Do Wii not like that?

April 28th, 2006, 16:43 Posted By: wraggster

The universal derision surrounding Nintendo's announcement that the next-gen console formerly known as Revolution will, in fact, be known as Wii, has provoked spirited but not particularly credible justification from Nintendo of America PR Manager Matt Atwood, in response to a grilling by Game Informer.

In America, as well as the UK, the name's connotations of passing urine have provoked a mass outbreak of schoolboy s******ing, allied to rueful head-shaking and cringing. When asked whether it worries him that Nintendo's great white hope is now named after kids' slang for going to the bathroom, Atwood answered: "No. Any time you announce a new name you're going to get a lot of questions. If you look at what TiVo did or Virgin Airline for instance, those names have become household names and it had nothing to do with that at all. We wanted a name that represented the fact that this system was really for everyone to play. And Wii, the word, is W-i-i, and the two Is represent both people and the controllers."

That specious argument - along with the huge list of even more specious justifications for the name that Nintendo came up with when it made the announcement -- smacks of desperation. Neither TiVo nor Virgin - nor indeed the other examples of dodgy names Atwood came up with, such as Prius, Caterpillar, Naked Juice (which is never likely to reach the UK) and Napster - possess the same bodily function overtones as Wii, nor invite the same questioning about whether Nintendo is taking the piss (even though April 1 has long since passed).

When asked whether he liked the name Wii, Atwood flannelled manfully: "First time I heard it, I sat down and thought about it for a bit, and "Do I like it, Do I not?" and I thought, 'Hmm, it seems a little bit different. I don't understand it'.

"And then I did the same thing you guys did and watched the video, and the more I understood about the system, the more it's made a lot of sense to me. Yeah, initially I went, "Wow, this is different." And then once I started getting more hands-on with the system, and once I started to understand the concept behind the system and how the name ties in, I actually really like it. I think people will talk about it. You're definitely seeing it on the net, and people will continue to talk about it." Which roughly translates as: All publicity is good publicity, but surely Nintendo can't be that desperate to have everyone talking about it?

According to Atwood, the cure for our misgivings about this most unfortunate of handles will be hands-on experience of the console: "Once you touch the Revolution, this will make more sense. Once you play more games, and once the system is out, and more and more people play it, and you're realizing these different experiences, it'll make more sense. Again, it may sound a little bit of a line, but I think it fits well. This is not about you or me, it's about Wii." Pur-lease.

One can imagine the horror that would have gripped Nintendo of Europe when the name was announced, and Atwood inadvertently suggests, as one would have imagined, that Nintendo's European wing - always seen in the past as a second-class outpost of the company - had no hand in the naming which, unsurprisingly, was hashed up by a committee: "It was actually several people internally. But beyond that, we aren't disclosing specifics on how the name came about.n But it was several people at NOA and NCL."

The saddest aspect of Atwood's interview is that Nintendo did discuss sticking with the console's perfectly excellent code-name: "There were thoughts of sticking with Revolution, then there were thoughts of a completely different name, but once everything came together this was the name decided. I think they wanted a name that was very unique. Because this system is not about an upgrade of an old system."

Fair enough, but Nintendo really needn't have opted for a name that will forever associate what it believes will be its most ground-breaking piece of hardware ever with children visiting the toilet.
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