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Mitt yndlingsnettsted for alle ting Nintendo - Nintendo Life - har kommet med en editorial hvor de argumenterer for hvorfor det er på tide å forlate Wii-merkevaren. Jeg tror de har rett, og argumentene virker spot on:
Talking Point: Nintendo is Right to Move On From the Wii Family Name With NX
Posted 6:30pm Sat 5th Dec 2015 by Thomas Whitehead
Perfect for its time, but change is due

Earlier this week TIME shared an intriguing interview with Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima, and one of the topics raised regarded the NX and the fact it won't be the 'next' in the Wii / Wii U line of systems. That's been reasonably clear for quite some time, as comments around the new hardware (to be revealed in 2016) have spoken of innovative approaches and new ideas. Nevertheless it was a clear statement of intent from Kimishima-san, which suggests that the 'Wii family' will be just two systems old when it draws to a close.
First off, below is the relevant segment from that interview:
We talked about the transition from Wii hardware to the Wii U hardware and how difficult it is to explain to the consumer base what is different and new about the new hardware. It's difficult to convince them to switch from their current platform to the next platform. That being said, I can assure you we're not building the next version of Wii or Wii U. It's something unique and different. It's something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to our consumer base.
Before we get onto the NX and why we think a new name away from the Wii brand will be wise, let's first acknowledge that this is a natural state of affairs for the company. While the Xbox and PlayStation brands have largely followed simple naming conventions - albeit the Xbox One branding has been criticised and teased - Nintendo's longevity has naturally brought far more evolution. Sticking with Western names the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and Nintendo 64 were all part of a consistent brand, though it's easy to quibble over the inclusion of N64. Ultimately 'Nintendo' was the key brand.

Though the name of the next home console was officially the Nintendo GameCube, in popular culture it was broadly known as 'the' GameCube; after the N64 had seen a loss of market share it was a concerted pitch at rebranding that didn't pay off in raw sales. The appearance of the hardware was divisive (along with that carry handle), and it had the misfortune of sharing shelf-space with the all-conquering PS2. As Nintendo's poorest-selling home console to date it was ditched, conceptually, when the Wii arrived.
Of course, the same happened with the Game Boy brand. From 1989 until 2004 Game Boy was the portable brand for Nintendo, skipping past the Virtual Boy which flopped on release. The name evolved with add-ons such as Color and Advance, with the latter being its own generation and the former being a more minor iteration, but it was the name. So when DS was unveiled it was a surprise, with the form factor and name prompting suggestions prior to release that it could be a mistake to move away from the familiar portable identity. At the time Nintendo suggested the Game Boy would live on, but when pre-release concerns over the DS made way for success in stores (especially when the DS Lite arrived) the Game Boy name faded away.

The Wii and DS represented complete gaming rebrands from Nintendo, and also combined to create a new kind of gaming - we like to call it accessible as a positive here at Nintendo Life, some call it 'casual' as a negative term (though that could be used as a positive term, too). With the touchscreen at the core of the DS and motion controls leading the Wii's revolution (some wish it had been called the Revolution), a whole new audience leapt in, with the two hardware families combined selling over 255 million units in the last generation. Just let that number digest for a moment - 255 million. That's a successful rebranding exercise if ever we've seen one.
Of course, much credit for that quite rightly goes to Satoru Iwata. In his heartfelt tribute at The Game Awards, Nintendo of America President Reggie-Fils Aime emphasized that Iwata-san's fearlessness and belief in the concept trumped all that scoffed at the DS or Wii before launch.
Beyond his resumé I can add another signature point: the man was fearless. Remember how you first felt when you heard the name 'Wii'? Or remember what was said when you found out about Nintendogs? Or Brain Age? Or a dual-screened portable device? You may have been puzzled but he already knew - he had already heard the criticisms internally. But he always championed an idea he believed in, and we all benefited.
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on
As was the case in the past with its early home consoles and the Game Boy family, success led to evolution rather than revolution. The 3DS continued the DS path and Wii U took the Wii brand forward, yet both have struggled to achieve the same degree of success. It's our belief that, aside from a poor launch, the 3DS has done about as well as can be expected in this era of smartphones and tablets flooding the market and shaking up on-the-go gaming. The Wii U, meanwhile, has failed to take off in any meaningful way, struggling since launch and falling well behind PS4 and Xbox One. We've written about some reasons for this many times before, but the facts are clear regardless.

