Krayzie

Ah ok, weren't they planning on doing an account thing like Microsoft and Sony though?

Adam Tyner

That's how it works: purchases are tied to Nintendo Network IDs. You're just not allowed to login on another console and re-download purchases if your first one has keeled over. Why? No idea.

Now, if you have two functional Wii U consoles, which seems like an incredibly unlikely situation...

Krayzie

Ah ok, I was hoping one day it would all be tied to my login so I wouldn't have to manually transfer my wii crap to my wii u. Guess I just need to stop being lazy and do the transfer.

Michael Corvin

Yes, we're all well aware how it works but it's still an awful 'deal,' IMO.

Sony/MS: Spend $40 get to play 24 new-ish(2/month on the low estimate) games a year.

Nintendo: Spend roughly $300 (works out to $1=1pt w/o bonuses) to get a ~$5 game from 1985, or $600 to get a ~$15 recent title. That's 5 full retail games to get a $5 game. Also the only games that qualify for coins are Nintendo games so if you plan on hitting Platinum you have to buy nearly every 1st party game on the console or own a 3DS as well and are padding out your points there.

And yes, MS switched to the 'rental' version PS uses.

Gizmo

XBL and PS+ are $60 a year, not $40.

Nintendo is $0 for online play.

Not sure I understand why we are comparing a paid service that offers "free games as long as you pay" to a free one that is giving a gift away if you register and answer some quizzes. MS or Sony don't do that. I don't really understand the comparison. If you don't want a free game just don't answer quizzes.

I agree the free game probably isn't worth it and I myself am disappointed with the gift...but it's free and I pay $0 a year to play Mario kart online. If I wanted to play any MS or Sony game I gotta pay a monthly/yearly fee.

Michael Corvin

If you're paying $60 you're doing it wrong. Personally, I haven't paid more than $30 for either in years(Groupon had PS+ cards for $26 earlier this month). So for $2.50 a month I get two semi-new releases to play and enjoy vs. close to $25 a month(buying 5 retail games) to "own" a single $5 game a year.

Multiplayer doesn't factor in for me. Both MS & PSN make the games worth the price of admission alone. That, and outside of Destiny, I haven't played MP on either system in probably a year.

Michael Corvin

If they're going to lose the swag, at least give people eShop money to buy whatever they want instead of forcing people to select certain games. That, I'd be down for.

Krayzie

I don't think you can compare the online services of MS and Sony to Nintendo. Nintendo sucks at online.

Krayzie

Or tell us they're going to digital rewards so I can stop wasting time registering crap.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, that too.

Adam Tyner

The North American version of Club Nintendo tends to get the lousiest physical rewards in general.

Look at what they have in Europe and Japan. Not that it's anything lifechanging, but I'd love to be able to pick up soundtrack CDs, little plushies, or even eShop credit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there'll be some type of exclusive/variant Amiibo via Club Nintendo NA close to the holidays, and I'm hopeful but less optimistic that it won't require an insane number of points.

Gizmo

Right, but the bulk of people are paying full price from either the store or online. Just because a deal can be found doesn't make the MSRP any less valid. You used the MSRP for Nintendo games to get that many coins when they can often be found for less then MSRP (and many are $49.99 not $59.99; I think we've had this conversation before).

Personally, the Xbox games have all sucked. I don't think I've downloaded a single one on my 360 or One. Sony has always had at least 1 'big' title a month.

It's all subjective. I can play Mario Kart online free, with no sub fee. If I wanted to play Halo I'd have to have an XBL account.

Nintendo's whole thing is just giving away something free if you register some games and answer some quizzes. It's probably an hour or your life in total. For a free game or swag item (plus using the coins for other things during the year, which you didn't mention, as they toss up multiple games each month. So in reality 600 points is probably 5-8 FREE games. So a free online service IS giving you free games). If you don't want to register them you don't have to. Yes, this years prize does suck. If they let us pick multiple games it probably wouldn't be that bad, but like I said, the past few years have also sucked. I grabbed Game and Wario and will probably buy a DK 3D Code cheap on eBay at some point. I already own all the Wii U games 'free with MK8' that I paid $10-12 for (plus got the DDP points on, so I think I wound up paying $5 a game!).

Registering 'crap' gets you multiple free games each year. They offer them every month in the Club to spend your coins on. Is that not worth it? Or was it simply for a poster or pin set at the end of the year?

