I was unhappily shocked. Wii? People won't even be sure of how to say it without hearing it, but this leads to something else... advertising. Wii is simple, short, and reminds me of weeee which is something I should be saying when I play Revolu... Wii. Coupled with a strong advertising campaign, Wii could definitely be a beneficial name choice for Nintendo's next console.

At the same time, just because its short, the "i" is reminiscent of the controller and "ii" means good in Japanese does not make Wii a good choice. I could think of many random letter combinations with the same attributes that did not remind me of urine and the French. I hope Nintendo places heavy emphasis on the console being the Nintendo Wii while bragging about the Virtual Console, because mindshare is a very important issue that this choice neglects.

Curtis

When I first heard the name of Microsoft's new console, the Xbox 360, I laughed. I laughed hard. Here was Microsoft, trying to be the king of the consoles, coming out with a retarded name like Xbox 360. Wow, real original guys. I thought for sure people would all react the same way. But after over a year since the name was released, it just rolls off your tongue. 360. I don't even think anything of it anymore.

Why is this relevant? Cause the exact same thing is going to happen with Wii. Sure, it seems hairbrained, something that sounds like a bad attempt at guessing what they'd call it. And it's just plain, again, retarded, but it works. Its simple, its easy to remember, and, if Nintendo is to be believed, it has meaning, plus, the marketing practically writes itself. Unfortunately, so do the jokes.

But I digress, it's a good solid name, and people will forget the absurdity of it after plopping down on their couch and grabbing their Wii for the first time this fall.

Dan

When I first saw the announcement on the boards I read it as Nintendo "Why", and thought, well that's odd. And then when I saw the official Nintendo statement realizing it was prounounced "We" I realized it wasn't just odd anymore, it was simply garbage. Nintendo says the idea of the name is to show that it's a system for everyone, but when you can't even pronounce it the first time you see it, there has to be something wrong there (I've heard someone as going as far as thinking it was called Nintendo W-2 at first impression).

I think the whole toilet humor behind the name is more of an initial shock phase that will wear off in time, with of course the Xbots and Sony fanboys continually using it for years to come. But that doesn't disregard the fact that the name just isn't practical; it seems to forced, as if Nintendo is begging to break into a worldwide term yet falls miserably flat on their faces. Reps continue to say, "Well look at Amazon, and iPod, and Napster, and blah blah" well yeah but these are creative names that work well with their product. When I see two i's next to a W the first thing that comes to mind is certainly not two people playing a game together. The main problem with the name is it needs explanation, something the other companies listed before don't.

Of course I thought the Revolution was a good name, but I did want it to change, it was a great prototype name (unlike the dreadful Dolphin for the GameCube), but to Wii? No thanks. My main gripe is that Nintendo has obviously taken a direction in making their products very similar. The DS was redesigned for that purpose, to match the Wii in terms of image. The Game Boy was also redesigned with the micro (while to a lesser extent) to push Nintendo's new flashy image, something that cannot be seen with either the GameCube or Game Boy Advance SP, both of which appear more like toys, not gadgets.

A design is only half of what will make people refrence the Nintendo DS with the Wii, there needs to be a name connection. There were rumors of the once named Revolution to be called the Nintendo RS (Revolutionary System), while I admit a tad on the boring side, it still gets the message across of what the system is and the systems main goal, not to mention when was Xbox or PlayStation ever considered creative names? Imagine a child who owns a DS going over to his friends house who has a Wii, with little gaming knowledge or even realizing that Nintendo makes both of these products, how would this kid ever realize his DS could actually link up to the Wii? How would he know that he could get all of those games he adores on his DS in a brand new package on the Wii? He won't, because he won't see that connection.

Things sell based on image, something you'll learn in the most basic business class, and something Nintendo should have learned from when they got ripped apart with the purple lunchbox of a GameCube years back. Nintendo has the system design to gain that cool factor, but again that's only half of the equation as brand name accounts for the other half. I've tried over and over to say Wii in casual conversation, and it just doesn't work, it's down right odd. "Hey I got the new Wii for my birthday, want to come over and play with it?" What the hell? I think that speaks for itself.

