Say, you want a Revolution?



With this news, that Nintendo will be renaming the console formerly codenamed Revolution on Thursday, it's time for me to indulge a little fantasy that the 10-year-old me that grew up on Nintendo has. I'm not gonna beg, I'm not gonna plead. But I would really, really, REALLY like it if Nintendo called the new system the Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, same as this one:




No fancy numbers, no "Super" anything, no references to its shape or graphics-pushing capabilities -- just a straightforward, succinct name that harkens back to a time when games were simple, controllers had two buttons and games were games and not interactive, immersive entertainment (not that there's anything wrong with that).

There are a couple reasons why I think this is a good idea:

• Retro recognition -- There's that saying "know your roots." I know my gaming roots. I grew up playing Nintendo. So did millions of others. Leverage the idea that this is a return to that entertainment heritage by bringing back the name that those millions of players grew up with for this new machine.

• Fits perfectly with idea of "virtual console" -- It's the perfect name for a system that's supposed to be an all-in-one Nintendo jukebox. It's platform agnostic and shares the one name that all those systems before it have in common -- Nintendo.

• Revolution is a $%^&#!@! name -- It's not as bad as Dolphin, but there's no identity in a name like Revolution or something similar. It's akin to "Nomad" or "Genesis" or "Saturn." Those are the names of cars, not a game system that the family will want to gather 'round and play together.

• Perfect fit with DS -- The Nintendo "ES" fits in perfectly with their current branding of the DS. Look at that, one letter difference. How perfect is that? It's expected that the DS and this new console will interface in some way anyway so why not make that distinction easy? NDS connects to NES.

• The 10-year-old me would have a joygasm -- I just think it'd be cool. It's not really a reason but there ya go.

Nintendo's already begun a slide back to its roots, what with the retro Famicom series of Game Boy games in Japan and the Famicom-styled GB Micro. It'd make sense for them to call the machine the "Famicom" in Japan, too.

Well whatever the final name ends up being, I kinda selfishly hope that this new system helps redeem Nintendo in the eyes of the industry. It's been all too easy to count them out or declare that just because they don't have the most cutting-edge technology that they're not "in it to win it." But I think that discounts the power of the casual gamer -- those folks that have dropped out of it after controllers got their seventh and eighth buttons. What about those people? That'd be a pretty huge section of the market, I'd think, if Nintendo could lure those folks back (while introducing new Zelda and Metroid games for those players that demand a deeper seven- and eight-button experience).

Think about it, won't you?

Posted: Tue - March 21, 2006 at 11:38 PM         | |

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