Sorry Kids – You're Not Allowed To Share Your Nintendo Points

Another stupid move by Nintendo. Keep it simple and stick to one type of points card will ya?

Heard about this recently. I think it's because the information is stored on separate servers or the info is just saved on the DSi/Wii itself. Won't affect me though since I'm a credit card user.

Also, will you guys report on DSware games?

Why the hell not?! Sharing points makes sense to me. If they wanted to, Ninty could do it. But this will make them more money, not that they need it after getting everyone to buy the $180~ new DSi!

But this will make them more money
The best thing for Nintendo is for people to not spend their points while buying as many points as possible.

Also, buying points through the shop gives Nintendo the most profit (points cards have a wholesale value on them and so a profit margin...retilaers wouldn't sell them if they didn't give profits).

despite the fact that it’s very likely that you’ll have registered both machines using the same ‘Club Nintendo’ account
Makes me wonder, are they ever going to fix the linking glitch of the _ character not being valid in e-mail adresses. I really don't want to set up a second e-mail (which I forget about) soley for Club Nintendo...

Meh, I could care less to be honest, I know that there'll always be something down the track I'll end up buying anyway

So in essence I'll still be getting the same amount of points I normally would. And not everyone has a My Nintendo account anyway

My first post here!:

Only fitting that the day after I make the realization that this might've been possible, they take it away. Still, the obvious answer is that it does cut into nintendo's ridiculous profit margin, so its an understandable move for them.

Fortunately, theres' still a bit of time for Nintendo to learn the error of their ways, before or after the dsi's release.

well this sucks....

Well hurry up and announce a DSi VC anyhow...

the card shows 3000 does that mean that there will be different point value per card?

@Mr.chippy. Japan has always had 1000, 3000 and 5000 point cards.

IIRC their shop only allows you to buy 1000, 2000 or 3000 while western countries are 1000, 3000 and 5000.

They need to drop the forced chunks of points and let us just pay for items directly. Adopt a shopping cart method already, Nintendo. I wouldn't even mind entering my cc info and paying the EXACT amount for every single item that I buy as long as I don't have to deal with 200 superfluous Wii points just hanging around forever.
Hey, then they might as well just get rid of the damn points all together and just use actual currency. (I envy you for that, PSN)

This stinks! They should atleast make it possible to share points.

This is why I'm thankful for the Nintendo-Europe.com website having 100, 300, 500 and 1000 point cards. If you want 1000 Nintendo Points, one for a 500-point WiiWare game and one for a 500-point DSiWare game, you'll just be able to buy two 500 Nintendo Points cards instead and register one on the Wii and one on the DSi.

I assume.

I understand their decision. Now guess what would happen if your "friend" comes to your house connecting to your account with his DSi and stealing your Points? Of course you must be stupid to have such a frien, but those stupid people can sue you

I really wish I could buy 100 point increments sometimes.

big deal. If it was a question of, say 50- 100 $ cards that we might never use again then it would be frustrating, but the usual $3-$5 bucks left is a welcome addition to whatever game I buy next time when I split them up. If you're downloading that many games for both systems, the 5-10 bucks you have left now and then shouldn't kill you.
Hey, maybe if we accidentally buy enough bad games and almost go broke, the US Gov. will pass a spending bill to start buying our games for us!

How idiotic...

Stupid move on Nintendo's part. Its like they don't want to make more money.

meh, It dont really matter much to me. So what if you have extra points lying around and nothing to buy, chances are that there will EVENTUALLY be something to buy so whatever.

I totally agree with bboy2970, and well, is not like everybody is going to stop buying "Nintendo points" just for this, so they know they're gonna get more profits this way.

Oh, will you also make a "DS VC-Reviews" are just make a seperate section for the DSi?
I'd prefer latter

1) If you are doing the DSi sites, I'd be qiuick before someone else gets the domain!

2) As for the story, if you couldn't see this coming: you're a moron.

3) I'm also looking forward to the possibility of DSiVC. Long live Super Mario Land! (and other Game Boy titles). The screen shape would be a problem though.

4) Guy that posted comment #7: WELCOME!

5) Why do I often find myself posting below Bensei? Conspiracy...

I agree with wanderlustwarrior, this is inconvinient to the users, but will not affect DSi sales at all. I´m perfectly happy with my DS and won´t buy the DSi anyway.