Posted 6:30pm Sat 5th Dec 2015 by Thomas Whitehead
Perfect for its time, but change is due

Earlier this week TIME shared an intriguing interview with Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima, and one of the topics raised regarded the NX and the fact it won't be the 'next' in the Wii / Wii U line of systems. That's been reasonably clear for quite some time, as comments around the new hardware (to be revealed in 2016) have spoken of innovative approaches and new ideas. Nevertheless it was a clear statement of intent from Kimishima-san, which suggests that the 'Wii family' will be just two systems old when it draws to a close.
First off, below is the relevant segment from that interview:
We talked about the transition from Wii hardware to the Wii U hardware and how difficult it is to explain to the consumer base what is different and new about the new hardware. It's difficult to convince them to switch from their current platform to the next platform. That being said, I can assure you we're not building the next version of Wii or Wii U. It's something unique and different. It's something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to our consumer base.
Before we get onto the NX and why we think a new name away from the Wii brand will be wise, let's first acknowledge that this is a natural state of affairs for the company. While the Xbox and PlayStation brands have largely followed simple naming conventions - albeit the Xbox One branding has been criticised and teased - Nintendo's longevity has naturally brought far more evolution. Sticking with Western names the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and Nintendo 64 were all part of a consistent brand, though it's easy to quibble over the inclusion of N64. Ultimately 'Nintendo' was the key brand.

Though the name of the next home console was officially the Nintendo GameCube, in popular culture it was broadly known as 'the' GameCube; after the N64 had seen a loss of market share it was a concerted pitch at rebranding that didn't pay off in raw sales. The appearance of the hardware was divisive (along with that carry handle), and it had the misfortune of sharing shelf-space with the all-conquering PS2. As Nintendo's poorest-selling home console to date it was ditched, conceptually, when the Wii arrived.
Of course, the same happened with the Game Boy brand. From 1989 until 2004 Game Boy was the portable brand for Nintendo, skipping past the Virtual Boy which flopped on release. The name evolved with add-ons such as Color and Advance, with the latter being its own generation and the former being a more minor iteration, but it was the name. So when DS was unveiled it was a surprise, with the form factor and name prompting suggestions prior to release that it could be a mistake to move away from the familiar portable identity. At the time Nintendo suggested the Game Boy would live on, but when pre-release concerns over the DS made way for success in stores (especially when the DS Lite arrived) the Game Boy name faded away.

The Wii and DS represented complete gaming rebrands from Nintendo, and also combined to create a new kind of gaming - we like to call it accessible as a positive here at Nintendo Life, some call it 'casual' as a negative term (though that could be used as a positive term, too). With the touchscreen at the core of the DS and motion controls leading the Wii's revolution (some wish it had been called the Revolution), a whole new audience leapt in, with the two hardware families combined selling over 255 million units in the last generation. Just let that number digest for a moment - 255 million. That's a successful rebranding exercise if ever we've seen one.
Of course, much credit for that quite rightly goes to Satoru Iwata. In his heartfelt tribute at The Game Awards, Nintendo of America President Reggie-Fils Aime emphasized that Iwata-san's fearlessness and belief in the concept trumped all that scoffed at the DS or Wii before launch.
Beyond his resumé I can add another signature point: the man was fearless. Remember how you first felt when you heard the name 'Wii'? Or remember what was said when you found out about Nintendogs? Or Brain Age? Or a dual-screened portable device? You may have been puzzled but he already knew - he had already heard the criticisms internally. But he always championed an idea he believed in, and we all benefited.
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on
As was the case in the past with its early home consoles and the Game Boy family, success led to evolution rather than revolution. The 3DS continued the DS path and Wii U took the Wii brand forward, yet both have struggled to achieve the same degree of success. It's our belief that, aside from a poor launch, the 3DS has done about as well as can be expected in this era of smartphones and tablets flooding the market and shaking up on-the-go gaming. The Wii U, meanwhile, has failed to take off in any meaningful way, struggling since launch and falling well behind PS4 and Xbox One. We've written about some reasons for this many times before, but the facts are clear regardless.
