Nintendo Wii

One of the most recent releases for the Nintendo Entertainment System is their seventh generation Nintendo Wii. This system is designed to compete against the Microsoft Xbox 360, as well as the Sony PlayStation 3. The Nintendo Wii is the successor to the Nintendo Game Cube, which was the previous generation release. The system also comes with a wireless remote.

At the time when the Nintendo Game Cube was being released to the international market, Nintendo had already started the design of the next-generation Nintendo Entertainment System. The idea and concept behind the design of the Nintendo Wii, was less about power and more of usability.

As a matter of fact, it was the Nintendo DS’s design that heavily influenced the design of the Nintendo Wii home gaming console. The original thought was to allow the Nintendo DS to be utilised as a remote for the Nintendo Wii  gaming console. But this was later dropped.

Until 2006, Nintendo code-named the Nintendo Wii as the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo also wants to make a point to let everyone know that this unit is not the Nintendo Wii, but just simply Wii. The name was chosen due to the fact that it sounds similar to the word ‘we’ suggesting that the concept was designed for everyone. However, by changing the "E" to "ii" in the word ‘we’, the Nintendo Corporation want to emphasise on the fact that the two eyes resembled two gaming players standing side by side.

At the present time, the Xbox 360 is way ahead of the Nintendo Wii in the home gaming console market, but it is the Nintendo console that is far ahead of the PlayStation 3 by units sold so far. These figures are based on international markets, as in Japan, the Nintendo console sells six times as many units every week as the two competing seventh generation home gaming consoles.