End of diplomatic speakeriffic. I'm pissed. (Or, "wii'ed"?)
"Nintendo Wii" is one of those things where some people might go, "It's either such a stroke of marketing genius or it's absolutely, heinously terrible."
Those people are - well, if I continue, I'll be 27 different varieties of moderated. So I'll say what I have to say on Trigames at some point. There is no "or" - it's simply heinously terrible.
I can understand the reasoning behind Wii. The final deliverable, though, simply doesn't fly. The means, in this case, don't justify the ends. Ok - so sure, the logo "looks" cool. It's cute, it's simple, it's concise, and it's catchy what with the little "i" people and the double meaning as a representative of the Revm- I mean, Wii-mote controller.
Oh jesus - see!? "Wii-mote" - I honestly didn't even mean to do that. Though it'd be wise for me to delete that, I'm leaving that in as I hang my head in shame.
Back to the logo, which at first glance is decent. I like the font, I like the simple coloring. I like that I don't have to abbreviate it. But saying, "I'd like to purchase a Nintendo Wii and some Wii launch games, please," just doesn't sit with me. I don't care what other people think of what I have to say in line at a game store. I care about how I feel when the odor of "Wii" emanates from my oral cavity.
"Is he saying 'we' or 'Wii'?"
You take a one-syllable word that's so common in English use, and attempt to abstract it by mis-spelling it and then providing this whole "I'm a snooty marketing and art student who just stepped out of the Apple store and am currently fixing my crooked chapeau as I sip my chai tea" explanation behind the name "Wii", and you've got something that totally alienates an entire fanbase.
(Apologies to marketing students and graduates [myself], art students and graduates, too-trendyApple store employees [no - actually you know what, screw you guys], and tea lovers.)
Where's the brand equity? Where's the recognition? Where's the utilitarian purpose? Where's the creativity that actually relates to the functionality of the consumer product as opposed to the hidden introspective oooh-that's-deep "personality" of the machine?
The "Xbox 360" is a turdulent name. I understand it's trying to sell a lifestyle but the pretentious nature of the "360 degrees means everything revolves around the user; it's now the generation of push-content, not pull-content, and the user is in the middle" marketing idea is exactly what makes me roll my eyes as I see console marketing dip ever so close to the smarmy nature of car advertising.
And you know what? "Wii" is even more turdulent in that same respect. I'm sure you've read the description and reasoning behind it, as I've alluded to when I insulted Apple store employees the world over, but go read it in case you haven't at:
http://revolution.nintendo.com.
Go. I'll wait.
Welcome back. If you haven't lost your breath in a fit of anger, I salute you, for you have the patience of ten saints and a Ned Flanders.
Oddly enough I'm going to jump to an Apple product to illustrate why I think "Wii" is sad. The reason I think "iPod" works is it's both utilitarian and subtly self-indulgent without going too far in either respect. "i" indicates yourself - a personal device. "Pod" literally describes the damned thing - it's a little pod. Lame? Yes. Overly pretentious in trying to sell you a lifestyle? No - Apple leaves that job to the industrial design (and those damned store employees).
"Wii" almost totally eschews anything utilitarian in favor of going waaaaay too far to the extreme of "arty farty," as David Jaffe would put it. When the meaning is at first way too abstract (the spelling might have a lot to do with it) and then must be discussed by what really sounds pretentious, that irks me.
I'll be buying one, because anyone who is willing to forego the purchase of something that they want just because the name is lame doesn't deserve the ability to read or speak. But when I step up to that damned cash register, I'm asking for a Revolution. Once, twice, thrice. If the cashier doesn't know what I'm talking about, s/he'll have lost my patronage.
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