Would removing the "Wii" brand be enough?

"while a lot of "hardcore" gamers, dismissed it because it sounds childish"

No one did that

Before the Wii U's release, utilizing the Wii brand made a whole lot of sense given the system's universal success. However, one of the reasons the Wii U is doing so bad is how poorly used the brand was. For starters, the systems should have been named "Wii 2" as it would clearly indicate it is an evolution and a completely different system.

Now, with the bad results the Wii U has been getting, dropping the brand for the next generation is certainly a good option.

It wont be enough, but it will certainly help. The Wii was a goldmine and Nintendo didn't handle it well and managed to hurt the brand, then the poor handling of the Wii U (and confusing naming once again.. despite claiming they learned from 3DS launch confusion), the brand is toxic. It is associated negatively now, and it needs to go. This is coming from a guy who thinks the Wii is the best console ever :P

Both the DS and Wii brands need to go.

Like off screen play? They can make a great, single screen handheld that can play the new console's games without the TV, ala Vita. They could also re-vamp wii motion controllers, but offer it as a secondary controller. Or bundle that with every console, but also have a standard controller in there.

The Wii was always destined to fizzle out, it was an new exciting gizmo to the masses, and the 3DS sells because it's a nintendo handheld, it doesn't have anything to do with the DS brand. Well, it did for the original DS, at least at first like Wii. They're pretty much guaranteed great handheld sales even if they never see DS numbers again.

Nintendo needs to re-associate themselves with quality hardware first and fore most, not cheap gimmicks.

It's just a name. Nintendo just needs to pump out more games for it. That should be of moderate help towards the system. I really don't think the Wii U is going to ever sell more than 25 million units, so Nintendo should start working on finding a way to cut manufacturing costs. That's really all I can say. They should release their new console in 2016, and this time make it a serious alternative to Sony's and Microsoft's systems.

for next gen yes..... for this gen...its too late

but they should keep the ds brand....that sells well and doesnt sound stupid.

At this point it wouldn't do a thing, they just got to figure out how to survive this.

Yea I'd like them to start all over again... I'm not so much against the DS and stuff but Wii U needs to go (I'm still saying that even now that I'm both Wii U and 3DS owner)

Very little third party support. Horrible launch. Nintendo Land is not Wii Sports. No new IP's from Nintendo yet. Outdated specs.

Yep, it's the name.

All I'm saying is that they can call it "The Spaghetti-O's Machine" if they want, as long as there's games on it.

they need to remove the gamepad too, the system can barely support 2. Unique, useless & costly. :p

everybody had fun bashing the choice of Wii as a console name, but it's about like the morons that had fun bashing the iPad with tampon puns... nobody said that about mouse 'pads' did they? so I don't think the name change would amount to much although image sometimes sways people. Wii is kind of strange with the two lower case letters, so maybe they should have just used the mathematical symbol for 'squared' then 'cubed'etc... that would have at least looked cooler. Instead of Wii U, Wii with that little 2/squared symbol for Wii 2, then cubed for Wii 3... but I think that would confuse people even more lol.

The name needs to go. I think we all know that a name doesn't make or break anything, but people will associate the Wii brand with motion controls and game pads. That's just the way it goes when you're advertising to the masses.

lol..I think Nintendo was trying to be smart too, but we know how that turned out...they now probably think, should have just keep plain & boring - Wii 2

Sony didn't remove "Playstation" and Microsoft didn't remove "Xbox." The name isn't the main issue, but it did contribute to the confusion. Nintendo did a poor job marketing both 3DS and Wii U as new consoles during their first year. Since Nintendo released three DS revisions prior to the 3DS, people automatically assumed the 3DS was an overpriced DS with 3D. Nintendo focused more on the Wii U gamepad than the console as a whole during its first year, causing people to assume that the Wii U was simply a Wii peripheral.

No (for consoles). Nintendo were going downhill in popularity and sales since the N64. The Wii was a fluke. An outlier. If you had predictive data it would've been smooth interpolation predicting the current sales of the Wii U. The name is not the problem. It's their overall structure and design philosophy. I personally agree with their core views, but they obviously have problems with marketing, third party, and network features (e.g the Virtual Console can be a lot better than what it is). This in turn has given them a stigma. The name "Wii" in the title may be a small problem, but it's really not the core of the problem. It's a lot more complex than that.

Obviously I'm only talking about consoles here. Nintendo have been consistently selling their handhelds well every time.

In retorspect they probably should have come out with a new, buzz-generating name similar to what the "Wii" was.

And commercials / advertisements could still say "from the makers of the Wii" or something to that extent, so still taking advantage of the product recognition.

The problem with changing it now is that they just finished a large advertising campaign saying "The Wii U is a new system." It seems like a name change would create more confusion.

I think it would help, as to wether it would be enough I can't really say.

The ''WII'' brand is a mark for casualiness (?). So ditching it and making a good ol' console would be the best bet. Example? Look at the gameboy and how it went over to the DS, DS sold a FUUUUUUUCK ton and the 3DS is doing pretty damn well 35-40 mil units out there (Pachter said it will only sell 25 mil in its lifetime lol)

I don't think Nintendo will return to the Wii Brand next gen, they will have to come up with another unique name that is simple enough for their upcoming new market.

Damage to Wii U's reputation has already been done. Changing its name at this point would have a minimal impact. If we're talking dropping the brand name going forward into next-gen, yes. Its time to move forward....

here's an idea, to help Nintendo go hippy and adult... change it too WiiD "put the weed back into gaming" lol.