Natal's name revealed

[DigitalSushi]

Whats the deal with oversimplifying the names of everything nowadays.

When I was a child stuff had complicated names and we didn't complain, it was all high concept stuff but the names where strange, now everything is monosyllabalic.

So we have the Playstation Move and the Xbox Wave.

Calumon: To mention the Nintendo Wii! ^^

[sub]The Oldest of old jokes.[/sub]

So move, wave, then pee?

I GET IT NOW, THEY PLANNED THIS!

Hold on, i have a perfectly good floor I can roll around on.

*assumes position*
ROFL

Hold on a minute. Let me see if I understand this. You move around so the cameras can start capturing your movements, then you wave your arms around to start playing the game, which leads to you peeing? Man, if that happened to anyone they should get their bladder checked.

Well I can make most girls pee themselves with my comedic wit, its a girl thing.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Wave as in, Wave goodbye to:

A) Credibility
B) An original name [what is wrong with Natal?]
C) $150 [or was it 149 still?]

 

[Reg5879]

Wave? That was the best name MS could come up with?

 

[ManaAdvent]

Wave? Seriously? That is all too lame of a name. Still not making me going to buy it.

 

[Squilookle]

What's wrong with just calling it Natal? Wave is so... So... Silly.

Well so was 'Xbox 360' when it was first announced, remember.

 

[Gariom]

$149? Yeah, no thanks. I just wait until it bombs 6 months after release and goes down to $80.

 

[DocBalance]

The Microsoft Wave will ride in on a metaphorical wave of marketing hype, and a literal wave of shovelware.

 

[ZenMonkey47]

What I'm intrigued by, is that if Natal and Wave were the cream of the naming crop, what were the rejects?

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

Wave makes sense. While they're at it, they might have aswell called it Microsoft Flail. I like Move more, name-wise.

If they called it the Flail, I would consider getting it.

The 'Wave'....eugghhhh. 'Natal' was much better, just like 'Revolution' was better than 'Wii'.

Add a $150 price tag as well? I'm betting it goes the way of the PS3...except it'll STILL be an overpriced, barely-bought POS 2 years after its release.

 

[primitivescrewhead]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a222314/natal-to-be-named-wave-priced-at-gbp100.html

Natal will officially be called Wave.

Wave goodbye to me ever buying it.

So the products name alone will stop you buying it? wow, get over yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun

Touché

 

[Arcticflame]

Marketing always has been one of microsofts biggest flaws. Once again it's confirmed they just haven't got the knack for it apple does.

You mean, adding the letter "i" before the name of the device? This isn't a troll exactly, but we have the iMac (the cheaper end of the desktop market), the iPod (which is so ubiquitous as to be the name given to all MP3 players), the iPhone (apple's phone) and the iPad (being the new tablet). Sure, their TV spots are entertaining but for the flagship products microsoft pushes, there hasn't been an explicit need to actually market - they already have all the mindshare they need with windows, the PC in general, the 360, Office and so forth.

I dislike apple products, I've never once purchased one. But that said as stupid as adding the 'i' in front of product names is, it's made it a very catchy brand. It's made it be perceived as hip and high tech. Apple is only doing as well as they are now because of their marketing.

Your entire post means nothing to my point, apple is better than microsoft is marketing. I don't care for what reason that may be, it doesn't change the fact microsoft is terribad at marketing.

 

[soren7550]

What's wrong with just calling it Natal? Wave is so... So... Silly.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

what was wrong with natal? it sounds much better than wave

and what was so hard about pronouncing it? its a pretty easy english word to say, its not like its massive facepalm from silent vowels and hidden extra letters.

 

[Reolus]

For all those people asking "wth is wrong with natal?!?!?" ... you know what 'natal' means, right?

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

A lot of the people saying that Natal is better than Wave were probably also saying "Natal, are they serious?" a year ago. Just saying.

The name is meaningless to me although they certainly could do better. And if they can get some good games that use it in interesting ways a $150 price won't seem so bad either.

 

[FROGGEman2]

So, Wave and Move.

UUUUUUUUUGH

Neither of them have any identity, they both sound so generic.

At least Natal was iconic. Hell, Xbox was iconic. PlayStation is iconic. Why, Wii is Nintendo's biggest success so far, and if Wii isn't iconic, what is?

WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS TO THEMSELVES

THEY EVEN SHARE A LAST SYLLABLE

HUH

JUST NOTICED THAT

GOD

 

[Danpascooch]

Marketing always has been one of microsofts biggest flaws. Once again it's confirmed they just haven't got the knack for it apple does.

Yeah, naming something the "iPad" was a stroke of marketing genius.

/sarcasm

Marketing always has been one of microsofts biggest flaws. Once again it's confirmed they just haven't got the knack for it apple does.

Yeah, the wave is much dumber than ipad

Honestly, what's wrong with wave? At least it doesn't sound like pissing (wii) or a feminine hygiene product (ipad)

what would be a better name?

EDIT: I think this product is idiotic and useless, but the name isn't a problem in my opinion.

Not genius as such, but it works a lot better than wave does.

Ipad, while the butt of many jokes, still doesn't dissuade people from buying the product. and the ipad is also just one example of a product named badly. They had to name it something to fit in with their I branding.

Wave already is the name of many products, some of which are rather popular. And is generally just boring and annoying.

Note that I rather dislike apple products, in fact I have never owned anything from apple. But their marketing is a hell of a lot better than microsofts. (See any windows ads ever).

I don't think wave dissuades purchasers either, the only name I thought was horrendous was Wii.

I mean really, they could have done MUCH worse than wave.

 

[robinkom]

How about, uh, no more Motion control gimmicks? How 'bout that? Because that's all they are, a gimmick. Like the Nintendo Power Glove and the Sega Activator, just gimmicks. They are NO substitution for a normal controller or a keyboard & mouse.

The only good thing to emerge with Motion Controls is Nintendo's rejuvenated coffers because I firmly support them as the last purely Video Game Company making hardware. I don't care much for the Wii's main library, but I love to use it to play TurboGrafx-16, Commodore 64 and other classic games... and my Gamecube games since they load a little faster on it (because it has a little more RAM than the GCN).

Microsoft Wave and PlayStation Move though... please, no more. I hope they're massive bombs. I'd prefer to see Microsoft take another look at the first Xbox's game library and see what other good third-party titles they can get sequels made for... like Deathrow and Gladius.

I hate to disappoint you, but motion controls are no longer gimmicky. The amount of money being put into Move and Wave is proof that Microsoft and Sony are seriously considering motion controls the next big step in gaming. A gimmick is a cheap useless device that companies rarely put too much money into making. I bet any kind of money Microsoft and Sony are going to base popular game series like GTA around their respective motion devices in order to force current hardcore gamers into buying.

Remember when those ridiculously expensive Virtual Reality machines came out and we all thought that was going to be the future? So much for that gimmick. Motion controls echo that technology in some fashion. Throwing money at the development of something doesn't automatically make it successful. Squaresoft invested a substantial amount of money into a Film studio and obscenely-expensive rendering equipment to make "Final Fantasy Spirit Within" and it was an utter bomb. Their financial loss was so great that they almost declared bankruptcy. Nintendo invested a lot of resources into the Gamecube and their whole connectivity shtick with the Game Boy Advance and the return was low enough to almost force them into bankruptcy as well. No, they're not the same thing, but it's a similar situation.

The department head in charge of it has to show a prototype to the big wigs and sell it to them first. If they're sold, it's going to go into production and these are decisions made by people that are not looking at the games or machines from the same perspective as the consumers. Gimmicks and bells & whistles draw in the marks, the little kids and soccer moms with nothing to do in the afternoon. The real gamers are going to look for the substance to the game library and how the technology available is going to reflect in those titles.

For a moment there, I pictured a Microsoft Wave game that was a first-person Fighting Game... and like any developer out there that might be conjuring up an idea like that, I will point out that it only sounds good on paper. Imagine you see the screen registering two in-game fists up in front guided by your own, now imagine you threw a punch and hit the opponent. The punch landed but you didn't feel anything because there's no physical feedback. The opponent hits you and your in-game camera view staggers. But you didn't feel anything. This is what is pointless about motion controls. Instead of playing a sports game where you have to move your arms to throw a softball, go outside and play the actual fucking game with someone and leave the video gamers to their normal controller devices.

