Mattcrampy
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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3150013

It's all over the gaming internets: Nintendo's new console is named 'Wii'. The idea is that it's supposed to be inclusive, with a play on 'we' as well as two little stick figure people as the 'i's.

Really, the phonetic similarity to 'wee' is unfortunate.

Personally, I think that Nintendo can make the name work with advertising. It's certainly not hard to forget, and it's in line with their stance that the console should not trumpet that it's just for games, gamers only, no non-gamer people allowed. I also think that really the people who care are not going to be the people who Nintendo are aiming for.

Then again, the name does sound like 'wee'. That is a point against it.

(While Revolution got a whole lot of mindshare, I think it's not really a good name for what the console ended up being - it's too direct, too confrontational, too gamer. It doesn't fit with the rounded white stylings of the Wii.)

Of course, because Nintendo of Australia sucks, it won't do any good here, but things are going to be interesting.

Thoughts?

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Ezlo
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I personally thought Revolution was good name in and of itself. But Nintendo can call it whatever it wants, I'm still going to buy the system.

gamer_extreme_101
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As soon as I saw this topic's name, I immediatly thought "Nintendo Why? What an odd name."

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Krishh
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Funny, I read it as Wheee! Which I guess is the same as wee, only signifies joy instead of, well, wee.

zex20913
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I think it's a horrible, horrible idea. I know what they're going for, but the Revolution was such an awesome name. It worked on enough levels.

A name change isn't going to be enough to draw people in, I think. Their attempt to utilize the first person singular is *moderately profane*, to say the least.

I'm still going to buy it, certainly. But I'm not going to call it what they're calling it. It'll always be Revolution to me.

As previously mentioned, it sounds like a synonym for urine. Which is pretty much exactly what I think the name sounds like.

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Sergenth
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The Gamecube was originally going to be called "Starcube", so maybe there's still time for Nintendo to scrub away the shame.

It's possible that they can fix the name by appending some appropriately electronic/futuristic/styley word after the Wii... such as:

"Wii play" (sounds like Elmer Fudd "Replay")
"Wii tron"
"Wii tel"
"Wii Net
"Wii Kachu"


Doing that accentuates the "We" pronoun over the "wee-wee" connotation.

Schik
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I'm going to wait for the Portable Wii, also known as the Pii Wii.


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Oneiromancer
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I pretty much agree with zex. I don't like the name change, but it's not going to stop me from getting it. Most of the people I've talked to that were already interested in it feel the same way.

Game on,

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NiroZ
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Im just praying that it was just an attempt to bring attention to themselves as E3 is around the corner.

Hopefully they will change it, even just a minor additon to the name.

Banjooie
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Project Reality -> N64
Project Atlantis -> GBA
Project Dolphin -> GCN
Project Revolution -> Wii

This isn't really anything /that/ new.

Hikari
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It's possible that there's a minor play-on-words going on with the Japanese language here, too. 'Ii', as a word, means 'good' in Japanese. Not sure why they're putting that W on there, though. Still trying to figure that out. Probably that 'We' play-on-words.

In any case, I decided long ago that if they pull off the sub-$200 pricepoint they're aiming for, they've got a pre-order from me. I'll still hold to that whether it's called a Revolution or a Wii.

Hopefully we'll get some real answers on the 9th, when they show off at E3.

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[Last edited by Hikari at 04-30-2006 12:52 AM]

Bombadil
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Wheee!

Mattcrampy
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Most interesting point I've seen so far - the name's designed to both not be a games console and be a consumer electronics device.

Also, they make the point that it's not the "Nintendo Wii", it's the "Wii". I'll make the change.

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gamer_extreme_101
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I have my doubts about the name.

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eytanz
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That's nonsense. As for the trademark thing, it's been pointed out that trademarks take a while before they appear in the registries, and it's not standard practice to trademark stuff weeks before an announcement is made.

As for everything else - what in the world would Ninetendo have to gain by announcing a fake name? They obviously spent a lot of resources into this. I'm pretty sure that they didn't gain a single new customer by all of this, nor is Nintendo a small company for which the buzz surrounding the whole controversy would be worth more than the effort placed into it.

This is wishful thinking by people who don't like the name and that's it.

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miketo
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There is another aspect here. We're talking about a hardware platform that is carrying the future of Nintendo on its shoulders. This means that the marketroids, being the extroverted "I know what's best for you!" types, have commandeered all internal aspects of branding, product launch, and advertising / marketing.

This means that, because the code-name Revolution has already been made public and discussed endlessly, there is no value in coming out with a product announcement confirming the product will be named "Revolution." Marketroids want to generate noise and interest, and you can't do that when you repeat something you've already said. The name must be new, must be different, must generate buzz. Thus a name different than Revolution must be chosen.

But the catch is that most common names have already been trademarked. So either the marketroids spend money differentiating their similar product name from other trademarked names, or they come up with a new one.

You can bet that Nintendo had both high-level marketing meetings about the name, and used an external "image consulting / branding" company to brainstorm ideas for a new name. I can tell you from personal experience that 90% of all marketroids believe they know best what resonates with customers *without* the benefit of doing any market surveys. (Don't believe me? Watch a few episodes of "The Apprentice" and see how many of the marketroids do not talk with the potential customers to see what features / prices / etc. would resonate best.)

Bottom line: You've got a lot of highly-compensated, VP-level marketroids engaged in endless hours of navel-gazing and internal power struggles. They come up with a name that they are convinced (because they convinced themselves) will generate buzz and resonate with customers.

Wee.

Mattcrampy
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You forgot one thing:

We're not Nintendo's customers any more. So what we think doesn't really matter to them.

And I'd figure that people who've grown up some won't be as quick to jump to the wee-wee jokes.

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silver
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Banjooie wrote:

Project Reality -> N64
Project Atlantis -> GBA
Project Dolphin -> GCN
Project Revolution -> Wii

This isn't really anything /that/ new.

this really should have ended the discussion. project names are not necessarily equal to product names. this has always been true.


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[Last edited by silver at 05-03-2006 07:58 AM]

NiroZ
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Mattcrampy wrote:
You forgot one thing:

We're not Nintendo's customers any more. So what we think doesn't really matter to them.

And I'd figure that people who've grown up some won't be as quick to jump to the wee-wee jokes.

but it still gets their attention, and generates lots of buzz for nintendo.