Looks like the Mailbag came back just in time. First I thought Wifi, then Why, then I kind of lowered my head when I realized that “I" would be playing “Wii." And what if I bought two: would they be called Wii-Wiis?

When the controller was announced I laughed out loud. But after reading through the different ideas and concepts people have for the controller and system, I’ve finally come around on the system. But now?? I can’t imagine that I will ever come around on the new Nintendo system named Wii. I suppose the only good that could come from this is that people will not refer to it as the Wii, but as the Nintendo, but how much bad will come from us playing Wii?

If there's one thing I've learned from experiencing four previous hardware generations, it's that no matter how silly or dumb a name is, people will get used to it with time. Even with a name like Wii, it will stick, and society won't have second thoughts about it. Of course, this is dependent on Nintendo marketing the hell out of the system. I would think the company is smart enough to not give it this oddball name without having a marketing plan to sell it to the public. They had some work to do anyway, with the weird and wacky controller.

I think that's the logic in the name, though. The console is unique in every way, so having a name that's as unique as the system kind of fits. A new brand name will help Nintendo create a brand new product in the mainstream. It will be impossible to compare it to anything, and I that's what Nintendo is going for. They want the system to be judged on its own merits, and not against anything else.

Ultimately, the name isn't really going to matter to those who play games the most. The thing is going to have Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Super Smash Bros. and Red Steel, the latter two having online multiplayer. New games are coming out of the woodwork every day now, and we haven't even seen the new stuff Nintendo is promising. Nintendo can call it whatever it wants, as long as the games are top-notch.

I am excited about E3. New systems are always fun I like to see who will come out on top at E3 with Revolution,PS3,&360. :-) I am hoping Nintendo sticks with the Revolution name. PGC what is your opinion of the name? (They stuck with the DS name.) :-) Have fun at E3 and bring back tons of previews! (A feature on your view of the Revolution's future after the big E3 show would be neat.) :-)

Let the record show that this was sent in to the mailbag before the big announcement. That doesn't mean I can't elaborate on the Wii's former codename, though!

I think I'm in the minority on this, but I don't miss the Revolution name. Before the Wii surprise, I was starting to get the feeling that Nintendo was going to dump it in favor of something else, just like they did with their previous cool-sounding code names. Atlantis (GBA), Dolphin (GameCube), and Nitro (Nintendo DS) could have made for awesome system names, but it was not to be. A lot of the Internet folk and hardcore types were bummed out when those monikers were dumped too, you know. The Revolution name will eventually suffer the same fate, whether you agree with it or not.

Will the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak ever be sold seperately? Or will it just keep being bundled with games like it was with Metroid Prime Pinball?

Spencer

The DS Rumble Pak is already being sold separately at Nintendo's online store. I'm not sure if you can get it in offline stores, though.

There are two things I'm always hoping someone will ask various Nintendo execs in interviews but no one ever does. First, are we ever going to get anything good out of Club Nintendo? Japan has all the great stuff, but all we've gotten is a compilation that if you missed out on you have to drop $40-50 on ebay for, a demo disk, and three issues of Nintendo Power. Kinda lacking. Remember all the great stuff in the Nintendo Power Supplies Catalog back in the day? This would be the perfect venue for that kind of thing.

And second, why have we never gotten official ways to get Super Mario and Zelda (and I suppose Punch Out since they only released that code in Europe even if it did work on the US version) in Animal Crossing? The old NES games were one of the main reasons people bought the game, especially those two. At this point I somehow doubt it's going to affect any sales of the gameboy advance versions. Continually withholding information on them is like a huge snub to loyal fans.

Maybe with of E3 interviews that will be coming up you guys could throw those in there at some point.

Thanks.

The My Nintendo program (as it's known in the U.S.) is now more than two years old, but is still pretty weak compared to its Japanese and European counterparts. I'll should start shaping up will be around the time when the Wii hits, though. It would be fabulously easy for Nintendo to offer free Virtual Console downloads for registering games. They could even have special promotions and events that happen over the Wi-Fi connection service through the console. I'm sure America is going to get better stuff eventually, and yeah, a deluge of cool stuff like what was in the NP Catalog would be sweet.

The NES games in Animal Crossing were a bonus, and nothing more. The game is about living your life in your town with your animal friends, and not about sitting in your house all day playing NES games. Yeah, it would have been nice to see more classics, but that wasn't the main draw of the game.

