PCB Forum

For more than a year, Nintendo's forthcoming next-generation video game console has been known by its code name, Revolution. But on Thursday, the company unveiled the machine's real name, "Wii."

The name--which is pronounced "we"--is meant to invoke the feeling of cooperation that comes when people play games together. Further, Nintendo said, the written name is meant to visually conjure up the image of two people standing together.

"The goal is we are a highly innovative company and we want the name to speak to that innovation and uniqueness," said Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo's vice president of marketing and corporate affairs. "If you were to look at (the name of the controller) visually, the point isn't just how you pronounce it, but it symbolizes the controllers, which are one of the most innovative and unique parts of the system.