While this does seem pretty lame, it's not really going to much of a big deal. Annoying if you buy cards, but I think most people use their (or their parents) CC anyway. As it is, your points are tied to only 1 Wii anyway. If you have 2 Wii's in your household (and some people do for various reasons), and you buy your points on one, you can't move those points over to your other Wii. It's most likely a security feature to make sure points don't get stolen.

In the end, Ninty won't be hurt in the least by this. It's not like people will stop buying points/VC/WiiWare/DSiWare because of this.

As long as they just use one channel to buy stuff, I won't mind!

Serious, if they go with separate Channels for each region, Nintendo are stupid.

lol. Wow, what a terrible idea. Would it be that hard to use the same points? It seems like it would be even more complicated to make a whole other system of payment.... It doesn't really matter to me, it just seems unnecessary

I'm fine with it.

This does seem irresponsible, but it doesn't bother me.

Sounds a bit silly to have two different types of points, but Nintendo does what Nintendo wants to do.

Meh, I think this a queer decision on Nintendo's part, but it doesn't bother me that much. More money for them (how much do they need anyway?)

well speaking of DSi is it gonna have better graphics than the normal DS or are they gonna be the same

If you find yourself in the position of wanting a game on WiiWare and DS Ware, you might have to purchase TWO cards to get them

So people will buy more cards?
And Nintendo actually WANTS this?
Oh, the madness.

I can imagine the guy who thought of this looks very similar to Jabba the Hut.
Thanks Nintendo for making us pay even more money during bad economic times.
I can already imagine Iwata sleeping on a bed made up of hundred-dollar bills.

pretty stupid move nintendo,it doesn't really affect me since i might not get a DSi but its still stupid

Well, technically, and this is the point I made earlier.

You WON'T be spending more money.

Normally you hear the same people complaining there's not enough good games on the VC and WiiWare complain about this aswell.

Well, if you had some spare points lying around on your Wii, then OBVIOUSLY you'll spend them on the game you're complaining about in the future, and you won't buy points at that point in time.

Thus, same amount of money spent!

I would say it's to prevent evil people stealing points with their DSi. Which IMO is good

The most it'll ever cost you is $20.
It can NEVER cost you more. NEVER.
If 20 bucks is going to break the bank, gaming is definitely the wrong hobby.

Actually, after doing the math, it won't even cost you 20 bucks.
It MIGHT cost you $10, but that's assuming you're ignorant when it comes to spending your money.

Thank you SuperMario, some logical thinking as opposed to band-wagon jumping is welcome in my world lol

well im guessing wider maybe brighter or have the option to have it bright or not bright like the psp just saying

any ways since i aready have the ds and was planing on geting a ds lite because my ds fliping thing broke somehow but it still works its just something that makes it flip up anyways

since i dont want to spend more money like that i can just use that money for wii , few new ds games psp games ps3 games etc

i have to say i cant wait for this dsi for the gba, gbc and gameboy games i never played because well im not rich to get all of the games right and well there may be games id be interested to play that i never heard of

"Thanks Nintendo for making us pay even more money during bad economic times."

If you can afford to spend money on entertainment, then your not being hit that hard. If you can't afford it, then this is the absolute least of your problems.

Attention everyone, I know I'll have to explain this sooner or later, so I might as well explain it now..

This won't cost you more than $10.
Wanna know why?
Stay here! I'll tell you!

You can buy points in $10 denominations right?
So here's the deal.
This whole price thing will ONLY affect you when you've come to your last points card.
Because until then, it doesn't matter if you've bought separate cards, because you've used them both to buy games!

So you're on your last few Wii points, and your last few DS points.
I'm assuming you ARE smarter than a fifth grader, and only bought those points after something you like has been released.
After purchasing the game you like, you have what, like $5 left on your account?
How much on your DS account? Oh, like $5 too?

Add that together, you get $10!
The only thing Nintendo is preventing, is you adding the points from your last Wii card, and last DS card, to purchase something.
Is that so bad? No.

That's all for today.
Come back tomorrow when I explain how all hardcore gamers should play Wii Fit!

i dont know what i said that but anyways i guess i could understand the points sharing thing

unless they release a firmware update not entirely sure what it means exactly but anyways if they could do that so they could share the same code with the dsi between the wii and when that happens you wont be able to share it other peoples wii console

im not smart but if that make sense then im lucky lol

I personally would have no problem with this if they had just kept the term as Wii Points instead of Nintendo Points. Why change the name if they aren't compatible? Plus, Wii Points is shorter and rolls of the tongue better. (And DSi points sounds pretty cool)

That's silly, but not a major inconvenience, since "Nintendo Points" can be bought in different quantities now.

