When Nintendo was releasing their very popular Gamecube in 2001 they had already begun development on their next game system.  It would be one of the most interactive game systems ever invented and it would give people a chance to truly experience their video games in a way that they had never experienced them before. Nintendo wanted the game system to be something everyone, from every age group and culture, could enjoy.  With such an overwhelming desire to make a universally accepted and used video game system the next problem was what to call this new electronic masterpiece.  Nintendo knew right from the beginning that they wanted something that made everyone feel like that could use it no matter what their expertise was in video games. 

After a great deal of thinking and deliberation they came up with the name Wii.  The name Wii is a completely made up name, regardless of any claims by anyone that it is some specific language, and it does have one specific meaning.  The name Wii is meant to signify that anyone can use it.

The word Wii was developed to sound like, and imply the same thing as, the word “we.”  Nintendo wants to imply that “we” are all invited to enjoy the Wii game console and that no one is excluded.  They chose to spell it Wii because no matter what language you try and pronounce it in it will always sound like “we.” The desire to make a universally accepted game system was so strong that Nintendo was willing to take a chance and call their new game console by a word that was completely made up.  In the end the gamble paid off but there is a little more to the word Wii than just the way it is pronounced or the way it sounds.

Why The Two I’s?

As a byproduct of creating a word that would be pronounced “we” in any language the people at Nintendo noticed something else about the word Wii.  The two I’s in the word Wii look like two people standing side by side.  What better way to try and convince people that a game console is universally acceptable than by not only making the name sound like a gathering of people but also making the word look like people as well?  It was a master stroke of genius and soon the Nintendo people knew they had their name.

The Wii is a hit all over the world and Nintendo will be expanding and adding to the game console for many years to come.  As for the name it is hard to imagine the system called anything else and it is almost impossible to think of a more clever marketing angle than the word Wii.