Wii

Wii is a seventh generation video game console created by Nintendo, and a successor to Nintendo's previous console, the Nintendo GameCube. It is Nintendo's fifth major home console. It competed with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during its lifetime.

Beginnings
Development of the Wii began right after the GameCube was launched. When developing the Wii, the creators asked themselves what kind of an impact flashier graphics and faster speed would make.

Name
Nintendo revealed the final name of the console right before that year's E3. Prior to this, the console was simply known as the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo stated in the beginning that the name was simply Wii, rather than the Nintendo Wii. The prefix "RVL" is used on the Wii and its peripherals.

The plural form of Wii is, according to Nintendo, not "Wiis" as some tend to believe, but rather should be "Wii consoles" or "systems". The two lowercased "i"'s in the name are supposed to represent two players enjoying the game together, or the Wii's unique controller.

Following the game's announcement, both developers and fans alike expressed their dislike towards the name, with both groups explaining how they felt the name displayed a sort of "kidiness" to it, and how they preferred the Revolution. Reggie Fils-Aime explained that the name Revolution was long and was hard to pronounce in some languages, while Wii would be pronounced the same in every country. However, he did acknowledge the negativity the new name aroused, by a line in an E3 press conference; "First up, the name. We want to thank every one of you who said good things about it day one. Both of you."

Wii Family Edition (RVL-101)
A revision of the Wii released at the end of the Wii's lifecycle (also called the RVL-101) was announced on August 17, 2011. This model is designed to only sit horizontally (with the buttons changed accordingly) and is incompatible with GameCube games and its accessories. This model was released in North America on October 23, 2011, in Europe on November 4, 2011, and in Australia on November 11, 2011. The Wii Family Edition includes a black console, the game New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and the Super Mario Galaxy: Original Soundtrack.

Wii Mini (RVL-201)

 * Another late-cycle revision of the Wii (also called the RVL-201) was announced on November 27, 2012. As its name suggests, the it is the smallest model of the Wii. Like the Family Edition, it does not support GameCube games and its accessories. It also does not have online features and several built-in channels, such as the Photo Channel and the Weather Channel, similar to the Wii Mode on the Wii U. It also can only sit horizontally. The main feature is its notable redesign. Unlike the original previous models which are mostly white, the Wii Mini is black with a red framing. All the buttons are located on the top of the console and it lacks online support for Wii games. Additionally, the Wii Mini has a manually operated top-loading disc drive (similar to that of the GameCube) instead of the slots that the former models have. The console launched in Canada on December 7, 2012 for $99.99. It was then released in Europe on March 15, 2013 at a cost of at least $79.99. It was launched in UK on March 22, 2013 for $99.99. It was finally launched in North America on November 17, 2013, bundled with a red Wii Remote Plus, a red Nunchuk for $99.99, and Mario Kart Wii. The Wii Mini is the third home Nintendo console since the SNES and NES to receive a redesign right after its respective successors launched though the NES 101 model launched 2 years after the SNES launched. The N64 received no redesigns of any kind and the GameCube had a small revision which lacked the unused Serial Port 2 (though the cover still remains) and the unpopular Digital AV Out port.

Games

 * Main article: List of Wii games

The Nintendo Wii was released with three launch titles; Wii Sports, Exite Truck, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Other games conceptualized or released around the system's launch were Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Sonic and the Secret Rings. As of March 31, 2014, there have been 895.22 million units of software sold.

Accessory Symbols
Unlike the other consoles, Wii games notably included symbols on the back of their box art that showed their functionality with accessories.