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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.'"

54 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. And the last horse reaches the finish line by Wind_Walker · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I knew the strange name was a PR stunt when it was on the front page of CNN.com the whole day of the announcement, followed shortly by postings on Fark and two posts here on Slashdot.

    I don't think they're going to rename it again to get rid of the naysayers, but the timing of the announcement and the uniqueness of it was pretty clearly a PR ploy.

    1. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Honestly, I'm not too sure that Nintendo named the Revolution Wii simply to gain press; I do think that Nintendo recognized that the Hard-Core segment of the gaming population would dislike the name and that simply releasing the name would provide a lot of press.

      The question I want to ask is why does the Hard-Core gaming population hate the name Wii?

      Personally, I think I know the answer. When you watch Nintendo's flash video you'll realize that Wii is not just cute, it's simply adorable; adorable in a way that only women and gay men really understand. The fact is that this is simply unacceptable to much of the gaming population because they wanted something edgier and cooler like "Nintendo Revolution Extreme 1080".

      Face it, Nintendo may make games for them (and the system may be great for them) but Nintendo is no longer actively marketing towards Hard-Core gamers; with Animal Crossing, Brain Training and Nintendogs Nintendo has realized that they can be very successful with non-traditional gamers on a level no one ever has been (non-traditional as in women).

      Will they be successful? I don't know, but the Nintendo DS has (so far) sold faster than the PS2 did simply because their potential market was much larger.

    2. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is all pure speculation, but it is entirely possible that this whole thing is a big, albeit late, April Fool's joke. Consider the following scenario: Thousands of people are gathered around Nintendo's booth at E3 waiting for them to talk more about the Wii, DS, and other things. A spokesperson for Nintendo steps up to a podium and begins delivering a speech about the Wii. "Wii have a dream!" the spokesperson begins. The speech is filled with similar puns and word plays. As the speech ends, the spokesperson closes with, "Of course, wii're just joking. Viva la REVOLUTION!" Screens light up with pictures of the Revolution/Wii and some of the games that are going to be launched or are being worked on for the console. Throw in some banners, fireworks, or anything else to add to the overall emotional rush and the entire expo will be talking about it. No one's going to care about the PS3's launch or how many tera-majigaflops it can do and how it's better than the Xbox 360 and can play Blu-Ray movies. No one's going to care about Halo 3 demo (non-playable) that Microsoft came up with. Nintendo will essentially steal the show if they were to do something like this. The important part is that there's a lot of fanfare so that everyone gets caught up in the moment. They'll also need to keep the surprises and big announcements comming in a steady rate after that to keep the emotions running high. I'd suggest allowing people to get hands on and showing some good looking vaporware to keep people excited. Kudos if it isn't vaporware, but it really doesn't matter if it will keep people impressed. They'll get coverage based on the games they're releasing, but they'll get even more when every site that posted a story about the Wii has to post another one saying it was all a big gag that Nintendo played on everyone. Of course, like I said, this is all purely speculation.

    3. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by radish · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm not a "hardcore" gamer (though I play a decent number of games). I think the name is dumb. My older brother IS a hardcore gamer, he works for Sega, and he thinks the name is dumb. My fiance is not a gamer. She likes Paper Mario and Bejewelled and that's about it. She thinks the name is dumb.

      Everyone I've spoken to (IRL) about this thinks the name is dumb, be they male or female, gay or straight. I don't need an edgy name, I think GameCube was a pretty good name - simple but descriptive. But Wii looks stupid on paper, and sounds even worse when actually pronounced.

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    4. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The fact is that this is simply unacceptable to much of the gaming population because they wanted something edgier and cooler like "Nintendo Revolution Extreme 1080".

      No, they didn't.

      What about a regular, non-gimmicky, non-confusing name like the ones given to practically every other Nintendo system? Where would that fit into that false dichotomy of yours?

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    5. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by radish · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't think it's a joke, or if it is it's gonna backfire. Nintendo's biggest software partners didn't find out about the name any earlier than the rest of us (I know this for a fact). They are all in the middle of finalizing their E3 stands and promotional materials and now all of a sudden they have to change all the names to Wii. If Nintendo stand up on day one and change the name again, they will be VERY pissed off.

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    6. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So the same people that thought that Gamecube was too much like Gaycube (or that it was too much like a little purple block that a child would play with) would be happy with a similar name?

