Nintendo Wii -- the Revolution gets a real name

Seems like we've been calling this thing the Revolution for, well, forever. Well, we just got word over the wires that -- well ahead of any expected E3 announcements -- Nintendo announced the officially truly true name for the Revolution: the Nintendo Wii (like "we"). Nope, stop calling it the Revolution, it's not the Go, either. They're going for that whole gaming plurality thing that they've been talking about, bringing together communities who love to play, old school gamers, casual gamers, today's more evolved gamers: "It's about Wii, and together Wii will change everything." Ooook, guys, whatever you say. And yeah, we'll spare you all the puerile jokes.

[jm @ Apr 27th 2006 12:27PM]

bahhahahahaha

[Mojo Yugen @ Apr 27th 2006 12:27PM]

Wii?
Really?
Wii?
Not even "Wheeeh!"?
Wii?

[saboola @ Apr 27th 2006 12:28PM]

This can't be serious.

[1Up @ Apr 27th 2006 12:28PM]

They should have stuck with the Revolution. This name is just bad.

[Tonicboy @ Apr 27th 2006 12:28PM]

That's gotta be a joke. That's an awful name!

[Enko @ Apr 27th 2006 12:29PM]

Wii hope this is a joke.

[Mike @ Apr 27th 2006 12:29PM]

ok this is the lamest name ever. They should of called it the nindendo wifi if they wanted to associate it with wireless.

Personally, I think revolution is a better name then both of the ones I just mentioned.

[Tyler Smith @ Apr 27th 2006 12:29PM]

And the little pig went WeeeWeeeWeee all the way home.

Give me a break. I want to take a Wee on Wii.

[ronnie @ Apr 27th 2006 12:29PM]

They should have just called it Nintendo 5 or kept revolution.

Its east to refer to it as "the revolution", saying "the we" just sounds bad.

[gentle nutsack @ Apr 27th 2006 12:30PM]

That is so gay, why not just call it Gizmondo?

Revolution sounds so much better.
Do you hear that Nintendo????
Take that for your p/r staff.

[gerrynjr @ Apr 27th 2006 12:31PM]

ok I had to include the obligatory montey python reference:

Wii are the night who say.... NI!

[sausage frank @ Apr 27th 2006 12:32PM]

Revolution is the only name to use.

[barb dybwad @ Apr 27th 2006 12:32PM]

belated April Fool's joke? let's hope...

[ken fager @ Apr 27th 2006 12:32PM]

OMG.

I thought the link was a bogus site so I went to nintendo.com. Sure enough. Their next console is named after a bodily function.

Uuuuurg.

[Dave @ Apr 27th 2006 12:34PM]

Wiik! Maybe they should just give up on consoles and sell software like Sega.

[ben the retard @ Apr 27th 2006 12:35PM]

I like the sound of Revolution. The name is just perfect to turn Nintendo around from the kiddy image that they have.

[pedro @ Apr 27th 2006 12:38PM]

I do find it amusing that Webloginc's revolutionfanboy.com blog is now going to have to be changed to
wiifanboy.com
:-D

[Liam Billington @ Apr 27th 2006 12:38PM]

OMG this is confusing ViiV and Wii... We all thought Viiv was more like Viv but was to be Vive, so were told by Intel.

Now Nintendo we get Wii, which to me is Wi as in Wi-Fi. Nope it's wee as in 'eh wee lassie' or 'I need a wee' or simply 'weeeeeeeeeeee!'

Why is the marketing department beginning to dictate our English? We should have brand idol, which name gets the boot or not as Wii sounds craptacular. I preferred Revolution or Nintendo RS to go with the DS theme.

[g. @ Apr 27th 2006 12:39PM]

Wii, the people, say the new name is dopey.

[kmr @ Apr 27th 2006 12:39PM]

Wii sucked at coming up with a good name for our console.

[h2o @ Apr 27th 2006 12:39PM]

Nintendo,

You are joking, right???

Wii

Why not just call it the Nintendo WTF

[Iiodt @ Apr 27th 2006 12:39PM]

Great. And just like that, Nintendo kills all the hype they've managed to generate with the Revolution, which by the way is a great name for the system. Wii. More like Wtf.

[David Smith @ Apr 27th 2006 12:40PM]

I refuse to call it the Wii. It will be forever known as the Revolution.

[Jared Dilg @ Apr 27th 2006 12:40PM]

Anyone else notice how much alike it is to the Intel Viiv advertisments on the right of this page?

Maybe they thought the "Revolution" name was too grandiose, but it sounds much better than "Wii".

