Why you should all stop hating Wii
2:35 PM - April 29th, 2006
I drank the kool-aid. Now let me tell you why you should all stop hating Wii.
The beauty of Wii lies in its logo and its connection to Nintendo’s current strategy. Looking at the logo, I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to see dotted i’s as people and the use of “ii” to mean inclusion. That’s where Nintendo’s use of ii differs from other companies’ use (such as Intel’s Viiv, where ii clearly doesn’t mean anything). In fact, I like to think that Nintendo started with the ii logo first and then slapped on the W later to reinforce the idea of inclusion.
While Wii certainly doesn’t sound as cool as Revolution, Wii fits Nintendo’s current strategy much better. Wii—and the ii that it contains—is inclusive. Revolution is exclusive: you are either with us or against us. That’s not the attitude that the Nintendo of today wants to put forth. After all, Nintendo is no longer led by the iron-fisted Hiroshi Yamauchi (a man who told Bill Gates to suck it), but by the kinder, gentler Satoru Iwata. Nintendo doesn’t care if you own a PS2, XBOX, and/or XBOX360. Nintendo doesn’t care if the PS3 is at the top of your wish list. Nintendo just wants you to have fun. And that’s what Wii is all about.
April 29th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
In my humble opinion, most people don’t care what the hell the name symbolizes. It either sounds cool or it doesn’t. The symbolism is a nice bonus, but if it doesn’t sound good, your audience is going to hate it.
That said, like I said elsewhere, I think it sounds okay. Makes me think of “whee”, for having fun. So I don’t hate it.
As opposed to Macbook, which just sounds stupid no matter how many times I hear it, therefore I will never like it. >_>
April 30th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I didn’t say I ‘hated’ it, either. Just that it was ’silly.’
I also think this is brilliant marketing on Nintendo’s part… the sheer audacity of using a name that strikes people as odd or weird or silly or whatever, using a name that will for sure generate a lot of heat both ways is genius.
As it is, everyone’s talking about it, even non-gamers (such as myself). ;p Thus, the name propagates memelike, and before long it will grow on people and will actually cease feeling silly.
Witness other made-up product names over history that may certainly have been considered strange or silly at first but are totally ‘normal’ now: Kodak, Pepsi, Clorox, etc. and lots more of recent vintage: Google, Yahoo, iPod, etc. (I remember the firestorm of derision that first greeted S. Jobs’ introduction of the little mp3 device and its name).
So yeah. Wii. I still think it’s silly, as it reminds me of little kids talking in the playground about having to go #1. ::chuckle:: It’s silly brilliant.
Check back with me a year hence, and the likelihood is great that I’ll say it has grown on me already. Even though I don’t play video games. ;p
April 30th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
i actually do agree with its symbolism and its connection with the direction Nintendo is going with Revolution. i think it’s great. in fact it is a much better use of “ii” than Intel’s Viiv. some people actually think Intel first registered the trademark for Viiv for dual core processors (look at the symmetry to symbolize two cores, and it means 6 4 in roman numerals so it means 64-bit processors, or could possibly mean pentium 6), i think this could even be true but Intel didn’t want to name it Viiv later on and just gave the name to that digital home entertainment stuff. (which doesn’t even have as much meaning - except it sounds “lively” [rhymes with Live, as in Lively])
however i still think it sounds bad. i mean, “Whee” just isn’t the sound of a popular console name. you could say gameboy is a stupid name in terms of meaning, but at least the *sound* of it is not stupid. like lloyd said, “wii” just sounds silly. that is still true for me.
April 30th, 2006 at 11:43 pm
http://revolution.qj.net/Marketing-the-Wii-How-Could-It-Work-/pg/49/aid/32196
May 1st, 2006 at 3:11 pm
It’s interesting how Nintendo named it “Wii” to diminish language barriers, but we don’t even have a “we” sound in Japanese.
May 1st, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Wiiiiiiiiii…. Is it fun? That’s all I care about.
May 6th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
I don’t care what they call it as long as they finally get with the times. I was impressed with every game system they had until the Gamecube came out. The disadvantages far outweighed the advantages with that system: Smaller disc, lack of a cd/dvd drive… I didn’t like it. The gameplay was solid though, and the graphics as well. Nintendo needs to focus on compatibility and versatility if they want to get my gaming buck.