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Developers React To 'Wii'

Posted by Zonk on Tue May 02, 2006 12:34 PM
from the gnashing-of-teeth dept.
Gamasutra has reactions from game developers to the announcement of the Revolution's new commercial name, 'Wii'. From the article: "It doesn't change my personal opinions of the console in the slightest. It changes my opinion of the Nintendo marketing department considerably. Did they even bother to research this? Why do they do these things? What was wrong with 'Revolution'? It's bad enough that the Japanese have a drink called "Sweat," but at least they don't try to export it to the English-speaking world with that name. Am I supposed to be happy about having to go down to the game store to purchase the 'Nintendo Wee'? For God's sake, where was Miyamoto? I can't believe he would have let this get by. - Ernest Adams"

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[+] Nintendo Revolution Renamed 'Wii' 966 comments
Retroneous writes "The Nintendo Revolution has had its name changed to the Nintendo Wii." Confirmation on the official Revolution site. Update: 04/27 16:32 GMT by Z : More information available from a Gamasutra article: "New details on the disc format have also been revealed: 'Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.'"
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  • Story title misspelled (Score:5, Funny)

    by UbuntuDupe (970646) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:36PM (#15246984)
    (Last Journal: Sunday October 22 2006, @10:27PM)
    It should be "Developers React to Uus".
  • Let us post some more articles about how stupid the name 'Wii' is.

    Let us ignore the fact that we all like gaming consoles and instead resort to childish puns to evaluate something before it's even released.

    Let the developers (and leaders of developers) proclaim to the world just how stupid this name is so that not only does the public think it's stupid, so do the developers. Think about that, the one group of people that are truly going to determine how this console does is jointly standing up and bashing it before the API is even in their hands. It is within their power to take this console--regardless of its name--and create some truly genuine games with a new controller interface. Before they even start that, they are all communally agreeing that the name is 'stupid.'

    Kind of sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me.

    The only two responses I read that defended the name were weak. Did no one stand up and say, "No comment until I've got this thing in my hands and I can really see what it's made of."

    Let us all make fun of Dick Butkus [wikipedia.org] now for his name. Hahahaha, dick. Hahahahah, butt. Get it all out of your system.

    This is sheer madness. I use a piece of software called "The Gimp 2.0" but I have never once heard anyone make fun of it. "Gimp" means disabled where I grew up, why would you call a piece of software 'disabled?' Who cares? No one because it kicks ass and it's a free alternative solution to photoshop.

    It's not like they called it "Engelbert Humperdinck's Genitals" so that when you want to use it you would have to say, "I want to play with Engelbert Humperdinck [wikipedia.org]'s genitals now." For crying out loud, "wii," "wee," or "we" all sound the same and the latter is good pun. You hear it how you want to hear it so grow up and stop wanting to hear it as "wee wee."
  • by TooMuchEspressoGuy (763203) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:41PM (#15247031)
    "Wii don't care about the console's name."
  • Not exactly Game "Developers" (Score:5, Insightful)

    Did we expand the definition of developers to include "columnist and game design lecturer" and "director of business relations?" Someone at Gamasutra didn't exactly get a scoop. And what's with two quotes from the same company, Blackbone Entertainment?

    Anyways, they all say the same thing. The name sucks, the console is good. However, the best point to get out of the article is from David Sirlin:

    "Your mother or girlfriend doesn't want something called an Xbox 360, but that's okay because they won't find any games they like on an Xbox 360 anyway (beside xarcade, that is). They might be less intimidated by the "Wii" and will definitely find Nintendo games and non-games that sound more interesting than "Madden 2007" and "GTA 2008". "

    Totally true. The iPod wouldn't have succeeded with a name like "SongGiant 3950" (no product would). I say the name is horrible and acceptable all at the same time. Horrible because it lends itself to multiple negative connotations, and acceptable because it draws in customers that names like Xbox and Playstation won't.

  • Corrected title. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GundamFan (848341) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:44PM (#15247059)
    Developers "over" React To 'Wii'... Seriously, this stoped being funny or shocking about an hour after I heard it... and I doubt 12 year olds giggling at the name will be the end for big N. Now to more important matters... will Nintendo make the same 10 games again (this time with Wii on the end) or will they continue to inovate internaly and encurage 3rd party support? The Wii has great potential, so did the Gamecube.
  • Next Up On Slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)

    by American AC in Paris (230456) * on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:44PM (#15247064)
    (http://www.snowplow.org/tom/)
    Sales Representatives React To 'Rational Trigonometry'

    We get it. By and large, people who eat, sleep, and breathe video games think that "Wii" is stupid. Fortunately for Nintendo, we're not their target demographic. Even more fortunately for Nintendo, the bulk of gamers who think that "Wii" is stupid follow the sentiment up with "but it isn't going to influence whether or not I actually buy the thing."

    We, The Hardcore, need to come to grips with the fact that we are now, in Nintendo's eyes, a seecondary market. The sooner we do that, the sooner we'll be able to get past all this bloviating about what sorts of fools are heading the ship at Nintendo.

    s/we/wii, if you're so inclined...

    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by Duds (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:12PM
    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)

      by identity0 (77976) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:35PM (#15247587)
      (Last Journal: Monday March 31 2003, @01:23AM)
      Oh, bullshit. It sounds even stupider to non-gamers or very casual gamers(which I consider myself to be).

