Nintendo Wii -- the Revolution gets a real name
By Ryan Block 
posted Apr 27th 2006 12:24PM
posted Apr 27th 2006 12:24PM
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.
bahhahahahaha
Wii?
Really?
Wii?
Not even "Wheeeh!"?
Wii?
This can't be serious.
They should have stuck with the Revolution. This name is just bad.
That's gotta be a joke. That's an awful name!
Wii hope this is a joke.
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.
And the little pig went WeeeWeeeWeee all the way home.
Give me a break. I want to take a Wee on Wii.
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.
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.
ok I had to include the obligatory montey python reference:
Wii are the night who say.... NI!
Revolution is the only name to use.
belated April Fool's joke? let's hope...
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.
Wiik! Maybe they should just give up on consoles and sell software like Sega.
I like the sound of Revolution. The name is just perfect to turn Nintendo around from the kiddy image that they have.
I do find it amusing that Webloginc's revolutionfanboy.com blog is now going to have to be changed to
wiifanboy.com
:-D
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.
Wii, the people, say the new name is dopey.
Wii sucked at coming up with a good name for our console.
Nintendo,
You are joking, right???
Wii
Why not just call it the Nintendo WTF
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.
I refuse to call it the Wii. It will be forever known as the Revolution.
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".
call it iNES
or call it the WiBro
LOL
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.
I can't wait to touch my own Wii ::wink::
too bad http://www.wiifanboy.com/ is already a registered domain....
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.
that is so incredibly LAAAAAAAAAAAAAME.
wii-volution!
Gonads and strife!
Wheeeeeee!
or call it the 360 ..... opps that is already taken.
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.
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.
Wii.
Hmm. One quote comes to mind, I don't know why.
"I think Oscar Wilde only *wished* he was this gay."
The heck? Nintendo Wii?
WHYYYYYY?!
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."
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
call it the playstation iv--mess with sony's heads a bit.
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.
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.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Uh.........
Did somebody in marketing just rearrange intel's ViiV thing?
"Intel's new gibberish sure is catchy... ViiV... "
"VVii?"
"Nah, too close."
"Wii?"
"Brilliant!"
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.
And I thought the 360 was a bad name.
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"
#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.
I like the name. I think that nintendo knows what they're doing. I was at NOA last week and their building reeked of intelligence. I have faith.
Seems like someone at nintendo was smoking a bit too much wiid...
Is there anything we can do to stop this?
The logo looks good.
This has got to be a joke, right? The Nintendo Wii can't be a real name.
NES / Famicom
SNES / Super Famicom
N64 / Ultra 64
Gamecube
Wii
hey guys, who wants to come over to play with my wii??
I can understand wanting a name that doesn't need abbreviating, a memorable short name.
But Wii isn't the answer.. there are so many other single syllable names they could have chosen.. like Go..
The R in Revolution was too difficult for Nintendo management to pronounce. wevowusion, what?
WE? i thought it was Nintendo WHY
Do you think it comes with Wii-Fii?
Wii can't you just accept it!
Oh dear, the system is doomed, because the name sucks. I cannot purchase a single game for the new nintendo system because the name is not in agreement with my pre conceived notions of what the new Nintendo system should have been named. Will this name hurt sales? It really shouldn't. I personally thought Xbox was the stupidest name I ever heard. It made me think of the little x in the corner of windows boxes, that I would click to close said box. Thus, the "cancel box".
I could think of a few names they could've named it. The "Wren" Wireless Revolutionary Entertainment by Nintendo, or the "Wires" Wireless Intelligent Revolutionary Entertainment System. Even the "Kiwi", which doesn't stand for anything, I just like the word Kiwi.
I'm supposedly getting my Nintendo Wii for free, lucky me getting wii for free, fills me with glee to see the wii for me for free. 48 hour smash brothers spree? On my free Wii? Play with meeeeeeee.... hee hee. Im done.
So will there be a Wii Fanboy for those dorky nintendo losers?
Satoru Iwata (岩田 聡, Iwata Satoru, born December 6, 1959) is the fourth and current president of Nintendo beginning in 2002, succeeding to the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Iwata was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which helped Nintendo generate a 41 percent increase in sales at the end of the 2002 fiscal year.
"We Japanese have such small penis"
They must've been inspired by the Chinpokomon episode from South Park.
The only question is if it's pronounce Wi'i (like Hawai'i)?
I like it.
"Nintendo has strong views on how we should run our company. We consider ourselves, above all else, as a gaming company. We believe other companies (in the console marketplace) see themselves primarily as technology companies.
"I suppose I could give you a list of the technical specs. I believe you would like that, but I won't for a simple reason: they really don't matter." (during 2004 E3 Nintendo Revolution presentation)
That name sure does matter and boy does it suck.
the title "the Revolution gets a real name" is missleading, "Wii" is not a real name.
