Gaming The Nintendo Wii

[Hitto]

I thought Nintendo fanbois were a bit more mature than their sony or microsoft counterparts, after all, Wii don't need to have "bewbz and gunz" games, even though Wii have our fair share of pretty violent and adult-themed games.

What the fuck do I see for the last six pages?

"LOL WEE LOL LOL IT'S THE NINTEDO PEEPEE OMFG LOL FAIL".

Ace : right, because *you* will not buy one based on its name? You will, right? Because it's gonna play mario, zelda, hopefully a lightsaber game and such things.
Now tell me who do you think is stupid enough to not buy a console based on its name. Okay. Now tell me, would these people have bought a LOL REMOTE CONTROL XBOX? Because they're 90% the same people. The 10% other marketshare would be those who can't be arsed to play video games, even if it's sudoku or casino games.
Again, I don't understand such an overwhelming negative response. The important thing is the buzz. Look at the internet shitstorm happening right now! This is PR GOLD!
You're doing exactly what Nintendo wants you to do, and as their marketing managers already said, I'll paraphrase it, they don't give a flying fuck about the hardcore gamers who will buy it anyway, they just want people to say "Wii? WTF? Oh, remote control. Lemme see... Whee, baseball game! Hey, can you show me how to play mario with this thing? Whee, that's fun!".

That's assuming the console isn't total shit, of course. But a weird name will OBVIOUSLY draw mass curiosity, and that's something not even a three-hour commercial on MTV can buy.

tl;dr : cheer up emokid. WRYYYYYY!

 

[Ace Gunman]

Once again, the internet is not the mass market, nor is it the general public. The internet is a fanboys and hardcore gamers club, to put it bluntly. Yes, word of mouth is spreading over the internet, but that's hardly the mass market. Infact, a huge majority of people don't frequent internet for video game information like us. While we're on GameSpot and IGN, and such all day on e3 day, the general public hardly even knows it's happening, nor do they care. So yes, alot of people hear about the Wii online, that's correct. And some of them might even tell their non-hard-gamer friends about it, and at that very moment... that's where the bias begins.

There's a huge difference between the thinking of the public at large, and the thinking of the fans. I for one know the backstory of Wii, because I read it online. But if I told a friend about it, pronouncing it as "Wee", they would immediately dismiss it. Nintendo already has a struggle on it's hands dealing with those in the general public who arn't easilly interested in innovation. A vast amount of people responded to the Revolutions controller designs negatively, the general public, but even some fans as well. And now they have added a 2nd layer to that alientation in the form of a title that when people hear it without any backstory, or knowledge of any kind, they will think "Wtf, that sounds like piss. LAME!"

The problem isn't selling it to people who have played it at a friends house, or loved it to begin with. The problem is selling it to those who arn't in the gaming know, and most of all... the problem is getting this console off the shelf in the first place. Because you see, if it doesn't sell to begin with, then there wouldn't be any friends house to go and play it at. They say "First impressions are everything", well that holds true with products as well. If it comes off as childish, or pissy, or like an interactive DVD player... then the public at large won't purchase it. I for one plan to buy one anyone, but I'm a fan, so I'm not going to be put off by a name. Whereas people who arn't yet fans may never get to that point if they form a pre-bias against the Wii and never play it.

The internet gaming sites are for hardcore gamers. You'll rarely see a casual "I own 2 games!" type of person go to IGN and look through all the news. As I said before, this community, and gaming-related sites in general... these arn't the kind of places non-fans frequent. So basically, the word-of-mouth only really extends as far as the internet. If a fan who heard it online was to mention it to a non-fan (in a vocal way), they'd react neatively. I've seen it firsthand with the DS, and the Revolution. Whereas something like the PSP gets immediate attention for sticking to the norm, being sleek, having a cool abbreviated name, and is marketed as the superficial. And that's the point, in the end... the world, and the public, tend to be extremely superficial.

