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I don’t recall where I was when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, but I think I’ll always remember that I was sitting right here in the office when Nintendo renamed the Revolution.

 
 

Jason L: Yeah. I know both, and I'm reminding myself right now that it's just a games console, just a games console.


I mean, what? GameCube (second-best console name ever, after the Dreamcast) dying because of a "kiddie" image? Years of grooming third-party relationships for a more adult-friendly image this generation? Huge success among older consumers with the DS? Any bells? Guys? Hello?


I'm saying this everywhere I can post: I'm just going to keep calling it the Revo until they somehow force me to do otherwise. Their marketing idiots can go drown for all I care. It could be our own little Nintendo Revolution.


 
Pentadact: A games console named after urine.
 

The_B: The bit that cracks me up in the press release:

"Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii."


Come on everyone - let's Wii together!

 
Pentadact: Actually, this Wired article in defense of the name is pretty convincing: http://blog.wired.co... ...id=1467976
 

Peter Hopkins: *sighes*

Jason L: Yes, something like "Wii" would have been great, Mr. Wired Writer. But "Wii" isn't. When your product makes Joe Sixpack snicker as he passes it in Wal-Mart, or when you're homping for the "Wii" to become the cool console for Christmas, something's wrong.



It's actually as simple as this: I could easily have gotten behind "Wi". That evokes the English word, is unambiguous to pronounce, does not specifically evoke toilet humour, and is equally dynamically nonsensical. It would have been a thousand times better.


 
Pentadact: That's a good point, actually - it's the double-i that makes it sound more like 'wee' than 'we'.
 

Peter Hopkins: Have you seen the video of the logo? although I'm unsure of the name, the animatic video is very Nintendo. Really not looking forwaard to the time when you have to walk into a game retailer and ask: "excuse me, may have a Wii please?"
Stock phrase - "Sorry Sir, the company doesn't have customber toilets, haa haa haa"

Lithilk: I see no problem with it. Easy to remember for being plain stupid and all that.

roBurky: I think part of the problem is that we is not a noun. If you use that sound as a noun, it can only mean wee.

Peter Hopkins: The best thing for this is to wait for E3 :) ok so Nintendo claim its legit. but is this punk'd???? best form of advertising = word of mouth

meaning = to recognise our product, start something up that isn't genuine and get people talking about it. Move on... this maybe a complete wind up, from what I've heard (and only as hear say) many legalities have not be registered. does this not strike as odd....



then again it maybe true and I'll eat my shorts if it is. :)

roBurky: It's also the name in Japan and everywhere else in the world, though, where wee does not mean urine. If Nintendo were planning it to be a wind-up, it'd be a bit mean on everyone who doesn't speak english.

Jason L: Yeah, that little conspiracy theory's already been addressed. As far as I know, Nintendo hasn't out-and-out lied to their customers for the last decade, unless you want to count changing their minds on DS. Trademarks take time to be registered.



Every indication is that Wii was cooked up in Japan, with Japan as the primary target market, and the English-speaking departments are just having to put the best spin on it they can. Who knows how they had to lobby to do the announcement early and let us simmer down before E3.


Dave: i think it is a games felxablility AS a game that adds to the greatness; while you could stick to the actuall objectives OF the game i.e., capture all the flags, kill all the enemies, the fact that it lets you do OTHER things in place of those adds to and changes the way one thinks of a "game". i would consider it to be "playing" HL2 even if i am only seeing how far i can launch that baby doll in the begining using the see-saw and some bricks because it is a part of the "game" that i am playing and even though i should be busting Combine heads in i am taking the time to mess around in the environment while playing. i would just never say to someone, "yeah, i'm throwing babies around in Half-Life 2" no, i would tell them i am playing HL2, but i'm just throwing a toddler around in a basket (and seeing how many bullets i can get the Combine to put into it, lol).

Dave: uuuuuuhhh, this was supposed to go with the BF2 pic and that games conversation. . . i have no idea how it ended up here.


but then again i agree with the "just onw i" thing

 
Pentadact: Update: I am now officially used to the name. It got said a lot at E3, so I think most attendees have had its humour value hammered out of them.
 
 
 

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