That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

I've been trading emails with a friend discussing Nintendo's announcement that the Revolution will be sold under the label "Wii." My friend tells me that after the initial shock, the name has grown on him. I can't say the same. But he does make some excellent points.

Rle bo Rlu Shi Oh N.

More or less, that would be a challenging pronunciation in Japanese. But that's assuming that it would have to be composed of katakana; that there is not a word in Japanese for "revolution." Babelfish tells me that 回転 would suffice, but whether that's referring to progressive change or circular motion, I don't know... I can only assume that with the rise and falls of the Shogunates, surely someone came up with a word for it.

My point is only that I would have thought there were so many other options available. I would have been intrigued by a numbering system (everyone else is doing it). Suppose Nintendo announced that the project formerly named Revolution would be sold as the NES V (NES, SNES, N64, GCN, REV == 5). It would signal to people that Nintendo has been doing this a lot longer than the rest of the console companies and they've weathered some tough competition.

Also, I would think that attaching the NES moniker would give even the most hard-hearted fanboy pause. Nintendo would basically be saying "Yes. It's that freaking good. You're going to need to get one of these."

I'm told there are even conspiracy theorists saying that it was all some (not-so-) cleverly orchestrated hoax, and that the true name will be revealed at E3. Maybe, maybe not. But in the end, who cares? Nintendo's new console will either be the revolutionary leap forward in the video gaming industry that their marketeers promise, or it will be the next step forward for their company. Ultimately, it will succeed or fail based on its merits, and not on its name.

Its terrible, terrible name... :P