 

[Mehdi]

Once again, the internet is not the mass market, nor is it the general public. The internet is a fanboys and hardcore gamers club, to put it bluntly. Yes, word of mouth is spreading over the internet, but that's hardly the mass market. Infact, a huge majority of people don't frequent internet for video game information like us. While Wii're on GameSpot and IGN, and such all day on e3 day, the general public hardly even knows it's happening, nor do they care. So yes, alot of people hear about the Wii online, that's correct. And some of them might even tell their non-hard-gamer friends about it, and at that very moment... that's where the bias begins.

There's a huge difference between the thinking of the public at large, and the thinking of the fans. I for one know the backstory of Wii, because I read it online. But if I told a friend about it, pronouncing it as "Wee", they would immediately dismiss it. Nintendo already has a struggle on it's hands dealing with those in the general public who arn't easilly interested in innovation. A vast amount of people responded to the Revolutions controller designs negatively, the general public, but even some fans as well. And now they have added a 2nd layer to that alientation in the form of a title that when people hear it without any backstory, or knowledge of any kind, they will think "Wtf, that sounds like piss. LAME!"

The problem isn't selling it to people who have played it at a friends house, or loved it to begin with. The problem is selling it to those who arn't in the gaming know, and most of all... the problem is getting this console off the shelf in the first place. Because you see, if it doesn't sell to begin with, then there wouldn't be any friends house to go and play it at. They say "First impressions are everything", well that holds true with products as well. If it comes off as childish, or pissy, or like an interactive DVD player... then the public at large won't purchase it. I for one plan to buy one anyone, but I'm a fan, so I'm not going to be put off by a name. Whereas people who arn't yet fans may never get to that point if they form a pre-bias against the Wii and never play it.

The internet gaming sites are for hardcore gamers. You'll rarely see a casual "I own 2 games!" type of person go to IGN and look through all the news. As I said before, this community, and gaming-related sites in general... these arn't the kind of places non-fans frequent. So basically, the word-of-mouth only really extends as far as the internet. If a fan who heard it online was to mention it to a non-fan (in a vocal way), they'd react neatively. I've seen it firsthand with the DS, and the Revolution. Whereas something like the PSP gets immediate attention for sticking to the norm, being sleek, having a cool abbreviated name, and is marketed as the superficial. And that's the point, in the end... the world, and the public, tend to be extremely superficial.

The console makes the name not the other way around. If it's as good as nintendo claims people will buy it regardless the name. The name will sound cool when cool games come out on it.

 

[Ace Gunman]

No, the console makes the name to the fans of video games. Not to people who don't know there stuff. I submit to you... the Sega Dreamcast. An astounding console, but the brand name was not nearly as well known as Sony, or even Nintendo. And the name "Dreamcast", while awesome to me and you, isn't exactly sleek and cool. Infact, thinking about it, what's up with the "cast" part of the name?

It doesn't matter how good or bad the system is, the brand, look, power, etc will always come first to those who don't know their stuff. Do you know how many people go in to buy their first console and say "What's the most powerful? I'll take that one", not even knowing what made the console so powerful? Not even caring as long as they get "the best"?

It's the same situation with iPods, they're not the best mp3 player on the market, but they have the minimalistic and sleek image people love, a trendy brand name, and the power to back it up. While the better mp3 players sit on the shelves because they don't have the name or look to back up the quality.

 

[Mehdi]

how did Playstation start..? No one knew the playstation console but as soon as people tried it out it established its name in the console scene. Dreamcast was a succes only they made some silly mistakes such as no DVD compaitbility and the fact you could pirate games without a chip.. killer, game developers were leaning more to the upcoming ps2 and playstation. So Dreamcast stopped.

Ooh btw Dreamcast was the strongest console during its time yet it died because of good games on the PLaystation. Wii are seeing the same thing with the psp and nds but lets hope psp comes up with good games. Its the rep that the mass care about not the power. If a console gets a good rep people will even wait till their new console comes out (Dreamcast.. people waited till the ps2 came out because of the great succes of the ps2) There are too many factors that decide the succes of a console, and the name isn't one of them.

