A Revolution-ary Name Change?

by Louis Bedigian

For more than a year Nintendo has referred to their highly secretive, much-anticipated next-gen console as "Revolution." Revolution was once considered a code name, but eventually received its own logo and was presumed to be the final name...

If the name was to be changed, I didn't expect to hear any news until their annual pre-E3 press conference, taking place the day before the show begins at the Kodak Theatre. Nintendo, however, is not a company who does the expected. In fact, they have made it their life's work to do the opposite. Whether it's the announcement of a new, unorthodox game (like Pikmin) over a conventional sequel (Mario, Zelda, etc.), or the decision to go with dual- and touch-screen gameplay over the traditional single-screen view, Nintendo doesn't do what we expect.

Thus, I shouldn't have been surprised when they decided to announce the official name of their new console – Wii (pronounced "we") – more than a week ahead of the scheduled press conference. Nor should I be surprised by the name, which Nintendo hopes will unite gamers, and eventually become as common a word as iPod or Google. Though they'd never admit to it, I'm sure they're also hoping it will someday become as common as the word that's synonymous with video games: PlayStation.

And it just might. We once bought and loved a console called the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. How do you market a device with a name like that? Simple: you target people that care more about content than the name. I once thought of "PlayStation" as sounding silly, almost like a child's play-thing (yes, I do think of Buzz and Woody every time I say that). Before we knew it, PlayStation was a household name. It became the best selling console, and the number-one platform in the eyes of millions. The mere fact that PlayStation 2 sold 500,000 units in one day – a feat no other console, not even the fastest selling handheld (Game Boy Advance) has beaten – shows how important the PlayStation name is to gamers. It only took five years for Sony to accomplish that.

PlayStation's success has nothing to do with its name, other than it being simple and easy to remember. Gamers fell in love with the brand because of its game content, just as they've fallen in love with the DS, Xbox, or any other system available.

We still don't know exactly what Nintendo will release at Wii's launch, nor do we know of any first-party games other than the ones mentioned during last year's press conference (Metroid and Smash Bros.). Whatever games may be unveiled, either during this year's conference or at some unexpected time, if the quality is high – if the games offer an innovative experience that does for console gaming what the Nintendo DS did for handhelds – then there will be no stopping Wii from becoming a household name. We, the people Nintendo says this is about, will buy it for the games and the unique experience it promises to deliver.

Should it turn out to be so innovative, then there's only one word needed when asked who wants to join the revolution.

"Me!"