Slashdot Mirror
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 ..."
Also to note about Wii is that the logo looks very
All these jokes have been made about the name but on the manufacturer's site, you'll find this little blurb: So you see, even they are aware of the puns that come with a name like Wii. Personally, I'm glad they chose something other than an old name coupled with a high number (Nintendo 64, Xbox 360, Sega 32, etc.) because that makes it sound like something where bitrate and technical specs are the only things that concern a gamer. And they're not. The thing that concerns me the most is if there's going to be games that I enjoy, Tetris did that with 16 bits so I welcome anything at any bit rate that provides me with entertainment.
My work here is dung.
Not only is it worse than Xbox 360, it will confuse the French and also everyone will keep making piss-poor jokes about it.
See what I did there?
Summation 2
This name could either be good or bad, depending on the ads.
If the ads seem goofy and childish, it will resonate against those qualities already represented by the name itself.
However, if the ads are sleek and classy, and the logo is clean and simple (which looks to be the case), then the "Wii" thing could be spun off as "it's cool to be a kid again."
I expect the latter case, of course, and I imagine an ad campaign similar to the DS. At the end of each commericial, if a child's voice whispered "wee" in sort of a mystical way, it would do wonders in changing the perception of the name.
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I seem to remember another device that had a name which everyone chastised in the begnning. Give it time people.
"parents will have a hard time pronouncing it ("Nintendo...why?") ...""
That didn't seem to stop Pokemon.
As someone on the Gamelife blog pointed out, the very fact that Nintendo had to explain its decision and Chris Kohler had to back it up is proof enough that marketing-wise, the name has failed.
So, because of the name everyone's talking about Nintendo's console.
Two stories in two days on Slashdot about the name alone - first one got almost 1000 replies.
Blog articles are popping up left and right about it.
Even months from now, when you hear the name you'll smile or chuckle - because you think the name is funny, because you think it's refreshing, because you think it's colossally stupid and find it amusing that a company can make a mistake this big. In the meanwhile, the names "PlayStation" or "XBox" will just elicit a shrug.
Already - in one single day - Nintendo has managed to set itself apart from its competitors, and generate a huge amount of buzz about its console - without a massive ad campaign or billions in R&D. Just by releasing three letters to the public.
So, remind me again... why is this name bad?
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(Recycled from a blog post of mine. Cause I'm lazy. But it fit.)
;) ), and I just don't have the time to play every really cool game I want to.
There was an interesting idea brought up in a forum post somewhere else, and I don't recall where, yet the headline went like this:
"Hard core gamers: Do we matter anymore?"
And the second I saw it, I knew the answer:
No.
Gaming, to use an idea that would make Mr. Rogers cringe, is becoming more and more like the movie industry every day. Not in scale or stars, yet in history. The industry was first introduced with small players, making games out of their basement - like initial movie makers with their "moving cameras". Then came an era of competition and explosion - then the conglomerates came into being, and they started to get movie making down to a science.
People complain that movies are all "the same", yet the fact is this: movies sell. Yes, they're going into a slight downslide right now, yet I'd argue that's an issue with technology (home theaters more comfortable and convienient than movie theaters - look at how studios make more money from DVD rental sales than blockbuster sales). yet movies, as bland as they are, make money. They make a shitload of money. They make so much fracking money it's not funny, because they have the formula down.
Was "Momento" a better movie than "The Matrix"? I'd argue it was - yet it didn't follow the rules. It was harder to think through. It didn't challenge. People could watch the Matrix with it's biblical allusions and get the surface story - kick ass people in leather, yeah! Or get the subtext. In "Momento", you had to think the whole fracking movie, and work to understand it.
Nintendo gets this. Look at the games they've been releasing. Is "Pikmen" a good game? I liked it. yet it's not selling nearly as well as "Tetris" or "Brain Age" or "Nintendogs" - the latter are games that you don't have to think about (insert irony about "Brain Age" here). yet these are games that a) did not cost a lot to make, and b) could be played by anybody with more than 5 brain cells. Are they fun? Sure - Nintendo gets it: the hardcore gamers don't make them money. Armies of teenage schoolgirls and their parents do.
What does this have to do with Wii? I think Nintendo, in a way, is making a statement. To hard core gamers, they're saying "This is not your world. There will be things for you, for those who look past the name. yet we are establishing here and now - this system is not for the 'hard core'. This is for all of the girls and grown ups out there who don't get 40 button controls, who will look at the word 'Wii' and go 'Oh, that's interesting.'"
Look at their plans for porting: almost none. EA had an interview where they said they were all yet forced to rewrite games from scratch for the Revolution/Wii because of the difference of power and controller. Which is what Nintendo wants. Let Sony and Microsoft fight over almost exactly the same games and who's cock is bigger in the "HD-DVD versus Blue-Ray" fight. Nintendo will do what Sony did - offer a DVD player that also plays a ton of games that people can pick up and go "Oh, Mario. OK - I move this way and jump. I can do that", while the "hard core" will either look at the name and say "Wii is lame", or will look at the game lineup and go "Turbo Graphix? Sweet - hey, Phoenix Wright Wii version! Neat!"
I don't know if it will work. Or, it will probably work in Japan the way the DS all yet killed PSP sales. (As Tim once said, every time someone finds out how to do something fun with the PSP, Sony releases a patch to break it. Or, something like that.) It probably won't hurt the Xbox 360 sales, since for all the money it's losing it's supported by a monopoly that hopes for more, and PS3 sales probably won't matter because of the Wii.
