"Wii" Is A Decoy ....

[CaryMG]

I think "Nintendo" chose this name to get literally everyone on the InterNet talking about it, generating an absolute ton of heat ....

Then, on May 9th, the real name'll be revealed.

Imagine -- you're told explictly that you're not getting XYZ for Christmas.
Then, what's the most prominately giftwrapped box under the tree Christmas morning ?
Item XYZ
Ya know how good that feels ?
It makes the pleasure of receiving it that much more exquisite ....

In my opinion, "Wii" is working along those same lines.


Later!
:) :) :)

[pacmanhat]

Not a chance. No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

[c0ldb33r]

I don't think you're right.

But I really hope you are!

[CaryMG]

Not a chance.
No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.
I know what ya mean, but I respectfully take the view that it isn't so much "lying", per se, as it is "diverting"? -- I guess you could say?


Later!
:) :) :)

[pacmanhat]

Not a chance.
No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.
I know what ya mean, but I respectfully take the view that it isn't so much "lying", per se, as it is "diverting"? -- I guess you could say?


Later!
:) :) :)

You certainly could. But like I said, it wouldn't be in Nintendo's best interest. A lot of time and money has gone into the 'Wii' name brand. I just don't see them using all of it for something that isn't even legit. It reminds me of a recent development on some message boards for the band Tool - their new album leaked, a lot of people didn't like the new sound and/or the name of the album (the Wii definitely comes into play here), and all of a sudden people were crying out that the album was a 'decoy', and that we'd only hear the real thing once it actually came out. This, of course, was nonsense, and all the conspiracy theorists are wrong.

The bottom line is that no major company is going to throw thousands if not millions of dollars just to throw people off over a name or something similar. I can understand that people would hope that 'Wii' isn't the real name, but at the end of the day that's all it is - a name. Let's wait for E3 so that the system can TRULY speak for itself.

[Overbite]

Not a chance. No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

they really didnt do much promotion. All they did was put up a thing on their site saying "The name is Wii, here's a blurb about what it means and also a movie."

The huge hubbub was created by word of mouth. Or rather word of type...on the internet!

[hezeuschrist]

Actually the timing on it is brilliant. They won't have to worry about taking a bunch of shit for the name at E3. People know about it now, will be used to it by May 9, and the focus will be right back where it belongs: The games.

Wii is the name of the next Nintendo console. Deal with it.

[CaryMG]

A lot of time and money has gone into the 'Wii' name brand
That's what I mean.

I don't think millions of dollars has gone into promtion for "Wii".
From what I see, it's just a Flash animation on Nintendo's website that's instantly been spread all over.


Later!
:) :) :)

[Kid Ice]

It makes me think "why?", which ironically sums up my feelings on everything I've heard about Nintendo's new box.

[CaryMG]

No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

There is precedent for "Nintendo" having done this.
Very recent & relevent precedent ....

To wit ....
January 13th 2006 -- "Nintendo" Denys The "DS Lite"

Then just two weeks later ....
January 26th 2006 -- "Nintendo" Announces The "DS Lite"

So I wouldn't say it was so much quote/unquote lying as it is "misdirection".


Later!
:) :) :)

[Ikari Warrior]

Kotaku reported yesterday that Nintendo had not even trademarked the Wii name, so a misdirection seems likely.

[THATinkjar]

I think CaryMG may be on to something here. The annoucement was far from "all guns blazing", and it was quickly "backed up" by an odd interview.

It will be a great prediction if it comes true.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Not a chance. No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

If I remember rightly, didn't Bungie lead everyone on a wild goose chase before Halo II? And didn't MicroSoft dedicate plenty of time and resources leading hoards of us suckers into that whole X360 thing?

There's just something about the language used on that Wii site that bugs me. It's just not as formal as you would expect from a company such as Nintendo. And the timing... You'd have thought they would have made an official announcement such as this at one of the upcoming Game shows...