I'm also disgusted with the recent interviews of Nintendo reps when asked why announce the system name now and not at E3 and their response is so that we can let the name "soak in". Are you kidding me? That's basically saying you know the system name sucks and you know we'll think it'll suck and too bad just deal with it. You shouldn't have to let us learn to accept the name, why not make a system name that the majority of people are going to love from the get go? I don't ever remember Nintendo announcing the GameCube weeks before E3 so we could adapt to it and get over it's awfulness. We didn't have to, the name was fine and it got the systems message across, something Wii doesn't do.

Back to the drawing board, Nintendo, because "wii" don't want it.

Jordan

Upon first seeing the new name, I didn't even know how to pronounce it until I read the press release. If that's not an indication that Wii isn't such a good name then I don't know what is.

In an industry where the competition sports titles such as X-Box and Gizmondo, it's hard to imagine a console name that's any more ridiculous, but Nintendo has found a way to do it. And they spent a year working on it, no less. With the "Revolution," though not exactly a great title itself, there's at least something tangible to extract from the name when you see or hear it. Is it pretentious and impractical? Yeah, but Wii is even more so. I can barely process the idea that Nintendo's been working on this name for a year and yet somehow the criticism it received was "unexpected." Did they not say the word out loud at all?

I hope I'm wrong here, but I think Nintendo's created an unnecessary hurdle for them to jump over in terms of marketing this new console. They already had their hands full when it was called Revolution simply because of the new controller, and now they have the added headache of having to communicate what Wii represents and how to pronounce the damn thing. I understand what Nintendo's trying to do. Their target audience now includes old men and women trying to keep themselves from going senile: they're going for a wider market and they want their console's name to reflect that. It all sounds great on paper, but I think the end result in this case is off the mark.

Jared

Wii? More like why? It's not so much that the name "Wii" is retarded (okay it's kind of that) but that it really has my Brain Age-honed brain buzzing wondering why in the hell Nintendo chose the name Wii for their new console.

I've always been a big fan of "Revolution". I mean, it's wordy, but "Rev" has already been a sturdy nickname for awhile now and the console isn't even out yet. And beside that, "revolution" seems to make work so much easier for Nintendo's historically-retarded marketing department. Put "revolution" in any sentence and suddenly you've got a hot ticket marketing slogan. "My wife has an inner ear infection REVOLUTION." Oh yes.

Now, Wii? I can't really think of what doors that opens, especially since it's taken to mean "we". Anyone can use "we" in their slogan. PS3 could say, "We are the future!" and it wouldn't conflict at all with Nintendo's dumbass Wii campaign, whereas Sony and Microsoft would be hard pressed to use "revolution" in a campaign without inadvertently advertising for Nintendo. So basically Nintendo's only advantage here is the visual logo of "Wii" which I imagine would run out of steam quickly.

Then there's the whole issue of how "Wii" both lends itself easily to juvenile humor and also makes for a pretty stupid name from a strictly aesthetic sense. But I think I'd be fine with it if it turned out that the letters W-I-I stood for some really cool acronym. World Interactive... Illumination? Really any acronym will do, but otherwise there's really no excuse for a name that stupid.

Unless of course Nintendo is really into the idea of sacrificing any creativity they're known for just to become as Apple's doting little brother.

Adrian

Wii.

Looking at the word itself, it's a bit of an oddity.

The double "i" at the end isn't easy to grasp for an English reader. There aren't many words that end in a double-"i" and what that does is make a reader do one of two things: Either he becomes confused and ignores the word entirely or he is intrigued and wants to find out more about it - how to pronounce it, what it's about and why it's important.

The same could be said of the controller. With three generations of gamers used to (and perhaps expecting) a console attached to a one-piece controller connected to the system (usually) by a cord, the concept and design made a lot of people sit up and pay attention, some in awe, others in shocked dismay. Is it a remote control? What the hell do you do with it? Can I attack others physically with the nunchakus?

The fact is, the controller raises eyebrows and nobody can deny this fact. The fact again is that this new console name is raising and will continue to raise eyebrows. Unfortunately many eyebrows will be attached to fall-down laughing faces, but there will also be those who are smiling with Nintendo.