But, i think in a few months "Nintendo Wii" will feel great, it's the same as with Vista, sucked in the beginning.
There's no wii! I mean way. I mean.. wtf.
Nintendo had been smoking wiid again.
Vista sounds Fine. But Wii that ain't even a real word. but I will buy an Apple Crapod. Now that's real.
Well, back to the good ol' days when we just called the systems "Nintendos"...
This almost makes the Intel Viiv branding look good :)
Nintendo "insert stupid name here" System
(formerly known as Revolution)
How dare they butcher our language. That's our job and wii won't stand for it.
Wow...it took a while to load their website (everyone must be flocking to see whether or not they are serious) but I guess we'll have to live with it. It's going to be an interesting E3 with Wii all over the place.
Top Gun quote: Mav, its We..., sorry Goose, We...
Just as silly as the name is, Revolution was a code name and the way that they spun it off like this is the answer kind of convinced me a little, but only a little...just the tip! hehe
I'll will just call it my Nintendo. I can't bring myself to call it my Wii.
call it the "Bin Laden Entertainment System"
My Wii Wii is larger than the Wiimote. 2X the size of the Wiimote. Listen to my rap people.
My Wii Wii is larger than the Wiimote/I'll skeet hoes until the beat slows/My feet go faster than you can see holes/ In Nintendo Marketing Strageties, it will be a tragedy, fast forward to it happening/ But it don't matter cause I beat folks with my Wiimote/My Pee hole is smaller than the speedos required to fit the japanese people (people)/ LOL.
The Nintendo DNA sounds better.
This has to be some sort of practical joke? They must not have tested the name in North American market, Europe or South and Central America.
Everyone already thinks this thing is a joke...now the name only confirms that it really is a sad sad joke.
Dumb ass name. I was thinking of buying in addition to a 360, but now forget it. I don't care what games it plays.
Oh, Japan. You so crazy!
Does it support Blue-Gay disc's as does the PS3?
Worst...name...ever. And I thought Sony Clie was bad...
Those crazy japs at nintendo are only joking with us. everyone just calm down wii we get some facts about the new name.
Go away Wii, bring back the Revolution
I don't think anybody has hit on another awkward situation caused by the new name. What do you say when you go into your local electronics store?
"Do you have any Wiis?" Wiises? Wii-i? What the heck is the plural of Wii?
Seriously, though, who wants to start a petition or a letter-writing campaign or something?
Just this morning I was thinking about opening a post somewhere to guess the name, with oddball names
the Nintendo...
* Goomba Smasher Mark V
* Koopa Killer Konsole
* Console of HiDef's Bane
* Miyamoto's Dream
* Tropical Equator
* StarRoad (yeah, recycling)
Truly, TRULY reality surpasses fiction. Never in a billion years, I'd guess Wii. Since it sounds something all the message boards posters will immediately hate, as was the controller, I guess they're on the right track!
Well ill say it again , Nintendo headquarters show the signs of heavy drug abuse. First it was the controller and now name Wii.
That is the dumbest damn thing I've ever heard. I love Nintendo and was incredibly excited about the new console. Seeing this name is like being sucker-punched. Nintendo managed to destroy all the hype and good will they've generated over the last year in one afternoon. Wii to go boys!
Yeah what? A whole 5 minutes spent on the logo?
WTF ever Nintendo, I am going to enjoy watching you bury yourselves with this one.
Let's not forget the controller is probably now called a Wiimote
The name's pretty cool if you take in the fact that it's unique and it solidifies Nintendo's counterculture effort to stand out from the Microsoft and Sony camps.
Nintendo's unpopular name already has heads turning, fulfilling it's purpose.
And Nintendo joins the ranks of playmobil/duplo/my first console...
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rhoen/omgwtfwii.jpg
There's a difference between turning heads, and making them laugh in your face.
I was wondering...
If they make memory modules that had a keyring on the back, would it be called the "Key-Wii"?
If they came out with a miniturized version, ala the PS One, would it be the "Pee-Wii"?
So, if you get another one, and want to get the official Nintendo direct-link cable, would it be called the "Wii-wii"?
If you got pwn3d in a direct link head-to-head game, you it be reffered to as getting "Wii-Wii slapped"?
If you were playing a head-to-head game, and the neighbors got pissed at all the noise you were making and called the cops, would the cops cut your wii-wii off?
If you kept playing after the cops left, and then your neighbor got so pissed they broke into your house and threw your console into the ocean, would you be "Sea-Wii'd"?
At this point there were only a few things that could stop me from buying this system, and yeah, nintendo hit the nail right on the head.
the chance of me buying it went from 110% to about 50%
thank you stupid nintendo bitches
Whenever a new product comes out the first thing I do is check if a domain has been registered... well... I got myself this doozie: http://playwithyourwii.com/
I'm sure there will be many jokes about this new name and the style of controller... It's good to be on the bandwagon.