The Revolution has an OFFICAL name! (1 Viewer)

[Richard Kim]

It's called... the Nintendo Wii.

http://revolution.nintendo.com/

Here's Nintendo's explanation:



Wow. It's a wierd name, to be sure. I liked the name Revolution. But I guess Wii symbolizes the radical new direction the big N is going with their new console.

 

[Ruz-El]

As nifty as the XBOX360 and the Playstation 3 seem to be, I have to admit I'm most excited to see what Nintendo does with this.

The marketing is working, as I'm even mor intrigued now!

 

[Simon Massey]

I think the Revolution/Wii is an interesting gamble by Nintendo. Rather than compete with the Xbox and Playstation 3 which are essentially graphical upgrades of the exisiting consoles, they seem to be trying to do something a little bit different and they should be applauded for it. I think if the price point is right, this could be a huge success - Nintendo supporters will buy it anyway but a lower price point could see a lot of Xbox/PS3 owners getting it as a second console. I own a 360 and am certainly interested in the Wii. (Stupid name though I suppose it is in keeping with trying to be different - revolution is basically another moniker for 360).

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Absolute worst name for a console ever. They had it nailed with Revolution to begin with.

Anyway I know the jokes are going to be flying so had to get mine out of the way early.


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[nolesrule]

Jason, that's terrible.

 

[Joe D]

I agree, the name is terrible. What is wrong with the Revolution?

 

[Kevin Ley]

I think I'm with most people, thinking that Wii is a dumb name. However, that's not what bothers me the most.

What bothers me is that Nintendo seems to be trying to pass off this naming campaign as some kind of heartfelt message to the gaming community; that they're going against the status quo with this name. That'd be great if that was what was really going on.

It seems to me that some people at Nintendo felt that a name change was absolutely necessary and some marketing monkey came up with this "Wii the people" advertising campaign. When I read Nintendo's message on the Wii website I don't think of new ways to play my games; I think "This is a corny play-on-words." I see no warmth of any kind, just the same corporate motivational yammer that I got from working at places like Gamestop.

That being said; I'm still very excited for the (sigh) Wii. I've always loved Nintendo's products. And the Wii is still a step forward in gaming. I just don't think they need such a wacky campaign to prove themselves.

The good news is that, good or bad, this change is generating press. People are talking about it more than ever and that's the whole point. The comments on this forum are the most positive I've seen so far in Nintendo's favor; so I think we (or Wii) all realize that, in the end, it's about sitting down and playing the damn game.

 

[Chris S]

From an IGN interview with Perrin Kaplan (NOA's VP of corporate affairs)



I guess it'll have to grow on me. :rolleyes

 

[Joe D]

I've got a very serious question for a Nintendo insider.

In the past few years, have they been introducing laughing gas or other chemicals into the workplace environment?

Does Nintendo employees ever play video games?

 

[Jeremy Little]

No matter how cool the system is that name is wii-tarded. Thanks MWB-1138.

 

[EricW]

maybe George Lucas came up with the name

 

[BrianB]

Considering the quality of their releases recently, yes, yes they do.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Spare a thought for UK and Australian gamers, where 'wee' (same pronounciation) is common kiddy slang for taking a leak.

'Urine the game with the Nintendo Wii.'

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i love nintendo games and consoles, but this name sucks.

CJ

 

[Simon Massey]

I thought that was the same in the US. That's why I thought it was such a ridiculous name.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Not a good name. But, im not buying for the name. I feel the launch will be semi-powerful when it comes to titles. Probably why they have been so quiet about things.

But, I do feel the system will do better than the Gamecube in the long run. Not sure why, but I feel this system will bring us better games and a better variety overall than the Gamecube did.

Not that the gamecube didn't have some good titles. It did. It just seemed like it took months and months between releases of something interesting.

I am hoping for more with this system.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

 

[Adam_S]

I've never bought a non-nintendo system, I still don't have a game cube because I couldn't afford to squander the time while in college, on the other hand my interest in revolution went from astromical to 'eh' with the name change to wii. I guess Nintendo is just really anxious to get the chance to file chapter eleven, after all it'll be a great new adventure.

This is about as hokey as the 'thank you for believing' voice over at the end of Hook.

Plus the oppurtunities for innuendos and dirty jokes are truly endless. Were I twelve-fourteen I'd be delighted at all the oppurtunities to make Nintendo seem filthy and I'd probably not want to actually own one.

Eh, I can't get really angry about this, but I seriously wonder if Nintendo wants to fail. I love and respect them for not getting in the 'my penis is bigger than your penis' comparison that Sony and Microsoft are involved in with stupid hardware specs but when you actually name your console after a penis? Wow, new levels of corporate/marketing stupidity have been released.

I think the question I'm most interested in was how hard and how long did NoA have to argue to get the chance to announce the name before E3? obviously had they announced it there they'd have been met by stupified silence followed by being laughed off the stage and right out of the show.

 

[Matt Birchall]

I know! It's like, the new games, and the radical new controller system, and the backwards-compatibility with the GameCube, and the inexpensive price compared to the other new consoles, and the being able to download all kinds of old games going back twenty years. . . all that just totally sucks now.

Nice going, Nintendo.

 

[Adam_S]

exactly, its not as though the revolution is no longer exciting just because of a name, that's superficial, it's because switching to calling their system inadvertantly a penis and/or urine seems to reflect a company mindset that makes all those innovations much less exciting.

Penny Arcade really hit the nail on the head with their latest comic.

Also what was that shit that IGN was talking about on their wii-k in review, a brand doesn't sell a product a product sells a brand? Huh? Brands SELL products, Disney, Tupperware, Passion Parties, Tolkien, Wal-Mart, Nike--it's the brand that gets people interested in the other products from a company.

Nintendo just committed brand image suicide, and probably all the great product in the world won't help them. I'm trying to think of an equivalent analogy in real business history, but all that comes to mind is the 'bag-o-nails' sketch from SNL. New Coke is perhaps the most appropriate, though, and that at least offers hope for the future of Nintendo.


Maybe in Japan they can call it a yelda, instead.

Adam