      What 'same people'? The only people who made the Gamecube -> Gaycube leap were the Sony/Microsoft fanboys that were never going to buy the system in the first place. The Nintendo fans themselves and the outside observers had no problems with the name 'Gamecube', surely? People didn't find it strange asking for a Gamecube in the games store or discussing it over the phone, but with the Wii these become issues. Any name can be transformed into something negative by the fanboys, but with 'Wii' it's like naming your son Copernicus.

      Maybe I'm missing the point. I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say. Bear with me, I'm pretty spaced out at the moment. The grandparent appeared to be saying that if you don't want 'cute' then you must want 'extreme' but I'm saying that it doesn't have to be either, hence the false dichotomy.

      Do I like Wii? Sort of, I think Xii ("Zee!") may have worked better for the American market (at the same time could be seen as too much of a Rip-off or XIII or XBox though)

      Personally, I don't have any major problem with the name 'Wii' and I wouldn't refrain from buying a console based on the name, I just fear that a lot of people might and that Nintendo could be closing doors. I have no qualms with Nintendo going for the cute, twee angle but there has to be something better out there than weeeee, surely? Xii, as you suggest, is quite cool, and I also like Qii (pronounced 'key'). 'In gaming, enjoyment is Qii'. 'In gaming, innovation is Qii' etc.

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    7. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by hitmark · · Score: 2, Insightful

      hmm, maybe the nintendo partners should have a chat with the apple partners if thats the case. sounds like they should have some shared experiences :P

      --
      comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
    8. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by Meagermanx · · Score: 4, Funny

      Personally, I'd rather game consoles have cool, interesting names. First you had the Nintendo, which was nondescript, but had a ring to it. Then you had the Super Nintendo. That name was cool because it had the word "super" in it. Gameboy was patronizing, Virtual Boy was too homoerotic (for my tastes), Genesis was too Bibley, Saturn was a cool name, Lynx was okay, because it's a cat, as well, Gamegear was cool, because "gear" sounds all mechanical and cool, Playstation sounded dumb, as did Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, Gamecube, and DS. Dreamcast was a decent name, simply because it didn't mean anything. Then there's XBOX, which has the best name for a console since Super Nintendo. Plus, the thing's black.
       
      Personally, if I released a game maching, I'd name it something like "Psychotic Dragonskull: Mechanized Deathpod Maximized." Its logo would be a flaming skull with a dagger stuck through it, and a snake wrapped around a babe going through its eyes and mouth. The box itself would be a jet black sphere, and it would play overly-angsty deathmetal screams as it started up.
       
      And it's predecessor wouldn't be white or have the number three hundred and sixty in its name.

    9. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by lucas+teh+geek · · Score: 2, Informative
      Genesis was too Bibley
      poor americans... in my region it was called a Megadrive, which I'd consider right up their with Super Nintendo as a cool name
      --
      TIAEAE!
    10. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by KeiichiMorisato · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Even though this would be speculation, I wonder what the people you spoke to would say about these names when they were first announced:

      A web portal / search engine named YAHOO!
      An online store that sells books named AMAZON.
      An mp3 player called iPod.
      A computer company called ASUS (*sarcastic* could sound like ASS US lol)
      A lame handheld called the Nintendo DS.
      A car named Integra...*sarcastic* LOL they can't spell integral
      A game named Donkey Kong with no Donkey
      etc etc etc.

      The point is, in the end, the product will determine how the name will be remembered.

    11. Re:And the last horse reaches the finish line by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If the name was any good this question wouldn't even arise.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  2. Free PR by 9mm+Censor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Nintendo said they were going to call the Wii say the Nintendo GameCube 2, would they have gotten near as much PR for the name? Lots of people know they name of nintendos new console, and Nintendo did little more than release a press release, it wasn't a multi million dollar ad campaign. genious!

    1. Re:Free PR by masklinn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Revolution" just sold among the geeks & gamers. Geeks and gamers aren't the market nintendo wants to create, it's not the segment they want to sell to, geeks&gamers already know, they know the controller, they know the console, some already know whether they'll buy it (if only at a second console next to an XBox360/PS3), most will know soon after it's release and won't base it on the name.

      Revolution was good to market the console to the enthusiasts and the early adopters, but that's not the population N wants to reach now. What they want are the non gamers, the ones who like slick logos and funny names (iPod anyone?), the non gamers.

