On Wii registration spree — Nintendo goes

Nintendo has snapped up a number of Wii-domains for the upcoming launch of its newest video game system.

Moments following announcing the name of its next generation video game system, speculators began snapping up any domain they could think of that included “Wii”. Dozens of speculators posted Wii-domains for sale at DNForum the same day of the notice. But it looks like Nintendo was smart and snagged a bunch of domains for itself.

An article at computerandvideogames.com uncovers a number of domains registered by the video game giant counting Wiipower.com, Wiicreator.com, Wiilove.com, Wiicooking.com, and Shallwii.com:

…some of the dot coms we’ve uncovered actually make sense, but some suggest fresh Wii revelations in the form of: Wiianimation.com, Wiifitness.com, Wiikaraoke.com, Wiimusic.com and Wiilanguages.com – all of which have us scratching our heads in Friday morning confusion. A Wii fitness game? A Singstar-style karaoke game? All will no-doubt be revealed in the fullness of Wii time.

You ought to note that Nintendo doesn’t own the three character wii.com domain, which is the web site for conglomerate Weyerhaeuser. Judging from the general cluelessness of many web surfers, especially young ones, Weyerhaeuser can expect to get a lot of inquiries on its web site such as “When is Mario coming out for the Wii??”.

Will the domain speculators that grabbed Wii domains strike it rich in the end? A lot of that depends on the success of the fresh video game system that faces an uphill battle against the Xbox360 and Sony’s fresh system.

Or perhaps Wii speculators can look forward to a mailbox full of cease and desist letters from Nintendo.