Happy hols everyone
.
This mini-break has, I'm sure given people more time to play with their Wii's. Well Ninty has coincided this time with 2 revelations. One is the Gift section on VC.
'Tis the season to be giving and all, have any of you tried this yet? I have, and I must say it's a great feature which is really well implemented.
For my bro's B'day, I used 600 stars to buy Blazing Lazers (TGfx-16), and gifted it to him.
Here's how it works: Go into the shop and buy the game you want. If you have an up-to-date Wii, you will see 2 buttons, buy and gift. Choose gift and after confirming, you'll be prompted to select the person in your address book you wish to send it to. Once selected, you are given the opportunity to write a short message.
Now send. You're done
.
The beauty of this is that Ninty check the recipient doesn't already have the game (if they do, you'll be returned to the shop and asked to choose another). Additionally, the game will stay on their "server/system" for 40 days or so....after which, if it is unclaimed by the recipient it is automatically cancelled and you're refunded.
My bro downloaded his the next day and had the option of sending me a return note with it - Nintendo have thought it out quite well.
The second thing that Nintendo have done is institute the Stars-Points scheme (finally).
Judging by the number of threads about it on here, you all know how it works (or doesn't
)......so I'll cut to the chase:
1: What is it with the "limited numbers available per day"? What a PITA
. The codes are electronically generated. I understand that new ones need to be generated by an algorithm, but what are they running that algorithm on?....a ZX81
? I mean seriously, it should either have codes generated on the fly in real time or at the very least only take about 5-10 min with a decent processor.
2: What is it with the "only buy 1 card per day"? As above, I'm at a loss here
. This just seems like blatent idiocy on Ninty's part, although I understand why they've done it - they're hoping this will limit purchases so that others get a fair go and also those with older star totals get expired as they "waited too long" to buy (or am I just being cynical
?)
3: In a complete reversal, the other thing that hacks me off is the general attitude of the Wii owning public......yes, the whingey moany gits congregating to piddle about why they find it soooooo unfair that they can't buy cards (like I've just moaned above
). Remember folks, IT'S ALL FREE.
I can understand paying for a telly and it not arriving, but "waaaah, I can't claim my FREE stuff, I want my mummmmmmyyyyyyy" just doesn't wash with me I'm afraid
.
Yes, it's implemented badly by Nintendo......but so what? If you want something that badly, go buy a points card
.
4: The conversion ratio is WHAT? Finally, I can't understand why everyone is so excited by it anyway.....it's OK, but it's not exactly a fantastic deal here is it? I did some maths to figure out our "savings":
Average price of game = £35 (I'm being generous
)
For each eligible game (currently only those published by Nintendo or Capcom - not licensed,
published), you get a measly 250 stars.
This equates to 62.5 points.
Now, 100 points costs 70p (if bought online from the Shop Channel).....so this 62.5 points equates to a mere 43.75p.
Lets be generous and round that up to 44p shall we?
.
Overall, for every £35 spent on a Wii game, Nintendo give us back 44p.
Well whoop-e-do-ray Hallelujah. Quick, tell the press, this is a steal I tell's ya.....A STEAL
.
I mean, get a grip.....it probably costs more than 44p in petrol to make the trip into town to buy the bleedin' game in the first place......and here's lots of peeps clamouring over a "1.3% cash-back system" that Nintendo have introduced.
Don't get me wrong....if you have plenty of useless stars lying around to burn (which I did too
) then it's a
great way to use them up.
.....but at those rates it's hardly the end of the world if you don't.
After spending 600points on Zelda:aLttP (GREAT game) and 600 on the gift, I can categorically guarantee that, with hindsight, if I
hadn't had been lucky enough to be able to exchange them, I would've simply bought a 2000 points card and used that instead......
So I now think it would be better for NOE to offer us BETTER merchandise in the Club Nintendo shop instead (because if I want points, I'll just buy a card - the Club NOE things are unavailable elsewhere). Stuff actually worth owning. Physical objects worthy of purchase rather than just crappy T-Shirts and hats.....pens and keyfobs etc etc.
Come on Nintendo - level up Club Nintendo Europe on a par with Club Nintendo Japan. I'm tired of seeing Special Edition this (eg DS Games) and Special Edition that (eg Yellow DS consoles) on the Japanese site and then seeing a crappy little "pull back toy" I could probably buy in the local market for the fifth time over here. Please stop offering me useless desktops and mobile wallpapers....I can make my own for free thanx
.
Was I the
only person on this planet to be completely
unimpressed by the best they had to offer - a poorly made statue of Link made in "oh so impressive" fake gold
? ----Something that at the rates they want, I would've had to buy over £2000 worth of games to be able to get?????????
The reason everyone is clamouring for the points (and, apparently, crashing their servers - half the time they're down/offline/"undergoing maintainence") is because people have no choice. The alternative is the utter drivel on offer in Club Ninty's Euro shop.
Come Nintendo.....pull yer finger out!
......oh.....
......and HappY NeW YeAr by the way
(the post might indicate I'm feeling grumpy but I'm actually in a humurous mood today
- have a good'un everyone).
.
VIP stars to Wii points.....whodathunkit?
Linear Mode