      Plus the new name gives Nintendo and the Revo a unique spot among search engines. Google for "Revolution", see how many links are about the revo on page one. Now do the same with "Wii".

      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  3. 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)
    1. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by miyako · · Score: 5, Insightful

      IDNSJ (I Do Not Speak Japanese) but it seems unlikely that it would be true to say "the japanese can't pronounce it".
      It seems more likely that they will use the same stylized logo and spelling (IIRC romanji is considered very stylish in japan anyway) and simply adjust the pronounciation to fit the local language.
      In English speaking countries, it is "We"
      In German speaking countries, "wie"
      In French speaking countries, "oui"
      ..etc. It's actually quite clever because it is a word in each of those languages. A single name and logo, and one can get "Wii play together" or "Parole juste Wii" (just say yes) or "Wii wir umziehen, wii wir spielen" (how we move, how we play).
      These are just theoretical ideas of course, but it nintendo were able to do find homonyms in other languages, it could create a globally recognized product name.

      --
      Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    2. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by linvir · · Score: 3, Funny
      Parole juste Wii
      We humbly bow to your expertise in marketing linguistics, thou king amongst men.
    3. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by hunterx11 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      "Wi" is not a phoneme in modern Japanese. The reason the hiragana for it is no longer used is that "wi" became "i" in all positions in Japanese. Although "ui" can be phonetically realized as a diphthong, phonemically it is still two morae.

      Put in a different perspective, voiceless "l" occurs phonetically in English, but English-speakers would probably find the name "Hlii" a bit awkward.

      --
      English is easier said than done.
    4. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by Haeleth · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Put in a different perspective, voiceless "l" occurs phonetically in English, but English-speakers would probably find the name "Hlii" a bit awkward.

      That's a better example than you may realise, given that (like /wi/ in Japanese) initial /hl/ is a cluster that was perfectly ordinary in Old English, but has fallen out of use.

      In the case of English /hl/, the change was to /l/: Old English hlaford becomes Modern English lord.

    5. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by Haeleth · · Score: 5, Informative

      So in Germany, "Wii" is simply unpronounceable.

      I think you mean "there is no way to represent the English pronunciation of 'Wii' in standard German orthography".

      That does not mean that the name "Wii" is unpronounceable in German (it is trivially pronounceable: it will simply be read [vi:]), nor does it mean that no German is capable of uttering the sound [w], as you appear to be claiming.

      To claim that "Wii" is unpronounceable in Germany, simply because the Germans will not pronounce it the way you pronounce it, is like claiming that "kimono" is unpronounceable in English, because the Americans do not pronounce it the way the Japanese do. That is to say, it's patent nonsense.

    6. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by EZLeeAmused · · Score: 2

      Maybe if you didn't post as AC....

      --
      Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
    7. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by stereoroid · · Score: 2, Interesting

      OK, the Hiragana is rarely used, but it's not totally gone e.g. Wiku is still a girl's name. In any case, Japanese pronunciations are not limited to Hiragana, the language range has expanded to encompass foreign words, which are often written in Katakana, but product names such as Wii will stay in Roman. (Do you really think the Japanese marketing people would choose a name they could not pronounce?)

      PS: "hl" is fun - I spent years in South Africa, where I learned to pronounce Zulu words such as "Hluhluwe". It helpth to have a lithp! 8)

      --
      (this is not a .sig)
    8. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by EZLeeAmused · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't know if it is applicable in this specific case (the english "w" sound in german), but there are precedents in linguistics that phonemes that are not used in a language are lost to speakers of that language. In some native american languages there are sounds that most non-speakers cannot discern, i.e. two distinct words that native speakers can easily differentiate sound identical to people who don't speak the language. And things like glottal stops and dipthongs in some languages are, at best, difficult for the average english-only speaker to replicate.

      --
      Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
    9. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by DerGeist · · Score: 3, Informative
      I'm afriad you're the one who didn't read the GP post, he said specifically that Germans will be incapable of pronouncing the English pronunciation, which is nonsense, since there is only one correct pronunciation, namely the one Nintendo has given it. The GP was very specific and so was I.

      No, I don't think Germans are physically incapable but as a German I can tell you it takes years and years of training to sound even remotely close to the American 'w.' It's just a difficult sound to make for us, and I can say almost noone in Germany will be able to pronounce "Wii" correctly.

