Nintendo Wii

[Jaysus]

Agreed.

I'm finding it very hard to swallow...

[Concept]

This thread is class. The Sega P00 indeed.

We need the Sony Baps and the Microsoft Butt00x 720.

[Psycho Mantis]

Well, I remember I read that Honda was going to release a car named "Honda Fitta" in Europe. Sure, for some, it doesn't mean much at all, but in the Scandinavian countries, the word "Fitta" is the same as "Pussy", so it wouldn't be very appropriate to release a car with that kind of name in Scandinavia ... And this is what they had planed to say when they would releas it: "Honda Fitta is small on the outside - but big on the inside". They ended up changing the name to "Honda Fit".

Anyway, naming it "Wii" might confuse people, and I'm not sure it's the best way to name a game-console ... But time will tell.

[Wools]

I think this is brillant! Wii. Wee. Is this a joke?!

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii.

Never expected that line up, truth be told

[thebuddahman]

Granted, I've not fallen in love with the name, but sod it, if Nintendo have got the balls to do something this outrageous knowing full well just how much is at stake then they've certainly caught my attention.

[suicidepirate]

(everyone probably already knows, but 'ii' means good/great in Japanese) and the name is going to go down a treat in the Japanese market.

Not sure about that actually - I work in a Japanese company and all my (Japanese) collegues were just as bemused by the name as I was. You're right about "ii", but unfortunately it's called Wii and the "ii" bit does not spring to mind for a Japanese person (it involved some chatting before that was even noticed). So i'm not sure it'll go down a treat as you suggest; clearly it's not going to be interpreted as badly there as here - but it's by no means a great name even for the Japanese market.

[Resonance]

The name looks nice on paper but the actual pronouciation does not sound so good.

How about "Wii sponsored by Calpis"

[Stuart Smith]

Frustratingly stupid name that actually singularly fails to encapsulate a console that it being designed from the ground up to appeal to a broad section of society by having a name that no-one will know instinctively how to pronounce.

If you need an introductory website to explain the meaning and pronunciation of your flagship product's name, you have totally missed the point of a name.

Even the Nintendo DS, which is obviously a totally charmless name, is at least functional. Wii/`We` is charmless and dysfunctional.

A great start :S

[Concept]

I wonder if there will be a wiirace? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Oh yeah, and what Stuart said.

The name makes even less sense when it's supposed to be hard to pronounce in Japanese too. What an odd decision.

[Bib]

Sorry to be the one to do this but...


"We ar the Knights who say Wii!

Wii!!!!"

[danholo]

It's quite clear that Nintendo has invaded the headlines. After this, nobody'll be talking about anything else.

[Akira]

i LOL! what the hell were they thinking??

[Shin Gouki]

Talk about blowing it all out of proportion. Wii is the japanese name so it does'nt really matter. They called the Famicom SNES over here so whats the big deal?

There's no chance this machine is going to be called Wii in the west.

[Silvergun X]

There was something about them wanting it to be recognised worldwide, wasn't there?

[Richard.John]

Popular Japanese drink Calpis is know as Calpico in overseas markets, so god only knows who thought of this name, but it's not going to work in at least one of the biggest markets, the UK.

Why didnt they just name it 'Go'. It means five in Japanese and it?s their fifth home console so it would work well, but this is just silly. Wii means bugger all to the natives and it's hard for them to pronounce. I assume it's going to be transcribed in katakana as uii (ウイー）

Mad!