Goofy Nintendo Points Are Goofy

Nintendo, I love you, but you’re killing me, Smalls.

Maybe they just don’t understand the intertubes, or maybe they’re glorious money-grubbing bastards, or maybe they’re a little of column A and a little of column B- but Nintendo’s latest move with its recently re-purposed Nintendo Points cards is a little befuddling.

Basically, if you buy a Nintendo Points card and then use it on your Wii, it then becomes tied to that console. And you only get that one. So your new Nintendo Points are now useless for your DSi. Why did you change the name from Wii Points in the first place, Nintendo?

The gist of it is this: if you purchase a Nintendo point card, your Nintendo points are only Nintendo points until you actually use the damn thing. Then they’re Wii or DS points. Oops.

I really don’t understand how this even makes sense if you’re Nintendo. I mean, if you’re going to go through all of these rebranding and renaming efforts to call them Nintendo Points, then why would you further distinguish them by not letting them work across both of your platforms?

I know it’s not that big of a deal, since I’ll probably never buy the darn points for either thing, but it is still just a head scratcher. To me, Nintendo has a long string of decisions that prove that they are not a very technically minded company (no HD, anyone?), and this is just another checkmark on that path.

What do you guys think? If you spend the money, shouldn’t your points be applicable across both consoles? I mean, if I bought Sony points, I’d expect them to work on both my PSP and my PS3.

Source- Siliconera

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

8 thoughts on “Goofy Nintendo Points Are Goofy”

  1. Well, it makes sense.
    If they make 2 separate cards, they have to use two separate machines(or factorys). Which cost more than using only 1 machine(or factory). It’s all about money, hehe.

    Savy?

  2. Well, it’s not about making 2 cards. It’s about making your universal Nintendo Points work universally, if that makes sense.

    Like, if I give Nintendo money for Nintendo points, I should be able to spread those points around to whichever of their platforms I choose.

  5. I say they are more of B now. I don’t agree with this because its pretty stupid that you would make your customers have to choose. What if Microsoft did that? What if you used MPs on theme, and then it locked them to that. “great bought 10000 MPs just to have them locked on themes”

    But like Snowman7 said, from a business prospective, Im sure this makes perfect sense.

  7. Even from a business perspective this should not make sense. People, universally are happier if things are simpler. Buying a card and then going onto Wii/DSi and using some of your points, then using it on the versa to your vice. OR if they had one simple account database across both Wii and DSi then all you need to do would be to upload your points to say Nintendo.com and then they become accessible in both, no?

    I think I have managed too put across what I mean…

  8. [quote comment=”1087″]Nintendo can be so stupid sometimes.[/quote]

    Japanese are famous being stupid, like me. I almost planed to buy this dang thing. As munchlax said, I’ll stick with my lite.

    Oh, and Displayed, you can’t escape making things simpler. Even if they have two cards, you have to make sure you bought the wright card.
    But I like your “account database” idea.

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