It appears that Nintendo has registered the name Wii with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a total of nine applications, putting an end to conspiracy theories everywhere suggesting that E3 held some terrible naming secret.
April 27th, the day Nintendo went public with Wii, many Wii haters popped up everywhere suggesting that Nintendo was bluffing and that the real name would be revealed at E3 2006. The main evidence used to support such theories had to do with the lack of a relevant patent with the USPTO. It appears however, that Nintendo had registered a priority right for the name Wii on November 11, 2005. A priority right allows a company first dibbs at a patent for a limited time. Nintendo made use of that right on the day of the announcement, April 27 2006. This little ploy is often used to keep sensitive patents away from prying eyes.
The discovery of the patents in no way confirms that Wii will be the final name of the console, we have Nintendo exec statements for that, this just dispels the main argument used by fans of the Revolution claiming that there was still hope.
We now have to rely on Nintendo statements claiming that, eventually, we will get used to Wii. For more information on Nintendo's next-generation console, stay with MegaGames.
