Nintendo Wii: A 'Revolution' in Gaming?

In May 2006, Nintendo unveiled the new console and the much talked about wireless controller at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. At the conference, Nintendo announced that its new console would be called 'Wii'. It also gave a 150-word explanation as to why it had chosen the name. Nintendo said that the name was in accordance with its philosophy of creating a gaming world without boundaries, attracting new gamers, and making a fun product for everyone. Nintendo's press release explained, "Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii." The unique spelling was also expected to be easy to search on the Internet as well as to serve as a trademark...

With more and more households willing to buy more than one game console, the Nintendo Wii stood a fair chance of being included in Christmas and other holiday shopping lists, because of its low price (compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360) and unique interface. Analysts felt that customers would choose between the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but were highly unlikely to buy both, mainly because of their high price and similar features. Not surprisingly, Microsoft officials believed that customers would prefer the Xbox 360. "People are going to buy two (machines.) They're going to buy an Xbox and they're going to buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3...