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Nintendo Revolution Renamed 'Wii'
Retroneous writes "The Nintendo Revolution has had its name changed to the Nintendo Wii." Confirmation on the official Revolution site. Update: 04/27 16:32 GMT by Z : More information available from a Gamasutra article: "New details on the disc format have also been revealed: 'Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.'"
Wii Nintendo, Wii? Gotta say that's a very bad name. It doesn't make me think of video games at all, and opens itself to too many easy jokes (Wii Bother?). Maybe it sounds clever in Japanese, but I think the Revolution was a much better name for the console. But what do I know, I don't have a marketing degree or anything.
Congratulations, Nintendo.
You've been building hype. New downloading. Twenty years of backwards compatibility. Brand new interface. Small. Sleek.
This is one gigantic step backwards. One, huge, gigantic step backwards.
I could go on a rant about this for a few paragraphs, but I'm too dismayed. Instead, I think I can some up everything I'm thinking in one sentence:
This is going to be known, gargonly, in America as "Nintendo Piss".
Fucking dammit.
I personally wouldn't vote for this name. It's too odd sounding for a video game system. Their explanation for why they choose this name makes a lot of sense, but they shouldn't have to explain the name to convince people about anything. The system's capabilities should speak for itself, not a name. I guess in the same way I got used to "DS" I'll get used to "Wii".
I wonder if the offical name for Europe and North America will be different? Much like NES and SNES was the Famicom and SuperFamicon (respectively) in Japan.
Of course, back then, those systems were released in Japan first and the original Japanese names were never used as part of the marketing campaign in other parts of the world.
This might be the best way to go.
If we can keep the "Revolution" moniker alive and well in gaming circles and sites, and only refer to the "Wii" name when talking about the name itself, we might be able to convince Nintendo that this was a stupid fucking idea.
Of course, names can be changed before actual release.
Ultra 64, anyone?
This still pisses me off, though. Even "Nintendo GO" was better than this.
It's not an April 1st. Right now, the only explanation I can think of which casts Nintendo as anything other than a bunch of utter muppets is that this is the first half of some multi-staga announcement, in which it's revealed, once the initial furore has died down, that "Wii" is either an acronym for something less stupid, or the start of a longer name. For this reason, I'm holding back right now, for fear of being made to look stupid later.
However, I've commented on Nintendo's decade-old talent for self-destruction before, so it's entirely plausible that this is, in fact, nothing more than a really good example of them shooting themselves square in the foot again.
People are overreacting to this. It may be a dumb name, but the majority of the population isn't going to instantly think "wee" and giggle, or worry about jokes on a playground. If anything, it'll get kids talking about it, and all publicity is good publicity. But the whining about the loss of the revolution name is a bit silly, people alternately saying that the masses are sheep for buying marketing while simultaneously talking about how they won't buy it because the name is so silly.
Actual reaction will doubtlessly be in between.
It's not that bad. Really.
They clearly state that they intend to bring the video game system from "gamers" to "everyone else." "Everyone else" doesn't want an "X-Box" or a "Playstation" or a "Revolution" or a "Super Whiz-Bang Toy 2010." They want something simple, sophisticated, intuitive, and a little artsy. "Wii" fits the bill for that type of goal.
I don't think the name is going to appeal to the gamer sect at all, but then again the gamer sect doesn't really give a shit about the name - they care about how cool the games are.
Actually the gamers would probably buy any console if it said "Bad Ass Motherfucker" on it, but, barring that...
Yes I get the name and it's sort of neat. No, it doesn't work when you have to explain the concept to people (especially in 'merica). I think you all are missing the point that this name is not aimed at teenage boys who are self-conscious about their size and lack of female companionship. Sure, they could have named it the GameCube720wtfbbqpwnedhax0rb0x3n but his isn't aimed at teen to 20 something males. This is aimed at my friends who now have children.
Think about some of the DS titles that have gotten major attention. Brain Teaser and Nintendogs?! Guys don't admit to playing them but women are snapping them up like crazy. This name is aimed squarely over our heads at at the remaining 90% of the market that don't call themselves gamers.
Is the name kind of ghey. Yup. Especially compared to Revolution. Is this a potentially brilliant marketing move, probably. Are all of you who wanted a "Revolution" still going to buy one anyways. Yes, you just won't tell your friends about it quite yet.
You are right, about the code name thing... what I'm not sure about is how good it is to build up a brand idea around a name, such as revolution (or Longhorn for that matter), and then change it to something stupid sounding that people will feel silly saying, Vista/Wii (which I'm sure they must know is pronounced the same as the word for piss), and that people don't really know or associate with the product... shooting ones self in the foot, methinks
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Nintendo while not number one has been having constent profit, and has had one quarter in company history that was not profitable. This was causing by the extra investments and the USD taking a dive in value. But over 100 years of profit looks good.
Microsoft while a rich company does not have limitless funding. Shareholders will eventually get upset with all the money being pissed away. While it remains to be seen what happens this generation, I'd be extremely suprised if Microsoft killed off both Sony and Nintendo. Hell it will be surprising if the Xbox360 turns a profit 1/2 through it's life cycle.
