You also have to account the word Wii in general. No one talks or uses that word in normal speach. While One at least is a normal word. Also, MS does way more comerical spots than Nintendo does. So that helps them. Also, they didn't reveal the Xone with the Kinect camera only visible. Once people see something they hate etc. They usually won't bother looking up what it does. And forever ignore it. So the persistant "addon" issue could linger and be passed around to some people who don't know anything.

pretty embarassing statement considering the Wii U

to name it as an implied successor to the Wii is absurd. the Wii relied on the somewhat fresh gimmick of motion controls, and the Wii U has no motion controls and simply has a tablet-esque screened controller. the similarities (besides the specs being like 2 x Wii) are very limited in terms of design and controls so I have no idea why they would do this

they couldn't have 'thought' about it that much as it should have been obvious from the get-go that it would confuse consumers. simply adding a "U" to make a cute name to move units is illogical. they should have changed the name entirely to something / a word that was associated with the device. instead Nintendo was hoping to cash in on the Wii crazy with the expectation that consumers would just jump in and buy a Wii U simply because a lot of the casual market has a good connotation and memory of playing the Wii. lame.

love Nintendo but there names can be a bit dicey going all the way back to, say, the N64 where they simply added '64' to half of their titles in terms of names (cough, DK 64, MK 64, Super Mario 64, Clay Fighter 64 (or 63-1/4 wtf whatever, Bomberman 64, Doom 64, Dr. Mario 64, etc. etc. etc. real original)

this! it was absolutely confusing for a casual gamer, you think Wii and associate the original system with motion controls and then see this expensive tablet controller and it just makes zero sense. 

     I think they were taking the easy road in terms of names. you can't just use a successful name from a previous generation and automatically generate success

I have never had so much personal grief caused by the name of a product than what the WiiU put me through...I spent months explaining to parents that it wasn't just an accessory for the Wii they already owned, but a whole new console.

I hope to god they didn't put too much thought into it.

Am I the only one who thinks that "Wii 2" would be an obvious but great name to its successor? Straight to the point, and everyone would know that it's not a Wii with a tablet.

Yet there are New 3DS exclusives.

I don't buy the whole "Wii U" name confused people, I mean, it could have at launch... but the product is just not compelling, so people simply passed on it.

However, it is a bad name :-/

*adds name to list*

I always thought the got the Wii U name out of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JElywbkSbY

At the announcement years ago didn't he say it's because it's no longer about "we" but now about "U"? Still not sure what that even means.