rlbond86

The Nintendo Wii. Personally I think that's the stupidest name they could have created. More info at http://www.rewiredmind.com/news/revolutiongetsanewname

Gatorade Frost

Oh my god.

That has to be joke.

Nintendo Revolution>Nintendo Wii

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Emo Philips

Randerolf

Whaaa?

Wow. And some people thought that DreamCast was bad. I don't care for it at all. What was Sales & Marketing thinking?

Fremen

Damn, that's horrible!
I'd rather them use Nintendo Go if they won't stick with Revolution.

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Lasereth

XBox, Gamecube, and Game Boy are all incredibly dumb sounding names (everyone hated them at release as well) but now no one thinks about poorly named consoles when they're mentioned. Wii is certainly odd, but I don't think it will affect sales at all, just as the aforementioned consoles weren't affected. I guess Wii'll see how this plays out in the upcoming months (sorry, I had to).

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gcurl21

whi? ?

Lwang9276

wii lol.. what a bad name... pronounced "we".. lol wtf.. might as well got it nintendo us.. lol.. should stick wit revolution

lindalove

That's certainly a valid point. I think you're right. Still, who the hell is running the marketing department at these companies...

Gatorade Frost

On thinking about it a while, I think I could live with Nintendo Wii. I'm going to buy one without a doubt. I've owned the three last major consoles and the gamecube got the most play of all of them.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

n0nsensical

This is it folks, the day that will live in infamy, 27 April 2006, the day Nintendo officially jumped the shark. A couple of years from now they'll be a software company like Sega, putting out one new game in a series from the set {Mario, Zelda, Metroid} every two years.


Seriously though. This is in close competition for the dumbest marketingspeak name ever with Intel's Viiv. The fact that 'Viiv' and 'Wii' use different vowel sounds illustrates precisely one good reason, because the English pronunciation is ambiguous between /i/ and /ai/. But then English never was much for clarity in that department.

I might have said before that I couldn't be any more unlikely to buy Nintendo's next console, but they would have just proved me wrong.

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cj2112

This has to have been an intentional marketing ploy to target adolescent boys..."Hey! You wanna play with my Wii?"

meanSpleen

So it's "WE" like, "WE will play games together and have fun on the Nintendo Wii!" ?

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cj2112

yep...lame, huh?

irateplatypus

the name is hilariously bad.

i'll still buy one.

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lindalove

Wii Teaser Video (temporarily hosted until http://revolution.nintendo.com recovers).

Fremen

I'm seriously wiiconsidering the name. Wiilly I am!

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hulk

Suddenly, I have deja-vu, to the release of every console ever in the history of mankind and people bagging the name. They could call it the Nintendo Poo Pile and it would still sell well. If anyone doesn't buy it because they don't like the name, they're an idiot. Plain and simple. Sucks to be them. So on and so forth.

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Gatorade Frost

Sucked at first, then didn't seem so bad, but now when I think out loud "I'm buying a Nintendo Wii" or "Hey, let's go play the Wii" it's just not cool. You can say N64, Super Nintendo, or Gamecube, but you can't put "Wii" casually into a conversation. I think most people will call it Nintendo Revolution and ignore that it was ever called Wii.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

robbdn

I don't know... I'm hearing the argument that all console names are dumb loud and clear, but something about this one seems particularly dumb, and I'm having a really hard time swallowing it. I mean, they failed to think about the practicality of it... What happens when I call up the store and ask, "do you have so-and-so for the Wii?" "I'm looking for a Wii, do you have one?" "Do you guys have Wii games?" "You guys should come over and check out my Wii, it's really cool." "Do you have a Wii yet?" "Does your girlfriend play Wii?" I mean, WTF am I saying? This word can be misinterpreted in SO MANY WAYS it's not even funny. It's NOT FUNNY! The other names we're talking about are just stupid, they don't have so many undesirable connotations and possibilities for misunderstanding, and I think that's going to be the real problem here.

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n0nsensical

Warning: the following post contains exaggeration, slight ranting, and a minor lack of fact-checking. Take with a grain of salt or a spliff or whatever you need in order to not freak out if I exaggerated at your expense or showed my lack of lingustic expertise.

