Both Sides of Wii

Yesterday Nintendo released the official name for their next console. Formerly the Revolution, and now simply called Wii, reaction has been strong among gaming fans. A Brian Crecente article in the Rocky Mountain News looks at why Wii is bad, from a marketing perspective. Chris Kohler, over at Game|Life, looks at why Wii is good because of its iconoclastic nature. And, always happy to help with the irreverent, Games.net examines why Wii is weird. From that article: "We don't think Nintendo Wii is a truly terrible console name, but it's an uncharacteristically risky choice, even for Nintendo. We admire its simplicity and its playfulness (the two i's represent multiplayer action, you see). But on the flip side, parents will have a hard time pronouncing it ("Nintendo...why?") and hardcore gamers will slam it ..."

Comments

It could have been worse..

[Anonymous Coward]

Although they'd have to name is Nintendo Shitcock for that to be true.

Re:It could have been worse..

[iainl]

Well, you say that, but their European distributer is Koch Media.

Yes, the moment they start having the same problems that the 360 saw around release, we'll be talking about whethere Koch is releasing enough Wii.

Reaction among sony has been strong too..

[saboola]

They changed the name of the Playstation 3 back to that marketing term from the PS2. The "Playstation Emotion Engine", or PEE.

Obligatory

[hotdiggitydawg]

Obligatory penny arcade reference...

New Nintendo Controller Name

[oskard]

I wonder if they'll start calling the new controller a Wii-Wii.

?

Re:New Nintendo Controller Name

[Megane]

I wonder if they'll start calling the new controller a Wii-Wii.

You must have missed yesterday's meeting. Wii-Wii is what you play with when you connect two of them together. The controller is going to be called the Wii-mote[tm]. Wii-li.

(Wii are not amused.)

Stupid Jokes

[th1ckasabr1ck]

New names for Nintendo fanboys:

• Wii-ners
• Wii-nies

Feel free to add your own

Petition!

[Trevelyan]

• Don't like...
• Do Like...

Re:Igor international?

[XO]

But.. were any of those three territories english speaking? any of them have a gamer population? or for that matter a population of smartasses?

Every chat channel I've joined in today has spent all day making fun of it. Yes, it's good for advertising, but it looks like the general consensus is that most English speaking people are NOT going to go to a game shop and ask to purchase a WII!

I know I sure as hell am NOT going to say to the store clerk "Hi, I'd like to buy that Wii you have there."

What are they going to call the eventual portable version? Mini Wee? Pocket Wii? Wii Wii ??

Will Apple want to have their own branded version? iWii! A portable Apple brand! iWiiWii!

Who's going to have a Wii party? "Dude, let's hook up our Wiis".

"Dude, I am so tired.. I was up all night playing with my Wii."

"John, can I see your Wii?"

At least there is a bright side.

It's not "Wii-NES."
We hopefully won't have a game named "Super Mario Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

You can play with your friends, and you can play with your Wii, but don't play with your Friend's Wii.

Those ellipsis...

[mwvdlee]

I love the way the Slashdot blurb used ellipsis in this quote:

and hardcore gamers will slam it ...

whereas the full quote from TFA reads as:

and hardcore gamers will slam it because, well, they're jerk asses.

That's quote some selective ellipsing/ellipsissing/ellipsiation going on there.

The business of naming

[jalefkowit]

It's a little old (circa 1999), but Salon's article "The name game" -- a look inside the "identity firms" that come up with so many of the weird names that are floating around these days -- is worth bringing up because it's just so freaking funny.

It seems that when Altman and Manning presented the name Jamcracker to a client recently, the reception was not everything they had hoped for. "I put the name up in front of their creative people," Manning says. "There were a couple of women sitting in. One of them got up and said, 'Oh, that's disgusting.' Another said, 'This is really sick.' I said, 'Excuse me, what are you talking about?' They said, 'We can't explain it, but that name is just creeping us out. We don't know what it is, but could you take it off the wall, please?'" Manning remains mystified by the incident. "There's apparently some strange, uncomfortable meaning attached to it in the minds of some women," he says. "God knows what that could be."

Read the whole thing, it's worth it.

Re:Wii is a terrible name

[pdxaaron]

I agree that it is a terrible name. Now if you'll excuse me, I drank too much soda and need to go take a wicked Nintendo.

Re:And "jazz" is supposed to be better?

[nuzak]

Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?

Ophelia: I think nothing, m'lord.

Hamlet: That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.