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Nintendo Wii

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Nintendo Revolution released official name of the Revolution Console today.

From Joystiq, GoNintendo, Kikizo, Ign, etc etc etc.

Introducing… Wii.

As in “we.”

While the code-name Revolution expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that seperates videogame players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?

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.

Wii has a distinctive “ii” spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people playing it. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of videogames that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because it’s really not about you or me. It’s about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.


So, interesting move by ninendo. Given the ginourmous(only word that can aptly describe it) amount of pathetic potty jokes, it seems that the majority of the teenage male population doesn't like the name. Insert obligatory, "Lets all go play with my Wii-Wii" joke here. Overall the word seems to be: "Wii hates it! Wii hates it! Wii hates it forever!!!

Aside, what do you all think of the name? I have to say that after reading the design philosophy, I think that nintendo may be onto something. I mean iPod seemed a stupid name at first, and the name without any dirty connotations evokes and artsy feel to it, ie very nintendo.
gtfo
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The description is very well written............that's all I have to say.
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Ultimately, I think the name doesn't matter. Even if it does sound silly, it's whether third parties decide to support the system for the long run that will make or break it. (See: N64, Gamecube)

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As I've said on the videogame thread, the silly name dosen't matter, as we'll have a great console nonetheless. Nintendo chose this name so the hardcore Sony supporters can have something to whine about. Oh, and by the way, is the new PSP with touch screen available yet? Has Sony copied that already? Hmn?
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
As I've said on the videogame thread, the silly name dosen't matter, as we'll have a great console nonetheless. Nintendo chose this name so the hardcore Sony supporters can have something to whine about. Oh, and by the way, is the new PSP with touch screen available yet? Has Sony copied that already? Hmn?


I was talking with an employee at the local game store about Revolution and Sony. He was saying that there will only be about 1 million PS3's available at time of ship, as opposed to 3 million for 360, so that might hurt them and it's already rumored to be more expensive than the 360.

I think the Wii will be Nintendo's greatest achievement since the NES and I'm dying to get my hands on it...

Nemo me impune lacessit

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They should of just used Revolution but Wii is cool with me.
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Important thing to note is how 'revolution' would be pronounced in japan, nintendos main market.
Reality is, it can't BE pronounced.
The closest a japanese person can get to it would be 'Lebolrution'.
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With the new control system, it will either be the best thing ever, or another virtual-boy style bomb. I hope for success, though. I'd love to see it work out.
But wii? They couldn't of come up with a worse name than that. Revolution was a cool name.
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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Ultimately, I think the name doesn't matter. Even if it does sound silly, it's whether third parties decide to support the system for the long run that will make or break it. (See: N64, Gamecube)


This one will have it. The creator of Halo has said that he wants to work on this platform in the next gen. Obviously, it won't be Halo as, I believe, Microsoft has dibs. But any of his future software, he's stated he wants to develop for the Wii. With that declaration, others will come. And EA is making the Wii a first-round option on games instead of delaying it beyond the release dates for Microsoft and Sony as they usually did.

As for the name, I don't mind it now that I know the justification. But I still prefer "Revolution." Whitehaven makes a good point, though. I guess Wii really does transcend language barriers.

Oh, and for the record, I'm not buying the PS3 or the 360. I have no interest. The Wii is Mii. Sorry, bad pun.
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Originally posted by: whitehaven
Important thing to note is how 'revolution' would be pronounced in japan, nintendos main market.
Reality is, it can't BE pronounced.
The closest a japanese person can get to it would be 'Lebolrution'.


There is no "L" sound in Japanese.
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Well, the so-called r is a sound in between the English r and l, so it's neither really. I never expected Nintendo to stick with Revolution. It was a working name, like its past two systems have had. Remember Project Reality and Project Dophin? Or should I say Nintendo 64 and GameCube?

And, sean, I love your sig pic so so much! Where did you get it?! Point me in the direction!

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I've never been one to buy consoles, so I think I'd still end up waiting a while to see what other people think, but I'm still excited about it. I think it'll be the biggest jolt to the industry since the NES
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I don't know. I'm afraid it might become a niche thing.

(Come on, sean, where did the pic come from?!)

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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shoulda stuck with Revolution imho.
ill still get it, i still support nintendo (maybe not their creative naming team, but their product)
ill refer to it as revolution

i agree the explanation is good and makes the name seem good, but the name should be self explanitory/sound good. it shouldnt need to be explained with a 3 paragraph press release.

Important thing to note is how 'revolution' would be pronounced in japan, nintendos main market.
Reality is, it can't BE pronounced.
The closest a japanese person can get to it would be 'Lebolrution'.


wtf? so Japanese people aren't physically capable of producing the letter 'R' now? just cause they're words dont typically contain R doenst mean they are totally incapable of learning how to pronounce it. nice stereotype.
also, this is a question, but did they actually call it the Revolution in Japan, or did they use a japanese word that means Revolution (or similar) and if since Nintendo is a Japanese company, with their main market in Japan, why would they even call the code name of the product something that japanese people can't pronounce as you say.

