Topic: Wii Points the new Air Miles?

[Kairon]

We've already imagined Nintendo including free NES downloads as pre-order bonuses for games, but perhaps Nintendo will use codes that give you Wii Points to incentivize purchases? Also, to encourage buying things new versus buying things used.

Imagine:

Pre-order of Super Mario Galaxy ............................... (free download of Super Mario Bros. Arcade)
Purchase of any brand new Wii title ......................... 150 Wii Points
Purchase of any first or third party accessory ........... 100 Wii Points
Purchase of assorted Nintendo-related collectibles .. 50 Wii Points
Purchase of Pokemon CCG Booster Card Pack .......... 25 Wii Points
Purchase of assorted Nintendo-related candy .......... 10 Wii Points

So far pretty predictable right? But what about tie-ins at McDonalds, or with Snapple, or other brands?

Common Instant-Win McDonald's Game Piece ......... 500 Wii Points
Common Winning Snapple Pop Cap ......................... 25 Wii Points
Inside every box of Life cereal ................................. 50 Wii Points
Inside every fruit-by-the-foot wrapper ..................... 3 Wii Points

Or how about as rewards for those credit-like/debit cards that are aimed towards kids, and that parents deposit money into and control?

Never hitting your spending limit for three months .. 1000 Wii Points

These could be air miles... for kids! A great way to conduct microtransactions with your customers in an invisible and painless manner!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[ProfessorCFK]

$0.25 for a pokemon trading card pack would be a steal!  They retail for $3.29.  People would go out and just buy Wii points and get packs that way.

[GoldenPhoenix]

My prediction is:

Nintendo won't do any kind of promotion with Wi points just like Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo will charge for Wii points and may give "Deals" on it if you buy X number of points but beyond that there is no indication they will do anything more unless the VC sales start hurting.

[Kairon]

No, that means that for every Pokemon Game Pak you buy, you get a code that you can edeem for 25 free WiiPoints... the other way around, lol.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: VGrevolution
My prediction is:

Nintendo won't do any kind of promotion with Wi points just like Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo will charge for Wii points and may give "Deals" on it if you buy X number of points but beyond that there is no indication they will do anything more unless the VC sales start hurting.

Probably true... but isn't it fun to speculate!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon

Quote
Originally posted by: VGrevolution
My prediction is:

Nintendo won't do any kind of promotion with Wi points just like Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo will charge for Wii points and may give "Deals" on it if you buy X number of points but beyond that there is no indication they will do anything more unless the VC sales start hurting.

Probably true... but isn't it fun to speculate!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Definately and I would love to see that happen, but so far Nintendo doesn't seem to be in the giving mood hehe . But hey I hope I am wrong, and I guess there is a chance of it since it appears most VC games will be no frills added, which creates an opening to use games as incentives from it since they have such low production costs.

[Kairon]

And the advantage is that this is a way that you can sell microtransactions to kids and those without credit cards since they don't need to deal with you directly, they can go through another product and compensate you through deals like that.

Like how air-miles work: airlines sell the miles at a bulk rate to other companies that use them in promotions, then the customers redeem those miles, which in truth have already been paid for by the company that was in the middle! The customer gets drawn in to buying the product, the middle company gets more sales, and the original company gets paid anyways, as well as luring more attention from those who wouldn't normally consider them!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[IceCold]

We've talked about this before, I think - some good ideas, though.. When the online games start coming in, they could even have tournaments, and the winners get Wii Points.

[Arbok]

It would probably be in Nintendo's best interest to give out a few. Not enough to buy a game, persay, but enough to convince the consumer that "well I might as well spend these on something" which could then introduce them to the whole experience and, from Nintendo's perspective, hopefully use it again.

[wandering]

I think the problem with your scheme, kairon, is that hardcore gamers could buy a bunch of Wii games and then snap up all the good VC games for free. Nintendo wouldn't want that. So I'd guess, if such a thing would come to be, that there would be the following restrictions:

1. wiipoints would only be rewarded for virtual console purchases.
2. Especially good games would be "blacked out"from free wiipoints.

Quote
So far pretty predictable right? But what about tie-ins at McDonalds, or with Snapple, or other brands?

But then someone might buy thousands of dollars worth of Healthy Choice pudding just for the Wiipoints....

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: wandering
I think the problem with your scheme, kairon, is that hardcore gamers could buy a bunch of Wii games and then snap up all the good VC games for free. Nintendo wouldn't want that. So I'd guess, if such a thing would come to be, that there would be the following restrictions:

1. wiipoints would only be rewarded for virtual console purchases.
2. Especially good games would be "blacked out"from free wiipoints.

Quote
So far pretty predictable right? But what about tie-ins at McDonalds, or with Snapple, or other brands?

But then someone might buy thousands of dollars worth of Healthy Choice pudding just for the Wiipoints....

Hmmm... good point about hardcore gamers getting free stuff, we don't want that do we? Maybe no Wii Points for game purchases?

But that Healthy Choice pudding? A thing of beauty... especially since Healthy Choice will have purchased the Wii Points from Nintendo already, so Nintendo already got paid anyways.

And I practically live on Healthy Choice in my dorms... this'd be good news for me.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

[Ceric]

It would happen everywhere but the US.  Why?  Nintendo Promotional people here hate the customers and love the journalists.

[Blue Plant]

Blacked out Wii Points?  Not with Nintendo's new Capital Fun cards!  It's in your wallet?!

But yeah, it is fun to dream about the promos NOA could do.  It's at least something, considering all the cool goodies the Japanese get.

[King of Twitch]

I'd like Wii points plastered everywhere. It'd be much better than "LOOK INSIDE THIS BOX TO WIN A FREEEEE CHANCE TO WIN THE POSSIBILITY OF MAYBE WINNING A FREE SYSTEM! or maybe get second place and win some crap!" But if VC sales take off, I expect this to never see the light of day.

[KDR_11k]

I hope NoE will allow using star points 1:1 as Wii points (since a NES game costs 500 points and a new game gives 250 points, hardware gives 500 points that would work pretty well), though I have a feeling they won't, mostly because they give you 5 stars per visit to their website. I have about 3000 star points on my account.

Well, at least I hope they'll switch over from giving out star points to giving out Wii points with hardware and games.

[JonLeung]

I don't think they'd give away points for third-party accessories (not all of them are licensed, and it would provide incentive to buy first-party versions if the first-party ones were the only ones with WiiPoints).

Also, I see no mention of WiiPoints given out with subscriptions to Nintendo Power or the purchase of Official Nintendo Power Player's Guides.  The Nintendo Power one in particular seems the most likely.