Do you ever get the urge to put, say, just outright buy an NES game on the Virtual Console without leaving extra money lying around on your Wii in the form of points? If so, too bad. Suffer.There's a lot to love about the Virtual Console (we've downloaded several of the reasons), but the system for adding points is not one of them. Does it bother you that you must add funds in set increments? Is it time for everyone to get away from these point systems and buying blocks and just let us perform direct dollar-for-dollar transactions? It's not like they're fooling us. Even if converting points-to-dollars required a complex mathematical formula, we'd be able to perform it lightning fast. After all, we're serious fans here. Or do you feel it's a non-issue? It's likely that we'll spend the points anyway. We did mention that we're serious fans, right?













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-22-2007 @ 9:14AM
Jebus Crust said...
Microsoft and Nintendo both have these archaic points systems.
Sony, does not. They let you use real money.
But Sony is the one who lies and cheats all of the time, right BillGatesBendOverBoys and PlumberBoys?
Have fun waiting for an allready complete SSBB until Nintendo "feels" like releasing it.
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5-22-2007 @ 9:15AM
Almadi said...
No, the system is fine as it is. Giving your kids a $20 Wii VC card is not like giving them a TWO THOUSAND POINTS !!! card.
I am not bribing my kid....but the illusion of a big reward is sure helping my monthly budget.
As for me, here is a list of top Shoot-em-ups that should be on the VC:
http://madiart.blogspot.com/
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5-22-2007 @ 9:39AM
Neal Eaton said...
RE: #1
I am not sure that I understand your point...Micorsoft points are not a 1 to 1 conversion into points (I think it is something like 80ยข per point...always leaving you with leftover points)...but Nintendo's points are $1 per point. So whilie I get what you are implying, I am not sure that I totally get what you are trying to say.
With this point system...at least people who do not have a credit card can go into a store and pick up points to download some games. What does Sony do to offer the same?
I am OK with the points system...as I said above at least it is a 1 to 1 conversion.
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5-22-2007 @ 10:10AM
steve said...
I don't mind it. I'll end up buying something later. I would hate pulling out the wallet for each of the 20 VC games I have. Instead I have just put in the code on my Wii Point Cards
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http://www.howtogetfreewiipoints.com
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5-22-2007 @ 10:11AM
ConstyXIV said...
Microsoft and Sony both have similar systems (MS Points and the PSN Wallet) that only let you dump in money in set increments. I believe it has something to do with credit card companies' rates on smaller vs bigger transactions.
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5-22-2007 @ 10:17AM
Grey Acumen said...
Eh, I don't mind the point system, but they really do need to set it up like a gift card where you can have it filled at a store or something with a specific 100 increment amount. Online they should get rid of the 5000 increment and put a 100 in its place.
They're actually losing a lot of my business at least. I hate having extra points lying around, so unless I come up with a specific number of games that total up to an even wiipoint increment, I simply wont buy any of them.
Also, they really do need just a 5 even a 3 minute demo, just so I can see how the game and controls feel. The graphics are secondary, and a plot or lack of it doesn't make it or break it, but if the controls and game mechanics are too frustrating, I wont bother with it.
The worst part is I know there are a lot of classic games that get really goo reviews and may even deserve them, but I simply don't like. Trying to figure out which ones are going to be ones I like from a couple paragraphs of text just doesn't cut it.
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5-22-2007 @ 10:22AM
DDMC said...
One thing to remember is that not everyone uses Dollars (and lots of folks use Dollars that are of different values). The one thing that the 'points' system does is that it lets the vendor create a one-size-fits-all store and not have to deal will a million different currencies and I think points is easier for international users than if everything is listed in US dollars -- or yen ;-)
With the current setup, all nintendo needs to do with the is to ensure that the points are roughly equivalent amount in the different currencies. While I currently am paying 10% more for points than US customers (due to the climb the Canadian dollar is on), this system is likely fairer than if Nintendo had online stores set up for different currencies. (For example, Itunes prices are all over the map globally.) Additionally, since there is just one international online store, I guess if paying 10% really bugged me I could order some points cards from some online store in the US and have them shipped to me.
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5-22-2007 @ 10:26AM
Glich said...
AH welcome to the wonderful world of micro-trascations where Visa and Master card and amex have made it less then profitable to process a credit card for less then $10 and discover for less then $15. Its better to buy points then have to buy 2-3 games at the same time or for Nintendo to jack up the price another 5-7% or so to cover processing costs.
