Revolution is officially called...*drumroll*

I don't remember Playstation being derided by any significant amount. It's a simple, descriptive name.

 

Heh, well I think this is the most ridiculous name ever created for a game console. Perhaps the worst name conceived for any major electronic device. Exactly what market is this supposed to aim at? It's not hardcore, it's a bit cute I guess, but it's surely not family oriented-sounding. It's easily turned into a sick perversion though, even if unintentionally. I suppose there could be some subliminal female attraction to the name heh. An English speaker can't use it in a sentence without someone not-in-the-know thinking how ridiculous he is and wondering just wtf he's talking about. What a way to build a new bit of vocab. LOL

Does N think they're going to create some wacky new cultural paradigm? That's just arrogance and pretentiousness, like has been said by others. I can't even think up a way to talk about the thing in a sentence that sounds good. Maybe it's meant to appeal to snobs? Like Mac users? Now that I mention that, the whole campaign feels a bit Apple-ish. Yuck. And pretending it's still called Revolution feels a little corny. And what a sign of quality marketing. Making your customers pretend it's called something else!

There's no way to look at it other than it's a BAD call. Really bad. And IMO not a good sign of the state of whoever's running the show over at N.

Obviously it will sell, but this name isn't going to build any good mindshare. I can't imagine by any stretch of my imagination that this is going to improve sales of the machine.

This sucker better have some wicked games with some serious gameplay innovation, cuz it has NOTHING else.

 

I still can't get over how bad of a name it is in almost every way. Even after having time to sleep on it.

I'm fine with it, but it's just a dumb name. You can't feasibly use it in a sentence without sounding like you're a 4 year old or just grammatically challenged. It's just a poor choice for a lot of markets -- even outside of the fact that it could be considered taking a piss... that's really the least of my concerns. The fact that they knew there would be outrage is generally a good sign that it was a bad name to begin with, not sure why that didn't clue them in to, like, pick a different name that wouldn't cause people to question Nintendo's sanity. Maybe it'll work for them, but the only thoughts that it invokes wrt Wii are attempts to think up ways to feasibly hold a conversation about it without having to actually use the name Wii -- it's still named Rev, as far as I'm concerned!

@ Scooby:

I'd also probably say "Huh?" in '92 if someone said they got a Playstation. =p

 

When I used that illustration, it was more like:

Joe: Hey, I got a new Wii.
Tim: I'm not playing with your Wii.

I'm assuming kids will get to know that Wii means a new Nintendo console, but they are playing off the fact that it sounds like a synonym for penis. The "what" was a derogotory "what" as opposed to a inquistive "what".

 

I think Nintendo UK more then any other absolutely have to do something about this. The console has no chance in this country with that name, it'll sell like the 360 did in Japan.. seriously. But having thought about it I see little chance of Nintendo UK having any sway as far as name changes are concerned. We can only hope that the people at Nintendo UK realise just how bad this name will be and make it 100% clear to the rest of Nintendo just how badly the system will fail if the name isn't changed for its UK release.

 

And the worst part of this situation is teh insistance of Nintendo to call the machine simply "Wii" and not "Nintendo Wii".

With "Nintendo Wii" The EU Marketing guys could have got away with a "Wii Nintendo" that could sound like "Win", but with Wii, alone, they're in for a rough time in the UK.

 

I don't think the name is going to make or break this console, no matter how stupid that name may be.

It'll still come down to what it brings to the table in terms of gameplay, that'll still be what decides it.

 

In German Wii is pronounced like "wie", which translates to "how" or "like". Now, if you phrase it as a question ("Wie?") it becomes something like close to "Eh?" or "Huh?", which was exactly my reaction when I first read the name.

East Asian companies frequently come up with names that are somewhat awkward. Can anyone remember the Evil Kyro, Evil Sniper and Evil King video cards from Powercolor? Maybe some Taiwanese marketing dude figured that Europeans and Americans think that sounds kinda cool. I mean, maybe he thought that your average Evil American would love to boast to his friends that there's an Evil Sniper working in his computer. Hm.

Also, Hynix sounds like medication and Elpida reminds me of Greek food.

 

I can't wait to see the TV commercial...

"Come. Play with our Nintendo Wii."

 

Imagine a nine year old girl telling her dad she wants a wii because all the boys have one and it's fun to play with.

 

First of all, to forestall any wildly speculating misjudgements of this post, I'm not a Nintendo fan by any stretch of imagination (I play RPGs and RTS nearly exclusively, so I'm forced in the PC/PS camp currently). However, the Internet of the past 2 days really amazed me. I knew already that most people in general are superficial idiots, but the amount of juvenile thinking and anticipatory obedience to some forced ideal of "coolness" displayed by the so-called gaming community after the Wii announcement is mind-numbing.

I read dozens - no probably hundreds - of comments by people saying they would be embarassed to go into a shop and buy a Wii, and nearly all of them sounded serious. I absolutely cannot fathom such a mindset. Are they really that unsure of their own character that they depend on their perception by their equally silly fellow sheep to create self-worth? I could understand that at least somewhat if they were all teenagers, but many appeared to be in their twenties or even older.

I realise that this is being blown a bit out of proportion by the reflecting magnifying glass that is the WWW, and I also personally believe that Wii isn't a terribly great name, but what little remained of my faith in humanity just shrunk even more.

 

Doesn't make it less funny, though.

 

They are gamers.
What did you expect?

 

Well, that's why it hit me so hard: I consider(ed) myself a gamer as well - and most people would call someone who spends about 15-30 hours per week gaming a "hardcore" gamer even, no? So perhaps that's why I overestimated the group. I also normally don't read "gamer" forums except for the sections here and the one on RPGamer, and now, I'm happy I don't

 

ROFL

 

Is Nintendo knocking the errrr wii-wii out of us for some free marketing? Wii is yet to be trademarked by Nintendo, possible viral marketing? If so, genious move. They sure captured the attention of people pre-E3!

 

Agreed...I guess for some people they need to buy consoles with "cool" names to boost their low self esteem.

 

Why do I think that if Sony shipped a product called WII, NANOTEC would be slamming it big time?

 

Not sure singling one poster out when a large portion of posters from all 4 camps (PC, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) take the same defensive posturing in nearly every thread. Point out the good in product of choice and point out the bad (or make crap up!) in competing products seems to be the typical flavor of the day. As my sig once said: Enjoying a product does not necessitate hating said products competition. I think expecting anything different though is unlikely on a console forum. Call me a pessimist.

Btw, IGN-Matt at the end of this weeks IGN show has a confernce call with NOA's Kaplan and he gives her a hard time and gives her a dose of the "adult" themed puns circulating. Something like, "Gamers excited to get their hands on Nintendo's Wii, but choke on new name".

Next thing you know we will begin seeing iconography where it is suggested the "wand" is merely intended to be a representation of a phallus...

 

I wonder who took part in the focus groups on this one. Oy....