      Unlike Playstation, Dreamcast, Famicom, Genesis, or Xbox, which I've heard people say are also "bad names", "Wii" is a horrible name on a purely viceral level as well as having bad puns. At least every other console has more than one syllable, sounds like an acutal product name instead of a squeal, and has some 'character' to it. "Wii" doesn't even sound like a name, it sounds like part of a name that got chopped off.

      How would you even say it in normal sentences? "Have you gotten a wii yet?", "Is this game coming out for the wii?", "Hey check out the graphics on the wii", "Wanna play some wii games?", "Wii rocks!", "Do you have any wiis in stock?", "I think my kid wants a wii for christmas", "Wii is way cooler than the PS3". It just feels wrong, somehow - maybe because it sounds like "we", and "The we", "we's", "wes", and "a we" are ungrammatical in English. I suspect most people will just end up calling it "the Nintendo".

      I was looking around for the Japanese reaction to it, and at least on Slashdot Japan [slashdot.jp], there seems to be about as much bewilderment at the name as there is over here. The name doesn't have any bad meaning in Japan, but it still sounds wierd.
      [ Parent ]
      • Sylla? Bull. by tepples (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @02:00PM
      • Re:Next Up On Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)

        by American AC in Paris (230456) * on Tuesday May 02 2006, @02:09PM (#15247929)
        (http://www.snowplow.org/tom/)
        At least every other console has more than one syllable, sounds like an acutal product name instead of a squeal, and has some 'character' to it. "Wii" doesn't even sound like a name, it sounds like part of a name that got chopped off.

        I differ with you on this point. "PlayStation" and "Xbox", to my mind, are utterly devoid of personality. One sounds like a purely utilitarian description of the device; it's about as personality-laden as "RoadCar" or "FoodCutter". The other just takes "box"--a dreadfully exciting word--and tags the ubiqitous "'X' for extreme" bit to the front. At least "Wii" is evocative; whether you think "fun", "small", or "ha ha pee pee!", it engages your imagination more than either of its competitors.

        And what makes a longer, multi-syllabic name better than a shorter, monosyllabic name? In marketing, short is sweet. It's why the "Macintosh" is now simply the "Mac", why the "High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle" is called a "Humvee", and why "fluoxetine hydrochloride" is known as "Prozac".

        In any case, we have yet to feel the brunt of Nintendo's marketing. Once you plaster the airwaves with "Wii", it's likely going to be about as silly sounding as "iPod"; you won't even remember when you first shook your head and said, "what the hell kind of name is that?" Familiarity comes from repeated exposure, and in another few months, the name "Wii" will probably seem no more stupid than the name "Nintendo" to most people out there.

        [ Parent ]
      • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by Castar (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @05:58PM
      • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by wvitXpert (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @06:56PM
      • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by dwolshin (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @09:05PM
      • Machine translation from Japanese by wintermute1974 (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @10:44PM
      • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by ookaze (Score:2) Wednesday May 03 2006, @03:35AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by MindStalker (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:10PM
    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by panthro (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:11PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by joeljkp (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:20PM
    • Re:Next Up On Slashdot by squiggleslash (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:40PM
    • 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • Pokari Sweat by Judge_Fire (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:49PM
  • Slashdotters react to Wii... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spez (566714) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:52PM (#15247143)
    Wii are tired of hearing about how many bad puns we can do with the name. Wii don't care. Wii want to try the console. Wii want to try the controler.
  • Stupid Nintendo (Score:5, Insightful)

    by winmine (934311) on Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:54PM (#15247159)
    Those dumb Nintendo marketers, they only got FOUR slashdot frontpages from a name change. C'mon, they can do better than that.
  • To those who complain... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:57PM
  • Nintendo wins by Trails (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:58PM
  • it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by ActionAL (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @12:59PM
    • Re:it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by Guppy06 (Score:3) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:17PM
    • Re:it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by squiggleslash (Score:2) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:44PM
    • Re:it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by syrinx (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @01:49PM
    • You're right, of course. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2006, @02:17PM (#15248016)
      Headlines from The Mysterious Future:

      2006: After over a hundred years in business and only one unprofitable quarter, Nintendo is finally forced to shutter its doors for good. In spite of its lower price, innovative technology, built-in back catalog emulation, strong first-party licenses and third-party support from industry giants such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, the Wii's chances are destroyed by an endless barrage of trenchant insults from brilliant internet punsmiths who refuse to 'play with Nintendo's Wii.' Microsoft and Sony duel over the gradually diminishing population of hardcore gamers.

      2007: Videogame industry continues to shrink. Internet punsmiths realize that 'PS3' sounds kind of like 'piss three,' sort of. Sony is subjected to ridicule from hardcore gamers and Microsoft leaps ahead in market share.

      2010: Microsoft releases new console, the Microsoft Penetrator. Ads featuring a man whipping women in the face with his erect penis (tag line: The Penetrator. Is it in you?) are met with enthusiastic approval by the hardcore crowd.

      2011: The release of Sony's new console, the Sony Overcompensator, is too little and too late. The consumer electronics giant shutters its doors for the last time.

      2012: The Phantom is released. A console so masculine that it actually impregnates women who've never even laid eyes on one, the Phantom quickly dominates the now-anemic videogames industry.

      2013-2099: The Phantom precipitates a population boom. Resource wars trigger a new global dark age.

      2100: The end of videogaming, forever. A new era of social, civic and intellectual engagement dawns.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by Aranwe Haldaloke (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @02:49PM
    • Re:it is a terrible name for the u.s. market by MythosDawn (Score:2) Tuesday M