Wiiiiiiii

Ijuin

Admiral
Ok, I am sure you have all heard by now that Nintendo has announced that their new console, formerly known as the Revolution, is now to be named the "Wii" (pronounced "whee"). Let's discuss our thoughts on this. Please refrain from the bloody obvious toilet humor jokes that spring to mind.
 
And yet another product that's set to revolutionize gameplay has been dubbed with a weird title. Why O Why...

This could put a blot into nintendo's other future releases.

(I assume you have actually seen whats expected of this new console)
 
Revolution was never the console's name. Nintendo announced "Revolution" as the project name, and stated that the name itself would change. That being said, I would like to know if it possibly means something in Japanese? If not, then I can't really see where they are going with a name like that.
 
Now that we have the Revolution, the PS2 and the X-Box 360, the second generation of gaming can be divided into Wii, not so Wii and freaking huge.

This is truly horrific, though. You can just imagine the meeting where Nintendo of America was informed of this one...

(In response to so-and-sos question, Wii is not a Japanese word.)
 
In fact, they on the website claim (if I didn't misread it) that Wii is meant as a unificational term that means nothing in any important language and would be pronounced the same everywhere... Noble idea... but dear god, why?
 
You'll probably mispronounce it at least. But yeah, "wee" just isn't a pronouncable word using sounds in the Japanese language.

description.gif


The text in brackets would be pronounced ouii, with more oooh and less W than in an English pronounciation of "Ouiji board."

But like I said on irc, all it needs is Mario Party 8 with Wii Rods and I'll be there on the first day. Can't wait.

I really really like light gun games too, so if there's one game that uses the controller like a light gun (and there is, by Ubisoft), then that'll be awesome too.
 
honestly, what would be cool is a simplified driving interface that could be controlled with the left hand and a lightgun-type setup on the right hand... and some 3d glasses with motion tracking... GTA Infinity.
 
Eh, who cares?

Nintendo isn't known for have good console names and they were the odd-man-out (sadly) when it came to the last generation of consoles. While I personally adore the GC and really hope this new system is at least as good as it's parent, I don't see the name mattering much. "There is no such thing as bad publicity" and all.

Now all I have to do is wait for some stupid internet person to say "KaWaIIII" again.
 
It just seems to me that Nintendo likes to state how it is moving towards a more mature gamer market and then turn around and do something completely off the wall that turns many gamers off. It's like they like pissing nerds off. But then again, even being a nerd, I still like pissing nerds off, so I suppose it makes sense. :p
 
Of course the name matters. An Olscar Wilde quote applies.

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."
 
I don't think it will have any real effect on it. No one walks past a 360 and decides to buy it because they like the number 360.
 
Yeah, Halman's right...the name will have little if any effect on sales. At best the name will spark a little more recognition because everyone will joke about it but it won't hurt the sales of the unit any. They could have called it Fido and it wouldn't have mattered.
 
Mav23 said:
It just seems to me that Nintendo likes to state how it is moving towards a more mature gamer market and then turn around and do something completely off the wall that turns many gamers off.

No they don't. Nintendo is absolutely outspoken in their desire to reach out to an audience beyond core/mature gamers. There are all sorts of quotes from Nintendo executives about how Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat or countless Mario games are accessible to the entire family. It's only Nintendo fans on the internet that keep promising their favorite company will get more mature. They perpetuate this idea whenever a great adult title comes along (like Resident Evil 4 or the upcoming Ubisoft shooter), but that is not an overarching goal that Nintendo has.
 
Nor should it be. I like to laugh at the little Nintendo fanboys as much as anyone else, but at the same time, it's very admirable in this day and age that there is still a company as dedicated to providing a platform for an almost entirely family friendly game base. And as long as there are involved parents that care about what their kids are playing, Nintendo's future should be quite secure. Don't like the idea of your kids playing violent games? Fear that they'll just scamper off to a friend's house and play them anyhow? Buy them a Nintendo and invite the friends over for a Mario Party or a Super Smash Brothers Melee. Yep, I'd say Nintendo is doing well.
 
ChrisReid said:
No they don't. Nintendo is absolutely outspoken in their desire to reach out to an audience beyond core/mature gamers. There are all sorts of quotes from Nintendo executives about how Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat or countless Mario games are accessible to the entire family. It's only Nintendo fans on the internet that keep promising their favorite company will get more mature. They perpetuate this idea whenever a great adult title comes along (like Resident Evil 4 or the upcoming Ubisoft shooter), but that is not an overarching goal that Nintendo has.

I do know about the statements concerning reaching out to non-gamers, and am not arguing that at all. It just seems that I have also heard a lot about Nintendo distancing itself from it's "kiddy image", but perhaps you are right and that's just Nintendo fanboys defending their favorite company.
 
I've always admired the way Nintendo doesn't let anything distract them from their business strategy. Sticking to kid-friendly (...that adults can still enjoy) games is probably the only reason Nintendo is still in the console business. It would be pretty hard for them to out-do Sony and Microsoft in the games-for-adults market. And why would they want to, anyway? From a business perspective, it wouldn't make sense for them to try to make their identical to the other two competitors.

As for the name... yeah, it really won't make much difference, it won't hurt their sales or anything like that... but it's still incredibly stupid :p.
 
I can see many gamers and stockists in France getting frustrated with it already....
Kid: Has the Wii come out yet?
Clerk: Oui
kid: Yes the Wii, do you have any?
Clerk: Oui
......
:p
 
If I were going to change the name to Wii, I'd probably have done it well before about half-a-year before I put the console out. Gamers won't, generally, care I'd probably agree. Although this will put a dent in their advertising to make all the idiots of the world see that this is the same console as the Revolution. Waste o' ad dollars in my opinion, when you could have set this all up a while ago.
 
Skyfire said:
If I were going to change the name to Wii, I'd probably have done it well before about half-a-year before I put the console out. Gamers won't, generally, care I'd probably agree. Although this will put a dent in their advertising to make all the idiots of the world see that this is the same console as the Revolution. Waste o' ad dollars in my opinion, when you could have set this all up a while ago.

Nintendo hasn't advertised the Revolution name however. This isn't a name change, it's an announce of the name they will be using when they advertise and sell the system. The Revolution code name they announced last May has gotten twelve months of free press in gaming circles, but the name wasn't known among the people they actually need to advertise to. The "idiots of the world" (people who don't follow gaming news sites apparently) don't even yet know that Nintendo has a new system coming out this year. The XBox 360 name was also announced last May, about six months before the console was released. That also marked the start of the system's actual ad campaign.

Now you're right that Revolution was gaining quite a bit of traction among the online communities, so regardless of whether or not Wii is a terrible name, it is somewhat late to change it in that sense. It might be worth noting that they never changed the code name on the Nintendo DS from the point that they originally pitched it.
 
Back
Top