i wondered what was going on when i first saw the name. i had no idea what it was. i thought it was some poor third party company trynig to make a unique and sparkling innovationy name. then i read the article. i realised the truth, that NINTENDO had created that stupid name. of course i went through the stages. denial. etcetera.... but finally acceptance. they have given it a stupid name. but after being strung out on some crazy japanese natural ecstasy for a few days, it started to seem ok. it was like "hey, this name makes sense. its cute, cool, and all that." then i came back to earth and i realised that its still stupid and not everybody who sees it is going to be in my situation to understand it. im in japan and it ive asked a few people here... it does somewhat fit in with their culture but it is still inexcusable to call it that for the western audience. it simply will not slide in america most of all, secondly australia.
i dont know whats going to happen. personally, i think its ok. but i now that the west wont like it. like rick said, they have done everything right for it, and now, it seems like they are committing suicide with the name. why? is there a traitor amidst nintendos upper ranks? thats all i can imagine... i guess the best we can hope for is a new name for everywhere except japan. that way, nintendo can save face by keeping the name somewhere, not admitting that it was terrible, and giving it a decent name everywhere else. "face" is very important in japan.. they wont drop the name completely, because that would be admitting the name sucked. and that would be shameful.
edit: a few points... people keep using ipod as an argument for wii. when i saw ipod, i thougt it sounded regular, perhaps even somewhat cool. ipod is not wii. i dont have an ipod and i think its a stupid craze, but the name was NO WAY as stupid as wii. i never thought that ever, even years ago. personally i have no problem with wii. but everybody else will and im wondering why nintendo is doing this... why... whyyy..... but then again, the japanese have always been very insular.