Topic: Wii U Logo for E3 2012 Confirms the Name Is Final

[TJ Spyke]

Just call it the Nintendo Fiil already and call it a day. Nintendo, Super NES, 64, Gamecube, Wii -- stick with tradition and come up with something different, even if you're leaning heavily on the double-i branding of the Wii.

What? The original system was not called "Nintendo". It was Nintendo Entertainment System, and the next one was Super Nintendo Entertainment System. So that was not a "new" name, they just added "Super" to the previous one.

I like the Wii U name. Sounds good, fits their message with the system, and is easily recognizable. People don't buy a product based on the name, the gamer who claims they wouldn't buy it based on the name wouldn't have bought it anyways and just use that as an excuse.

[Stogi]

People don't buy a product based on the name...

I don't know about that. I sure as hell would avoid something called "Holocaust Juice". At least, I'm pretty sure I would.

Hmmm...then again, if it was called "AlcoHolocaust" I know I wouldn't.

[Adrock]

People still buy regular Clorox because it's Clorox. Bleach is bleach though.

[NWR_insanolord]

There's a big difference between sticking by a trusted brand name (which Nintendo is encouraging by keeping Wii in the name) and avoiding a product because of a silly/bad name. Also, the Clorox example doesn't fit with this, because as you said, the name is the only difference. If the Wii U were competing against systems that were exactly the same except they had better names then the name would be important, but there are a lot of other, more relevant differences.

And Stogi, knowing you, you would totally buy something specifically because it was called Holocaust Juice.

[Adrock]

I was only pointing out that people do, in fact, buy a product based on a name.

I did a ridiculous amount of research before I bought an iPhone. There are people who bought one because they heard of an iPhone, not because they understood the pros and cons.

[Chozo Ghost]

a trusted brand name

Well, its debatable whether "Wii" is a trusted brand name due to the reputation it has built up over the last few years of casual shovelware and games droughts. Its not a brand name that has a great deal of "street cred" among hardcore gamers.

If the intention is to maintain the casual market, then "Wii U" is a fine name for that purpose, but if the point is to win back the "core" market, then its a terrible choice. I think Nintendo wants to do both, but the name is only good for one of those objectives.

[NWR_insanolord]

The hardcore don't honestly care about the name. The casuals might. Therefore, it makes sense to go the way they did.

[Chozo Ghost]

What do you guys think the Wii U's successor will be named? It's never too early to start speculating.

[ROiDS]

What would be ironic and funny at the same time would be for Nintendo to announce a new name for the system at E3. It would blow everyone's mind! XD

[Luigi Dude]

What do you guys think the Wii U's successor will be named? It's never too early to start speculating.

Depends on how well it does.  If it does as good as the Wii or even better, then they'll probably keep the Wii name because the brand is still strong.  If it doesn't do as good as the Wii then they'll change the name because the the brand is has lost it's power.  That's how it works.

[Ian Sane]

The "Wii U" name itself is not going to damn the system with core gamers.  But it won't help.  The N64 and Wii were doomed to having poor third party support from the get go because of hardware limitations.  The Gamecube, however, had no such overall flaw and still flopped.  Making the Gamecube look like a purple purse didn't tank the system single handedly.  But it didn't help.  Combine that with no DVD playback and essentially no online, all the way down to little ticky tack stuff like how the memory cards were 1/8 the size of the PS2's but cost the same amount or how the Player's Choice titles were $10 more expensive then the competition's "hits" line or how Nintendo was anti-demo disc.  The Gamecube died the death of a thousand cuts.  There was no universal flaw that sunk it, it was just a whole lot of little chincy things that turned off all but the most dedicated.  On the Cube it was like everything was just a little bit wrong and that turned off a market that was already set to ignore the system after getting burned with the N64.  They were trying to win people back but provided no incentive to do so and almost intentionally played to the expectations of their detractors.

