Some Club Nintendo Coin Values Will Change on 1st July

Wait so some boxed games are increasing? Well I guess it's not all bad then

...It's not enough that Nintendo of America's prizes are absolute mango (Euros get all those soundtracks and trinkets and Japan...gets everything awesome, we get stickers and bookmarks), now it's harder to get coins for all that papaya. Great.

I could wait a little longer to register Resident Evil: Revelations for 10 more coins.

@Nanoline

We get alot of crap too you know.. And besides, YOU are the ones getting an awesome selection of games to spend your coins on every month...

And here come the haters. The only good thing about Club Nintendo Australia is that we have the gold nunchuk. Also, why do you guys hoard your points? Do they expire really quick over there?

So the big trend here seems to be: Concentrate on the big titles + fan favourites and give people less coins for their download games.
I wonder if this means Ninty is satisfied with eShop sales atm.

Lucky. In Europe we dont get anything for stuff on the eShop. :/

^Oh, really? But seeing the list of games we can register for 3ds in club.nintendo, at least bird mania is available there, and I live in Europe. How can I do that?

Agreed with #6, the eShop must be having great sales. I mean, i've personally downloaded WAY more games than i bought, but that makes sense.

GOD DANGIT!! I just registered RE:Rev and KI:U!! WHAT THE HECK?!
Please...be gentle and give me another post-play survey.

So many decreases of games I"ve yet to register! This is crap!

Nintendo games go up in price. Everything else goes down. That's certainly bad for me...

The next time I'll be getting games is my birthday, which is right before July. I'll just choose when to register them based off of this. Thank you very much!

Wow. A lot of good Wii games are only going to be 20.

Fail, Nintendo.

Hmm...I see a trend here. Namely, it appears that they're changing things so that coins earned are actually relative to cash spent on the game, at roughly 1 coin per dollar. I think that change makes perfect sense. Never did see it as logical that you could get more coins from a $20 Wii game than you could from a $40 3DS game.

This is incredibly odd.

But I guess it's a little more accurate to game prices.

Still, it just really encourages people to buy certain games over others.

I can't believe anybody at Nintendo spent the time to come up w/ all of these conversions. Do they really not have anything better to do? If they don't want coins to be worth as much just change the "prize" values, or give lower values for new games. Seems like a gigantic waste of time for something that really doesn't mean all that much. More imporantly, is Kirby Super Star any good?
NVM - Corbie gave it 9/10, almost everyone seemed to agree, will be DLing it later.

I´m agree with these decreases only if the rewards decreases in cost too.

These decreases do make sense comparing to their real prices.

And seriously, STOP whining about NA's rewards. Everyone gets special perks for certain regions, Europe gets wii points, Japan gets valuable rewards, and we get downloadable eshop tickets and some cool- looking prizes like the card case and the mario pouch. There's no reason NA should be perfect, and the same goes for EU and JP. (Though we still want the KI:U AR cards...)

Most older games are going down in coin value. This is definitely going to discourage survey and pin code hoarding just for getting platinum status each year.
This is another step Nintendo is taking to combat this behavior after they
reduced the expiration dates.

I need to go register a pile of Wii games. Pain. At least I registered all my DS games a couple of weeks ago.

Honestly, was this really necessary? I guess it was. Still a pain.

At least Wiiware, VC, and DSiWare Post play values haven't changed.

Basically 10 coins for every $10 you spend.

I don't really get why they're reducing the amount of coins you get for digital games. I mean, they can cost up to 1/4th as much as a full price new retail 3DS game, but only give 1/10th as many coins? Not to mention that you can frequently buy retail games on sale or after a price drop, whereas Nintendo's digital games have never gone on sale. Could it possibly be that Nintendo's planning on changing their digital sale policy soon? Bring on the E3 50% off all Nintendo published eshop games sale! Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Either way, glad I saw this. I was planning on saving my codes from Excitebots and Other M for next year, but if it gives me 60 more coins to register them now, I probably will. I have several DS games whose value will drop, but at only a 10 coin loss each, I'll just save them. It still looks like I'll have a new balance of over 350 coins by the end of July.

Also, how will this affect survey points? Will a purchase of Dillon's Rolling Western only net you 5 coins, but a post-play survey still give you 10 coins?

