Nintendo America defends 'Wii'

Nintendo of America's veepee of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan has defended the choice of "Wii" - pronounced "we" - as the official name for Revolution.

In an interview with IGN, Kaplan said, "You think about Google being an unusual name. You think about Virgin Airlines. Amazon. Napster. All those. I think it's as unique as those." Apparently Nintendo's had the name in mind for a while.

"I think it's really fun to look at, the logo. I think people are going to see that on the box and our package art. I think people will get it straight after a while - it's just something they're going to have to get used to."

Reaction to the name, particularly in the UK where "we" has certain, er, other connotations, has been mixed. A mixture of laughter and vitriol, judging by our own enormous comment thread.

But Kaplan says Nintendo plans to stand firm - even in the face of petitions and the like - and plays the old 'no such thing as bad publicity' card: "Let me just tell you that if you're disrupted by it today, it's obviously caught your attention. And at the show, you're going to get to try out a lot of products that will make you happy."

Speaking of E3, Kaplan says Nintendo will say a lot about Wii and DS.

A final word on Wii, for the people who want Nintendo to change the name: "Live with it, sleep with it, eat with it, move along with it and hopefully they'll arrive at the same place."