    10. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My uncle, who is Japanese and has lived in Japan all his life, literally can't hear the difference between "clown" and "crown" when he hears them. Both my parents (also Japanese, but who have spent a lot of time in the States) have less trouble, but still get them confused all the time.

      Interestingly, they mix up R's and L's in their written emails, too! Guess there's some truth to those stereotypes after all.

      --
      Bonsai Kitten: TNG
    11. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by MidnightBrewer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Living in Japan for several years now, I can most definitely attest to the fact that it is very trivial for the Japanese to pronounce it. However, the kids at my school don't really think much of the name. They could have named it Revolution and the Japanese would have just shortened it to "rebo" or something. After all, "Famicom" was short for "Family Computer," so it's not like Nintendo hasn't abused the Japanese with awkward naming conventions before.

      And your German is a bit off. You used the word "umziehen," which means "to move" as in the sense of changing residences. You should have used "bewegen."

      --
      "Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
    12. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Funny

      ROR!

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    13. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by 246o1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Wiku is still a girl's name"

      What!? I'd be really interested to see a link to any evidence of this. Most Japanese who don't read much old literature don't even know how to write the hiragana for "wi," I don't someone would be crazy enough to name their kid something that starts with a sound no longer used. (Note, I am not Japanese, but I live in Japan, have for several years, and speak the language)

      Of course, perhaps there is a name that uses a kanji that was once pronounced that way, but unless you've been to Edo-era Japan recently, I call bullshit on girls named Wiku. Maybe you got confused with Miku?

      Wii is written "uii," not "wii," in Japanese kana (just check the Nintendo Japan website if you don't believe me), though they will probably usually write the English letters in ads etc..

      --
      Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
    14. Re:If the Japanese can't pronounce it... by mowph · · Score: 2, Interesting
      "Wi" is not a phoneme in modern Japanese. The reason the hiragana for it is no longer used is that "wi" became "i" in all positions in Japanese. Although "ui" can be phonetically realized as a diphthong, phonemically it is still two morae.

      Actually, the single phoneme "wi" has been recognized again in modern Japanese, although it's now used for loanwords as opposed to the original "wi" sound seen in classical Japanese. This is handled in exactly the same way as the "ti" phoneme.

      It's now written with a large katakana U and a small katakana i. A good example is "Golden Week" (go-ruden wi-ku, where "wi" represents the big U + little i combo). Which is this week by the way. Ironically, I'd say that it's likely that this is the very phrase that really cemented the "wi" phoneme in modern spoken Japanese.

      This is actually fairly recent, to the point that some dictionaries don't recognize it, and still write words like "Golden Week" with the i as a full-sized katakana. But it certainly isn't true that the phoneme does not exist. In fact, all of my junior high school textbooks have the words for foreign cities (like Winnipeg) written with the single phoneme version, and that's the pronunciation that's taught in school.

      It's true that the very older generations will still pronounce "wi" as the dipthong "ui" (my grandmother calls a "T shirt" a "tay shirt" / tei syatu) but there will be little problem with the recognition of the sound.

      And to dispel random speculation: JAPANESE PEOPLE HAVE NO PROBLEM SAYING "Wii"!

      If you want to pick on a product, how about the Hitachi Wooo. Despite the written W, there is no phoneme in Japanese for that sound (or sounds like Woman, Worchestershire, etc.) So it's actually pronounced "uu" in Japanese (sounds like "Ooh" in English.) Now that is a product name that the Japanese can't "really" pronounce.

  4. They can... by Rydia · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Japanese can pronounce it about as well as most loan words, and just as well as "revolution." There's also the added bonus of greater consistency in the pronunciation of difthongs, so it's not even ambiguous.

    1. Re:They can... by miyako · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd say the next most common one would be Naziism
      Did you just Godwin the name of Nintendo's new console? Are they going to have to change to something else now? ...and just when I'd started to think the name was kinda neat.

      --
      Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
  5. What's in a name? by The-Bus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aside from the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, I don't think I remember there ever being a cool-sounding console or hand-held name. Nintendo 64? Dreamcast? Xbox... 360? PlayStation? Wonder... [i]Swan[/i]?

    To me, all these names sounded ridiculous, and I know I'm not alone. We made fun of the 360's name but now it's pretty much accepted and any complaints about it have nothing to do with the name.

