Add a few lines to
WII
and you get
[wtd]
And that about sums up my thoughts on it.
People may compare this to the initials reactions to the controller, but it's not the same. For me, the controller idea was redeemed when they showed the video of ideas for games based around it (and hopefully the real games will complete the redemption). In this case, there really isn't anything to redeem it. If they at least changed the logo to better portray what the i's represent (controllers, people, etc) then that would help (because I doubt most people are going to figure that out on their own), but that still doesn't change the fact that it sounds dumb.
I know they warned that the name would change, but I don't really understand it... they had such a powerful force going behind their codename, there really wasn't a good reason to change it.
"Wii" doesn't seem "fresh," it seems like the old Nintendo "you will like it because we say you will."
It's also really close to "Wifi," sure to cause all sorts of typo problems...
Also, it sounds really similar to Intel's VIIV (pronouced with a long i sound) initiative, which has not only already flopped, but doesn't even have the same pronunciation despite the two i's...
"By letting the gaming community vent now about the name, they will be less distracted as launch titles for the system are announced and initial reports about what it's like to play the games begin to come in." - Perrin Kaplan
Seriously, if they were expecting that everyone would think it was horrible, then why did they go with it?