Revolution is officially called...*drumroll*

[ninzel]

I was aluding to "Wii rolling off the tongue". More childish humour I'm afraid.

Oh gawd I'm slow sometimes, good one.

 

[L233]

In this case, or normally. As a Germanic name I've always known it pronounced that way, as in Koch and Pasteur's research on microbiology.

It's not pronounced that way, it's just that the "ch" sound doesn't exist in English. And since native English speaker can't even be bothered to get the names of major cities like München, Köln and Nürnberg right, I guess there's no use trying to educate them about the pronunciation of one particlar surname.

The pronunciation of the -ch in Koch is, I think, similar to the pronunciation in the Gaelic word Loch (as in Loch Ness).

 

[MuFu]

The pronunciation of the -ch in Koch is, I think, similar to the pronunciation in the Gaelic word Loch (as in Loch Ness).

It is. Most people won't bother with the guttural "ch" though; most English don't tend to bother with the phlegmmy "ch" in "Loch" either, JFYIIMHOAFAIKORLY.

It's a suitable distributer for a funny-named product. I don't believe the talk of a viral marketing campaign - that would be too good for the US/UK market and surely a little damaging for the Japanese/European one. Even if they do announce the "proper" name at E3 I think I'd be a bit suspcious that they'd in fact just changed their mind about "Wii"!

If Wii is successful there will be a lot of people proclaiming the name as a masterstorke. Conversely, if it's a flop, there will be a lot of Wii bashing. Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever be able to gauge the Wii Effect, since a positive reaction to it may be largely subconscious.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's not pronounced that way, it's just that the "ch" sound doesn't exist in English. And since native English speaker can't even be bothered to get the names of major cities like München, Köln and Nürnberg right, I guess there's no use trying to educate them about the pronunciation of one particlar surname.

We're going of topic here so I won't carry on past this post, but I think you're being rather unfair. I'll be first to admit most Englishmen can't be bothered to learn other languages, though it does seem we have more trouble than other countries (perhaps late start?), but regards place names, we can only best-guess and go by what we hear from the media. If the news report a name wrong, everyone will be educated wrongly in that name and not have reason to question it.

And this isn't unique to native English speakers. Other language speakers can do just as well in mispronouncing. The spanish 'can't be bothered' to pronounce the 'J' in 'Jif' correctly, so it was rebranded 'Cif' for Europe. I don't see it as 'can't be bothered' but lack of education, in the main, and lack of practice when educated, and using local phonetic constructs from a shared alphabet to try and pronounce a language that uses those same letter constructs differently.

 

[L233]

Eh, I was only half-serious. Mispronunciations are OK, I'm simply amazed that some English names for German cities don't even remotely resemble the actual Name of the city.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Eh, I was only half-serious. Mispronunciations are OK, I'm simply amazed that some English names for German cities don't even remotely resemble the actual Name of the city.

You think that's bad, look at how you've spelled Deutschland in your location!

 

[L233]

You think that's bad, look at how you've spelled Deutschland in your location!

LOL, good point. There seem to be language-specific versions of virtually every country name.

 

[winstonsmith1978]

What do you think about this?

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/28/real-people-speak-out-about-wii/

I would say for the most part, these are the type of responses Nintendo was hoping for. At the very least, Nintendo has got people doing free marketing for them.

 

[hey69]

Q: What would you say if it's actually the name of Nintendo's next-generation games console?
A: Hmmm, I think it'd sound good as a chocolate bar.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Is the name Wii a fake?

I spoke with branding company Igor International yesterday about Nintendo’s choice of Wii as the new name for their next-gen console.

During the interview Steve Manning became convinced that Nintendo had deliberately picked a bad name for the console and that it was, in fact, fake. Manning thinks that Nintendo is creating an enormous viral campaign by releasing a fake name and then coming back during E3 and announcing the real one.

I must admit, it fits....also:

Third, and this is a big one, there are no trademarks registered by Nintendo nor by any dummy corp in the U.S or over there for Wii. This is unprecedented for Nintendo and it is not possible that his is an oversight. If Wii were the name, they would have registered it. In fact, no new trademarks have been registered by Nintendo at all. This leads us to conclude that Nintendo has in fact registered the real name under a dummy corp, which is SOP when trying to keep a name a secret prior to launch.

