Revolution Rename?
There are rumors around the Interweb blogosphere today about Nintendo possibly announcing the "real" name for the Revolution this Thursday during Satoru Iwata's GDC speech. It was long said that Revolution was not going to be the final name for Nintendo's next-generation offering, even though it is the name that we have come to commonly refer to it by. Nintendo has a history (like, you know, most companies) of code naming a product and then releasing it under a shinier moniker, the N64 was originally the "Ultra 64", Gamecube was "Dolphin" and Nintendo DS was "Nitro".
Some analysts are predicting that Nintendo may stick with "Revolution", but I have my own prediction. I think that Nintendo is going to call it nothing. I think they are going to just call it "Nintendo". A recent publicity photo of the Revolution unit shows a Nintendo racetrack logo at the base instead of the Rev logo we saw at E3, for one thing, but from the way the big N is marketing it, it seems to me they are using this as the core, be all, end all system.
Remember back in the day, when you would ask for a "Nintendo" for Christmas? Or you would go over to a friend's house after school to play "Nintendo"? Did you ever ask specifically for an "NES", or go and play a "Nintendo Entertainment System"? No, you just called it Nintendo. It was branding, and it stuck for a very long time (at least until PlayStation came along and video games went mainstream). Video games were commonly just referred to as Nintendo, and I believe that using this branding idea would greatly benefit the Revolution.
The Revolution acts as a virtual console, allowing you to download and play a vast library of Nintendo's games, past and most likely future. It is compatable with the Gamecube and focuses entirely on gameplay over graphics. It is not looking to be the audio/visual hub in your living room, it is just looking to attract casual and hardcore gamers alike with Nintendo's vast game offerings. It is the core unit, it represents Nintendo as a company. Calling it something like "Revolution" or "Nintendo 128" or some other crazy name similar to Xbox 360 and PS3 denotes a sequence, it says "this is our next generation console, meant to compete with the others" which it is obviously not. There is no HD support, it will be vastly cheaper than Microsoft or Sony's systems, and Nintendo has directly stated that they just aren't interested in competing. They want to be an also-ran. They want people to pick up the "Revolution" in addition to other systems, they want to attract the casual gamer.
I believe that they can do this by using the system to spearhead a whole new company branding campaign. We will see tomorrow if I am right! I CAN'T WAIT.
What do you think the Revolution will be called? Email me or post your opinion in the comments!
--Frodo (frodo@weeklygeekshow.com)
What say you?!