I just discovered The Wiikly today, and I’m floored. So, I’m going to take the last few paragraphs of one of its articles, print it here, and encourage you to hit the SOURCE link at the bottom.
The name Nintendo means ”˜luck from Heaven’. The name Revolution means ”˜overthrow of a ruler’. People still ask, “Why didn’t they just keep ”˜Revolution’ as the name of the console?” Aside from the obvious reasons (already trademarked, internet searching for ”˜wii’ is much easier to find the console than ”˜revolution’, etc.), Nintendo did keep the ”˜Revolution’ name. They simply combined Nintendo and Revolution which comes out as ”˜Wii’. In Kanji of the old Japanese (19th century and earlier), the name ”˜wii’ can literally mean the ”˜overthrow of the gods’. Anyone well educated in 19th century Japanese literature or earlier will pick up on the word. With the focus of the Wii to be entirely on disruption and with the collected comments of Nintendo’s top executives listed in this article, it should be proof enough that Wii is a weapon to not only dethrone Sony as market leader. The Wii is to render Sony (and Microsoft) as completely irrelevant as the industry landscape remolds itself due to the disruption.
Wii will ”˜overthrow the gods’. Who is the origin of giving the console such a celestial name? I will give you one guess.
Yamauchi said in February 2004 that the DS (which Yamauchi thought up) was going to be Nintendo’s top concern. “If we are unsuccessful with the DS, we may not go bankrupt, but we will be crushed. The next two years will be a really crucial time for Nintendo.” His hope was that the DS would ring in a new era for the company. “If it succeeds, we rise to the heavens, if it fails, we sink into hell.”
The DS has rocketed Nintendo up to heaven. Will the Wii complete the revolution and, finally, overthrow the gods? Microsoft’s Xbox 360, after suffering an awful launch, is stuck with mediocre sales in America (and terrible sales in Japan and Europe). Sony’s Playstation 3 has just been delayed six months in Europe and given a token launch in Japan and America. Both consoles are tripping over their high prices and overshooting technology. It is as if the stars had aligned for a perfect opening for a market takeover.
As the giants stumble under the weight of their own armaments, Nintendo carefully aims the arrow of disruption”¦
Hear, hear. Now do you see why the whole graphics thing was a silly smokescreen put up by Sony and Microsoft?
It's kind of silly to name youself something BIG & POWERFUL. Worst if people expect you to live up to the name. Rather make your name mean someting big than call yourself "THE BIG". Revolution sounded a bit juvenile by comapring themselves to the others. I like the name Wii more because tey can make a name from the bottom. Look at the Ipod. Now everything tries to jump at their fame by putting the "i" in the beginning of the product's name, and even if it is not related to the ipod it sound like it is, why? not considering the "pod" thing. Look how everyone was socked Apple replaced the "i" for "mac" why? because they want mac to grow as a brand than represents them more.
Nice piece, but I thought that Nintendo stands for "leave luck to Heaven".-Fank
I also work for the Wiikly. Thanks for the recognition. I wrote the article on Games You've Never Played. I suggest you check it and the rest of the Wiikly out if you enjoyed the above article. Kudos! 🙂
I just discovered Wiikly today as well. Spent a good hour going thru Malstrom's three articles. Despite some woeful grammar and spelling … wow! Lots of great, original thinking there. The article on cycles was especially well-put. I encourage everybody to check the site out as well.
Yes, very well put together article that helps the usual masses that hoard gaming sites into seeing his logic and understanding of nintendo's "disrupting" strategy.
Wow! Thanks for the link! I just spent a good half hour or so skimming the articles…
So, why not name the console 'Overthrow of the Gods' instead of 'Wii'….?
'Overthrow of the Gods' sounds creepy. at least for me. I can't see people buying games on the overthower of the Gods. Maybe Hercules or Thor, but not Mr. Robert, the next door neigbor…