Topic: "Playing with my Wii" becomes clean?

[JonLeung]

I notice that in many cases, the Wii name stands out on its own.  It's the Nintendo Wii, sure, but it most cases it's just "Wii".  Even on the official Wii site the name "Wii" stands alone pretty often, including in the upper-left corner.

Remember the mid-eighties?  People said they "played Nintendo".  It was pretty much the way to say you were playing video games (though maybe because at their peak they had like 90% of the game market so there was a 90% chance that you were playing on the NES anyway).

People also said they were "playing Sega" but no one ever says they're "playing Sony" or "playing Microsoft".  Maybe because Sony and Microsoft have other products but Nintendo is still nearly entirely games so I see no harm in still saying that someone is "playing Nintendo".

If Nintendo's not reffering to it with "Nintendo" in its name, do they expect us to be saying "I'm playing with my Wii" / "I'm playing Wii" / "I'm playing Wii games"?

I remember having to write an apology in Grade 1 (that's "first grade" to you Americans) for overusage of the word "poop".  I bet some kids are going to get in trouble in elementary for saying "I'm going home to play with my Wii" even if they weren't even trying to be funny by being "innuendish".

Come to think of it, I'm not sure why I'm thinking about this now.  It's not like the name is new.  Maybe I just missed it when people said "playing Nintendo" and it only just dawned on me that even Nintendo doesn't want that now.

[EasyCure]

"honey, where is little johnny?"
"oh, he's been upstairs in his room playing with his Wii for over an hour now"
"what!??!"
"that boy sure does have some energy. the few times we do get get his hands off of his Wii he complains his arms are tired but that doesnt keep him from locking himself up in his room and playing with it for another few hours"
"and you find this acceptable?"
"sure, why not? i already told him he can play with his Wii a little before dinner and before bed if he's done all his chores. sometimes i catch him playing with it in the morning before school."

(a week later after moving the Wii downstairs into the family room)

"oh hello dear, say hello to our guests"
"hello everyone, to what do i owe this pleasure?"
"oh well everyone wanted to come see our little johnny play with his Wii"
"...."
"yes, your son and his wii are very entertaining indeed. we could watch him play with his Wii for hours on end"
"yes, some of us even joined in and played with him. we felt a little silly at first but there is just something about
getting it in your hands that compells you to just let go and have some fun"
"i want a divorce, you're all sick"

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: EasyCure
"honey, where is little johnny?"
"oh, he's been upstairs in his room playing with his Wii for over an hour now"
"what!??!"
"that boy sure does have some energy. the few times we do get get his hands off of his Wii he complains his arms are tired but that doesnt keep him from locking himself up in his room and playing with it for another few hours"
"and you find this acceptable?"
"sure, why not? i already told him he can play with his Wii a little before dinner and before bed if he's done all his chores. sometimes i catch him playing with it in the morning before school."

(a week later after moving the Wii downstairs into the family room)

"oh hello dear, say hello to our guests"
"hello everyone, to what do i owe this pleasure?"
"oh well everyone wanted to come see our little johnny play with his Wii"
"...."
"yes, your son and his wii are very entertaining indeed. we could watch him play with his Wii for hours on end"
"yes, some of us even joined in and played with him. we felt a little silly at first but there is just something about
getting it in your hands that compells you to just let go and have some fun"
"i want a divorce, you're all sick"

Wow, haven't heard jokes like that before. And you even said "we" that sounds like "wiiwii" giggles, you are so funny.

[wandering]

Oh good, another chance to make wii jokes!


Seriously, though, here's the thing. It's not "playing with my wii." It's "playing wii"...which, at worst, will just sound kind of random to the odd person who doesn't know what a Wii is.

[Requiem]

That comic strip is halarious!

[mantidor]

I see the name doing more harm than good, hopefully the harm done wont be relevant, and I couldnt be more glad that english is not my native language.

EDIT:

I always say "Im going to play with my GC", "Im going to play with my DS", and I see that phrases used plenty both in english and spanish.

[willie1234]

I always say, play _the_ gamecube, or play _on_ the gamecube.

but maybe it's because I'm not so possesive.

[Hostile Creation]

I just say "Do you want to play Gamecube?" or in some instances, "Do you want to play video games (/Nintendo)?"
I never say "my Gamecube" or play "with my Gamecube".   That sounds dumb.  It's just let's play Gamecube, let's play Wii.

Closest I get is "Be sure to bring your Gamecube when you come."

[Athrun Zala]

Quote
Originally posted by: Hostile Creation
I just say "Do you want to play Gamecube?" or in some instances, "Do you want to play video games (/Nintendo)?"
I never say "my Gamecube" or play "with my Gamecube".   That sounds dumb.  It's just let's play Gamecube, let's play Wii.

Closest I get is "Be sure to bring your Gamecube when you come."

same here, at least to me it always has been play Nintendo/videogames/whatever, the "with my" in there sound pretty odd....

[Fierce_LiNk]

It works with Nintendo consoles. You can say i'm playing with my Nintendo, or i'm playing with my Cube, or 64, or DS. Its sorta the same with the other companies too. I've noticed that a lot of people refer to the PS2 as a "playstation", not Sony Playstation. I think the Wii is playing on this factor.

[wandering]

Actually, what I think most people will be saying is "Want to play some Brawl?"

