NEW YORK � Wii Yatani, a 26-year-old graphic designer world Health Organization works in downtown Manhattan, did non get his Wii for free. But the saleswoman where he bought the machine two weeks agone did flip out when he showed her his credit card.
No, Nintendo did not consult Wii Yatani or his parents when the company opted to give its fifth play console his name.
Though Yatani kicks himself for not buying the Wii.com knowledge base name, and he's thwarted Nintendo never responded when he offered to be a fellowship spokesperson, he was quite cheerful more or less the state of affairs when MTV News met with him at a pizzeria in SoHo.
The word of Japanese parents, Yatani grew up in upstate New York, where he was uncomfortable mentioning his name to new people. "When I was growing up, I had a pretty difficult time," he said. "I just establish when I was introducing myself to people, it was a little awkward."
People never guessed how to spell it properly. They would see his name written down and address him Will. And all the same jokes that arose when Nintendo first announced the Wii were lobbed at Yatani back in grade school. "You get all those water jokes, and that sort of thing."
Yatani eventually grew more comfortable with his name. He lived down any barracking and began to relish the character and creative thinking of what he was called. He may accept been one of the only students of Asian descent in his school, but he didn't sustain to go by John or Mark or something else common. He never met whatsoever other Wiis, though he heard a rumor that a woman named Wii Tu had competed on "Jeopardy!" And then in the natural spring of 2006, Yatani got an e-mail from his brother in Japan. "He e-mailed me right aside and said, 'Holy sh--, the Nintendo is named after you."
Nintendo representatives never really outlined the word Wii, which is no more coarse a word of God in Japanese than it is in English. In April 2006, the company explained its selection as a riff off the word "we," a signal that the video game console formerly codenamed Revolution would be accessible to everyone.
Certainly that's not what Mrs. Yatani had in mind when her logos was innate. So what does Wii's name really mean?
In Japanese, Wii Yatani explained, his name is composed of two kanji characters, pronounced as "oo" and "ee." Together, they sound like "wee." The "oo" comes from a Japanese word for universe, Yatani said. The "ee" is derived from a word for willpower. "The reason my parents chose that is because they didn't really have a name picked out when my mamma was pregnant. They had a brace of ideas in mind. My mum went into labor early in the morning. When I was being born, the sun was rising and she thought it was a beautiful and joyous day. ... She was like, 'It's a benediction, like the entire macrocosm being natural.' "
Based on Yatani's explanation, his name could have been spelled in English as Ooie, We or Whee. How did his parents settle on the same spelling that Nintendo would present as a breakthrough 25 old age later? "That was just creativity on my mom's part," Yatani said.
Even Yatani wasn't sold on Nintendo naming their machine the Wii. He's a gamer, and he heard the criticism from fans world Health Organization wanted the Revolution list back. "I thought it was weird Nintendo would go with that," he said. "I thought it sounded very gimmicky and too cutesy."
Some of Yatani's friends suggested he set up a carry on with Nintendo, but the company has never contacted him. Still, he'd be a spokesman if they asked. The company has made his life easier, now that people at long last understand how to spell his name. And they've given him the power to bring in himself in a new way: "Now, when I meet mass I allege, 'My name is Wii. I'm the original.' "
Yatani gets new jokes now as well. His friends ask him: "Oh, Wii, are you going to go home base to play with yourself?" Laughing, he said he gets that "all the time now."
Yatani hasn't started playing his Wii yet. He's wait to go into a new apartment. Among other games, he's excited to try "Wii Fit." But there's no chance he's going to change his last nominate to pit. After all, he's the original. He doesn't need to change.
For much more about the history of the christian Bible Wii prior to Nintendo, as easily as other video game news check out the Multiplayer blog.
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