@superamario--As far as I am aware, you can only buy points 2000 at a time AS OF NOW. (Are they changing wii points to those demoninations too? Unless you use a credit card which is beyond many, as either they don't have one or their parents don't want them using theirs.

Its a bit silly but then again there is no real way for the two to share the same account .

But for excess points hanging around the shop channel wouldn't be a problem for me as i like haveing plenty in my account ready the moment im ready to buy a game or Pay'n'Play content .
I usally but 2 2000 points card at a time so i have plenty of points ready when needed .

Aww come on! Two separate point systems? What, is Ninty's money jacuzzi only half-full!?

I can manage though. I stopped using points cards ages ago, when I discovered $500 pre-paid credit cards . The only time I buy points cards now is when I use up my current card on points and other things, a game pops up at the shop that I want really badly, and aren't able to make a trip to the bank.

question :

when is dsware world coming?

I foresaw this possibility a long time ago, when a download service for a Nintendo handheld was a mere dream. It makes sense, overall. A perfect combination of simplicity (not making two kinds of cards when only one is necessary) and security (put the points on a system, and they stay there is way safer than any sharing system). So really, I don't see anything to complain about here (a nice change of pace for Nintendo news). This option is sure a lot better than not having a download system for DS at all, now isn't it?

I foresaw this possibility a long time ago, when a download service for a Nintendo handheld was a mere dream. It makes sense, overall. A perfect combination of simplicity (not making two kinds of cards when only one is necessary) and security (put the points on a system, and they stay there is way safer than any sharing system). So really, I don't see anything to complain about here (a nice change of pace for Nintendo news). This option is sure a lot better than not having a download system for DS at all, now isn't it?

I personally would have no problem with this if they had just kept the term as Wii Points instead of Nintendo Points. Why change the name if they aren't compatible?
Wii points that spent on the DSi...it doesn't make sense. Making them into Nintendo points means you only have one product type on the shelf.

As long as they just use one channel to buy stuff, I won't mind!

Serious, if they go with separate Channels for each region, Nintendo are stupid.
Assuming it to be just like the wii shop. Thing is it'll be one channel (and one shop server) for the whole world only what country you are set determines what you can buy and how much it costs (as well as what cards you can redeem and how much the points cost*). That is assuming if it anytihng like the Wii. Hopfully some homebrew that allows you to set country outside of the usual parameters set by the firmware (that is American systems can't set Japan or Austria as a country...) like what has happened with the Wii...

*-Points bought in one region are spendable in another unless it is to and from Australia/New Zealand where for some reason the points are wiped with no way to get them back (rumour has it NOE were upset people were using Australia as cheap Wii points...well NOE, I'm using Japan as cheaper Wii points )

I don't care. I'm not buying one anyway. Who needs a camera? Who needs a screen .25 inches bigger? The only cool thing about this is that it was it's own shop, which is nice. But no GBA slot, meaning no Guituar Hero or Slide Adventure, or GBA games! Worst of all, it's asking for 180 bucks! No deal!

Nintendo is making another strong case for emulation on the PSP... Nice going there Nintendo...

Contratulations, Nintendo. You've just earned a dumb award.

Now, if you give me a legitimate reason why it would be impossible to share points, I might take it back. But until then, I'll just assume you're either lazy or just money-grubbing.

And if you say there's nothing wrong with this plan, consider this possibility:
I have 500 points on my Wii. There's a DSi game that costs 500 points. But in order to get it, I have to buy 1000 DSi points just to buy the 500-point game when I should've been able to just use the 500 points I already had on my Wii! Does that honestly sound good to you??? Just think of all the things I could've spent that $10 on instead!

How can Nintendo be so smart in some areas and so dumb in others? Absolutely makes no sense.

@Draygone: You definitely picked the correct nominee for the dumb award.

@Draygone: Yes, it does sound good to them. If they started thinking about all the stuff you could buy with that $10, they'd probably come up with a LOT of things that they don't sell. This is another way for them to get your money instead of somebody else.
Asides from that, though, I sincerely doubt Nintendo could find a good way to share points between a Wii and a DS. For one thing, it would require another massively complicated Wii system update, and Nintendo has recently made it quite clear that they didn't really design the Wii to be so very easy to update like that. I'd rather they fixed the Wii's storage issue than wasted time trying to make points sharable.
Then there's security issues. Since Nintendo is obviously insisting on going overboard on all of their security measures (SD game playing, Friend Codes, slow internet browser due to extra security screening...), I very much doubt they'd ever find a good way to link one Wii to one DS security-wise.
I don't know if you view that as enough evidence of it being impossible to share points, but it at least makes it look pretty darn close to it, and it's really not worth the bother.