 

[Ace Gunman]

how did Playstation start..? No one knew the playstation console but as soon as people tried it out it established its name in the console scene. Dreamcast was a succes only they made some silly mistakes such as no DVD compaitbility and the fact you could pirate games without a chip.. killer, game developers were leaning more to the upcoming ps2 and playstation. So Dreamcast stopped.

PlayStation had the same advantage as Xbox, the game winning advantage, actually. That being that it came from from a large and already majorly established namebrand. Which in thise case, is Sony. Sony deals in movies, music, and all kinds of electronics. Whereas Nintendo has always been in the niche market of gaming, and as such that brand (which unfortunately still has the drawback of being considered kiddy by alot of folks)... isn't largely respected by non-gamers.

As for the PSP, I can tell you why that's failing. Noone can afford it!

If I was to buy a PSP, and a game, it would end up costing nearly as much as an Xbox 360, and a great deal more than the current generation of consoles.

 

[Hitto]

Ace, do you work in a consulting firm? Perhaps in statistics & management? You speak from a lot of personal experience, and I fear that might cloud your judgement.

First off, "the internet is only used by geeks" is false.
As a matter of fact, a recent study revealed that there were more women on the net than men. Second, it's made the mainstream news. It was on CNN, (saw it this morning), and it's on their website. I saw it popup on what is possibly the most perused news aggregator on the web, google news. So yeah, it's not mainstream, google and CNN are not mainstream, you may be right. One has become a verb, the other is displayed in the whole fucking world, but Wii all know if it's not on MTV, it's not mainstream.

Second, the name will not matter. It never did. Having worked close to a year in a videogame store at the time the GC was released, I can tell you I heard maybe once or twice the word "Gamecube". The rest of the time? More like ALWAYS : "I want the Nintendo.", "Where is the new Nintendo?", or "Do you have any of the new gameboys?" (GBA was "still new" back then)...

The people you think will say "that sounds like piss"... Well, let them say so. I think last year they said two screens and a stylus were gimmicks, compared to a mediocre MP3 player that allowed you to run a now-dead video format and three or four games a year.

PS : Just asked a co-worker about the name. He doesn't give a fuck, he's more concerned about his kids fighting with their revmotes. See how personal experience represents 100% of the people?

 

[dvdvdv]

apparently Wii = 5 in numerology - someone on gamefaqs reported that. dunno if it's true or not as couldn't find a google source suppoorting it but seem to explain a bit cos the console will be the 5th one.

 

[Psyfira]

EDIT#2: Wii can't be looked up on most forums. Most forums require 4 letters on forums searches.

That's a good point. But that being said, "PSP" and "DS" were in the same boat so I guess it won't matter. Everyone appends "Nintendo" to the front of the DS name anyway when searching,l so they'll probably do the same with the Wii.

In other news, Opium's pic on page 11 is pure genius

 

[dvdvdv]

another thought - why on earth did the big n choose a name whose domain names are already taken.
Willamette Industries, Inc. must be considering a nice little earner in the near future coming their way...

 

[Ace Gunman]

Ace, do you work in a consulting firm? Perhaps in statistics & management? You speak from a lot of personal experience, and I fear that might cloud your judgement.

First off, "the internet is only used by geeks" is false.
As a matter of fact, a recent study revealed that there were more women on the net than men. Second, it's made the mainstream news. It was on CNN, (saw it this morning), and it's on their website. I saw it popup on what is possibly the most perused news aggregator on the web, google news. So yeah, it's not mainstream, google and CNN are not mainstream, you may be right. One has become a verb, the other is displayed in the whole fucking world, but Wii all know if it's not on MTV, it's not mainstream.

Second, the name will not matter. It never did. Having worked close to a year in a videogame store at the time the GC was released, I can tell you I heard maybe once or twice the word "Gamecube". The rest of the time? More like ALWAYS : "I want the Nintendo.", "Where is the new Nintendo?", or "Do you have any of the new gameboys?" (GBA was "still new" back then)...