I notice that on the main Nintendo site, they still haven't changed their console headers to "Wii" from "Revolution" yet... A bit sloppy if you ask me

[CaryMG]

Kotaku reported yesterday that Nintendo had not even trademarked the Wii name ....
Whuzzah ?!?
lol
Is that true ?!?
Jeezum CROW !!!! lol

And Gemini makes a good point, too

Methinks the game's afoot ....


Later!
:) :) :)

[playgeneration]

if Wii isnt trademarked yet, then can someone please register it themselves so that nintendo cant use it!

[hezeuschrist]

Not a chance. No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

If I remember rightly, didn't Bungie lead everyone on a wild goose chase before Halo II? And didn't MicroSoft dedicate plenty of time and resources leading hoards of us suckers into that whole X360 thing?

There's just something about the language used on that Wii site that bugs me. It's just not as formal as you would expect from a company such as Nintendo. And the timing... You'd have thought they would have made an official announcement such as this at one of the upcoming Game shows...

I notice that on the main Nintendo site, they still haven't changed their console headers to "Wii" from "Revolution" yet... A bit sloppy if you ask me

The timing is perfect. At the show you want everyone talking about your system and your games, not what you're calling them. In 10 days or whatever when E3 rolls around the name "Wii" won't matter, the focus will be back where it belongs.

All said, it is possible that this is a very weak viral marketing campaign. Get everyone all riled up over a shitty name and then tell us, "Wii were tricked." Possible, not probable.

[ShinobiMan]

Wii is the name of the next Nintendo console. Deal with it.

My feelings exactly. It's not that bad really. When I first heard the name Dreamcast I was like WTF? Now it's my favorite name for any console.

Wii is going to be the same way, I can tell.

[studvicious]

And if you go to nintendo.com THEY still have the section called "Revolution" and on the link to Wii it's revolution.nintendo.com

Do I hope they're lying to us?? Oh yeah! Do I believe it..not really. We'll find out soon enough I guess.

If you really want to get all deep with this, Wii could be what they're calling their (yet to be announced) "Xbox Live killer" online service. Just had to throw that conspiracy theory in there too! :)

[Schenley]

Hmmmmmmm

Heres the whois for wii.com:

It's registered to a door company - in 1994.

Registrant:
Willamette Industries, Inc.
3600 First Interstate Tower
Portland, OR 97201
US

Domain Name: WII.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Johnson, Robin robin-j.johnson@weyerhaeuser.com
Weyerhaeuser
PO Box 9777
WWC 2E3
Federal Way, WA 98063
US
253-924-2345 fax: 503-273-5602

Record expires on 10-Aug-2009.
Record created on 11-Aug-1994.
Database last updated on 30-Apr-2006 00:15:53 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

AUTH00.NS.UU.NET 198.6.1.65
POSTMAN.WII.COM 204.156.32.3
SHAFT.WII.COM 204.156.32.1

Registry Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited

[Gemini-Phoenix]

if Wii isnt trademarked yet, then can someone please register it themselves so that nintendo cant use it!

It may be pending...

Even so, if someone were to trademark it, then surely Nintendo could still sue you for something in order to gain possession of it. Seeing as how they announced it first, it would look suspicious if someone other than Nintendo registered the name "Wii" ~ Especially with such a huge worldwide announcement

As for a domain name ~ Surely Nintendo would go for "Nintendo.Wii" or something similar, rather than just "Wii"


In a few weeks wii shall see. I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to attempt such a feeble viral, after seeing all the hype that MicroSoft created last year with their X360 Colony thing. It's a simple tactic ~ Hype it up in the days before a major event (E3) and then watch the crowds flock to them, ignoring the PS3 and 360 in the meantime.

I notice PlayAsia has changed it's Revolution bits to "Wii"...

[Lothars]

Honestly I don't mind the name and if it is all a ruse just to get people worked up

Great Job Nintendo

got everyone talking about it,

I am still looking forward to the Nintendo Wii/Revolution

should be fun.

[Buyatari]

Not a chance. No company would waste this much time and promotional resources just to lie to its fans.

Why not?

Did anyone think a company would pick such a stupid name in the first place?

[dairugger]

actually dreamcast and gamecube arent that great either namewise... but we learned to love them due to their content, as im sure well do with the Wii..

