I normally don’t give much credit to rumors, but I like the ones I’m hearing lately.
The most recent one is that Nintendo is considering a name change for the Wii U:
http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=170766
I really hope they do change the name. It’s incredibly stupid and I can’t stand the whole “U” thing because it just reminds me of idiots on the internet who are too lazy to spell “you” correctly. Also, Wii means everyone, but you means the exact opposite. Nintendo shouldn’t name a console in a way that contradicts itself.
The other rumor is that the controller isn’t final, and there are other features not yet announced:
http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=170747
Personally, I want to see Nintendo take that stupid controller and sell it separately so that you’re not forced to pay extra for it when you buy the system. Of course, I’m also wondering what Nintendo is doing with the Wii remote. Aonuma claims he’s going to use Skyward Sword’s controls for the next Zelda game, but you need a Wii remote for that. So is Nintendo going to bundle Wii remotes with the Wii U?
Nintendo had better show off some damn good games at E3 if they want me to buy this system.
Of course there is a ‘undisclosed feature’ about the Wii U. For the Wii, it was the speaker in the controller. For the DS, it was the touch screen. With the Wii U, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 3d output for the controller’s screen.
As for the name change, that would be Nintendo trying to have the Wii U avoid the fate the 3DS had
I’ve said this six years ago, and I’ll say it again: Video game console brands become toxic over time and need to be dumped. In 2006, every analyst said ‘established brands sell’ and kept telling us how the PlayStation 3 would outsell everything. But what we see is that new brands tend to have a more favorable reaction to the market than established brands.
Atari’s name was golden while it was new. All attempts to take the popular Atari brand in hardware and software following the 2600 have been failures.
Nintendo was a new brand in 1985 to gaming. It had no trouble selling.
Playstation was a new brand when it came out. It had no trouble selling.
Nintendo 64′s brand familiarity did not exactly help the console.
The DS and Wii were marketed without Nintendo’s name in the brand. Neither had trouble selling.
The 3DS used the DS brand to sell, and it did not work. So the marketers’ assumption that using the Wii’s brand to sell the Wii U has no precedence except in marketing fantasy land. How can you sell a new experience by using an old brand?
What’s scary is that the Wii U that was shown off illustrates Nintendo does not understand the Wii success. This hints that Nintendo will be unable to recreate the Wii phenomenon.
