An early reward

Unlike with the arrival of Wii, Nintendo gamers have an important choice to make when picking up a Wii U — Premium or Basic? Various factors dictate the final decision, and perhaps one is the Nintendo Network Premium promotion, which gives those with the black model points for Wii U eShop purchases. If you build up enough of these points you'll receive a code for a £5/$5/€5 discount that can be used on the Wii U or 3DS eShop.

The website that allows you to login, track access and redeem your rewards is now live — simply visit https://p.nintendo.net/premium/ and login using your Nintendo Network ID and password. Although the front page suggests that this is the European version, a member of the Nintendo Life team in the U.S. has successfully logged in at this site, with it picking up his location details from the ID. It's been calculated that UK gamers, for example, will need to spend around £63 to be eligible for their discount, but if you have passed the threshold you'll receive your discount code right away once you log in.

While the discount code can be used on both the Wii U and 3DS eShop services, it's important to note that only content purchased on the Wii U platform contributes to your points total. It's also confirmed that purchases from the Wii Shop in the Wii U's backward compatible mode are also ineligible. On the plus side, any download purchase from the Wii U eShop — including DLC and the redemption of download codes — does count towards your tally, helping you get to a discount all the quicker.

So there you go, let us know how your quest for premium points is going in the comments below.