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5-22-2007 @ 10:32AM
jojonyc said...
also the point system allows for price increases without changing the listed (and they hope perceived) cost. a 500 point game can still be a 500 point game 5 years from now, when a 2000 point card costs $30 or $35.
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5-22-2007 @ 11:08AM
AJ Vaynerchuk said...
I guess it is tough to complain because thats how this kind of thing has been done for quite some time now. If I had a choice, of course I would rather buy one VC title at a time, but alas, such is life.
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5-22-2007 @ 11:22AM
Jamar said...
I don't bother with VC- I have a disc pre-burned with a load of ROMs and emulators for the Wii (well, it's for the GC, but it still works). I honestly would go for VC... if the Shopping channel on my Wii worked. It just times out or keeps trying and trying and I have to reset the thing eventually (the only time it worked was a couple days after I first bought the thing- I quickly took the chance to download the Everybody Votes and the internet channel and it never worked again).
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5-22-2007 @ 1:04PM
vidGuy said...
Didn't we discuss this in a warm up before? I'm not sure but it seems familiar...
No, the system doesn't bother me at all. Actually, I strongly prefer the way it is. I can use my credit card to buy a fixed amount of points, and anyone else in the house can buy games ONLY UP TO that amount. If it was pay-per-game, the system would likely be tied to a credit card. Anyone could then log on and download games, charging my card automatically.
Even if it wasn't set up like that, I like being able to log in and see I have points left over that I forgot about. I already paid for them, but it's almost like I'm getting them free because I didn't expect them to be there.
$20 minimum is fine by me. I could only see it being a problem if there's less than $20 worth of downloads you want, total, for the life of the Wii. I find that situation being true for anyone hard to believe.
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5-22-2007 @ 1:05PM
vidGuy said...
Jamar, that connection problem is fairly common, as is the solution. Change the channel on your wireless router.
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5-22-2007 @ 1:17PM
Timerider said...
I was just thinking about this yesterday.
When I bought Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario Bros., I spend $20 on points for $15 worth of games. I know I can use the 500 points left over on something else later. But I need to go over to my friend's house to download games.
Now I was thinking about getting Blazing Lasers, but thats 600 points. So I would need to buy at least another $10 worth of point just to get it.
So I'm always going to have to buy more points than I need.
Points are good for buying multiple games. But if you just want one, your screwed.
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5-22-2007 @ 1:49PM
joel.ms1 said...
I for one am very upset about the point system. It is archaic and completely unnecessary.
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5-22-2007 @ 3:13PM
LandoX said...
I think that the Wii Points cards should be reloadable, like a gift card at Wal-Mart or something. Not to mention the fact that Wii Points are hard to come by in some areas, such as mine. I don't want to have to hunt one down just so I can buy and overpriced Genesis game. (Speaking of the prices, they need to cut them in half. Rampage World Tour (yes, an N64/PSX game) goes for $5 on Marketplace and PSN.)
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5-22-2007 @ 5:01PM
Abscissa said...
"Does it bother you that you must add funds in set increments? Is it time for everyone to get away from these point systems and buying blocks and just let us perform direct dollar-for-dollar transactions?"
Absolutely. I'm sticking with emulators and actual carts until they get rid of that crap.
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5-22-2007 @ 5:16PM
Timerider said...
What they should do is still offer the 2000 point cards in stores. But you could buy points in 100 point increments with a credit card on the shop channel so you can choose how much you want.
Like for a 600 point TG16 game or 800 point Genesis game and not have 400 or 200 points left over that you can't use until you buy more.
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5-22-2007 @ 8:43PM
kazooieb said...
I don't know if many people have already said this, but the reason they don't dollars and cents is because currency changes from country to country. The cost in points is the same for every country right now. Apparently, Nintendo is too lazy to convert dollars to pounds and whatnot.
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5-23-2007 @ 4:24AM
Adrian said...
keep in mind all the countryes that don't use usd dollars as money, thats why they use wii points.
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5-23-2007 @ 10:58AM
(01) said...
Adrian, sorry, but you're wrong. The conversion of 100 points=$1 to 100 points = 2 Euro's isn't rocket science. They use the point system because, without careful planning, you'll ALWAYS have 100 or 200 points left over, always forcing you to buy more than you need. It's like how hot-dogs come in packs of 6 and buns come in packs of 8... It would make more sense to simply let us buy the game for $5 dollars and eliminate point systems all together
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5-24-2007 @ 3:12AM
JC Fletcher said...
You guys are all sticking up for Nintendo, but I sure didn't feel well-taken-care-of when I bought 1000 Wii Points and then downloaded Dragon's Curse.
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