    By July, at the latest, this will be a non-issue.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    1. Re:What's in a name? by metaphorever · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But Nintendo is now ambiguous. In the NES days there was only one Nintendo. Now you could mean a Wii, a Gamecube, a GBA, a DS, etc.
      Did you miss the announcements that wii will play gamecube games from the disks, and that you will be able to download and play N64, NES, SNES, and other nintendo games through emulation. The wii is not just a next generation console, it is a Nintendo. I think that people going back to using 'play nintendo' fits perfectly since on the wii they could mean they were going to play red steel or super mario bros 3.

      --
      If people continue to abuse this feature, I will have to remove it. - Slashdot Comment Box, 1998
  6. The New Coke by MBCook · · Score: 5, Interesting
    As hard as I find it to believe, I'm not against the idea that this is another "New Coke".

    Did Nintendo do this just to get more support when they bring back "Coke Classic" (i.e. Revolution or another better name)?

    Even if this IS the name, they certainly got quite a lot of press over it.

    I still don't really like it. I'll buy the system, don't get me wrong. They could call it "Magic Happy Leprosy Spreading Bad Smell Maker" and I'd buy it. But I think Revolution was such a perfect name. It was catchy, yet differentiated the console perfectly.

    DS was just a code name and they said they would change the name, until they said DS was the final name.

    Is this all a stunt? Who knows. We'll find out when the system actually launches.

    That said, I'm getting used to the name. Maybe it's like Game Cube and I'll come to like it.

    That said the blurb mentions that "wii" is not a sound in the Japanese language (which I've heard elsewhere). I've heard that "revolution" is similarly unpronounceable because it also contains sounds not in Japanese. Is that true?

    They could always call it Revolution here and the Japanese word for Revolution there (like the NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Genesis/MegaDrive and a few others had different names).

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. 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

    2. Re:The New Coke by TRACK-YOUR-POSITION · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'll likely buy this console as well. But I do not look forward to this name. For the very simple reason that it's awkward to tell people about. If they haven't already heard of Wii, you can forget about--you'll immediately sound like either someone who doesn't understand the concept of pronouns or some kind of pervert. I think the pervert response will actually be more common that people realize--when you are given a set of sounds to interpret that has multiple possible meanings, the shocking meanings are going to draw more of your attention.

      In any event, if you tell someone you're going to play Wii, the urine/pronoun blur will color their interpretation of you. You then explain what Wii is, but now you're the sort of dork who has to explain everything he says. Awkwardness, poor grammar, and perversion are all now associated with you.

      You'll even have to spell it! Double-ewe-eye-eye! (Dubya, aye aye?!! OMG SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE Wii: it's a uniter, not a divider)

      And if this console is supposed to focus on social interaction, any added difficultly in word of mouth advertising seems like a huge liability. The problem is mitigated assuming Nintendo advertising of the Wii brand is omnipresent, but I'm not sure advertising has ever been the primary way people are introduced to new games. Especially for regular people--the games famous for appealing to non-gamers--from Tetris to The Sims, from Nintendogs to Bejewled, from WoW to DDR, tended, I think, to spread more by word of mouth than by massive advertising campaigns. Any game, even the simplest, is a bigger time sink than a tv show or a movie or a flavor of soda, and so those who are least "hard-core" about games are the ones who most rely on other people they trust to point out when something worth their attention comes along.

      I remember back in the nineties people would wonder what they would call this decade. We never did find a good name for it, and so therefore we never refer to it--I never hear anyone refer to this decade as a cultural unit. Awkwardness is a powerful cultural disincentive--awkward ideas don't last. And ideas like "I play Wii and you should too!" or "We should play Wii!" are spatially sound but aurally awkward. People will likely end up saying something like "Nintendo Wii" or "the Wii system" or "Wii gaming" or some other unauthorized set of disambiguation sounds when necessary in non-games contexts. It's one thing to have a product name that people can make jokes about, but in this case the jokes could conceivably cloud understanding.

  7. It would probably be the best PR campaign ever ... by Frag-A-Muffin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    if this is indeed a hoax. When the name first came out, I was rather indifferent about it. In the end, I don't really care about the name, I'm still buying it :)

    However, I did have time to think about it, since I didn't waste my day posting to message boards about how I think it's so stupid like the rest of the world did. What I came up with was rather simular.

    Either I'll be made fun of for playing my Wii ... OR ... Nintendo is a brilliant. Why brilliant? Well, what if on E3, they don't unveil the Wii .. they unveil the "XXXXXX" (Whatever the REAL name is) !!!??? Yah .. that would be absolutely pure genius. Not only did they steal attention of everyone for the 2 weeks BEFORE E3 ... they'll steal the attention at E3 and for the 2 weeks following!