The real question is exactly how this bold, highly risky move will affect Wii's popularity in the United States. Can anyone really say how effective the name will be right now? Of course not - we have no idea what Nintendo has in store for its national campaign, but the name is already being talked about everywhere, and this is partly what Nintendo wanted. The other is to deflate the backlash that would have occurred if the name was debuted at E3 - a terribly smart decision considering the huge debut they want to make at the show that they don't want being marred with talk about the simple name of the machine that's going to (hopefully) revolutionize the industry.

I think it was a smart move on Nintendo's part but don't really think anyone right now can pretend to know what's going to happen in the future with Wii. At least now that Wii's name is out in the open, Nintendo can help people to focus on what really matters: the games and how they're going to change the way we play games.

Do I like the name myself? It's growing on me, exactly the way the controller did. A tentative thumbs up from me.

John O.

I'll make this short and swiit. For the most part, I like "Wii."

The name inherently instills a technologically savvy piece of equipment – something Nintendo is not commonly known for producing. It's also simple and short. It's one syllable and won't soon be forgotten.

The pronunciation encourages togetherness. I'm not the first to say this, but out of all the console's supporters, Nintendo's fans have always been known as being the most passionate, enthusiastic, and cooperative devotees around. "We" only helps drive this point home.

I'm not sure that the "i's" represent people or the unique controller as much as it probably tries to borrow from iPod's unique name.

Overall though, I think Wii will work. After E3 everything will settle in, and I'm sure many more people will be on board the new name change as well.

James

What is Nintendo accomplishing by naming their next-generation console with a Japanese name? A vast majority of Nintendo's profits comes directly from the Western world, so why label your system with a name that can't even be properly read on first passing by the bulk of your consumers? Not to mention, it's a name that's easily the butt of thoughtless puns and dime-a-dozen jokes. Wii-eak.

From a marketing standpoint, you want to create a name that's EASILY read, EASILY remembered, EASILY passed on. Of course, I do believe this won't be an issue at all with the entire gaming audience as well as those who casually play games, but what comes of those who don't game at all? I'm talking my parents, your parents, our teachers, etc etc. You know, the same crowd Nintendo has promised to capture this next generation. I don't want to get too sophisticated here, but they won't even know how to pronounce it when read or spell it when heard. To me, the name is nothing but intimidating to a crowd that's preemptively intimidated to the video game industry. What are you thinking,Nintendo?

From a gamer's standpoint, the name is solid. As solid as Revolution? Nope, but at least it's not as pompous. There's no implication of a transformation in gaming, so N won't be as open to constant bashing of not "revolutionizing" the gaming market. I believe one of the largest factors in N's choice was Internet leverage. Go ahead, google "revolution." No go ahead and sift through 390 million results. Now google "wii." A mere 1.3 million results. A difference of 389 million. You want to stand out on the Internet, Wii is a brilliant choice.

But in the end, who give's a rat's ass about the system's name. The real name created will be exemplified through the entertainment received from the system, at which point, Wii will go from awkward, Japanese-ey lingo to state of the art revolution!

Gareth

Wii? I had to check the date when I first saw that website load up. Nope, april fools was over three weeks ago. What's going on? What happened to the too-cool-for-the-internet names like the N5, or the Nexus? Even the Revolution was a perfectly good system title to use. It made its point, and everybody was familiar with it. Wii doesn't have any immediate meaning to the consumer, short of toilet humor that is. Perhaps that's the idea? Make people like me kids giggle at the prospect of playing with their wii? We'll They'll rush to buy one, I'm sure.

I find it interesting that Nintendo decided to announce the new name before E3. I mean E3 is the time and place in the gaming industry to announce this kind of thing. Were they not confident that people would like it? Is this some form of damage control? They certainly spared themselves the giggling at the press conference. Or, well, some of it. But if they were aware of this, why are they going with this name? I'm no businessman, but surely if you have a product that you would like to see gain popularity, and realize it has a attribute that you know the general populace will dislike, you work to change it. Even if it's just in the non-Japanese markets. It wouldn't be the first time a system's name differed between regions.

It just seems like a very strange course of action for Nintendo to take. The same Nintendo that we thought had gotten back in touch with the current market. It's like they intentionally create a brand new problem for themselves to overcome every generation.

But, saying that, what's in a name?

What is in a name indeed.

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