Wii/Wii U confusion is still alive and well

GoNintendo:
"The following image comes from a German retailer. Nothing like promoting Mario Kart Wii under your Wii U banner. If only there were a Mario Kart game for Wii U."

[Relientk77]

Nintendo really should have thought of naming it Wii 2, or just an entirely new name

[BiggerBoss]

IMO it should've been something like the Mega Nintendo. MNES idk lol. They just need to get away from the "Wii" image entirely

[traumadisaster]

My kindergarten twins are asking for a Wiiu, I tried to tell them we have a wii and that is plenty but they provided an attorney general, supreme court -level, argument contrasting the differences, all based on a few commercials they snuck in. No confusion here...

[Big_Game_Hunters]

i agree that they need to just can the wii name, but not to mega Nintendo. Honestly they should just call their next system the NES.

[migh_and_highty]

I agree, they havent historicaly stuck to the same naming conventions, but now they are with wii->wiiu and ds->3ds

[lilbroRx]

Mega was already done by Sega(the real name of the Genesis was the Megadrive) and Ultra was also done by Nintendo for those who would want that(the N64's complete name was the Ultra 64) Super, Mega, Ultra and all that stuff were played out in the 90s.

They should have use the DS as the naming base since that is what console's design was based on. It should have been Split Screen System or something like that.

[higgins78]

Yes, move away from the Wii image entirely...next bright idea, Apple need to move away from the "i" image entirely. The Wii sold in the millions and shook up the face of gaming, and now you Nintendo want to ignore this small matter!? Once again, its not the name which is the problem - if indeed a 'problem' exists, it is as always the narrow-minded sheep which follow PR and heavy, heavy advertising.

Those who ignore or confuse the Wii U, more fool them.

[BiggerBoss]

@higgins, yeah the Wii sold millions and "shook the face of gaming" but guess what? The Wii U isn't. At all. The casual market that the Wii attracted is gone, and Nintendo needs to move on with the times. If the "Wii" image was so cool and awesome, why isn't the Wii u flying off the shelves?

[lilbroRx]

No, they should have thought about naming it Wii nothing. The Wii name should have carried over.

[LOL_WUT]

Their biggest mistake was including the Wii name in their console! Nintendo thought they had another hit by using a touchscreen like controller boy were they wrong. ;)

[lilbroRx]

That was a typo. I mean to say "should not", hence the first sentence.

[pcz]

the wiiu is a disaster, we all know that.

but it doesnt help that the employees in games shops often dont care about what they are selling. ie, they might only be interested in xbox but not playstation or nintendo. or vise versa.

many times i have gone into a major games retailer and asked for the latest release, only for them to have never heard of it, or claim the game doesnt even exist.

for example, i recently asked if they had Journey for the ps3 in stock. the guy claimed the game was PS network download only, but i know for a fact there was a retail release of a collection including journey.

[d3nworth1]

Not just the name but the way they market it. Wii U ads mostly show the controller.

[JuleyJules]

Nintendo should make sure retailers know and retailers should take time to research what they're selling. It's laziness on both parties imo. I do not get why it's so confusing. Whether it's a 'U', a '4' or 'One' three of these things are not the same as 'Wii', '3' or '360'!! simple things we learned in Sesame Street - 'One of these things is not like the other'!!! Get a clue!

[NexGen]

It's not the retailers that are the main problem...it's the general public. Non gamers and non game shops have a perception issue here.

[JuleyJules]

Retailers play a big part. I've gone in to many stores like Target in Canada and found Wii and Wii U games together under the 'Wii' banner and then separate ones for 'PS3', 'PS4', 'Xbox 360' and 'Xbox One'. They are NOT the same and the retailers should clue in to that fact! You don't need a doctorate to figure out that Wii and Wii U are two different systems! Online is another thing altogether - Amazon has Wii & Wii U things all mixed up. For example, Hyrule Warriors doesn't show up if you look at the Wii U bestsellers but if you look at Wii bestsellers it's #1 and then a bunch of other Wii U games are on the list. No wonder people are confused! Nintendo should do the searches like we do and get this sorted out.