    It wouldn't have been an expensive campaign either. 1 Press Release. 1 stupid little flash movie up on http://revolution.nintendo.com./ That's it!? And it got all this press!

    Here's a little more fuel for this consipiracy fire. Why does http://wii.nintendo.com/ not work? That'd take a whole 10 seconds for someone to create that subdomain and point it to revolution.nintendo.com or even just mirror that page from it. Hmmmmmm? Maybe it isn't the name after all?!??!

    Indeed, things that make you go Hmmmmmm.

    --

    AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
  8. Bad Names? by cgenman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I distinctly remember when "Dreamcast" was released that everyone thought it was a terrible, touchy-feely name. And when the iPod came out, we all thought Apple was smoking the eCrack. Even the PlayStation was a pretty dumb sounding name, and was proof that Sony's SNES CD was never going to amount to anything. For that matter, the Super NES sounded incredibly bad to US ears.

    Now all of these names are recognized worldwide. They gained traction on the strength of the systems, and are now highly recognizable and much loved. It's theoretically possible that the same will happen to Wii.

    Kotaku has a better breakdown of the situation, which includes the nugget that nobody prior to the announcement had registered any tradmarks or websites with the Wii name.

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    The ______ Agenda
    1. Re:Bad Names? by VJ42 · · Score: 3, Informative

      nobody prior to the announcement had registered any tradmarks or websites with the Wii name.

      If this was true, it'd deserve an article all of it's own, but look at the update at the bottom of that site:
      Update: This just in from Nintendo on the subject of the missing Wii trademark: "Nintendo has filed many trademark applications for Wii. Trademark Web sites often take time to update, and you can expect the Wii trademarks to appear shortly."

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
    2. Re:Bad Names? by cflannagan · · Score: 2, Insightful
      BZZZZZZZZ! Wrong. Why do so many weak-minded n00b gamers assume Nintendo's target audience is the "OMG K1DD13!!"?

      Nintendo's real target audience (read: not what the fucktards assume) is EVERYONE - not just kids. You know, the mainstream. The general masses. That kind of thing.

      Now, one could argue that kind of mentality (targeting "EVERYONE" rather than a niche market of mature gamers) is "OMG K1DD13". To that, I could argue that only those with super-fragile self-image issues would think such things.

  9. Hold on.. by EpochVII · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Look I didnt read thge article, but I read the post about it here on Slashdot. I lived with 5 guys from Thailand and they couldnt pronounce 'Will'. But they could pronouce the W, just not the ll'. In fact, it came out sounding like 'Wiww'. Even more W's!. Japanese people cant pronounce W's or E's? Its essentially 'Wee', right? Can they pronounce Wakizashi? So I dont get that.

    And last time I checked, all names are marketing gimmicks. I thought we all walked around knowing that. Ive seen countless articles and comments about this. Mission accomplished, Nintendo. Your marketing guys probably deserve their exorbitant salaries now. I hope the console lives up to all the talk. Also, I dont know Japanese, but I believe I heard about some point pictograms have a relation to words in Japanese. That makes the Wii/Controller/Multiplayer concept somewhat Japanese in its thinking. I applaud them for an original name for a product as well, instead of the cheesy techno names like the Playstation or the XBox. What tired thinking.

    Finally, how dumb an idea would it be to call a product the revolution if for whatever reason it ended up sucking? It would be an even bigger disaster.

    1. Re:Hold on.. by CableModemSniper · · Score: 2, Funny

      For that matter, can you pronounce "w" in isolation? Hint: you can't because it's a glide.

      double you

      --
      Why not fork?
  10. Even Japanese TV thinks it sucks! by spooje · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yesterday I was watching the Saturday morning talk shows here in Tokyo and they were talking about it. One of the commentators actually said, "In English that word means piss, why didn't they just name it kuso("shit" in Japanese)?!" All the other hosts laughed and agreed.

    --
    Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
  11. And might I be the first to say by cgenman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wiiiiiiii!

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    The ______ Agenda
  12. 'Wii' just a gimmick? by Valar · · Score: 2, Informative

    Let me answer your question with a question...

    No shit?

