Club Nintendo is Being Replaced

[Tanooki]

Thanks for the official news link, there's some good info there.

It's great to see they cut the qualifier in 1/2 to get elite status, seems I end on a platinum at 755. The site says gold still with 110 to go but I'm sure this is fresh so it's just not updated yet.

I'm curious to see what free 3DS retail game I'll get for that status. I also need to figure out what to do with 750~ points if I don't just snap up that nice 8bit shirt.

[laurenhiya21]

Ugh, I knew this was going to happen sooner rather than later, but I'm a bit annoyed that download codes will expire so soon... I still have my code for Game & Wario from last year's platinum since I don't have a WiiU :/

Guess I'll cross my fingers for enough birthday money?

[retrosportsgamer]

They've offered Super Metroid on the WiiU before - I'd bet come February that is available for 200 points again.

[Sarge]

Well, got 955 coins and 40 coins shy of Platinum. I figure I'll be getting Treasure Tracker soon, so I should hit that.

Hopefully there will be a nice selection of stuff to get. I'll save my coins until then!

[retrosportsgamer]

...
Those are for the Wii and are not compatible with the WiiU.

Not entirely true.

The Wii U can download and play those games from the Wii Shop Channel while using "Wii mode", so they are fully compatible. But there are some limitations to that mode (ie: you need to use a separate Wii controller when playing the game) so do your research before buying if you aren't sure exactly what I'm talking about.

You can also choose to upgrade to Wii U versions via the eShop later if desired - it costs $1.50 per game to do that, but does offer some added benefits (save states, use Wii U gamepad as a controller).

Good points - is everything for the Wii VC available for the Wii U?

Will be interesting to see our options when they load up next month.

[ejamer]

...
Good points - is everything for the Wii VC available for the Wii U?
...

No, not all Wii VC games are available for a Wii U eShop upgrade.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that Nintendo actually tuned and tested their emulator on a "per game" basis, so when you download any Virtual Console game it's the whole package - not just a ROM that gets plugged into a shared emulator. So (aside from licensing issues) moving VC games onto Wii U isn't an automatic process for them.

The actual number of games available on Wii U right now is much smaller than what was available on Wii. There are also some Wii U games available that were never released on Wii, so the libraries aren't the same.

Best do some research before buying if you plan to use the "cheap upgrade" option.


My suggestion for anyone interested in digital downloads is to wait for a little while and see what other games get added. The currently listed ones aren't supposed to expire, and digital codes can't run out of stock, so there is no rush to cash in.

For physical goods it's a tougher call - there might be good things coming later, or maybe existing stock will be sold out before you get a chance to buy. Much tougher to say.

[Snatch1414]

I don't know why Nintendo didn't play up the rewards program more. It's a distinct advantage they have over MS and Sony. You don't even know about it until you're already buying Nintendo stuff. An ad campaign along the lines of "Redeem your points for rewards! (show pic of cool stuff) You get more than just a mere trade in credit with Nintendo!" I don't know why everyone tries to be so clever with ads these days. Just tell everyone why you're better.

[Sarge]

Well, Microsoft has their "Games with Gold", and Sony has their equivalent in PS+, so I'm not sure it's as much an advantage as just a different way of doing things. No idea how the new rewards program will work, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of paid infrastructure eventually.

[Snatch1414]

Well, Microsoft has their "Games with Gold", and Sony has their equivalent in PS+, so I'm not sure it's as much an advantage as just a different way of doing things. No idea how the new rewards program will work, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of paid infrastructure eventually.

Yeah great point, although Nintendo should probably do something like that too. If it were old Nintendo games going up for free I could see it being a popular paid service.

Wild idea, but in place of the rewards program a Nintendo-themed rip off of Loot Crate might be something a lot of people would go nuts over. Might involve a lot of original molds being produced for exclusive items though.

[isiolia]

Wild idea, but in place of the rewards program a Nintendo-themed rip off of Loot Crate might be something a lot of people would go nuts over. Might involve a lot of original molds being produced for exclusive items though.

More practically though, Club Nintendo isn't exactly rewarding you for buying games. It's for contributing to their market research. You register something, and you get a questionnaire, right? Then you may get one later, etc.

Probably a big reason you don't see other companies doing that is because it's an outdated model. MS, Sony, Valve, and so on know you got a game because your account recorded that you played it. They can tell if you beat it, and if not, where you stopped playing, based on what achievements you got.

My assumption is that Nintendo is going to shift over to doing their market research that way too.


Doing a Loot Crate type program could be neat, but I think what'd be more welcome is to just expand merchandising in general. Make an online Nintendo World Store, and offer the kind of stuff we'd hope popped up as Club Nintendo rewards.