 

[StefanS]

Third, and this is a big one, there are no trademarks registered by Nintendo nor by any dummy corp in the U.S or over there for Wii. This is unprecedented for Nintendo and it is not possible that his is an oversight. If Wii were the name, they would have registered it. In fact, no new trademarks have been registered by Nintendo at all. This leads us to conclude that Nintendo has in fact registered the real name under a dummy corp, which is SOP when trying to keep a name a secret prior to launch.

Yeah, save Nintendo! Register the Trademark Wii right now!

 

[KimB]

Well, what's the turnaround on trademarking? Is it possible that it was sent in at about the same time they announced it, but it just hasn't gone through the paperwork yet?

 

[chroniceyestrain]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3150098

1UP-owned trademarks like GameVideos don't turn up when we search the trademark registry - so chances are it's just the trademark database hasn't updated yet (Nintendo confirmed this after press time).

 

[JarrodKing]

What do you think about this?

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/28/real-people-speak-out-about-wii/

I would say for the most part, these are the type of responses Nintendo was hoping for. At the very least, Nintendo has got people doing free marketing for them.

Gotta love this from the article-

Female, aged 30. From Hong Kong.

Q: "What does this name make you think of?"
A: "A urinal? Candy? It's kind of trendy, kind of modern. Maybe a trendy urinal?"


Yeah, that's what you usually go for in branding your product.

 

[KimB]

I still like the Chocolate response

 

[cthellis42]

The best thing to come out of that name was the Fark headline.

'tain't nothin' but wiitarded.

And yet I will still own one... But this will probably be the first console I buy and IMMEDIATELY want to deface. (And may have to hack the login screens or something. Heh...)

 

[DemoCoder]

It seems you're very upset for one reason or another.

No, just amused. I reflexively buy all consoles, the amount of money is trivial, and there's usually 1 or 2 killer apps that justify owning the platform, so I don't care about the "console wars" from that point of view. It's amusing because the Wii has several known deficits, vastly underpowered, no HD, less information about launch lineup known than other players, not really any trailers or anything to get excited over, and nows pretty lame name (unless it's a gimmick and they're gonna change it at E3)

Yet, the marching Nintendo lemmings espouse how they don't care about any of this and are going to definately own one, based on what information? Mostly Nintendo's brand, and unknown promise of a new controller. And of course, all of this devotion requires alot of mental labor defending their choice all over the boards, hence the cognitive dissonance aspect.

It's like the Apple weenies, where Steve Jobs could announce *anything*, no matter how unimpressive, and legions of hipsters would be talking about how cool it is. Brand addiction and style over substance.

 

[nelg]

I heard Pee Wee Herman is dieing to get one.

 

[NANOTEC]

Yet, the marching Nintendo lemmings espouse how they don't care about any of this and are going to definately own one, based on what information? Mostly Nintendo's brand, and unknown promise of a new controller. And of course, all of this devotion requires alot of mental labor defending their choice all over the boards, hence the cognitive dissonance aspect.

It's like the Apple weenies, where Steve Jobs could announce *anything*, no matter how unimpressive, and legions of hipsters would be talking about how cool it is. Brand addiction and style over substance.

That could be said of any one of the three consoles. A lot of people on this board already plan on owning Revolution based on factors they deem important. Just because it doesn't measure up to your expectations doesn't mean everyone who plan on owning one is a Nintendo lemming. Maybe just maybe they like the new controller idea or the virtual console idea? It's just a name which after a few good laughs shouldn't affect any mature person's buying decision. For those who can't get over the name after a few good laughs, I'd say they have more pressing issues beyond game consoles.

 

[DemoCoder]

It's still a stupid name. You seem to want people to not criticize Nintendo decisions. The console forum isn't just about PR Newswire posts, it's about discussing the industry, and this certainly counts as one of the lamest industry marketing moves in recent history.