    --

    ====
    Crudely Drawn Games
  13. Re:It would probably be the best PR campaign ever by goodenoughnickname · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www.nintendowii.com/ was forwarding you to nintendo.com a couple days ago, and now it seems to do nothing, with no information in the whois lookup.

  14. Archaic kana by Dorceon · · Score: 3, Informative

    The japanese can pronounce it just fine. The language used to include kana with the wi sound ( in katakana and in hiragana), and now they use a kana compound, , like they do with other foreign sounds.

    --
    What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
  15. Re:I stopped reading when I realized... by Punto · · Score: 2, Funny

    plus, they'll have an easier prononuncing 'wii' than 'revolution', which has an 'l' and an 'r' that are supposed to sound differently. _that_ would be a challenge for them.

    --

    --
    Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!

  16. The growth of a brand by kingsmedley · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From the article:

    The moment you have to begin to explain your branding in pedantic detail - which Nintendo is doing through both its spokespeople and its promotional material - you're screwed.

    On the surface, this seems quite logical. After all, a good brand should be instantly recognizable to the observer. People should immediately know what you are talking about, and why it should matter to them.

    But what the writer is missing out on is the fact that ALL brands must go through a building phase. Even the name 'Revolution' had to be spoken, explained, and repeated. (Let's be honest - the name wasn't an obvious fit until AFTER we saw the controller!)

    But I digress, back to the point of my post. Every brand must be talked up to become a useful marketing tool. I used to work for GTE. I was there when they merged with Bell Atlantic to become 'Verizon'. Boy did that sound like a stupid name. I remember all the internal e-mails and printed flyers that were circulated, explaining to all of us just why this was such a cool name, pointing out all the absurd meanings behind the name, the logo, even the frickin' colors for crying out loud. But look at the Verizon brand now. Instantly recognized. You immediately know what services they offer, and why you need (or don't need) them.

    As cool as the name 'Revolution' was, it's appeal was primarily to the current gaming audience. Just as with the Sega Genesis, the significance of the name was only meaningful to those already interested in the video game industry.

    Which is not Nintendo's target audience. Not anymore. It costs too much to cater to such a demanding lot. And the word 'revolution' doesn't exactly conjur up an image of friendly fun for the soft core mass market.

    So even though all of us here wish the Revolution name had stuck, that doesn't mean that this name won't actually be a more marketable, more recognizable choice for Nintendo.

    And a plea to those companies making game console "skins" - a nice flashy Revolution logo will sell like HOTCAKES!

    --
    Must... think up... something... clever!
  17. Penny Arcade nailed it by kie · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think Penny Arcade nailed it,
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/28

    --
    living the dream
  18. Japanese CAN Pronounce it, actually. by aurumaeus · · Score: 2, Informative

    "U-I-", much like the referenced "oui" in French, is perfectly pronouncible in Japanese, and sounds the same as "We" would in English. And, IIAL (I am a Linguist), and IAFIJ, (I am fluent in Japanese).

  19. 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.
  20. MOD PARENT UP! by neutralstone · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Re. search engine scoring: excellent point; their marketing people must have taken that into consideration. It would virtually guarantee that any name they chose would have to have been completely unheard of in all major languages (except possibly as a little-known acronym).

    Consider the other criteria met by the name "Wii":

    It's short (one or two syllables, depending on how syllables are delimited in a language).

    It's easy to pronounce in all major languages (despite erroneous claims to the contrary).

    It looks and/or sounds foreign in a lot of major languages (if not all of them). Thus it grabs attention when people first see it.

    It's a homonym (or near-homonym) for other words in a lot of major languages. (Thus it's really easy to come up with a play on words, which leads people to use the word more, whether intentionally or by accident. There will be a lot of people saying, "no pun intended" for a while.)

    All of that leads people to start talking about their product *FOR FREE*. It also serves to distinguish their image from that of their competitors.

    And, as you point out, the name doesn't factor into the "buy/don't buy" decision-making process. The novelty, quality of games, and price will do that. The name is there mainly to help draw attention and curiosity, and it's doing a bang-up job of that so far.

    Thus, despite comments like those from Penny Arcade's Tycho, I suspect someone at Nintendo is going to get a promotion (or a pay raise, or -- at the very least -- a cookie) because of this.

  21. Re:Crazy Characters in Japanese Names by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Funny

    such as the boy's name "Raito" (Light)

    Anyone with that name is required to get a PhD in robotics.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.