Nintendo: The Company and its Founders - Sharyland ISD

WELCOMING THE WII
functions. To compete with other video game giants
such as Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo would have to
produce something with a lot of power. But power
did not win out in the
final phase. Nintendo’s
WHAT IS IN A NAME?
game designer, Shigeru
The gaming world was expecting
Miyamoto, explained
Nintendo to follow through with its original
prerelease name, Revolution, a much bolder
that the concept
title, when they changed the name to Wii.
ended up focusing on
Many people wondered why Nintendo chose
a new form of player
such an unusual name for the new system.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” one blogger
complained. 2 “Worst console name ever,”
interaction instead.
“The consensus
Chris Remo, editor of shacknews.com, said of
was that power isn’t
everything for a
console. Too many
powerful consoles
can’t coexist. It’s like
having only ferocious
Wii. 3 Gaming forums on the Internet exploded
with jokes. Was it pronounced why or wee?
Did they want players to think of the kind of
wheeee a kid makes jumping off a swing? Or
worse, wee wee?
Nintendo of America (NOA) president,
Reggie Fils-Aime, explained the decision
to change the name to Wii. “Revolution as
dinosaurs. They might
a name is not ideal,” he said. “It’s long, and
in some cultures, it’s hard to pronounce. So
fight and hasten their
we wanted something that was short, to the
own extinction.” 1
point, easy to pronounce, and distinctive.” 4
Nintendo expected a negative reaction, so
Miyamoto also
they announced the name change eight
knew that more power
months before the launch. By the time the
would require including lines were forming in Times Square on the
launch date, all the upset and the jokes about
a fan in the design,
the silly name were old news.
which would increase
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