Wii U Launching This Holiday, Name Change Rumored

A name change and a release window may have been revealed.

Reuters is reporting that Nintendo's successor, the Wii U, will be released at the end of this year. However, it may be released with a different name according to CVG. Come E3 2012 this June, it is rumored that Nintendo will rebrand the Wii's successor.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told Reuters and other reporters that the Wii U will launch in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan for the year-end season. Nintendo has yet to officially announce a release date, but a late November release date is likely given Nintendo's track record.

The alleged name change may be due to a lackluster response to their official reveal at E3 2011, as well as a lukewarm initial response to the 3DS. According to a source, serious discussions in the United States and Japan are being conducted as to whether the company should rebrand the upcoming console with a new name.

Public confusion over the Nintendo 3DS has forced a roll out of red box stickers to differentiate from the original DS, and TV promotions even feature the tagline, "This is not DS. This is Nintendo 3DS." Nintendo's Wii U reveal at E3 was brief and showed only the Wii U's new tablet-like controller, with no attention given to the console itself. This confused many who wondered if it was merely a new peripheral to the existing Wii, and led to the company's share price dropping to a five year low.

After E3 2011, Iwata stated the following:

"Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstandings. We should have made more effort to explain how it works. We haven't made any kind of blunder, but I should have shown a single picture of the new console, then started talking about the controller. The console is not drastically different, and Wii U is about the controller. The console itself will be almost invisible."

#Nintendo #3ds #Wii #Wii u #Ds #Name change #Release window #Holiday season

Julian Titus Senior Editor

01/27/2012 at 12:03 AM

Please change the name.Please change the name. Please change the name. Please change the name.

Joaquim Mira Media Manager

01/27/2012 at 12:27 AM

Pii U.

Esteban Cuevas Staff Alumnus

01/27/2012 at 01:11 AM

Change it. Change it. Change it. Change it. CHANGE IT!

I really liked the name we heard before the reveal, Nintendo Stream. How about that?

Nick DiMola Director

01/27/2012 at 09:54 AM

I don't think I personally care too much about the name changing, but I think Nintendo stands to benefit from rebranding. The Wii name doesn't carry much clout with their intended audience and the casual audience has basically left.

I'm not sure what they could call it, but hopefully they understand how to brand it properly to appeal to the core gamer. GameCube wasn't a bad name, but its poor branding and console design (shape, color) really hurt it.

Angelo Grant Staff Writer

01/27/2012 at 11:54 AM

They decided having a name that sounded like an ambulance siren was a bad idea? Wow, that's an amazing breakthrough of common sense!

Mongoose

01/27/2012 at 01:33 AM

Nintendo Cafe. Now you're playing with power...cafe power!

*crickets*

"Public confusion over the Nintendo 3DS has forced a roll out of red box stickers to differenciate from the original DS..."

WTF? How can people get the 3DS and DS mixed up? People need to look at it. Look.At.It.

"This confused many who wondered if it was merely a new peripheral to the existing Wii and this led to the company's share price dropping to a five year low..."

Now investors need to get their ears checked. Did they not hear Iwata at e3? Even if you don't do the investing yourself, didn't your broker do some research, tap sources or something?

What next, shares suddenly spike up because they now just heard Nintendo is going HD?

01/27/2012 at 03:05 AM

To be fair, I was initially confused at the E3 reveal since they never said something along the lines of "Hey this is a new console."

Nintendo needs to distance themselves from the Wii name anyway. This will help interest both the casual and hardcore crowd.

01/27/2012 at 11:57 AM

I'm gonna guess the same people that need stickers to note the difference between a DS and a 3DS are the same people that need the epic hand holding hour long tutorials in Skyward Sword.

Kyle Charizanis Staff Alumnus

01/27/2012 at 11:59 AM

When I went to get a 3DS (at a Best Buy near my house), there were boxes of them stacked next to boxes of DSis. Some of these DSis were the same colour and the exact same price (which is stupid, but anyway).

I can see how some poor kid's parents could mix the two up. Honestly it seemed like a conniving way to sell off old hardware to me.

01/27/2012 at 06:33 PM

Yeah, that's not okay...

PixlBit