[poloplayr]

I feel the same disbelief/semi-dissapointment from hearing this name that I did just after they showed off the Revo controller...it took me a couple of weeks before I got it...I pray the same will happen with the name...

[Kid Ice]

Looks like someone agrees with you article (http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/04/29/a_wii_bit_more_attention_for_nintendo/)

[CaryMG]

Interesting, Kid ....


Later!
:) :) :)

[Rev. Link]

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the name Wii, so if it does turn out to be a big ruse that'd be alright by me.

Actually, if that is true it'd go down as one of the biggest events in the industry's history. Twenty years from now folks would still be talking about the launch of the Wii/Revolution/whatever and how Nintendo pulled one over on all of us.

[boatofcar]

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the name Wii, so if it does turn out to be a big ruse that'd be alright by me.

Actually, if that is true it'd go down as one of the biggest events in the industry's history. Twenty years from now folks would still be talking about the launch of the Wii/Revolution/whatever and how Nintendo pulled one over on all of us.


I don't see it as much different than the Ultra 64/ Nintendo 64 name change. Nintendo said forever that it was going to be called the Ultra 64, and dropped the Nintendo 64 moniker on it right before launch.

[djlr18]

Nintendo did not drop the Ultra 64 name close to launch. I can't exactly recall when the Ultra 64 name was dropped, but at E3 96 they were already calling it the Nintendo 64. I have a feeling it was very early 1996, but it might have even been the fall of 95.

[studvicious]

I remember it being very close to launch.

[boatofcar]

Nintendo did not drop the Ultra 64 name close to launch. I can't exactly recall when the Ultra 64 name was dropped, but at E3 96 they were already calling it the Nintendo 64. I have a feeling it was very early 1996, but it might have even been the fall of 95.


Nintendo dropped "Ultra" from the name on February 1, 1996, just five months before its Japanese debut due to the word "Ultra" being trademarked by another company.

[Crazycarl]

something that gets me is that they never changed it from the rev tab over to the wii tab...seems fishy.

[OdSquad64]

just to add to the conspiracy a little more, the site doesn't actually say Wii is the Revolution's new name. It says the Revolution has a new name, but it doesnt explicitly say Wii is the Revolution's new name. It says something along the lines of "Revolution" is the question and "Wii" is the answer. From that point on everyone everywhere just assumed that Wii was in fact the Revolution's new name. Perhaps Wii is the Revolution's online service? it does say it will do something like bring people together. any console can do that. who knows

[Crazycarl]

nah if u read it again you will see that they refer to the console when they talk about wii, and not the console in a general, but a more specific sense. I also thought that, and also thought maybe they named the controller Wii.

[hezeuschrist]

It's not really fishy at all that Nintendo hasn't made the whoesale change to Wii all over it's site. They've been calling the thing Revolution for almost two years now, changing it all overnight would cause confusion. Eventually they'll leave behind the code name altogether.

[Rev. Link]

I'm sorry, but this name change is a lot different than going from Nintendo Ultra 64 to Nintendo 64. They just dropped a word, Ultra, because Konami still owned the trademark on it.

Now imagine back then that Nintendo had said, "The Nintendo Ultra 64 will henceforth be known as the Gwib!"

That's a little bit more like this situation.

[cyberfluxor]

Fun times... Fun times.

[Iron Draggon]

The funniest part is that Wii sounds alot more like a code name than Revolution does. I sure hope that it is a ruse.

[CaryMG]

I really really thought that that was the case -- I SO am sorry, guys ....


Later!
:) :) :)

[SuperNES]

actually dreamcast and gamecube arent that great either namewise... but we learned to love them due to their content, as im sure well do with the Wii..

but dreamcast and gamecube at least make a bit more sense. maybe not as much the dreamcast, but the gamecube is just that, a cube that plays games. the "Wii" sounds like something you do on a toilet.


btw, the effort put into this is nothing compared to some of the advertising done for, oh, say, Halo2? anyone remember www.ilovebees.com?

[chimp69]

what is or was Ilovebees?

[nildem]

what is or was Ilovebees?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilovebees