consoles and strife

So a whole bunch of Nintendo nerds are paralyzed with outrage that Nintendo changed the name of the Revolution to Wii. Some of them, I've heard, are even considering having their tattoos of Link, Mario, and Kirby removed (but not Samus and Pikachu; those stay. Even pissed off nerds have their limits, you know.)[1]

Nintendo says,

"Wii sounds like 'we,' which emphasizes that 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.

Wikipedia adds,

Nintendo spells "Wii" with two "i"s to create an image of players
gathering together to play. The spelling also is intended to invoke the
controllers the Wii uses. 

I actually think that logic is extremely cool, very non-linear, and surprisingly poetic for a video game company. And guess what? Nintendo now has people who are not Nintendo fanboys talking and thinking about the Wii. Brilliant.

Why are so many Nintendo fanboys taking it so personally? I wonder why the name of a gaming console is such a big deal? Isn't it the catalogue of games and how well they play what really matters?

There wasn't this much outrage from Trekkies when Rick Berman destroyed the Enterprise D, and that was worth some serious tattoo removal.

UPDATE: Looks like 1UP and I agree on this:

. . . for sheer polarizing power, no one comes close to Nintendo. Its detractors genuinely despise the company and everything it stands for, while its supporters are a living reminder that "fan" is short for "fanatic."

I'm here to say that it's OK, guys. Nintendo will be fine without you leading the cheer section. You can join the rational 99% of the world and shrug and sigh and accept that Nintendo's next console is going to have a really goofy name. Because in the end, it doesn't matter. It's going to have a goofy name sitting in your living room, and mine, and in millions of others the world over.

. . . the name Wii doesn't really matter at all, in the long run. Gamers may choke on bile when they try to call the system by name, but if the software is there they'll buy it anyway. Very few serious gamers are going to refuse to buy a console because of its name -- and the ones who will are very likely the same ones who decided Nintendo was uncool ages ago anyway.

[1] Okay, I made that up, but the point stands.

Comments

[ttrentham]

I can hear it now:

"But mooooommmm, I can't take out the trash right now. I have to Wii!"

With added hopping and shifting from one foot to the other for added effect.

[jenkaal]

As someone who is a geek, but not a video game geek, I've been frequently annoyed by friends that are distracted (from my witty conversation) by gameplay. This may be one of those things that lots of people "invent" independently, but I've only ever heard my friend Linda call Nintendo "No-friend-o". It may not have been accurate, because I noticed that my husband and his friends had no problem just playing the games together, but it sure made Linda and I feel clever! So, they can call it Revolution or Wii or anything else, I know how it'll be referred to in my house. :)

[mirkrim]

Don't you think that could be potentially dangerous though?

"Wii" being used in the context of an object could be misinterpreted to mean something that has nothing to do with videogames.

I'm not a nintendo fanboy but I do think the name is weird.

[leviathan3k]

I actually didn't read the name right the first time, and wondered why Nintendo would name a console after a certain geek.

[dansroka]

leviathan3k, that is brilliant! From now on, I'll call it the "Nintendo Wil".

[Emma]

Yeah, every time I see it, I see "Wil". No wonder you like it, Mr Wheaton. ;)

[SpaceCadette]

Yeah, me too. I thought you were making a joke about them calling it "Wil" and I was waiting for the funny part ;) I think I got about halfway through that post before I correctly read it as wii!

Nothing like having a gaming system named after you! :)

[D'Arcy Norman]

I keep reading it as "Wil" too - when I read the original Nintendo press release, I had to pop over to wwdn to see what Wil's reaction to having a gaming platform named after him was...

[chosha]

"Why is a name so important?" In marketing? Well sure. I mean they could have called Transformers "change-o-bots" and they would have been just as cool, right?

Come on, Wil! Are you kidding? Why? Because someone who clearly doesn't believe in doing more than five minutes of market research said, "Let's call it Wii!" and not one person in the marketing department of Nintendo was brave enough to step forward and say, "あの、Nintendoの海外市場に「Wii」とは「しょんべん」のことです。" (Um...to our overseas market, 'Wii' means 'piss'.) I mean even in Japanese, "うい" (English pronunciation "we") means "sad/gloomy".

Even if it's the best console ever made, who could RESIST the urge to say at least ONCE how completely insane that is?!!! Didn't you say it at least once? Twice even. =)