fuzmeister: The Era of Poorly Named Video Game Consoles
DISCLAIMER: I do not believe the name of any object can determine the overall quality of said object. With that being said, I was considering how poorly-named the new generation of video game consoles is the other day.

Xbox One is meant to convey a sense of unity on a single device through its name. Xbox Unity might have actually worked better considering I have known people to refer to the original xbox as xbox one for several years regardless of that title being incorrect. We live in a world where numerics indicate iteration, not functionality. Imagine if the Nintendo DS was called the Nintendo Two because it had two screens...

Secondly, we have the Wii U. Technically, this is a current generation console even though it's really kind of shoved between this generation and last's due to some under-powered hardware. That's a different post for a different day though. The Wii U sounds a lot like a college where Wiis graduate too after they've received enough credits playing Wii Sports. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure I understand the naming convention of Wii U at all. Is it supposed to be a system all about U? Unfortunately, the name rhymes with P.U. which is exactly what we'll all be saying in two years when Nintendo's system can't keep up with any current third party software.

Lastly, we have the Playstation 4. The Playstation 4 gets the award for best naming between the three major home consoles. However, I think it's a tad lazy on Sony's part to keep simple appending numbers onto the end of each Playstation. I understand that there is significant brand recognition with the Playstation name, but there's also significant brand recognition with the name Sony. Why not use an arbitrary word after Playstation instead of a number? Playstation Blade. Playstation Onyx. Playstation Entertainment System. These are all legitimate options. Again, I think Sony has the best system name of the three major consoles.

Honorable mention goes to the Ouya console which I don't rank in the same league as the other three. What the hell were they thinking with this name? All I can hear in my head every time I read it is Macho Man Randy Savage saying "Ohhhh YEAH."

Mood: Moderately Amused


Tags (beta): video games

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