It's not so much the spoken name that bothers me--after all, "we" /wi/ is a basic word, if you don't like that sound, English might not be the language for you, though surely it can be argued that there's a distinct difference between the sound's usage as a pronoun and a noun anyway. It's more that it's such a blatant marketingdroidspeak invented word, again exactly like Intel's 'Viiv', like they're thinking, we are SOOO clever, watch us change the spelling of this word to look like something out of Japanese to the untrained eye and now we can be even more clever and make puns about how 'wii' are going to change gaming blah blah.. And the gall of just adding this 'ii' letter combination to the language, although I believe it once existed in cousin language Dutch (and closer to the /ai/ pronunciation mind you), I don't think it was ever in English (not counting -us -> -i Latin pluralizations), and if it was it must have been a long time ago and was probably abolished for good reason.

Plus I'll admit it, I enjoy hating on Nintendo because I think they make boring games, rehashed sequels hardly better than EA's, and worse hardware, yet the Ninfanbois go crazy over them and bash PS and Xbox for supposedly valuing graphics over gameplay. But don't worry, it's not just Nintendo; I dislike Apple for exactly the same reason, the followers who have a totally irrational devotion to its substandard products while still carrying around this smug attitude toward everyone else. (this is coming from a former user of both companies' products)

Finally, I just have to wonder, why fix it if it ain't broke? [i.e., the name 'Revolution'; there wouldn't have been much room for complaining at all had they simply left it at that, unless maybe the console didn't end up being very Revolutionary in the end.]

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stevie667

um....WHAT THE FUCK!?!

I'm sure this is a snazy name in Japan, but do they realise that the people who don't like the revolution are just gona call it piss or some other slang term?

"he's got a peice of piss, i've got an wank-box/peice of shite 3"

This has not put me in a good mood. Ninty you tossers, you had things going perfectly, now you went and did this, you prats!


*end angry rant*

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lindalove

Charlatan

They couldn't stick with Revolution because XBox stole their thunder with 360 (360 degrees is a full revolution)... I don't suppose they could call it "us" because it might be mistaken for U.S.

To just call it "we" (as it sounds) could have worked except it has been taken by the women's television channel WE (women's entertainment).


Let's face it... "wii" looks dumb, sounds dumb and all of the the "we" stuff that is the theory behind it... sounds full of itself.

This is going to kill Nintendo.

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robbdn

I was talking to my brother on Google Talk, and told him about this, and made a fun little typo... I mean to say, "The new name for the Revolution is WII!" but I wrote "The new name for the Revolution is WWII!!"

Yes, this new Nintendo console is World War II. Longtime Nintendo fans are declaring war on the name, anyway. Yet another example of how incredibly stupid and poorly thought out this name was. Like I said before... so many opportunities for this to be completely misunderstood.

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Charlatan

Maybe this is the Japanese way of trying to win WWII...

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Locke7

The controller on that thing is going to be crazy. It's got some motion capture type function, that's supposed to really get you in the game. Should be interesting.

hulk

You almost had a point, up untiil the blatant hating. Hating on Nintendo and Apple, so very 2001 of you. An understandable attitude, those folk are happy with what they have and aren't afraid of letting you know about it, so it makes you bitter. Being a former user of both doesn't mean too much, both companies have had massive changes in the last few years and are going nowhere except up.

Maybe it's all a ploy by Nintendo to ditch the hardcore gamers. Hardcore gamers are an arrogant bunch of pricks who think they know how to make the best games and that developers should do exactly what they want for their next game, and when they don't get exactly what they want they bitch and scream and moan about it endlessly in forums such as this. I used to be one, it was horrible.

By giving it a weird name, not as much horsepower and marketing it towards those wonderful billions of people that haven't, until now, really cared about games, they cut out the bastards from the market and have more freedom to do what they want. Nintendo doing what they want is a key part of their business ethic. Wind Waker is a screaming example of this - many gamers didn't even touch it because they weren't secure in their maturity/personality/sexuality/whatever, and they missed out on an absolute gem of a game.

Regardless, they're setting the web and media on fire with this. Getting everyone and their dog talking about their new console. Same thing happened when they revealed the Revmote and the DS. What better way to publicise your product than a little bit of scandal?

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Willravel

Damn it, they misspelled 'Will'.