-Darth Simon
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

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*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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Originally posted by: whitehaven
Important thing to note is how 'revolution' would be pronounced in japan, nintendos main market.
Reality is, it can't BE pronounced.
The closest a japanese person can get to it would be 'Lebolrution'.


Just because the name "revolution" can't be pronounced in Japanese doesn't mean that they couldn't still call it that here in the states and/or Europe, and Wii in Japan/East Asia. It wouldn't be the first time that consoles had different names in different markets. Remember Famicom/NES, Super Famicom/Super NES, and PC Engine/Turbo Graphix 16? OK, the last one wasn't a Nintendo product, but still, you could come up with an alternate name that sounds good outside of Japan. Even if Japan is the main market, the US/European markets aren't peanuts.

Besides the stupid name, I do like the innovativeness of the console, and am hoping that it does well.
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Either Nintendo is right and the Wii will be a huge success, or human nature will assert itself and make it a huge failure. You can't have a middle ground on a system so different than anything else.

The Big N gambled and won with the DS; I hope they're betting on another winning hand here. As for the 360 and PS3, I will only decide to get them once they've dropped in price and have some games that interest me. (Kameo was on my list, but then I actually played it... and didn't like it at all.)

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Originally posted by: sean wookie
Originally posted by: whitehaven
Important thing to note is how 'revolution' would be pronounced in japan, nintendos main market.
Reality is, it can't BE pronounced.
The closest a japanese person can get to it would be 'Lebolrution'.


There is no "L" sound in Japanese.


It would actually sound more like 'reboryuushan'. If any of you guys have the right encoding, I can even spell it out for you.
MTFBWY. Always.

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I, and yes that was me, was just making a point that it isn't a good idea to stick with a name that your central fan base can't pronounce correctly how you spell it isn't really the point (and I think baron got the closest although the r's aren't pronounced like r's).

Also of note, can sony or microsoft honestly say that the internet 'exploded' when they released the name of their console? Nintendo may have failed in naming 101 but they certainly got an A++ in business 101. Worldwide advertising for free. Think about it, even people that don't know anything about video games are going to run into a reference to it somewhere, cnn, slashdot, wherever. If you told them it was about the XBOX 360, they'd be all, whatever, its a new console, i don't care. But Wii? They're going to be all wtf? and look further into it, which is what nintendo WANTS.
gtfo
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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Well, the so-called r is a sound in between the English r and l, so it's neither really. I never expected Nintendo to stick with Revolution. It was a working name, like its past two systems have had. Remember Project Reality and Project Dophin? Or should I say Nintendo 64 and GameCube?

And, sean, I love your sig pic so so much! Where did you get it?! Point me in the direction!


Yeah, Gaff's right about the 'r' sound, it is halfway, but in standard romaji (Japanese written phoenetically in English), the sound described is written as 'r'. I honestly don't think the Japanese would have that much of a problem pronouncing it at all, especially if they can pronounce 'megadoraibu', 'pureesuteeshan', 'doriimucasto', etc. etc. And knowing them, they'd probably end up coining their own abbreviation too - something like 'rebo'.

I thought the name Nintendo 64 was so dumb when it came out (I thought the machine was dumb, ugly, and poorly designed too, but that's another matter), especially seeing as it was no longer all about the BIT anymore - in point of fact, it was all about the polygons...stupid polygons. With the piles of crap that came out in those days, I reckon they should have stuck with perfecting 2D instead of experimenting with 3D commercially and in public. Fighting games come to mind particularly. But I digress, I thought it was cool how everyone just started calling it 'the 64' (or in Japan, they often called it 'rokujuuon' - a shortened version of 'roku-juu-yon'). Anyway, I thought that ultimately the 'GameCube' was a good name for a console. 'Wii'? Well, from a marketing standpoint it's probably a good idea - the two eyes could become a picture of two people in the logo or ad or something.
MTFBWY. Always.

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OK, OK, so, everyone whose first language is japanese has some difficulties with some sounds, such as R. But that's rather comon on languages that dosen't have some sounds. I mean, I know very few people from Brazil who can pronounce the "th" sound in english, and I challenge any american to pronounce our "RR" or "NH" sound correctly.

But about the name of the console. The more I think about it, the more I feel they have something there. I mean, when I first saw the Revolution (oh. Wii.) controller, I was skeptic. I thought it would be a disaster. I mean, how am I going to play all those games I used to play? And then I realized... I was going to change the way I would play games. It's something else. I should change my mind, not focus on what is old, on what is already there for years, but on the new stuff.

And now, as time goes by, I realize Wii is not that bad. I mean, saying it is weird? Wii? OK say NES. Say, DS. Nonsensical, small words (yes I know those are acronyms, but that is how we named the consoles). Besides, the whole thing with the two persons playing as the i's, that is a bit... "I've just graduated from marketing", but hey... it was sort of original. So, I have no problems naming it Nintendo Wii. We'll say Revolution sometimes, just like some people used to say Ultra 64 when the N64 came.

But, as I've said to some people here, I just know there'll be some folks calling it the W 2. Get it? W II?
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Theredbaron: Just to show you that I can read romanji: Mega Drive, Playstation, Dreamcast.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I don't know. I'm afraid it might become a niche thing.

(Come on, sean, where did the pic come from?!)


I got it from 4chan.