Yet I think that Nintendo did the name on purpose, knowing it would piss off the "hard core". I'll probably get one, because I've got 3 kids and a wife who only plays "Tetris" and "Brain Age" (I leave the DS at home for her to play while I'm out working - which will be my excuse for why we need to buy a DS Lite when it comes out
(Shrug.) Guess we'll see more at E3.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
"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 ..."
I think the biggest issue is that the name is not easily read or pronounced; many will likely read it out as "why". The fact that they have to tell you that its pronoucned "We" is a bad sign, product names should be straight-forward and to the point.
I agree the two "i"s and people playing together, as in "we" is clever, but that gimmik is quickly going to fade. The concept is very akin to Intel's Viiv (which I'm still not exactly sure how its pronounced), however good solid names that are easy to remember are far better then gimmicky names that are hard to read.
Also, "we" has too many conotations in different languages that are going to be much stronger than a game console, "we" as "oui/yes" in French, "we" as in pee, "we" as in small, etc. By far one of the worst product names in recent history, but they sure have gotten quite a bit of press from it.
Wii as in 'we'
Wii as in "Wee"
Wii as in "Whee!"
Wii as in you "pee-pee" you imature fools
The biggest problems people have with the name Wii is that it does not bring up any images of playing games and it does not have a 'Mature' or 'Masculine' name; and I think that is the whole point. Calling a system XBox is about the same as naming your system the "Xtreme-Uber-Leet Box (don't play this you foolish woman or casual gamer)" which was what Microsoft was going for, they were trying to attract the hard-core gaming market. Wii is supposed to be a contrast to the (hard-core sounding) XBox and the (Technical sounding) PS3 by being very feminine sounding and very inviting.
Nintendo Wii continues a strong tradition of incredibly moronic brand names out of Nintendo -- which is a shame because their games are incredible.
* Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Ok, I understand the need to maintain "a strong brand identity". But this is really just a copout versus coming up with a more creative name. Their ads were even worse: "Now you're playing with power... super power." Was it any wonder that the Sega Genesis (which had some great games of it own and I consider the best console name ever) had more "cool factor" going into the early 90s?
* Super Scope 6 - If you're wondering, this was the software that came with the bazooka-version of the lightgun for the SNES. Never mind the fact the gun itself was completely unwieldly -- the decision to make the name of the software roll off the tongue (Super Scope 6) made everyone forget that the Super Scope was supossed to support a bunch of games. Since everyone associated the gun with the 6 relatively crappy minigames it came with, no one thought to look for 3rd-party software that supported it. I think a total of 3 "full games" supported the thing.
* Game Boy - Immediately shot down as being "sexist", Nintendo Power held a contest to design your own and half the entries used the words "Game Girl". To this day they're still trying to get Game Boy moniker out of peoples' heads (to your non-gaming buddies, do you call your DS a "Nintendo DS" or "like a Gameboy")?
* Virtual Boy - Ditto. And add the fact it wasn't really virtual. All it was doing was drawing red lines a few inches in front of your eyes and giving headaches.
* Nintendo 64 - This began a line of consoles with relatively good codenames but terrible console names. Ultra 64, while derivative of Super Nes, at least had a "cool" element to it. Killer Insinct for the arcades even touted "Coming soon to the Ultra 64!" Nintendo instead decided to go with the incredibly bland Nintendo 64 and a gave it a suitably stupid Escher-like logo (which Rare's Conker amusing destroyed in Conker's Bad Fur Day). Again, wonderful games -- terrible name.
* Gamecube - Original codename: Dolphin. Exudes intelligence, the ability to swiftly get around competitors. Final name: a plastic block. The ads picture a bunch of gang-like teenagers walking the streets and then cut to a cartoon Advance Wars-like game. Huh? Although it could've been worse -- one of the final designs called for a star-shaped plastic fins and the name "Starcube". Picture the Disney PC for 4-year olds but in your living room. Again, incredible games -- dumb system name.
* Nintendo Wii - Original codename: Revolution. Gives off the vibes of doing completely new things (the controller) and harkens nostalgia for when Nintendo turned a hobby into a multibillion dollar industry in the 80s (NES, SNES, etc. emulation). Final name mirrors a number of terrible Japanese names. In particular, I'm reminded if Vaio and Wega from Sony. Wega, in particular, is actually supposed to be pronounced "vega". Why they didn't just stick the V in there is anyone's guess. Revolution would've been a brutally cool name but instead they decided to wreck it.
Again, I'm not saying anything against the games themselves -- they're incredible. Bottom line is Nintendo should fire their marketing department and hire the guys from Sega, Microsoft or even Sony.
The very fact that a simple name is generating this much discussion is proof enough that marketing-wise, the name has succeeded in getting everyone to recognize it and ingrained in their minds.
I would like to see you do some marketing. Apparently, when people are talking a lot about your product, you consider that to be a failure. Everyone was talking about the name so much that they want Nintendo to say more about it. That's marketing genius right there. Nintendo has everyone in the palm of their hands. Usually people might talk about a name and come up with all sorts of rumors on why it is named the way it is. But now people are going directly to Nintendo, who while explaining the name, now also has a chance to throw in another word or two for the system. My bets are that if MS could have people coming to them asking "Why 360?" they would love it too. But no one cares. And we all know why Sony chose PS3. Ooh, it's the PS2+1. That's a name that will have familiarity but nothing more. Nintendo still has familiarity (Nintendo wii) but now they also have something unique but easy to remember (Nintendo wii)
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