[colonel179]

You're are right. Somehow they can't figure out that the Wii U is a different console, but the same people know that Xbox One is the THIRD console.

However, the confusion might also be due to the high amount of peripherals and content that were called Wii [something] .

Also, what's going on at Nintendo? I understand that they wanted to keep riding the success of the DS and Wii with its successors, but the worst case here is the 2DS. That totally baffles me! You want to play a 3DS game in 2D? What about just turning the 3D effect OFF?! Did they really need to release another console? Which also confuses people, because there are some that think is another console entirely, and who can blame them? Nintendo naming ability is not very good this generation.

[randomass171]

2DS makes a lot more sense to me than than Wii U's name. 2DS is cheaper and it's static like a tablet and more marketable for kids not just about turning off 3D. Wii U does not say a lot about the console so it creates more confusion.

[higgins78]

"Somehow they can't figure out that the Wii U is a different console, but the same people know that Xbox One is the THIRD console". Ha, lovely point.

[Software_Lover]

Should have named it Revolution.

[Paprika]

I love Nintendo..... but this is the least of Nintendo's worries. You can't find Wii u in any of my supermarkets, period!

Luckily, our game retailers just about get it right for Nintendo, lol!

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Whether they should or shouldn't have named it differently is sort of unimportant right now; they can't change it mid-cycle without making things worse.

What they need right now is proper advertisement efforts and maybe a new campaign with a catch-phrase that people will relate to the Wii U and not the Wii.

"Come Get U Some" comes to mind...

[Summons75]

They should cut their gamescon trailer manage into segments and get those on TV. Trailer was awesome and showed off some great games.

[AKR]

At this point in time - there shouldn't be any "confusion" - just simple things called laziness, and lack of common sense.

[scark92]

To be honest, at the very beginning I thought it was just an addon to assist the Wii, I agree that if it was named better, it could be abit more successful.

[jimjam3442]

shouldve just made gamecube 2.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

nah just stupid people working at retailers

[iceman600]

excellent work Nintendo, and for your next system name it wii x.

[uth11]

Wii U is confusing, but it's nowhere near as confusing as calling the third Xbox console the Xbox One.

[Summons75]

So because ONE store with ONE idiot employee in the only store in the world that even sells Wii's = The entire world confused about the name.

Sorry Sir or Madame Troll but this is a horrible attempt and nobody besides people without common sense knows the difference. Stop trying to drag this great console down. Sure the name isn't ideal but it also isn't confusing.

[randomass171]

This was a pretty common thing since launch though... and I think it's because there's no effort on anyone's part to market it except Nintendo now.

[Summons75]

Since launch, for like the first two months maybe. After that you either have very horrible common sense or your just really out of touch with new things. There really was never an excuse in the first place because it's pretty clear that it's a different system.

[Nathan170]

Stupid name,great console.
At least they will learn from this terrible mistake.

[user5669510]

The should have named it wii wii. Would had generated more buzz

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Wii U to me stands for Wii Universe.

[ritsuka666]

If someone not knowing what is WII U in this days deserve a slap in the face.

[DC777]

Well...I have posted on this many times as I have seen the confusion in stores myself.

I think the biggest problem is that people know "Nintendo" and they know "Wii" is not Nintendo, just it's system. Unfortunately Nintendo did not name it's latest system Nintendo _____...they used the Wii name again instead. People think of "Wii" as a certain Nintendo system not as it's brand name.

If you had one damn commecial stating "Nintendo's new HD console...Wii U!" and put that banner on the box, it might make all the difference in the world.

People aren't smart, most can barely use a remote or their own smartphone. Don't assume they will figure it out. If I named it N64U do you think people would buy it much less know what it is?

[persona4chie]

People are STILL confused? ...idiots..