I think that's totally non-legit that they can lower the value of a retail game after I already bought it. What if I bought it because they told us it was already worth a certain amount of coins and that we would have at least 5 years to register it, and now they've just taken that away? Technically, I think I should be able to demand my money back for the game, because I didn't get what I paid for then.

Seems fair to me. The values seems to have shifted from a "one-size-fits-all" approach to each system's games to a system based on the game's MSRP, rewarding those who purchase more expensive titles (like Wii Fit or Xenoblade Chronicles) who those who may exploit the system by loading up on cheap games whose price to coin ratio (that's what I'm calling it) is ridiculously high (Bird Mania 3D).

Points change sucks, but it's fair given dropping prices. (Point increases are a sweet bonus for anyone who hasn't bought or registered yet.)

As for quality of Club Nintendo in North America... well, it would be nice to see soundtracks too, or special controllers. But we have some good loot (like the 3DS 18-game case, posters, reversible pouches, t-shirt, etc) and getting a new selection of "free" games in exchange for points is AWESOME.

was going to buy donkey kong but do i really want to now,they may of lowered the game prices back tommorow but it will take forever to get anything really from CN.Imagin trying to get game & watch ball now.

@iphys
Don't be silly. They never promised how many coins you would get for registering the game, and if you bought a game but didn't plan on registering when you bought it in an attempt to game the system for extra benefit then you have no right to complain.

Frankly, you should be happy they are giving a 1 month notice about upcoming changes. There is no reason Nintendo needed to do that - it was purely to give fans a heads-up (and to encourage people to NOT save points just to earn Platinum status for the next Club Nintendo year).

Not liking the points change, kinda like they want more people to go after first party retail and certain third parties. I wonder if KH3D will be giving 20, 30, or 40 coins.

Hey, they're changing it on Canada Day!

@ejamer Yes, they did tell us what the games were worth, so I think I have every right to complain. They tell us the rules, so I go off them, and then they go and change them after the fact. I have games I didn't register for early registration that I would have in retrospect and games that I did that I wouldn't have. I feel cheated.

@Deeda todays canada day? didnt know it and i live in it :I

You feel cheated? Gimme a break, Nintendo doesn't owe you anything. That is a pretty ridiculous reason to buy certain video games for Club Nintendo coins.

Depending on what games people have and if they are going up or down, this'll either prevent code hoarding or encourage it.

Wow Europe's club nintendo has some nice stuff... oh well at least we have the game card case!

Do we get the difference for the 3DS games we have already registered??

@Ryno Nintendo has given me a lot of things they didn't owe me, but I do think that if they put up a webpage advertising that we'll get so many coins for buying games that they do indeed owe us those coins then. It's a pretty sad excuse for a loyalty program when you screw over your customers like this.

Will they pro-rate our coins for stuff that we already registered

@iphys: Are they not giving you a month's notice?

@iphys Oh wah. Club Nintendo gave us all a MONTHS notice. Would you perfer them to keep it secret until you register? I think this was a great move on NOA's part. Plus the 3DS retail games are actually matching their MSRP, which should have happened earlier.

@iphys
NoA is giving you a full month notice of the change. If you want the extra coins, then register your games in the next month and you'll get them in full. If you prefer to reserve your surveys for future use with full knowledge that you receive fewer coins, that is entirely up to you.

Also, the listed coins on the website are always subject to change. You still get some coins - which is all that is promised via the physical product you purchased. Amounts are free to change however Nintendo see fit, with or without warning. The rules of the game haven't changed - you just made incorrect assumptions going in.

This isn't screwing customers over. This isn't taking away anything that was "owed". It's a fair and reasonable action, and if customers get upset because this action slightly reduces how much they can game they system, well, tough cookies for you!

@dark-insanity
No, today is NOT Canada Day. The coin values change on Canada Day, but that is one month from today.

@ejamer jeez theres something going wrong with me lately,better get my act together

THANKS, very helpful information!