 

[GuerrillaClock]

If that thing is priced at £100 here in the UK I will eat my hat. And it's a really horrible woolly hat.

 

[Jeronus]

How about, uh, no more Motion control gimmicks? How 'bout that? Because that's all they are, a gimmick. Like the Nintendo Power Glove and the Sega Activator, just gimmicks. They are NO substitution for a normal controller or a keyboard & mouse.

The only good thing to emerge with Motion Controls is Nintendo's rejuvenated coffers because I firmly support them as the last purely Video Game Company making hardware. I don't care much for the Wii's main library, but I love to use it to play TurboGrafx-16, Commodore 64 and other classic games... and my Gamecube games since they load a little faster on it (because it has a little more RAM than the GCN).

Microsoft Wave and PlayStation Move though... please, no more. I hope they're massive bombs. I'd prefer to see Microsoft take another look at the first Xbox's game library and see what other good third-party titles they can get sequels made for... like Deathrow and Gladius.

I hate to disappoint you, but motion controls are no longer gimmicky. The amount of money being put into Move and Wave is proof that Microsoft and Sony are seriously considering motion controls the next big step in gaming. A gimmick is a cheap useless device that companies rarely put too much money into making. I bet any kind of money Microsoft and Sony are going to base popular game series like GTA around their respective motion devices in order to force current hardcore gamers into buying.

Remember when those ridiculously expensive Virtual Reality machines came out and we all thought that was going to be the future? So much for that gimmick. Motion controls echo that technology in some fashion. Throwing money at the development of something doesn't automatically make it successful. Squaresoft invested a substantial amount of money into a Film studio and obscenely-expensive rendering equipment to make "Final Fantasy Spirit Within" and it was an utter bomb. Their financial loss was so great that they almost declared bankruptcy. Nintendo invested a lot of resources into the Gamecube and their whole connectivity shtick with the Game Boy Advance and the return was low enough to almost force them into bankruptcy as well. No, they're not the same thing, but it's a similar situation.

The department head in charge of it has to show a prototype to the big wigs and sell it to them first. If they're sold, it's going to go into production and these are decisions made by people that are not looking at the games or machines from the same perspective as the consumers. Gimmicks and bells & whistles draw in the marks, the little kids and soccer moms with nothing to do in the afternoon. The real gamers are going to look for the substance to the game library and how the technology available is going to reflect in those titles.

For a moment there, I pictured a Microsoft Wave game that was a first-person Fighting Game... and like any developer out there that might be conjuring up an idea like that, I will point out that it only sounds good on paper. Imagine you see the screen registering two in-game fists up in front guided by your own, now imagine you threw a punch and hit the opponent. The punch landed but you didn't feel anything because there's no physical feedback. The opponent hits you and your in-game camera view staggers. But you didn't feel anything. This is what is pointless about motion controls. Instead of playing a sports game where you have to move your arms to throw a softball, go outside and play the actual fucking game with someone and leave the video gamers to their normal controller devices.

Unlike your examples, motion controls are incredibly successful and have already proven quite profitable. Take the treadmill for instance, it would be easier and save more space just to go outside and walk but treadmills sell for hundreds of dollars and eventually go unused by a huge majority of the people who buy them. The Wii is kind of similar in this regard. The people who buy treadmills don't care that they are basically in the same spot they where in when they started and that is how they view feedback. They don't need the scenery to change or to hear ambient noise. They want to stay in the comfort of the house and do some running. They don't care about the shit they could experience outside and the same goes for feedback. In the end, they get the exercise they wanted with the treadmill and as long as they have fun with the Wii they couldn't care less.

You are talking like the hardcore is where the money is but it isn't anymore. Hardcore gamers are no longer the most profitable market anymore. If the Final Fantasy movie created a huge new market that dwarfed the previous one, we would be looking at an entirely different Final Fantasy games and movies based around the "Spirits Within" universe. This is true of the Wii. It has created a market that makes more than the previous one. The casual pie is extra large and the hardcore pie is medium and the Wii has the casual pie all to itself right now. The competition needs a piece of the both pies in order to catch up to the Wii. Your examples didn't bring in bigger audiences but were made to appeal to old ones. The market can't step backwards and appeal only to hardcore gamers. All the consoles are becoming accustomed to the second larger pie. They can't live without it anymore.