Quote
That comic strip is halarious!

Thanks, I made it myself!

[Ceric]

You know that sort of sound like it should come from a trucker.  Anyway.  I'm a Computer Scientist short is nice.  So I tend to tell someone that I'm playing games or I'm playing my Cube or PS2.  I use acronyms all the time.  So most of the time for me it's going to be "I'm going to play Wii."

[Smash_Brother]

Name still sucks.

Awesome system, but the name sucks. Why try to replace a personal pronoun in the english language when there are millions of other combinations? Bii, Fii, Dii, whatever...

Still hoping Nintendo reveals that "Wii" is short for "Wireless Interactive Innovation" which makes it sound new and hi-tech instead of like whoever is saying it doesn't have their pronouns straight.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Quote
Originally posted by: wandering
Actually, what I think most people will be saying is "Want to play some Brawl?"

Quote
That comic strip is halarious!

Thanks, I made it myself!

Can I borrow it, I want to use it in my Sig on GS's SW forum

[mantidor]

oh, wireless interactive innovation, I like that acronym.

[EasyCure]

Quote
Originally posted by: VGrevolution
Wow, haven't heard jokes like that before. And you even said "we" that sounds like "wiiwii" giggles, you are so funny.

maybe you missed the point. i wasn't trying to make fun of the name, but make fun of the situations similar to the one i wrote. i figured most everyone would be used to the name by now, so a thread like this is actually just plain silly. there havent been any Wii = penis/urine on this forum in a while and i wasn't trying to bring them back, i was merely using such bizarre examples in order to satire the situation.

by the time Wii does release come this fall, i doubt anyone but actual five year olds would be the ones giggling at "wiiwii" jokes. grow up.

[SixthAngel]

I think Nintendo is trying to get people to call it Wii instead of Nintendo Wii.  They want to build a new brand recognition so people with the old Nintendo stereotype will give it a try.  The Playstation name is used on its own to keep some distance between the product and the company so failures in certain areas of the company don't spill over to other brandnames.

[JonLeung]

Sorry, I didn't intend to bring up the penis/urine jokes - at least I probably should've thought this topic out better - I think a point I originally wanted to bring up was how Nintendo was almost a synonym for video games, and now even Nintendo doesn't want us to say we're "playing Nintendo", but that we're "playing Wii" ("with my" omitted).

It makes sense, as people refer to the Xboxes and PlayStations not by their company names.  But the Nintendo name is its strength.

I guess if they launched the DS without any connection to the strong "Game Boy" brand, they can phase out the "Nintendo" name from its consoles.  You can't say "Nintendo Entertainment System" / "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" / "Nintendo 64" without "Nintendo", but you can refer to it as the "GameCube" and apparently moreso "Wii" without necessarily saying "Nintendo".

[Athrun Zala]

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
oh, wireless interactive innovation, I like that acronym.

moor liek wireless interactive gimmick
amIrite?

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: mantidor
oh, wireless interactive innovation, I like that acronym.

I'd imagine the commercials for it would display the whole sentence "Wireless Interactive Innovation", and then it would condense the words together to just say "Wii".

It works on many levels, first because it sounds hi-tech and second because it dodges the stigma that a video game system would have for many non-gamers.

They won't buy a Nintendo console for LoZ and MP3, but they might by a device which promises wireless interactive innovation such as painting with Bob Ross or cooking or playing virtual tennis or virtual musical instruments.

If Nintendo wants the non-gamer market, they'll have to dress the console up as something other than a gaming system and give potential buyers a compelling reason to own it. Dressing it up as virtual reality might do just that.

Also, attempting to explain the name in a conversation would be 1,000x easier. Rather than trying to explain how Nintendo wanted to go for something daring and weird, you can simply say, "Yeah, Wii, spelled w-i-i, wireless interactive innovation." and everyone is immediately on the same page.

[EasyCure]

i almost forgot about the bob ross game, any updates on that yet?  

[Spak-Spang]

I don't have high hopes for that game.  I remember reading an interview and it sounded like the game was barely in preproduction.  

Sorting through audio and video clips to use for the game.
It wasn't going to be like a true painting simulation.

and I believe it had a very, very small team working on it.

I just have a feeling this game isn't going to be what we desire it to be.

I was hoping for a nice simple paint simulator that used the Wiipointer's depth perception to detect pressure applied on the paint brush for painting.

Then online play would allow you to create your own gallaries and share your paintings with the WiiCulture.  But alas it doesn't seem to be heading in that direction.

[Smash_Brother]

If I were Nintendo, I'd fund the game personally.

If done right, it would be an insanely strong pull for non-gamers to own a Wii.

[Requiem]

If Nintendo were going to do such a thing (and they should!), I'd expect them to NOT fund the game but instead make Mario Paint.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Requiem If Nintendo were going to do such a thing (and they should!), I'd expect them to NOT fund the game but instead make Mario Paint.

Wouldn't work, though.

Mario is a gaming icon. Bob Ross is an actual painting icon, giving artists and casual painters alike a real reason to consider the Wii.

No offense to Mario Paint, but non-gamers will not take Mario Paint seriously. Bob Ross, on the other hand, with a commercial which includes a demonstration of how the Wiimote can be used to paint on screen, could definitely convince some non-gamers that the Wii is more than an outlet for violent teenagers or a children's toy.