I could see the Wii U having the same fate.  Nintendo talks about getting the core gamers back but they're not going to do it with something moderately competent.  They have to be exceptional and they sure as hell can't be almost-but-not-quite-as-good as the competition like the Cube usually was.  The name alone isn't going to ruin everything but it's the first cut out of a thousand.  If they're going to screw THIS up and give the system a name that is almost certainly going to be associated with the sort of casual shovelware fluff core gamers associated the Wii with, what else are they going to screw up?  What has better odds?  That Nintendo goofs on the name but otherwise does everything exceptional or that this is just one of many things that Nintendo will goof up because they're out-of-touch and have a reputation for screwing up the little things that anybody familiar with videogames would get right?

Don't forget that not only has Nintendo stuck with a name that is not core gamer friendy but this is the same Nintendo that just left the Wii to rot over the last year while great core games were just waiting to be released.  This is the same Nintendo that had to have other companies step up and offer to assist in the publishing to get some of the more hardcore Wii games released in North America.  They're coming off a major PR gaffe with core gamers and have a name that screams "casuals only".  So THIS company that fails to see the problems in this name and who has demonstrated having almost no interest in localizing games that do not have mainstream appeal is going to win back core gamers?  This name stuff isn't an isolated incident in an otherwise clean record of appealing to core gamers.

[Chozo Ghost]

Another problem I can see with the Wii U is Reggie is still in charge at NOA. This is the same man who refused to bring over the Operation Rainfall games until a massive fan campaign and an offer from Gamestop finally reluctantly forced him to agree to bringing them over. As long as Reggie is still in power this mentality is still at work at NoA. I don't think he's changed or learned anything, so the same thing is going to inevitably repeat itself. A change of leadership at NOA is needed... Reggie isn't a core gamer and doesn't understand what gamers want. As long as he is in charge Nintendo has zero chance of winning core gamers back.

The name certainly doesn't help either, but as Ian pointed out it would be just one of many cuts which end up derailing the console from its fullest potential. The mentality which refused to bring over Xenoblade Chronicles except under enormous fan pressure is another serious problem. It also took years more than it should have for us to get Pikmin 2 NPC, and some games like Captain Rainbow we still haven't got.

I don't see any reason to think the Wii U will be any different. There will be games Europe and Japan gets, but we won't and its all because of Reggie.

[thedefalcos]

For some reason the name reminds of the scene in Bowfinger when Eddie Murphy reads the last line of the latest screenplay pitched to him. The line is, "Have a nice fall, Cliff." and he's supposed to push the bad guy off a cliff. And his name is "Cliff". Get it? Murphy's response, "Cliff? Arnold gets "Asta la vista, baby" and I get Cliff? That means the audience has to think. It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!"
 
That's how I feel with the Wii U name. They want people to think that it's a system for parties and single players. But, it's too meta.  Honestly, the Wii was passable as a name because in English "Wii and We" have the same meaning. It was still meta, but phonetically, it still work. Someone else mentioned the Wii name must have been horrible for the French. Probably, but probably not. It's probably just as passable as a name.
 
But Wii U? That doesn't mean anything in English. It sounds like an ambulance siren. All the other game consoles had names that were based on, you know, the English language. This is why I think EVERYONE universally agrees that this is a BAD name.

[Chozo Ghost]

Yeah, its just like when parents give their kid some ridiculous name and it just ends up being fodder for bullies to use to pick on them in school.

[thedefalcos]

On the other hand, historically, the consoles with the best names were poorest selling (except Genesis). Think Jaguar, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Lynx, Odessey.  They may have done decent business, but they were crushed by their poor-sounding console name competition. The 2600? What they hell does that mean? The Nintendo Entertainment System? That's a mouthful. Xbox was a cool name, but didn't sell as well as the others. But the XBOX 360? That's a stupid name. It does not roll off the tongue smoothly no matter how you say it.