In Europe have very good prices like the KI:U AR cards, the soundtracks or my favorite: The Wii Super NES Classic Controller ... that's just beyond awesome.
In America we have games, cool cases, the Giant AR card, and the one I want: History of Handheld Systems: Collectible Cards.
But! In Europe you can exchange Stars for Nintendo Points, so you got the "No games" thing pretty much solved there.
In both places, there are good stuff. Bad stuff too, like a wallpaper... realy? A wallpaper?
My point is, you're all lucky. We have no Club Nintendo here in México... If I want to register my game I have to do it with a USA account.
I can't get any physical price like the Giant AR Card, Even if we had in the American continent the KI:U AR Cards I won't be able to get them. It suck way more for me =/

If they were going to ever change the values they should have told us in advance that they could go down. One month's non-notice (thanks for the e-mail, Nintendo) when most people have already made platinum and aren't paying attention to the Club Nintendo website is obviously going to screw a lot of people over. Their site is still claiming I can get 20 coins post-play for Kid Icarus till August 17th, which is an outright lie when the value of the post-plays is going down to 10 coins on July 1st, so yes they are taking away coins they told me I was eligible for, and no I shouldn't have to rush and do a bunch of surveys in the next month if they never gave me any forewarning I would have to.

DKC Returns is dropping? Guess I'll need to buy it sooner than my birthday (July 14) then!

In other news, Kirby Mass Attack goes up! I've been wanting to get it. Now I'll wait to register it July.

Thanks for the heads up.

HAAAAAAATE.
how come all the 3dsware is only 5 coins now? urban champion already isn't worth 100 coins.

@ejamer
Thank you for telling him.

@dark-insanity
Silly, silly. You're forgiven~

You win this time, Nintendo, but you'll never stop me! Never! Bwahaha!

Er, that is, I am one who hits Platinum and then stockpiles registrations until July 1. I am losing out in some cases (Epic Yarn, for example), but it should balance out a little with the 3DS coins increasing. Those should make up the bulk of my registrations anyway.

@iphys
I'd imagine that if you read the user agreement it says something along the lines of Nintendo being able to change or cancel the Club Nintendo service at their discretion, with no notice to anyone. Club Nintendo is a perk for Nintendo customers. What's more, it's free. It's not something they guarantee will always be there, nor is it advertised on the front of game cases (not that I've ever seen anyway). They have no obligation to keep it open 'til the weekend, let alone keep all values the same forever. Don't forget, this program is unique to Nintendo among hardware developers. If anything, it's unusual for them to have it. Be grateful they aren't just cutting all those games out completely.

BTW, what does your logic mean for all these old ads I have for game help hotlines, N64 Crew, and so on? They didn't have expiration dates, and I was never told they were ending!

Hmm.. strange. Not a big deal. Bring it on.

@TrueWiiMaster The trouble is if you try to find the details for the validity of anything on Club Nintendo, they don't seem to have an agreement anywhere. You can't argue that it's free unless there's a way of getting the rewards that doesn't cost money, and if we've paid money for something that was supposed to include something and we don't get it, that's misleading and legally we'd have a right to complain. I know Shoppers Drug Mart is being sued for changing their customer loyalty program, and I honestly think Nintendo is even more in the wrong on this one. At least Shoppers gave people a fair chance to redeem their points before they lowered their value, but Nintendo telling us we can still register our coins this year when we've already achieved platinum is next to useless.

I am not a fan of them lowering the coin values, but it is their program, and they put the rules.

Iphys complains about games that give you less coins now, but he does not say a thing about the games that actually give you more coins now.

I am one of those hoarders, I even have a list of purchased games I will register after June 30th, so I can get Platinum status again. I guess they did not change the rewards "prices", so the entry for the Elite rewards are the same.

@iphys
Terms of Use, found easily on the bottom of Club Nintendo's homepage:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/club/en/terms.jsp
Go to section F, where they basically say exactly what I said. Not at all hard to find, agreed to upon joining, and clear that they have every right to do what they're doing.

"You can't argue that it's free unless there's a way of getting the rewards that doesn't cost money"
Club Nintendo is entirely free. I've never payed them a penny to join or to participate, and neither have you or anyone else. There's nowhere to put in your credit card, nor is there any address to send cash or checks. You participate through the use of a free code bundled with every Nintendo game. If you choose to pay for the codes specifically, go ahead, but that doesn't mean Club Nintendo was/is costing you.

"if we've paid money for something that was supposed to include something and we don't get it, that's misleading and legally we'd have a right to complain"
When did you, or anyone, officially buy Club Nintendo registration codes? I've seen them for sale on ebay, but that's far from official. Nintendo sells games, not codes to enter on their survey site. Also, as I mentioned before, they do not advertise on the front of any game that it comes with a code (as far as I've ever seen) so you're not promised anything at all.

