nah, i just think that they're using the same strategy as they did with the ds handheld.
it's the same kinda slack the ds picked up when it was first announced. the consensus everywhere seemed to be "What the hell were those nintendo nutcases thinking when the designed such an underpowered, bulky, two screened gimmicky piece of junk that looked like it hailed from some unknown 1980's sci-fi flick?" the psp, which was almost immediately branded "the gameboy killer" was praised by gaming enthusiastics everywhere. everyone took one look at the ds and just laughed their asses off.
fast forward to over a year and a half later, and the ds is outselling the psp worldwide. don't believe me? just google it
with regards to the wii, it's looks to be the same strategy: announce something so radical, it's just downright absurd. as a result your target audience will expect it to underperform. when that happens wow them with the gaming factor and, in time, people will buy. nintendo almost had it the first time when they introduced the wii controller. the general reaction was WTF?! but with the success of the ds the wii controller actually started to look like 'not such a bad idea', which probably wasn't the kind of publicity nintendo wanted. they needed a new catch, and what better way to do it than with a name change..and an insanely odd one at that? just think about it: what was so wrong with the the 'Revolution' title? absolutely nothing. in fact, if i remember correctly, nintendo reps said that it was called so because it would 'revolutionize gaming forever'.
you guys don't actually think that those working at nintendo aren't human? i mean it's kinda obvious that they would know of the implications that the name 'wii' would hold, especially here in North America and over in Europe.
but it's doing exactly what they seem to want it to do: get everyone talking about their product months before it's released, and turning the 'wii' into the gaming underdog, just like the ds.
...i'm gonna hold off judgement untill the console is actually released. that way i won't have to eat my words if the games for it actually turn out damn good...just like the ds
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