So, it will have to come down to the quality of the console, NOT a marketable name. I'm getting it because I only have a Wii and since it plays all the Wii stuff and is compatible with the old controllers. It also has the awesome idea of playing a console game where ever you want in the house, so I no longer have to unhook the console and tote into another room. I can be in the same room as my family and still choose my medium of entertainment!  That alone sold the WiiU for me.

[Adrock]

Yeah, its just like when parents give their kid some ridiculous name and it just ends up being fodder for bullies to use to pick on them in school.

[thedefalcos]

My pick for a name would be: Nexus.  It means "connection" so it has that meta connection that they want us to make, but sounds so much better! Nintendo Nexus rolls off the tongue nicely.


I predict that Nintendo will not win over the hardcore in the first two years, maybe not ever. Those people do NOT want to be associated with Nintendo any more. Hell, I would have been that way if I had not had kids when I did. All of a sudden, I cared about having a family-friendly console. So, appeasing those kinds of gamers is pointless.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm pretty sure calling it Nexus would get them sued by Google.

[Chozo Ghost]

I'm pretty sure calling it Nexus would get them sued by Google.

Or the WWE.

[nickmitch]

Yeah, its just like when parents give their kid some ridiculous name and it just ends up being fodder for bullies to use to pick on them in school.

George Carlin's take on boy's names: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8CrY_ZfFk
NSFW

[Ian Sane]

Yeah, its just like when parents give their kid some ridiculous name and it just ends up being fodder for bullies to use to pick on them in school.

Considering the names kids have today, bullies probably pick on the kids with "normal" names.  "John?!  What the **** stupid name is that?  Hey Moonbeam! Cedar!  This guy's name is 'John'!  Let's kick his ass!"

Thinking about it I can't imagine "Wii" being any more of a problem for French people then the band Yes is for English speakers.

But I agree with thedefalcos that Wii U's meaning is not necessarily intuitive to the masses and is awkward to say.  But then I imagine if NCL called it the "Aynel Secks", no amount of arguing from the English speaking branches of Nintendo would change their mind.

[Chozo Ghost]

Thinking about it I can't imagine "Wii" being any more of a problem for French people then the band Yes is for English speakers.

Speaking of confusing or awkward band names, have you ever heard of this band?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_the

What do you think of their name? Keep in mind a lot of search engines exclude the word "The" so if you want to do a search about anything relating to "The The" you will have a difficult time.

[MegaByte]

Keep in mind a lot of search engines exclude the word "The" so if you want to do a search about anything relating to "The The" you will have a difficult time.

Not really true. Just try it.

[Mop it up]

I didn't expect Nintendo to actually change the name since they seem to think it's rather clever. They no longer need to be creative with it so they would have been better off with Wii 2 since it's pretty clear cut, but this name won't be an issue as long as Nintendo does a good job showing exactly what the system is. They seemed to have learned lessons from the 3DS so I think they will do a better job of that this time around.

As far as names go, the only system name I have ever liked is Nintendo Entertainment System. It has the company name, it's descriptive, and it isn't some nonsense word. Funnily enough, it'd be a perfect name for the Wii U which will offer more types of entertainment than just games, but unfortunately they can't use the same name, especially since NES games can still be purchased on the system.

Every other system name ranges from meh to terrible.

[Ian Sane]

I'd like to mention that, calling it the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was a stroke of genius.  As a kid our whole lives had revolved around Nintendo and this was the SUPER Nintendo?  Holy ****!  I'll take five of them!  Kids are stupid so the fact that I liked it as a kid does not in any way suggest it was a good idea.  But it followed the insanely popular NES and suggested that it was in fact better than the NES.
 
So I suppose for kids having some association with the Wii would be a good idea (assuming kids don't think the Wii is for babies and are actually playing Xbox 360, which is probably EXACTLY what's going on).  The one problem is that "Wii U" doesn't suggest a better version of the Wii, merely a follow-up.