"At least Shoppers gave people a fair chance to redeem their points before they lowered their value"
Nintendo's giving all users one month to register their games before the drop in value. After that, they give them YEARS to redeem the coins received from those games. What Shoppers did sounds more like if Nintendo were to devalue the coins themselves, not the products that give them. I doubt anyone could sue Shoppers if they changed the number of points received from buying any given drug (which is exactly what Nintendo's doing to some games). What would they be suing for? Drugs they've yet to buy? Another difference between the Shoppers program and Club Nintendo is what the points exchange for. At Shoppers you get money or credit. At Club Nintendo you get little accessories, posters, and a few games. Big difference.

"but Nintendo telling us we can still register our coins this year when we've already achieved platinum is next to useless."
So then is it safe to assume that you're only a member of Club Nintendo for the one Platinum prize awarded every year? You don't spend/haven't spent your coins on ANYTHING from their reward catalog? Because if you did, then any number of points is not useless. Actually, even if you never exchanged your coins for anything, they still hold value other than piling up to reach Platinum status, because they ARE exchangeable for rewards, whether or not you take advantage of it. It's kind of like cash. If someone never spends their money, does that make it worthless? Not really. Because at any given time the owner could trade it for goods.

@iphys
Then sue. Your complaint is getting more ridiculous all the time and is based on a false premise.

Nintendo isn't changing the value of coins you've earned because you don't earn anything by buying games. Instead you earn coins by completing surveys and registering software - which in turn provides Nintendo with marketing data. If you choose not to do either task then Nintendo owes you nothing. If you delay the tasks, Nintendo is free to change the values being awarded for either action because you haven't earned (and don't yet deserve) anything.

But hey, it's a free world. Complain all you want!

Crap, I get so many more coins ber buck on the eshop than boxed games. All cut in half. What about post-play surveys? This only has registration surveys listed here. If they're getting more eshop attention they ought to encourage it, not downgrade it.

I like how they jack up the coins for the games I already have... and then lower the coins for the DL titles, which I tend to get a lot of. I guess I'll have to wait even longer for that Super Mario T-Shirt...

eshop does not seem so bad now, I jumped to pick up one I was thinking about getting do to the price drop and I got a purchase survey. Something I never saw before for any other ehop title I bought. I don't know if I'll be getting the post-play but I assume I still will. So the drop might mean that we get 5 for a purchase one, then another for post-play. The purchase was worth 10, though I think it's likely only till the drop. So we'd still get our 10 but as 5 and 5.

@ejamer Correct! Nintendo actually makes out the better. In exchange for manufacturing cheap trinkets/apparel/bobbles/etc., they get what would be expensive marketing data for almost nothing. This in turn, allows them to gauge the gaming landscape, & act how they see fit, particularly in a fashion that will net them a profit. The only consolation, for us (CN members), is that some(though, not a majority unfortunately) of the CN rewards actually go for a bit of money on online auction sites.

I don't get games (frequently) enough, that I can get much from CN, particularly anything more than than 50-100 coins worth. Then again, not much in the catalog that I want. Except the 3DS case.

Edit: Also, I'm glad to see that 3DS games that I still wanna get are going up in value.

@truewiimaster I'm with you on that. It seems like you're wasting your money for games on the eshop. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy any on eshop.

But aside from that I've seen that big Nintendo games have went up more. Like any Mario franchise, uprising, ocarina of time, etc.

@iphys seems like you don't take your time and look around on sites for user terms and agreements. Besides, don't they show agreements an etc? And every reward on there is free. You just pay for the game and put codes in and look for affordable coin ammounts. Basically, you're paying with virtual coins. So, keep making invalid complaints, you'll keep looking stupid.

For the record all Post Play surveys will be ten coins not matter the game. Anything you have registered now will not be deducted. (Which would be stupid for them to deduct your coins after they asked you to do the surveys.)
The big 3DS titles you can still get the same value of coins on 7/1 as you do now.
Anything that has been released in June will not deduct in coins. (Nintendo Selects Pikmin 2) for example.
The e-shop games I don't mine because you only loose 5 coins which isn't that big of a deal. You probably will have 100 to 200 coins per year for e-shop games.

DARN IT! I should have waited to register Kid Ikacrus, Poke'mon: Black and Poke'mon White.

Have $1.99 DSiWare games not gone down in coin amount?

@ejamer Happy Canada Day!

@NTELLIGENTMAN: Where did you get your graphic? Pretty sweet.