So, yesterday, Nintendo announced the final "release" name for their next-gen console, formerly known by the code name Revolution: Wii [pronounced the same as we]. At first I was a little puzzled and bewildered by this name, and quite frankly, I didn't like it.
But now, 24 hours later, I must say it's grown on me and I think it's a cool name. It's certainly very unique, completely unlike any console names of late. X-box, Playstation, Gamecube; these names seem to merely describe what the object is, not very imaginative. Wii, on the other hand, is a completely new, made-up word, it isn't based on any word, in any language in existence [as far as I know]. And I think that's cool. It fits, Nintendo is going off in a completely new direction with this console, so it makes sense that they would name it something totally out in left field, bizzaro. And it's a short, easy-to-pronounce word, easy to remember. It's sounds the same as "wheeeee!", you know, the sound people make when they're having fun. Which is what games are supposed to be all about, having fun. Not this dead serious war that many people make the video games market out to be.
Of course, a lot of people are having fun with the word because it sounds like "wee" as in "pee" or "weewee", what kids call their dingus, their wang, their Johnson, their "penis!" Now I have no problem with this, as it does sound the same and it is kind of funny, although it gets rather tiring after awhile. And people sure are talking about the damn thing, that's for sure! But the people who suggest that Nintendo needs to change the name for English-speaking markets because of this similarity, well that's just ridiculous. It also sounds like "we", and nobody snickers every time we use that word in a sentence, do they? "But Wii will be used as a noun, just like wee" the detractors protest. What-the-fuck-ever. If you're talking about the Wii, people will know what you mean by the context. And if they still snicker each time you use the word, then they need a tall glass of grow-the-fuck-up.
As long as Nintendo follows through with a console that works as advertised, the name won't hurt them at all. And it certainly helps set them apart from the other two.