I'd like to put fourth a few names if they're having trouble (some will be nonsense, some will be honest suggestions...you decide which is which):
-Nintendo Tom Cruise
-Nintendo Oshinko Pickle
-Nintendo Itsudemo
-Nintendo Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Sony
-Nintendo Kick in the Nuts
-Nintendo Flanders
-Nintendo Acies

In all seriousness, this is silly, IMOH. What's in a name anyway? A name is defined by what it labels. There are some really cool people out there named Will, and there are asshats out there named Will; the name does not inherently carry meaning. Likewise, 'Wii' will not be defined by its name, but what it can do.

Aurakles

Everything looks and/or sounds better in retrospective, and I guess Nintendo is counting on that. Years ago, the name Dreamcast sounded horrible; now it's one the better names for a system, especially when you consider the meaning (to broadcast one's dreams). Nintendo better hope that the system is successful, because otherwise, Wii'll be joking about this for years to come.

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Rabid Bunny

I don't mind it too much, it's a litte weird and the fun we all would have with its name is immense, but what really matters is the console and the games it's going to provide, not the name.

Zeraph

This is exactly how I read it too.

Zyr

You know, doing this isn't stupid of them. It's not that bad of a name after a while, so now they've got everyone in the world talking about their console, and by the time E3 comes round, no-one will care about the name, and they'll be all over the games and the controller.

Imagine if they'd announced the name at E3.
"With the Wii, you have full control with the movement sensing contro-"
"What!? Did you say Wii?"
"Uh, yes, but as I was saying, about the contro-"
"Wii!? Like, taking a leak?"
"No, like, we, as in us, but the important part is the controlle-"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The fact is, no one is going to not buy it cause of it's name, it's all about the games and the controller, but they don't want to distract people with the name.

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MacGuyver

THIS is why I dont take Nintendo seriously anymore. Because they stick to a childish market. The <I>Revolution</I> sounds much more badass and like a cool name. P.S. I never saw the whole 360-Revolution connection as in 360 degrees is a full Revolution. I always thought nintendo was trying to <I>revolutionize</I> gaming with this new console i.e. a revolt against a colonial gaming monarchy? maybe not. Now they'd rather Wii on the gaming industry instead.


YEAH COOL.


Oh wait. They're serious about this whole Wii thing huh?

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Gatorade Frost

I don't understand why Nintendo would need to change their market? They produce games that are generally for all ages (Zelda, MarioKart, etc.)

They're all generally extremely fun games, even without guns, drugs, and violence.

I don't see a correlation between having a market for all ages and having lame games.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

guthmund

I don't understand it either. Whenever Nintendo unveils a new product, someone, somewhere is wailing about the downfall of the titan.

"Surely this debacle will bury Nintendo!!! A-ha!!!"

87 different styles of gameboys later and a fairly successful jump to CD-media and Nintendo is still around. Well...they must be barely hanging on then, right?

I don't give a damn what Nintendo wants to call their new console as long as it's fun. And if the Gamecube is any indication...then I'm sold. It's got that funky controller, it's backwards compatable, access to Nintendo's library and it's going to be cheap, which is great because the money from the kidney I sold is already ear-marked for the PS3. It's going to be a hit....with everyone but the graphics-whores and the horsepower-flunkies who would rather sit a bitch about how 'kiddie' or 'technologically deficient' the new Nintendo console is rather than pick a controller and get in the damn game.

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Carno

While I doubt that the new name will have any effect on sales, I do think Wii is a retarded name. Like somebody else said before, the marketing people at Nintendo probably think they're so fucking clever to come up with such a name.

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Karby

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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hulk

The problem with calling it the Revolution is the simple fact that to the market that Nintendo is trying for, it's not a revolution. They've not really experienced the market as it is now. Proclaiming something is a revolution when to the people you're trying to sell it it's not just doesn't work. Unless you're selling natural health products.

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BurntToast

One suggestion I read was that you can't buy the kind of press coverage that they just got from changing the name. You figure every major gaming site, the forums of said sites, and every other semi-technical website is now talking about this name change.

My girlfriend won't touch the xbox because there are too many button combo's, or its too confusing or whatever... but I know she and I both can not wait for the Wii to come out so we(Wii) can play those old school games again.

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Jinn

Can't Wii all just play games and get along?

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