No ‘Wii U’: Nintendo Rumored to Change Name of Next Console

When I first learned of Nintendo naming its current-gen console the “Wii”, I did a quadruple take. I then had to look at the calendar and make sure that it wasn’t April 1. When that wasn’t the case, I figured Wii was just a codename- because no company would be that foolish to name their product something like that, right? Well, of course the joke’s on me, because it did launch as the Wii, and jokes ensued (up until Apple’s announcement of the iPad).

The fact of the matter is, though, a name might not matter that much. Once consumers are familiar with the product, it’s a done deal. As time passes, no one will even think much about the name anymore, much like how you may forget about a scraped knee after a couple of months. But with the follow-up to the Wii, I expected that Nintendo might learn its lesson and choose a ‘normal’ name, but not so. We were introduced to the Wii U last summer, a console that had more to be curious about (and possibly worried) than just the name.

For this launch, Nintendo needs to shape up and overcome some rather large hurdles. Techgage’s Senior Editor Brett Thomas wrote a thorough article not long after the Wii U’s launch that gave us an idea of what needs to happen. But perhaps the first thing to work on is… a better name? According to a report, that’s just what Nintendo is doing.

To be rather blunt… I think “Wii U” is a ridiculous name. Much like “Wii”, it sounds like a name that a child randomly scribble on a piece of paper. Nintendo doesn’t quite see things that way, but rather is supposedly considering a new name in light of plummeting revenue and confusion sparked over the 3DS. It seems that many consumers didn’t understand the difference between the DS and 3DS, and as such Nintendo learned a bitter lesson.

Given that, the Wii U might not even be called Wii at all (although Wii 2 would be infinitely better than Wii U). I think what Nintendo needs to do is to choose a name that’s not Wii, to give the console an appearance of being something totally new – not merely an extension. But given the Wii U’s backwards compatibility with Wii games, that’s likely not going to happen. What do you guys think? I am willing to bet it’s going to be called the Wii 2, but my guesses are usually way off base.