[blunt smoker @ Apr 27th 2006 12:41PM]

call it iNES

[klauss @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

or call it the WiBro

LOL

[Alex @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

Oh, brother. This company is hopeless. And here I thought they actually learned something from the purple/lunchpail handle GameCube debacle.

MS and Sony are going to have a field day with this. And wii shouldn't blame them for doing so.

[Neko Tsukimi @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

I can't wait to touch my own Wii ::wink::

[nabil @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

too bad http://www.wiifanboy.com/ is already a registered domain....

[Derek @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

I personally think the name is fine. Who cares what the name is? When you think about it the name doesn't matter it is how the system performs, and personally I think Xbox and Playstation are getting to hyped up and are fogetting what matters the most, the gamer.

[RyanV @ Apr 27th 2006 12:42PM]

that is so incredibly LAAAAAAAAAAAAAME.

[warriorpear @ Apr 27th 2006 12:43PM]

wii-volution!

[Rick Dobbs @ Apr 27th 2006 12:45PM]

Gonads and strife!
Wheeeeeee!

[Gill Bates @ Apr 27th 2006 12:45PM]

or call it the 360 ..... opps that is already taken.

[ffjcharlie @ Apr 27th 2006 12:45PM]

Nintendo PAID someone to come up with that? It wouldn't be so bad as wi as in wi-fi, but weeee? Yeah, that's gonna help you shake your kiddie image, Nintendo.

[String @ Apr 27th 2006 12:45PM]

gerrynjr you blew it.

We are now no longer the Knights Who Say "Revolution", We are now "the Knights who say 'wii'!"

You must return here with a shrubbery.

[Hank Cazorp @ Apr 27th 2006 12:47PM]

Wii.

Hmm. One quote comes to mind, I don't know why.

"I think Oscar Wilde only *wished* he was this gay."

[verbatim-trogdor @ Apr 27th 2006 12:48PM]

The heck? Nintendo Wii?

WHYYYYYY?!

[Robert Cantoni @ Apr 27th 2006 12:49PM]

Nintendo's marketing department has been doing its best to drive the company under since probably around the days of the Super NES. They just don't get it, and this is the worst name they've come up with yet. I guess they really didn't learn anything from the five-year exile into wilderness that we know as the GameCube. Hugh Notron (above) is right: "Revolution" clearly expressed the console's purpose, and its codename status made it feel appropriate, not marketing-speak--and definitely cooler a lame marketing conceit subbing "wii" for "we."

[HOVA uk @ Apr 27th 2006 12:49PM]

It's not lame.. and since when has a console's name ever affected it.

For all i care it could be called 'This Sucks' and i will still buy the Wii...

who am I kidding it dosent sound right.. until it's released i am still calling it revolution

[Brian @ Apr 27th 2006 12:50PM]

call it the playstation iv--mess with sony's heads a bit.

[Wiintendo @ Apr 27th 2006 12:52PM]

Maybe "Wii" is the name for the Japanese market, much like the "Super Famicom" was, while US market used "Super Nintendo".
Add another "W" in there, and it's a reminder of who won the war - yikes.

[expungablerobot @ Apr 27th 2006 12:53PM]

This will break the console- and before you say it's just a name- it's not, it's a perception, and saying Nintendo WEE makes me sick.

[SLy @ Apr 27th 2006 12:54PM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[diulei @ Apr 27th 2006 12:55PM]

Uh.........

[raygundan @ Apr 27th 2006 12:55PM]

Did somebody in marketing just rearrange intel's ViiV thing?

"Intel's new gibberish sure is catchy... ViiV... "
"VVii?"
"Nah, too close."
"Wii?"
"Brilliant!"

[Joe @ Apr 27th 2006 12:55PM]

This is branding run amok. I'm not a console man myself, but I prefer the simple elegance of "PlayStation #". Not only do they make use of an ultra-cool numbering system, but they get to abbreviate it to the totally usable "PS[1|2|3]" etc.

[Walkin @ Apr 27th 2006 12:55PM]

And I thought the 360 was a bad name.

[glacia00 @ Apr 27th 2006 12:55PM]

I have a friend at Nintendo who I just called about the name. His comment was that there some annoyance about people abbreviating 'Revolution'.

My thought. Isn't that a good thing? Customers comfortable and familiar enough with the name that they don't have say the whole thing and people know what you mean.

But he's been a little weird ever since college so I went to the website to see what was being said about it by 'Nin' and there it is. "No need to abbreviate. Just Wii"

[nabil @ Apr 27th 2006 12:56PM]

#35: from press release:

"Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii."


so no, its not japan only by the looks of it.