Kudos to Nintendo for getting their stupidity out of their sytem early, and in a manner which won't affect the machines performance.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Because Nintendo doesn't want them to use it that way. Because no one actually uses their system for that, since they all have DVD players. Because people who don't want to use the system for that don't want to pay extra for a useless feature.
The list goes on and on.
Seriously, that's the dumbest product name EVER.
I have a feeling that it's not going to last. In Japan, maybe "Wii" doesn't sound ridiculous, but in English-speaking countries, it sounds stupid. I'm sure Nintendo of America is having a nice long talk with Nintendo of Japan right now.
The XBox didn't play DVDs out of the box. By requiring an attachment to play DVDs, they shave a couple bucks off licensing fees required to play MPEG-2 files and whatever other licensing fees they would otherwise have to pay on ALL consoles when not ALL consumers will actually use the DVD viewing capability. As I more than likely won't use it as a DVD player, I'm happy to not have that extra cost passed down to me.
On another note... when I first saw the 'Wii' in the headline, I thought somebody had taken the 'f' out of 'wifi'...
Read my blog posts on usability.
Well, at least they didn't name it "Monday".
Read their official homepage, they explain their reasoning for the name as um... weird as it sounds. I don't know if I'm taking a liking to it, but hey, it's Nintendo, it'll probably catch on, despite it's name.
That might be on purpose, actually.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
decade-old talent for self-destruction
????
I fail to see how nintendo can be talented at self-destruction if they've been doing it for a decade.
I mean, I have no inherent abilities at self-destruction, but give me free reign at Nintendo & I'll run the company into the ground in less then a month.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I really, really hope I'm reading this wrong, but my understanding of this statement is that the Revolution will have an external DVD player?
No chip I just pop in the back to enable DVD functionality. No special remote to use DVD functionality. No, it's an entirely seperate unit that you plug into the Revoltuion.
Why the fuck even bother with that? You can get small-as-hell DVD players now for about $40 at your local Target (which will probably be cheaper than the Revolution add on.)
Did Nintendo just take one huge shit of bad ideas and release them all on one day, or did they take small shits progressively and just hold off on flushing them all?
Nintendo, you're working backwards! PLEASE STOP!
what fucktard thought that custom optical discs would be a good idea?
The same fucktards that want to make pirating games difficult without breaking the game or your system.
Oh, I fully accept the kiddy aspects of my Magical Purple Lunchbox of Joy (aka GameCube). Real adults actually like being kids again. The denial aspect is instead for the competition, which is actually marketed to teenagers, i. e. mental juveniles that are trying hard to look more "mature" and "adult."
If you're buying video games to support your personal image, aside from being a lost cause, it suggests you're not all that interested in games to begin with.
I don't think the reason DVD playback was left out was because of difficulty to implement, I think they probably didn't want to pay the license fees and raise the price. Not everyone needs another DVD player, and people who already have one don't want to pay for another one.
Ignorance is not linguistic drift.
My contribution
Ennui (ennui): Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom: "The servants relieved their ennui with gambling and gossip about their masters" (John Barth).
Hmmmmmm.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Why doesn't someone who can speak more eloquent than I start up a petition?
Your retail experience must be at Radio Shack. That's the only chain where the clerks throw around terms like "data transmission standard" and expect the customers to know what they're talking about.
Revolution was a cheesy name. It made sense from a code-word point of view, but as marketing goes, it was a word that brought to mind hype and pretty much nothing else. Microsoft had PowerPoint, to describe a presentation package. IBM was having difficulty with RISC in the 1980s and trying to get the message across that less is more: it finally decided to call its new architecture POWER. Apple couldn't figure out how to make a speed upgrade to the Airport 802.11 product look more interesting than... well, a speed bump. So it called it the Airport Extreme. Revolution was part of that genre. And just like all these names look ridiculous today, it'd have looked ridiculous too.
Is Wii better? Well, as people aren't generally referring to the Piss-Three or the Sex-box 360, I have to assume those who posted today thinking Wii is only going to be associated with Urine are probably wide of the mark.
It's not a bad word. It conveys fun ("Wheee!"), it also subtly highlights the new console's 802.11 features (WiFi), and the ads, using the anthromorphicized(sp) "i"s, look like they have potential. I think it's objectively better than "Revolution". Better names might exist, but this is a good one, and what it replaced was awful.
Still, I know people complaining that a certain operating system currently named after a wide view of the world should instead have been named after a cow, as it was originally. Some people are wierd...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
It's the only way I can justify their explanation:
http://revolution.nintendo.com/
It's like a goofy choice for english wording in the middle of japanese anime, except in the real world.
Hmmm... Pie...
No, that's NOT what the TFA is trying to say (albeit badly). The Revolution has a single, built in drive that can handle both regular sized discs and the smaller ones from the Gamecube. The fact that the single drive can do both sizes without using a tray is probably what they're calling innovative. This is nothing new though, any of us following Nintendo have known this for months.
As for the external bit, I'm sure it's just going to be a dongle that enables the DVD playback license, just like on the Xbox. The dongle probably plugs into the USB port or something (the fact the Rev-er, Wii has USB ports and flash card ports to me is incredibly awesome, by the way).