Wii? The new name for the Revolution Options

[Mata]

What on earth are Nintendo playing at?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4953650.stm

The Nintendo Revolution, as it was formerly known, is now going to be called the 'Wii'. Is it going to Wii on its opponents? Surely they're taking the Wii? etc.

[Mata]

That link will change when they next make a comic, so for posterity maybe you'd like to add a little more?

[Felander]

This has to be a piss take, surely?

*gets coat*

[Daria]

What worries me is all the talk of Wii sticks...

[Usurper MrTeapot]

"Pronounced 'we'".

Stupid fools. Wii, to me it should be pronounced 'why'. Even then, wii is a stupid idea.

[Mata]

Wii's that then?

[PsychWardMike]

I love it, if only for the jokes it presents.

"I'm gonna go play with my Wii, mum!"
"If you play with your Wii too long, you'll go blind!"

Ah... the fun times will roll.

[Mata]

Their goal is for it to seem odd for people to not have one under their TV, like a DVD player is found in most houses these days (and the VHS player used to be, but perhaps not so much anymore). Somehow I suspect that this name has not helped their cause in the English speaking world...

I can understand that they didn't want a word that was only in English because they wanted a global brand, and they didn't want something that would be abbreviated (yeah, because that's done so much damage to the sales of the PS2 and the DS), but even so... Wii?

What would have been wrong with 'Rev'? Everyone was used to calling the new machine the Revolution, it was being shortened to 'Rev' often anyway, Rev implies fast engines as well as holiness, and it's a short word that should be easy to export anywhere. It also isn't slang for 'urine', which has got to be an advantage.

I'm sure they've put a lot of thought into this, and probably a huge marketing budget too, but the reason this annoys me is that I was so convinced by the concept of the machine that it's galling to know that they've done something that is immediately going to psychologically make people think that it's rubbish. It's graphics are not going to be better than the GameCube's so they needed all the help that they could get to convince people, and 'Wii' just isn't helping them.

*hands Nintendo a gun and indicates in direction of their foot*

[michael1384]

Their goal is for it to seem odd for people to not have one under their TV, like a DVD player is found in most houses these days (and the VHS player used to be, but perhaps not so much anymore). Somehow I suspect that this name has not helped their cause in the English speaking world...

I can understand that they didn't want a word that was only in English because they wanted a global brand, and they didn't want something that would be abbreviated (yeah, because that's done so much damage to the sales of the PS2 and the DS), but even so... Wii?

What would have been wrong with 'Rev'? Everyone was used to calling the new machine the Revolution, it was being shortened to 'Rev' often anyway, Rev implies fast engines as well as holiness, and it's a short word that should be easy to export anywhere. It also isn't slang for 'urine', which has got to be an advantage.

I'm sure they've put a lot of thought into this, and probably a huge marketing budget too, but the reason this annoys me is that I was so convinced by the concept of the machine that it's galling to know that they've done something that is immediately going to psychologically make people think that it's rubbish. It's graphics are not going to be better than the GameCube's so they needed all the help that they could get to convince people, and 'Wii' just isn't helping them.

*hands Nintendo a gun and indicates in direction of their foot*

Nintendo can call it wee if it wants. I'm going to call it the revolution.

Whadayah mean it won't have better graphics than the gamecube??? I don't belive Nintendo hasn't got this part yet. You're ment to have the BEST graphics if you want to be big.

[Mata]

That's the point of Nintendo's new plan: they don't want to be constantly trying to get more polygons on screen than the competition. All that leads to (in their view) is pointless expense for game makers which doesn't actually produce any real benefit to the gamers. Is Quake 4 really that much better than Quake 1 just because it has better graphics? No, any improvement is due to changes in the game design.

There is also the benefit that the Wii will most probably cost about a third the amount of money as the other consoles. To me, that's already a big advantage.

Nintendo say that new great games come from new ways of playing, not just better graphics. It's not a 100% certain bet, but they might just prove themselves right on this one.

[Witless]

Yeah... Nintendo have had to fight the "other" corner lately. Microsoft go for pure power, while sony go for variety of games, and play the "the cool console to have" card, which attracts all the third party software developers.

Nintendo would probably lose if they tryed to beat sony and microsoft at their own game, so they're going for the "something a little bit different". It's risky.. but I can imagine it could work. Nintendo always seem to come out with the quirky silly games. The ones that seem daft, but are irresistably fun anyway. Like Super smash bros.

I do think they could have done better than Wii, but still.. I suppose the jokes will settle eventually.. and a whole new generations of utterly peculiar but fun games like pikmin and the like will make people smile once more.

[michael1384]

Why did Nintendo have to wii on the good name? Why?!

[{Gothic Angel}]

I think this sums it up nicely

[Mata]

That would be the one previously in a deleted post to this thread, but yes, I still agree with it.