Planet GC,

What happened to the Kirby GC game? It was in a ton of gaming mags about a year ago then disappeared. What happened? It looked awesome!

Oh yeah, I forgot about that thing. The new Kirby game for the GC was announced at E3 last year, and forgotten about since. It hasn't been canceled (at least not officially), since Nintendo still has it listed on its official website. However, the actual title is still tentative, and the release date is yet to be announced.

Frankly, I don't have a clue what the deal is. It could come out as a GameCube game this holiday, or it could be a GC/Wii cross-compatible game like Twlight Princess. It might even turn out to canceled after all. I'm sure we'll hear some news about Kirby at E3...if the game still exists.

heres a question no ever asked.

everyone ask if you think it was a good idea for nintendo to pick gameplay over graphics, i want to know if you if you think it was NECESSARY? I mean why can't I have great visuals with my great gameplay? I know this means nintendo almost has to get original games that can't go on other systems, but if the revolution was graphically up to par wit its competitors it would get more original content AND ports but the port's gameplay would be so different nintendo would still be "out of the circle" (bad analogy but yea) like they want to be. whats your take?

Let's get this out of the way: They didn't pick one over the other. The Wii will be a bunch more powerful than the GameCube, so the games on it will look a great deal better than they used to. So you'll get both good graphics and good gameplay.

One would think that the Wii could have the best of both worlds if it had the HD-muscle to match Microsoft and Sony, but it may not be that easy. If the Wii had the same horsepower as the the 360 or PS3, it would make porting games over easier, yes. That could mean that the Wii would ultimately get a lot of games designed for the a 14-button controller, retooled to work with the Wii remote. Just like with some GC ports, fewer buttons or control substitutions doesn't make the game as good as it was on the original system.

Nintendo doesn't want that. They know that a game designed from the ground up to work with the controller is something much better. I'm convinced by now that Nintendo made the Wii as powerful as it is intentionally, to basically force developers to make new games or new versions of existing games that incorporate the system's unique features from the start. That does sound counter-intuitive, but don't forget the Wii has virtually the same development environment as the GameCube, making things cheaper and faster to put together.

Like Nintendo has said in the past, their design choices could result in fewer third party games on the Wii. However, chances are higher that all of them will be games that use the controller intuitively, and they'll be that much better because of it.

Dear Sirs,

As a long time reader of your esteemed website I have a great interest in its continued success. So imagine my horror when, upon hearing the name of the new Nintendo home console and realising that in the very near future I may be forced to direct my browser to planetwii.

Unlike some of the less sophisticated members of the gaming public I appreciate the subtle beauty of the name Wii; however it would seem less than fitting as a web address with the word planet in front of it. Also, considering your sites coverage of other Nintendo products I would suggest that, when the time comes, a name be adopted that is more fitting of your multi format stance. PlanetNintendo would seem apt.

Yours sincerely,

Aran Rees, Esq.

Thanks for your support and, uh...concern about the future of the site. I received quite a few questions on the subject, most of which contained toilet humor. As I see none in your inquiry I feel that it would be the most appropriate to use yours.

Anyway, those who read through the Blah Blah Blah we had on Thursday might have seen that we will not be known as Planet Wii, or any derivative thereof. We obviously can't be Planet GameCube forever, even with our backward compatibility with on the new hardware. Jonny Metts, our fearless leader, has this to say about the future of PGC:

"Planet GameCube will be renamed later this year (we are aiming for sometime in the summer), but it will not be Planet Wii. In fact, we were not planning to use 'Revolution' as part of our new name, and we are definitely not planning to use 'Wii' as part of our new name. In the sense that we are looking for something entirely different, our renaming process is a bit like what Nintendo was aiming for in their own name search. The difference is that we will have a new name that is actually cool and easily pronounced."

So there you have it. Whatever our name turns out to by the end of the year, we hope that it'll be synonymous with Nintendo coverage just as much as Nintendo is synonymous with games. Oh, and easy to pronounce, too.

Alright, that wraps up another edition of the PGC Mailbag. The hot topic at the moment is the Nintendo Wii, but don't forget about E3, which is now only nine days away! Surely there have got to be questions out there about the biggest gaming event of the year, especially with what Nintendo has at stake. If your question is good enough, you'll get it answered here. Don't forget to include your name in your email, and if you want to tell me where you're from, that would be neat, too! See you next week!