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Pronounced like "we" (or "whee," I suppose), the name is meant to emphasize that "this console is for everyone," Nintendo said in a flash video which introduced the name change.

"The other systems have an extension of their current names; ours is a new leap to something different," Perrin Kaplan, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America, told me. "A lot of thought went into the name."

"Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak," the company said in its flash presentation of the name. "No confusion. No need to abbreviate."

The unusual spelling is meant to symbolize both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.