Nintendo names new video game console

updated 6:39 p.m. ET April 27, 2006

REDMOND, Wash. - Gamers no longer have to ask what Nintendo Co. will call its upcoming video game console — the answer is Wii.

Pronounced “we,” the name “emphasizes this console is for everyone,” Nintendo said in a statement posted on its Web site Thursday. “Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.”

No price or launch date has been set for Wii, which will compete with Sony Corp.’s upcoming PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp.

Wii had previously gone by the codename Revolution.

“We just wanted something that would be very easy to remember, that would work in every market, and certainly something that sets us apart from the competition,” Nintendo spokeswoman Beth Llewelyn said. “I’m sure when people heard Google for the first time, they were like, 'What does that mean?”’

One of Wii’s signature features are the wireless joysticks, which look like a TV remote and can be waved around to control action on the screen. Nintendo said the two i’s were meant to symbolize both the shape of controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

Further details were likely to emerge at next month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, an annual industry conference in Los Angeles.

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