I don't really care what the name is, so long as the console itself is fun. I know the U thing is to emphasize the single player and "hardcore" experience, but there are two problems with that. First, most people who proclaim that they are “hardcore” and do not own a Wii are likely to be turned off by the name WiiU. Secondly, the word Wii is something that these same people associate with “casual” or “uncool” games.

That may not be such a bad thing. I love Nintendo and want their products to sell well, but attracting this kind of audience may be counterproductive to the advancement and evolution of their franchises. I have witnessed many of these “hardcore” gamers call Nintendo’s newer games lower in quality and less appealing than what is available on competing consoles. They say that the only thing Nintendo is good for is getting a nostalgia trip on old consoles. These are the same people who reject all possibility of any game being better than the ones precious to their childhood. These same people declare that every new generation of Pokemon “sucks” and will never remotely compare to the first generation, even though they haven’t played a pokemon game since Gold or Silver. These attitudes are opposing to the progression, development, creation, and evolution of franchises both old and new. The only first party games they’d be interested in buying are ones extremely similar to games from 14-20 years ago. That or these people would clamor for “Zelda, but with blood, grit, and exclusively western fantasy” (I have seen requests for that exact thing.). The only other option I can think of- and the one that Nintendo seems to be taking- is to rely on games that appear on multiple consoles, such as Arkham City, and Assassin’s Creed. The problem with that is that the aforementioned target audience is more than likely to already have a PS3 or Xbox 360 and will think something along the lines of “why would I buy a new console to play games that I can play on the console I already own.” These things aren’t really a huge concern because I’m sure people who were introduced to games by the Wii will buy the WiiU, so the worst that could happen is that Nintendo doesn’t gain any new consumers.

I don’t think Nintendo should try to appeal to these consumers. There are plenty of people who don’t play games to be “cool” or “hardcore”, and can see the value in games of any tone and target audience; just look at the members of SB. This should be the target audience, and I think it’ll be the one Nintendo will attempt to satisfy.