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The Nintendo Revolution that became the Wii

The Nintendo Revolution - it could have been a catchy name for the company's newest console.

It would have been very appropriate as well, given Nintendo's new philosophy of changing how the game is played. For this generation of consoles, Nintendo has abandoned the conventional belief that good graphics and excellent game play will sell gaming systems. Instead, Nintendo has adopted the policy that, for the gaming industry to move forward, games and gaming systems must be able to get non-gamers into gaming.

This means a change in the way that games are designed. Games should be powered by gaming systems that are friendly for entry-level enthusiasts. Do away with the multiple buttons of controllers. Make the player's own action control the events in the game. Make the player himself as the controller.

This change in philosophy is truly a revolution. A Nintendo revolution.

Sadly, what was initially dubbed as the Nintendo Revolution settled on a new, more marketable name: the Nintendo Wii. Wii, of course, is a play on the word "we." It is also a figurative symbolism, as "Wii" is spelt with two letter "i's" that look like two people standing together. Nintendo has said that the Nintendo Wii is named as such to send the message that the console is a video game system that will allow people to get together and gather around the enjoyable experience it can provide.

But is the Nintendo Wii a better name than the Nintendo Revolution?

Given the fact that the Nintendo Wii has sold almost 8 million units at the end of 2008, and that the console has sold more units than the Sony PS3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 combined, then the answer would point to an obvious "yes." The marketing approach reaped amazing dividends, and the results have justified the name change.

Some industry experts will also argue that if the console retained its name of Nintendo Revolution, the same would be a misnomer. Indeed, the motion-sensing functionality, care of the Nintendo WiiMote, is truly revolutionary, but the other features of the previously named Nintendo Revolution have nothing to do with technical revolutions. The console is the same hardware as the Nintendo Gamecube, the company's flagship system for the previous generation of video game machines. Unlike the PS3 and the Xbox 360 which quadrupled their processing and rendering powers, the previously labeled Nintendo Revolution didn't change its technical makeup. It's still the same machine, basically speaking.

So truly, that the console previously tagged as the Nintendo Revolution was finally named as the Nintendo Wii is a marketing case study that students will peruse in the decades to come. It's a tactic that worked, and a tactic that should provide some essential lessons in product packaging and advertising.