I bet nobody would even be complaining about this if Nintendo had just decided to come out with DS Points and sold them alongside the Wii Points. They make one little manufacturing and marketing decision, and suddenly people think they're doing something stupid! I just don't get that point of view. We should be happy for new download options and simple-to-use points cards! Would you really want to go to a store for Wii points and find that they were out, but they did have DS points in stock? At least this way, that can't happen!

"Now, if you give me a legitimate reason why it would be impossible to share points, I might take it back."

Because Ninty is a security freak and doesn't want do deal with hordes of nerds yelling and complaining when their accounts get hacked (probably because they used bad/easy to hack passwords) and they lose their points.

By tying points to 1 individual system, which they currently do with your Wii, that makes that nearly impossible.

"I bet nobody would even be complaining about this if Nintendo had just decided to come out with DS Points and sold them alongside the Wii."

Were talking about gaming nerds here, we complain about everything.

Yeah, they did it to make money, but also for security. This way a device can only access points that were registered on that device, so it's not likely anyone will be able to guess your password, register their DS to someone else's Nintendo account and drain all your points kind of thing... You need the device that the points were registered with to access them.

If there is a DSiVC, it'll probably do vintage handheld systems, GB, GBA, GG, and such... or so I'd think. Which would be awesome, yet sad that it would mean no GB/GBA games on Wii's VC.

@Peznaze & Kriqz: Truer words have never been spoken before, thank you.

Either way, I don't really care. I use my Visa whenever I need points - way much cheaper and easier for me.

I'm surprised so many people are upset about this. Do that many of you use the cards? I just bought one for the first time this week because it was the first time I've actually found them in a store (my local blockbuster has them after reorganizing the store). The only benefit I see for actually going out and buying one of these is they're cheaper than using a credit card on your Wii from home. Cards are less than the face value of the card even with the tax (2000pts = $19.98) while points on the console are the exact amount you're buying plus tax (2000pts = $20.12). Thats the one benefit, which is probably pretty much moot once you figure in that you've gotta drive to a store to get one. Then there's all of that packaging to hold a string of digits, which doesn't sit well with my environmentally concerned conscience. Just buy the points you need on each system that you need it on.
What I really don't get is why everyone thinks that not being able to transfer the points around is stupid. How did you think they would do this exactly? Where does this happen already that you expect it to happen in this situation? You redeem a point card on one system or the other, how exactly are you supposed to share them between systems? Through WiFi. Great. How's that work? What happens when the signal is interrupted? What happens when you turn the DSi off mid transfer? Whay are you buying cards again, anyway? OK, so you get a card as a gift in a high denomination. Maybe that would be a pain.
I see no problem with the fact that the points are non transferable between the two systems once they're redeemed. Stupid would be if they made a completely different card that only worked with the DSi.
Sorry for the wall of text. I'll be more concise next time. Promise

This can only encourage piracy...

I think breathing encourages piracy.

49. LucBernard

ah i see im going to guess you have an idea you would like to try if dsware comes

anyways i notice the sound speakers are sort of similiar to psp i hope the sound isn't so low that youhave to turn it up full volume

@ 57. Stuffgamer1
I wasn't asking Nintendo. Of course they're gonna be okay with us having to spend more money on them.

And personally, I think Nintendo's trying way too hard to be idiot-proof. In effect, they're also being smart-proof. To me, Nintendo's choice in tactics is like if McDonald's had to force people to sign a waiver any time somebody asked for hot coffee. Really, do you guys (again, not Nintendo) honestly believe this is the best possible solution?

It's not a stupid move, they get you to buy independant points for each console xD which is in fact a well thought move from them.

It's sad for us however that we will have to feed two hungry consoles of points!, also i wonder if you will be able to buy these with credit cards for the DSi, because not everyone get stupid "nintendo points" cards they are not sold out of the US! (and i assume Europe and Australia?)

C'mon Nintendo is it really that hard to make points work on both ends [WII DSi]

THIS IS BUNK!!!!!

This is not a problem for me, I don't care for DS Ware.

I dont care for WiiWare so i'm all good!!!