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Nintendo's 'Wii' Just A Marketing Gimmick?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the doesn't-seem-their-style dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Tom's Hardware has an editorial up on the Nintendo Wii in which the author postulates that the new name may be a bigger PR stunt than it looks. From the article: 'Saying Wii is controversial mainly in the English-speaking world (the Japanese can't even pronounce it); in France, for instance, it's a homonym for oui. But the upcoming E3 Expo plays mostly to an English-speaking crowd, even though it's an international event. It's just over a week to E3, where Sony fans will be all giddy and running around like they have a Blu-ray chasing their tails. Amid all this, Nintendo announces a name change which is not only interesting, but controversial. You can't not notice it. Essentially, Nintendo steals more than a wee bit of Sony's thunder.'"

3 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by djkitsch · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that would kinda suggest that they're planning on either

    1) A name change (again) in the near future

    or

    2) A different name for the Japanese market (a-la "Super Famicom")

    3) ...

    4) Profit!

    Oh, wait - I think I got confused a little along the way...

    --
    sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
  2. Re:The New Coke by shirai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Japanese seem to have a thing for liking made up names that are not easy to pronounce in Japanese. I'm Japanese and I remember making fun of all of the Japanese car names because most could not be pronounced in Japanese.

    * Honda Accord (can't pronounce "r")
    * Honda Civic (can't pronounce "v")
    * Acura (can't pronounce "r")
    * Integra (can't pronounce "r")
    * Legend (can't pronounce "l")
    * Camry ( no 'r')
    * Corolla (holy crap!)
    * Celica (no 'l')
    * Supra (no 'r')
    * Avalon (no 'r')

    I say no 'l' and no 'r' but they have a similar sound which is halfway between 'l' and 'r' which is why Japanese often mix these two letters up.

    I was just going to comment that this may be less now that Acura has switched to letters but actually, that's not entirely true either.

    * RL (both letters not easy to pronounce)
    * TL (L?)
    * RSX (R?)

    Anyways, the fact that it can't be pronounced is not an impediment to them using that name. In fact, I think for many using these sounds make the products sound more upmarket. Besides, Revolution is also difficult to pronounce in Japanese.

    p.s. wii would most likely be pronounced like oo-ee.

    --
    Sunny

    Be my Friend

  3. We are the Knights... by Skraut · · Score: 5, Funny

    Am I the only one who can't stop hearing "We are Knights who say Wii!" over and over in their head?

    I guess it's time for my meds again.

    --
    Introducing Microsoft Vacuum 1.0 The first Microsoft product that doesn't suck.