I have to assume the points values for games are higher for Japan?

I never spend my points. I stock them until they randomly announce something awesome like the Luigi statue or Gold Nunchuck. The current offerings are just not that great and I can typically just buy them on eBay for under $20 if I really wanted them. That Luigi statue is $100+. I did buy a Japanese one for $20 though (say's Luigi's Mansion 2 on it, not sure who it was exclusive too)

Adam Tyner

Beats me. Regardless, there's no reason why Club Nintendo couldn't offer a similar variety of rewards, even if some portion of them required more points. When they do have compelling physical rewards, they tend to be in pretty small numbers and go really quickly.

I'd be more interested in the monthly rotation of Virtual Console games if I didn't have to do that stupid thing about rebooting my Wii U in Wii mode to play them. (That's still the case this month with Paper Mario, for instance.)

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not upset or anything. It's just a little disappointing to see Europe and Japan get better rewards. The only thing I've ordered from Club Nintendo was a t-shirt, and that was because a bunch of my stockpiled coins were about to expire. I'm sitting on 1,190 coins right now.

Gizmo

NOA has always been behind in the times. Club Nintendo has been going on since the GameCube days IIRC. I wish we had some of those cool rewards They had some sweet GameCube controllers.

I've never purchased a game from Club Nintendo (I've owned them all, or just not worth 150 coins for a $5 game), but do they offer ones currently available on the Wii U VC, and if so, do they play on the Wii U or is simply redeemable only in the Wii screen for the Wii VC mode?

Krayzie

No, I only use the points if they're about to expire or something really interesting pops up. I don't care about the downloadable rewards. I didn't bother with the Luigi statue as I had no interest in earning more coins than needed for platinum status. If I knew the coins were going to be pointless for this year, I would have registered more crap to get the statue.

Adam Tyner

I believe it used to be all Wii mode for the Wii U (even when they'd just list "Wii U" as the platform), but it looks like this changed at some point. This month, Donkey Kong Jr. looks like it'll play straight in Wii U mode (although 200 coins for a $5 game...WTF?), while Paper Mario requires booting in Wii mode. I haven't tried any of this out through Club Nintendo yet, so I can't speak from firsthand experience. (All my recent VC stuff has been on the 3DS.)

slop101

I really liked this article:

All 30 Mario Kart 8 Characters Reviewed

The Questyen

They've had straight up Wii U games on Club Nintendo for awhile now. But yeah there are some that say Wii/Wii U that you have to boot up in Wii mode.

Adam Tyner

Sure, I just mean before they clarified the messaging, the labels still said "Wii U", but they required booting in Wii mode. I haven't bought anything with coins that way, but I've seen a bunch of grousing about it on various blogs / message boards. I know that was an issue as recently as December.

I appreciate the Wii U's backwards compatibility, but booting in Wii mode is awful.

The Questyen

I wouldn't say it's awful more annoying. I'm more disappointed that they are not cranking these VC releases out like 10 or 20 a month. They are losing money on something that can't cost them much to do and for a system that needs games for people to play.

Liver&Onions

Holy balls, that first system update was intense. I watched a whole episode of True Detective while it was downloading/updating!

Michael Corvin

I had that problem on the 3DS. Finished a Link Between Worlds and thought I'd buy LttP. Not on the eShop. If they released it today? Probably wouldn't buy. I've moved on. They have every other Zelda up but that one. Terrible. Lost sale.

SoonerDoc

Wrong. PSN+ MSRP is $49.99.

here: http://www.target.com/p/playstation-...y/-/A-14883716

and here: http://www.gamestop.com/dlc/playstat...mbership/84626

and everywhere else.

Gizmo

Anyone watch the Nintendo Direct last night for Hyrule Warriors?

Looks pretty cool with an NES-style Adventure mode. That NES version looked amazing in HD - wish it was unlockable.

Total purchase for me. I'm just a little disappointed they glossed over Wind Waker; especially since we just got a HD Port. Playing at Tetra would have been neat.

I really need to go back and play Twilight Princess. Those controls just....sucked. Even Skyward was a little frustrating. Maybe I should just spend the extra and grab the GameCube version.

RichC2

Yeah the NES thing was the best part of the video, I would actually really like to have that