Thursday, April 27, 2006

More on the Nintendo Wii

So it's been approximately half a day since the big N dropped the bombshell. And I've been following the reactions.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. First there was nothing but shock. Then there were the obvious name comparisons to the act of urination and a certain male organ. And now people are starting to write thoughtful discussions on why the name makes sense and why it will work.

Remind anyone of anything? Yes, it's much the same reaction the Revmote got on its unveiling. At first people didn't know what to think. Then they read about it... and they got it.

Myself, I am optimistic about the future of the Wii. As someone who's never owned a console aside from handhelds (I've played many a console game however), but is 'in the loop' on the console world, I can say that the Wii is very attractive to me as a consumer due to its interaction and price.

The name is a big gamble on Nintendo's part, yes - but it describes what they're doing. Nintendo is trying to separate themselves from their competitors - and what better way to do it than with a seperate name? Already it's succeeded - everyone's talking about the Wii - by announcing such a revolutionary name without any warning, they've caught everyone off guard.

Judging by the Rev - I mean "Wiimote" and this name, I can say that if we can expect more of the same from Nintendo's Revolution, I'm very excited.

Nintendo's new console name...

So, the Revolution is now the Nintendo Wii.

Here's the official press release on their site at www.revolution.nintendo.com :

Introducing... Wii.
As in "we."
While the code-name Revolution expressed
our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that
seperates videogame players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in
touch with their games... and each other. But you're probably asking: What does
the name mean?
Wii sounds like "we," which emphasizes the 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.
Wii
has a distinctive "ii" spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and
the image of people playing it. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings
something revolutionary to the world of
videogames that sets it apart from the crowd.
So that's
Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because it's really not about you or me. It's
about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.

More from me when I get over the initial shock of this name.

OK, I'm over it now. Overall, the name when you look at the context isn't bad, but my big question is will it sell? Revolution is a cool name for a console, whereas Wii... well, it has several diminuative connotations in english.

I guess this means the controllers can be rechristened as "Wii-motes" now. That's a cooler name than before.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Transformers among other things...

Well, on today's agenda is to explain the etymology of the screen names I've gone by in the past. There's a lot to explain...

My first screen name ever adopted was Armored_Mew. This was a reference to a fan-created character of mine, as I was into Pokemon at the time, who was a Mew Pokemon in a mechanical suit of armor. This name was used in Starcraft for instance for a time.

Later on came General_Tekno -this character actually predated that Mew in that he'd existed in my mind beforehand. He was what I still call a Techno-Raptor (I'm working on a new name), basically an alien race of cyborg velociraptors in their original conception. I've used this username for virtually everything... except this blog.

Mew's character, if not his original conception, has survived past my much younger fanfic days, and has evolved into what I would consider an avatar of myself. Tekno was at one point an avatar, but he has fallen away from the dominant part of my psyche (although he's still there). Mew best represents me, or rather me unrestrained and uninhibited, in full rant and sarcasm mode.

And that is why I've chosen his ID for this blog.

PS: What's up with the picture? Well, I got the Beast Wars 10th anniversary Waspinator today - for anyone who's seen Beast Wars, you'll understand the picture caption -
"Wow, it's like looking at myself 300 years in the
future."


Mew signing out.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

First Post.

So... this is my first post. No idea what to say.

(cricket cricket)...

I finally got one of these 'blog' thingamajiggies that I've heard about and read, but surprisingly, despite how the format pretty much fits me, I have not gotten one until now. Probably my main concern is the whole idea of "So you've got somewhere to rant. Whoop-de-doo."

Granted, I never post often on message boards as is - although I belong to several boards, I am often conservative in my posting (see Don Murphy's message boards for the complete antithesis to this; I'm a member there).

Another huge obstacle is probably the whole idea "So I've got a blog. Who cares what I think? Why would ANYONE want to read what I think? Why should I want anyone to read what I think?" After talking to others, I guess the answer to this would be "I don't really care."

Well, onto how this thing will work...

I'll probably post whatever I want, whenever I want, although I'll try and keep this expletive free and PG-13 at least (I'm VERY conservative in my use of swear words both on and off the computer). And you may be wondering, what's with the alias, Mew? And the blog name?

Well, that shall all be answered in future posts - it's minable material IMO.

Anyway, Mew signing out. So long suckers!