Witl, I think you're right, Nintendo are going to win over people with new and interesting games. I just get the feeling that they have done themselves a diservice with the choice of name for this console.

I remember the days when consoles had different names in different regions of the world. Yes, this was before the internet meant that we could all complain to each-other instantly, but I suspect that we'd all get used to it soon enough. English speakers could have a console called Revolution, Japanese people could have it called Tak-San, or something like that, and so on for the rest of the world.

Does anyone's head explode when we say 'Mega Drive' and not 'Genesis'? No? So would it be so bad again today?

I suspect that the global market is giving us bland products that are supposed to appeal to everyone. Back in the 1980s most British games contained very British images, things like slippers, cups of tea, and booze. today games are all supposed to have 'international appeal' but that just seems to mean that they have no identity, or that they ape cinematic conventions (Grand Theft Etc) which just means that they copy America. There's nothing wrong with making a game American, but there need to be games that are British, French, German, Slovenian, Zimbabwan.

Damn, that's nasty. I've never typed 'Zimbabwan' in my entire life before and so I don't know if I've spelt that correctly... But that's my point, there are whole aspects of this planet that we are avoiding. We are so diverse that creating a single name is not a good idea, and neither is the homogenisation of the games themselves.

[PsychWardMike]

I love Nintendo. Let me start by saying this.

That said, I think Nintendo has royally screwed themselves on this one. The Wii name will hurt them initally with the "we're too cool to get the Wii" group who was already dazzled by the technically lackluster XBox 360. I think the problem is is that we're all fans of hardcore gaming, but let's face it, the vast gaming population isn't going to give two shits about a new RPG (espescially the fantastic but visually dated Nippon Ichi games) or about Japanese games like Guilty Gear and the like. Most brain dead monkeys that play games like three things: licensed games, sports games, and Halo, and despite Nintendo's powerhouse franchises, they're just not enough to draw in the pre-pubescent egotist crowds that have the buying power.

[Witless]

I always find it interesting to note, that despite how rumours have developed that the xbox 1 did 'ok'. The Xbox original was a financial failure.. and not by a little bit, The original xbox was the worst financial failure of all time. The gamecube with perhaps quarter the media campaign actually did alright long term.

I think it's something to do with the type of fans nintendo have. This is where I go into total guess mode now... But I don't seem to remember it actually being small kids that were buying out the gamecube. It was people like me that just didn't care that the games were cutesy and cuddly. I just remember sitting there.. seeing a console that cost less than a third of every other console on the market in it's own generation. That had crazy games like super smash bros, the newest zelda, and the latest incarnation of mario kart.

For the price of less than 2 xbox games (which didn't seem that impressive anyhow) I was sold on the game cube. Likely I'll get a PS3 and a Wii, once I spot a Wii second hand and the ps3 come down in price too. It's not any loyalty thing on my part. It's just the situation now is like.. deja vu. Xbox 2 will rant about how much power it has, and it'll have 3/4 flag ship game series. PS3 will have more games than sense, and is where I'd put my money on most people saving their pennies for. Then you'll have the Wii.. the cheaper alternative console for people that want to have a beer and four controllers, and knock the snot out of donkey kong for constantly leaving banana peels on the track in the new mario kart.

My opinion is that the Wii will be second in the console competition, just like the gamecube was. It's different enough that it's daft name won't hurt it too much.
It's not like any of nintendo's consoles were ever "the cool console" to have not since the good old super nintendo days.

[Jonman]

It's not like any of nintendo's consoles were ever "the cool console" to have not since the good old super nintendo days.

Not cool? Clearly you never saw this....

[Witless]

Not cool? Clearly you never saw this....

*image*

I stand corrected!

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

I think this sums it up nicely

I like the VG Cats' effort a little better.

[Moosh]

I think this sums it up nicely

I like the VG Cats' effort a little better.

Personally I prefer the more surreal take on it from SoreThumbs

[Jonman]

I think this sums it up nicely

I like the VG Cats' effort a little better.

Personally I prefer the more surreal take on it from SoreThumbs

That's quite weirded me out. It's a little too believable.

[Feyliya]

To round out the list, /GU Comics did one as well.

[Moosh]

Personally I prefer the more surreal take on it from SoreThumbs

That's quite weirded me out. It's a little too believable.

I probably should explain for those who don't read SoreThumbs, the flesh Mario statue is actaully Saywer (the guy who says, "Yer guess is as good as mine kid...")'s penis. Which was cut off when he was serving the the army in Iraq. And apparently looks like Mario.

[Mata]

I understood all of those words, but that hasn't actually clarified anything.

[PsychWardMike]

My brother reads that. The explanation actually clarified it for me.

Goddamn it.