I am looking forward to Wii, Nintendo’s next game system, just like everybody else. I thought the DS was gimmicky but I still bought it as soon as I could find it, and now that there’s software to support the system, I feel kind of ashamed that I wrote it off as a gimmick when I first saw it. There are some wonderful games and I’m glad to say I was wrong, glad to see the system deliver something truly new and fun.
But this week, with the whole Wii pricing announcements and everything, someone else in the biz mentioned that they had finally “gotten over” the name of the Wii. I still don’t see what there is to “get over.” Nintendo picking a unique, copyrightable name has so little to do with my enjoyment of the games, it doesn’t even chart. It’s literally not for me to judge. I guess other people feel that a name can’t exist unless they deem it worthy. Me, I try not to be that arrogant.
Did you have to “get over” the Dreamcast, the PlayStation, the Xbox, or any other made-up, we-own-it, search-Google-and-all-you’ll-find-is-us name? I really didn’t see what the big deal was when they announced the Wii name (in fact, to me, it made overwhelming sense on multiple levels), and I certainly don’t see why anybody would still have a problem with it now. To still be holding this grudge is not only childish, but also completely irrelevant.
I am also very happy to hear that Nintendo says there won’t be any shortages, that they’re ready to dump 4 million into retail (which, probably not coincidentally, is literally ten times the number of PS3s we’re expecting to see in stores at the same time). I want to believe it, and I am actually going to be a hopeful consumer and preorder, but not line up. I think, after the 360 debacle, I’m kind of done with the all-night camp-out thing.