Why Nintendo's Consoles Are White

[RetromanIE]

Shigeru Miyamoto has explained why the Wii and Wii U come in white.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3091/miyamoto418610.jpg

Nintendo's consoles used to be quite colourful affairs. While the NES and SNES were a pale grey in Europe in Japan they featured burgundy sections and the GameCube launched in purple across the world. Why is it then the Wii and the recently announced Wii U are just white?


According to Shiergu Miyamoto it is because Nintendo has found that it appeals to the widest audience possible. He has stated that he would like to "make greater use of color in our hardware," but doing so in the past has led to people seeing Nintendo as "more kid-orientated" apparently.


Mr. Miyamoto then went on to explain to Game Informer (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/06/16/miyamoto-wii-amp-wii-u-are-white-to-appeal-to-all-ages.aspx) the reason why their newer consoles have been given a white colour, at least in their launch editions: "[we] found that rather than going all black - all white seems to have a broader appeal to people."


Original Articles:
http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=15782
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/06/16/miyamoto-wii-amp-wii-u-are-white-to-appeal-to-all-ages.aspx

[Piikachu]

I always prefer white consoles myself anyway. Although give it a while and we'll see the WiiU in different colours.

[usagi]

I'm the opposite, for new consoles I much prefer black. Looks cooler imo and matches the colour of the tv. The cynic in me says they deliberately keep the non-launch colour versions back to generate more sales. :)

[RetromanIE]

I also prefer my consoles in darker colours. Maybe its just that I hate how my older white consoles and computers start to turn nasty yellow after a good few years (some of them, not all).
Although saying a good few years, my white Wii is starting to look less white to me and has a hint of yellow I think. And I'm a non smoker living in a non smoker house so its not smoke.

[Piikachu]

Wouldn't have thought the Wii would be going yellow at this stage! Is it in the sun or anything?

[RetromanIE]

Wouldn't have thought the Wii would be going yellow at this stage! Is it in the sun or anything?

No, very protected generally. It's not really yellow, but it has a hint of yellowing or maybe just a bit off white.

I'm a bit mental about these things :msp_blink:

[Piikachu]

Meh, yellowing doesn't bother me too much. It adds character :msp_w00t: