Nintendo Special | A Wii Bit of Analysis

For instance, the Game Boy Advance was previously known within Industry circles as Project Atlantis; the Nintendo 64 went from 'Project Reality' to 'Ultra 64' before undertaking a final, last minute change; even the GameCube was deemed something completely different, going under 'Project Dolphin' (because of its Flipper device inside, and hinted at in Rare's Banjo Tooie, with a Dolphin on the inside wall of one of the houses); and then there is the Nintendo DS, which was first known as 'Nitro', then 'Nintendo DS' and eventually just kept its final development moniker.

The Nintendo Wii then...Many have already jumped at the fact that 'Wii' is Japanese for 'good', which would definitely work well over in that region, filling gamers (and those ever trusty non-gamers) with much more confidence than Big Black Brick 360 or System of the Break Down 3. Yet on the other hand, that really large, swelled-up hand, is the fact that the way we are supposed to pronounce 'Wii' is 'wee'. Now this would cause, and seems to have already done so, mayhem due to the torrent of puerile toilet jokes. Surely Nintendo's marketing bods must have realised the repercussions to taking this tangent instead of sticking on firmer ground?

They may very well have indeed. They could well have simply weighed up the negatives with the huge potential impact in terms of marketing spin that the name brings. Nintendo has regularly talked about how it is not an 'OR' company, it is an 'AND' one, encompassing all age, nationality and sex groups instead of merely pointing toward one particular large sector of the already founded gaming community and alienating the rest of the world. Many facts and figures are banded around and they all point to the same things: gaming is static in some countries, whilst on the decline in others; and even in the UK there is around 75% of the population that is completely untapped in terms of gaming. Okay, factor in the nursery ages and that open percentage falls slightly, but even the old folk are being drawn in with hand-writing recognition and brain exercising software on the DS. And if Nintendo does live up to its 'kiddie' image, it is without doubt that it could formulate some pre-school software for the DS or Wii in the future. 'Educate your children with Nintendo'; 'Live the Peter Pan dream with Nintendo'. It is more likely to happen with the sleeping giant that is Nintendo than the bold and brash Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo is all about families and always has been, after all...

Anyway, Nintendo Wii, good or bad? 'Wii can play together', 'Wii are all the same in Nintendo's world', Wii will make all your dreams come true'. The potential, can you see it? Weighing up those positives and negatives again comes into play. The name WILL stick in your mind, even if for the wrong reasons, and it WILL have great scope for puns across all markets (France, Japan and English speaking countries in particular, off the top of my head).

Theory time, though. What if Nintendo is stringing us all along? What if Nintendo is proving a point that people are too bothered about an image and or a name? Then it would indeed be making a very strong, valid point. People are too bothered about how a name sounds (despite people accepting the bland XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3), what a system looks like and how many polygons can be shifted even before running a game on the hardware. But what would really be the need for such deviousness and deception? Nintendo would have to have something immensely special waiting in the wings if it did not want to incur the wrath of the gaming world!

Finally, look at what is confirmed by the strange, cryptic message included in today's announcement:

Let us know your thoughts on the name, the speculation and more by giving us your feedback at the bottom of this article. Just remember this:

The world is no longer just about you or I, it is about 'Wii'...