Let’s Play the Name Game
It’s pretty common knowledge that Nintendo sometimes has trouble when it comes to naming their consoles. The Wii U proved to be a prime example of what could possibly go wrong. Name confusion left many wondering if it was a peripheral or just an upgraded Nintendo Wii which left sales suffering as people wrapped their heads around this peculiar device. The Nintendo NX cannot afford to make the same mistake.
Sure, some of you may be reading this and thinking “but NX sounds absolutely nothing like Wii U,” and yeah you’re completely right. But, let’s keep in mind that Nintendo has a track record of changing names at the last second, or just using codename placeholders. NX could easily just be Nintendo’s edgy way of saying “Next” only to dub this hardware successor the WII U 2. Sounds silly, but after them naming their newest handheld the New Nintendo 3DS could you really put it past them?
Names carry a lot of power and are crucial when it comes to recognition of hardware. Sony might have played it extremely safe by just putting a number behind the name of each PlayStation, but you know what? It gets the job done.