The people you think will say "that sounds like piss"... Well, let them say so. I think last year they said two screens and a stylus were gimmicks, compared to a mediocre MP3 player that allowed you to run a now-dead video format and three or four games a year.

PS : Just asked a co-worker about the name. He doesn't give a fuck, he's more concerned about his kids fighting with their revmotes. See how personal experience represents 100% of the people?

You misread my statements. What I said is not that only geeks use the internet, but that only fans of a certain things will frequent those sites. If you're a game fan, you're probably going to go to IGN (or something) alot. If you're a football fan, you'll probably go to NFL.com. But if you're just a general internet user? One who doesn't play games? Then you're going to search up random stuff, and watch funny videos on YouTube. People who arn't gamers don't go to gamespot and say "OMG! THE NEW NINTENDO CONSOLE!". Infact, most people don't even call them consoles. Multiple people (who arn't big gamers), have told me they consider it a "geek word". Yeah, that's the average joe for you.

The thing is, I wasn't always the fanboy I am today. Infact, the first system I ever really wanted was a PlayStation, and not because I was looking forward to any particular game... it was because my buddies told me "OMG! Sony is so cool! They have the best graphics!". For like a year I only had one PS1 game, MTV Snowboarding. I didn't even like the game, and I wound up wondering why I bought that in the first place. And then, still not a big gamer fan (yet), I went out and bought a PS2 and did the EXACT SAME THING. Just because it was a Sony, and just because the whole world was saying "Yeah, Sony's where it's at". And that's how it is. The average teen (for example) doesn't buy an Xbox because they really want one, they buy it because everyone else was doing it.

 

[WK416]

I was stuck on stage 4, (It'll still be kickass) then I saw that Firefox video. I was already laughing hard enough as is, but the video made me laugh harder. I was one inch away from being okay with the name, and here it is.

Then I said it. "Weee"

I smiled.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

I laughed.

Then I got it.
...

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

I can't stop imagining running through halls screaming that now.

If anyone doubts the name, just make them grab a Nintendo Wii box, and run around a store screaming, "WIIIIIIIII!"
Problem solved.

By the way... FOR TEH WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!
That shall forever be the new way to say FTW!

 

[odf]

Wii in dutch sounds like the word "wie" that means "who".

so it' would be strange going to the shop asking, I would like to buy a who..?

 

[Mehdi]

LOL wie!!!

"ik wil wie...."
"Wie?"
"wie"
"wie moet je hebben??!?"

hehehe so much confusion.

 

[Vater Unser]

another thought - why on earth did the big n choose a name whose domain names are already taken.
Willamette Industries, Inc. must be considering a nice little earner in the near future coming their way...

nintendowii.com isn't taken yet...
and nwii.com is for sale for $450, which is peanuts for Nintendo

 

[Eruonen]

I hope this is just Nintendo taking the "wii" out of us

 

[xflash]

they shoulda sticked with rev instead of wii which is just "wii"ird lol

 

[Hitto]

You misread my statements. What I said is not that only geeks use the internet, but that only fans of a certain things will frequent those sites. If you're a game fan, you're probably going to go to IGN (or something) alot. If you're a football fan, you'll probably go to NFL.com. But if you're just a general internet user? One who doesn't play games? Then you're going to search up random stuff, and watch funny videos on YouTube. People who arn't gamers don't go to gamespot and say "OMG! THE NEW NINTENDO CONSOLE!". Infact, most people don't even call them consoles. Multiple people (who arn't big gamers), have told me they consider it a "geek word". Yeah, that's the average joe for you.

And you deliberately ignored my statements, so there's no need to talk about it any further.

/Saw it on euronews at noon.

 

[Yokimari]

eh.. Im going to pronounce it "why" instead of "Wii", makes it sound a bit more apropriate.... >_

 

[Mehdi]

eh.. Im going to pronounce it "why" instead of "Wii", makes it sound a bit more apropriate.... >_<

LOL!!


btw Hitto you are so right about ignoring your statements, he does it everytime