The name of Nintendo's new games console

With the Tokyo Games Show on this weekend, I need to get this theory out in the open before someone else claims it.

So, the Big Three, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have been developing the next generation (some would argue fifth-generation) of games consoles. Microsoft have been very keen and they released the 'X-Box 360' last Christmas/January. Sony are developing the imaginatively titled 'Playstation 3', though the release date gets pushed further and further back depending on Blu-Ray (next generation DVD system). Nintendo's new machine is almost ready to go and will probably be released in November. The early on, the new machine was called the Nintendo 'Revolution' but along the way Nintendo changed name to the Nintendo 'Wii'.

Why the change and why change the name to 'Wii'? Well, some people have speculated that Revolution was cognitively too similar to 360 (360 degrees makes one revolution). Some have suggested that 'Wii' sounds like 'we' and in turn suggests that the console will be really fun for multiplayer games. Spelling 'we' as 'Wii' allows Nintendo to brand the word, which can said easily in many languages, as well as create a logo that looks like two people or like two of the new 'Wii' controllers (two more echos of the multiplayer theme).

All good reasons, and now I want to add my own theory. Break the word 'Wii' in two and you have 'W' and 'ii'. In Japanese, 'ii' means 'good' and in Japanese marketing, 'W' is pronounced 'double' (for example 'double burger' in Freshness Burger is written 'W burger'). So put the two together and 'Wii' means 'Double good'.

Right, time to go break my high score on Tetris and then find that super secret world in Super Mario Land.