Post by: famicomplicated on December 17, 2009, 05:37:56 PM
There has been some recent debate around the web about the necessity of an integrated online achievements system for either the Wii or Nintendos next console. Well, Im here to say that in a way we already have the groundwork for a potentially awesome system, that unlike the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 gives real products to the customer - Club Nintendo!
OK, so earning coins for buying products which you can exchange for gifts is not comparable to the achievements / trophies systems on the other consoles, but I think its a great stepping stone for the next console.
Imagine this. Upon inserting your newly-bought game into your Wii HD, the console recognizes it and asks you if you want to register it with Club Nintendo. You agree, and get 500 coins - all without leaving the disk channel.
Now imagine an unlock system like the one in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for every single game. Now, your next 500 coins will have to be earned by meeting certain tasks in the game. You beat New Super Mario Bros. Wii 2 HD: Yoshis Safari and you get 50 coins and the ability to play as Luigi; you collect all the stars with your eyes closed, and you get 100 coins and a new title screen.
Im talking about unlocks and coins (basically achievement points) being tied together. You get an in-game reward and a real world reward at the same time imagine the joy!
Not only will you feel like playing games for the sake of showing your friends your coin stash, but youll be able to get real stuff to play too.
Imagine collecting enough coins in Starfox Wii HD, exchanging them for Nintendo Points, and buying the N64 version on Virtual Console. Im pretty sure a system like this would get all sorts of gamers onto Nintendos console. After all, not everyone likes to play games just for achievements points, but Im pretty sure anyone would play games to completion to get presents, downloadable games, and Virtual Console titles.
Club Nintendo already exists in every major region across the world, with certain differences in the gifts available. This doesnt have to change. What does have to change is the way we can access, earn and exchange the coins/stars it has to be unified and put to good use.
The current problem with Nintendo's setup is that the only way to earn presents from Club Nintendo is to just spend more money on games. The problem with the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 achievement systems is that they are ultimately an utter a waste of time, other than for bragging rights.
If you put these two systems together, gamers would have great reasons to play games to completion, buy more games, and brag to their friends (if you like that kind of thing). In the process, they would get some awesome swag and/or games that they will have earned thanks to their own skill and determination.
I know the chances of this dream scenario happening are slim, but even if we get a half-baked Nintendofied version of this system, it would be pretty awesome.
Personally, Id rather get a Mario hat than a platinum trophy any day of the week.
Post by: MegaByte on December 18, 2009, 02:33:32 AM
Post by: famicomplicated on December 18, 2009, 02:45:04 AM
But seriously though, isn't even that better than a number on a server?
I bet XBox fans would love some Halo postcards for collecting all those skulls!
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on December 18, 2009, 02:50:17 AM
But I like the idea and think we were actually were talking about something like this in the Club Nintendo thread. But as usual, since it makes sense, it probably won't happen.
Post by: Guitar Smasher on December 18, 2009, 02:56:27 AM
Post by: MegaByte on December 18, 2009, 02:58:34 AM
One problem is that Nintendo would have to start letting you register 3rd party games too.
Not much of a problem. Nintendo has always let you register third-party games in Japan.
Post by: broodwars on December 18, 2009, 02:58:57 AM
1. Nintendo is an incredibly cheap company that won't do anything if it doesn't return a profit. If they start offering something that can be monetized for performing in-game tasks, pretty soon dedicated gamers flooding their system with coins would force them to start inflating the cost of their cheap Club Nintendo crap (more on that in a moment). As this would lock-out "less dedicated gamers", like their current Wii audience, from being able to acquire these goods as well, they wouldn't consider it the best use of their resources.
2. Nintendo has yet to put up anything worthwhile on Club Nintendo in North America. Our latest update in this second year of the service's life was envelopes and folders. Somehow I think when there's a tangible reward for doing these in-game tasks, gamers probably want to be rewarded with something that's actually worth obtaining. I don't think a bunch of people suddenly having a lot of spending power on Club Nintendo is going to get Nintendo to start putting out "the good stuff" on the service as well.
3. As Miyamoto just stated in the Edge Interview, Nintendo isn't interested in taking anything their competition does and making it better. He's also stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't like achievements.
Post by: NWR_pap64 on December 18, 2009, 03:16:52 AM
For this idea to work, the rewards have to be worthwhile. Like its been mentioned, the rewards are extremely weak right now, with the Gold and Platinum rewards being the most significant in terms of value. If Nintendo wants more people to join Club Nintendo they will have to start opening their wallets and offering good stuff.
Post by: famicomplicated on December 18, 2009, 03:17:33 AM
That could be true, but that's why I proposed that there still be points obtained for just "sticking the disk in".
1. Nintendo is an incredibly cheap company that won't do anything if it doesn't return a profit. If they start offering something that can be monetized for performing in-game tasks, pretty soon dedicated gamers flooding their system with coins would force them to start inflating the cost of their cheap Club Nintendo crap (more on that in a moment). As this would lock-out "less dedicated gamers", like their current Wii audience, from being able to acquire these goods as well, they wouldn't consider it the best use of their resources.
The deicated gamers would be able to scoop more coins for actually completing the games etc.
I agree Nintendo are cheap, that's why if they ever did anything like this it would probably be more like 950 coins for just buying the game, 50 earned through gameplay!!
2. Nintendo has yet to put up anything worthwhile on Club Nintendo in North America. Our latest update in this second year of the service's life was envelopes and folders. Somehow I think when there's a tangible reward for doing these in-game tasks, gamers probably want to be rewarded with something that's actually worth obtaining. I don't think a bunch of people suddenly having a lot of spending power on Club Nintendo is going to get Nintendo to start putting out "the good stuff" on the service as well.No arguments there, Club Nintendo Japan is clearly the leader in that regard. But still my point stands, isn't anything "real" better than just points?
One point I didn't mention in the article is that I think Nintendo should stop resetting the coins every year and just let people accumulate them over time. This way the big, expensive items are reachable to anyone given enough time.
3. As Miyamoto just stated in the Edge Interview, Nintendo isn't interested in taking anything their competition does and making it better. He's also stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't like achievements.Yeah, well - let's just file this blog under "pipe dream" for now, eh....
Post by: MegaByte on December 18, 2009, 03:25:59 AM
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on December 18, 2009, 03:38:51 AM
that way you have your "door" prizes for just buying and registering games, and then you have your "back room" prizes for actually playing and completing all the games(registered/unregistered, bought/rented/borrowed) that you insert in your system.
Post by: DAaaMan64 on December 18, 2009, 06:46:23 AM
Post by: broodwars on December 18, 2009, 06:53:54 AM
If Nintendo were to do something like this I'm sure they would separate the points into Club Points and Game Points and probably have a completely different set of prizes for Gamer Points.
Knowing Nintendo, if they did that I'm sure the fantastic prizes you'd get with your "Game Points" would include all of the following: wallpapers.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on December 18, 2009, 12:12:34 PM
Post by: AV on December 18, 2009, 12:25:46 PM
Post by: Rize on December 18, 2009, 03:31:00 PM
However, Microsoft and Sony do not allow suppressing the achievement messages and it's pretty clear why. Achievements encourage people to buy and play more games, and also to buy games for a particular platform. I'm not immune as I will prefer a 360 game to a PS3 game if all else is equal (I don't give two ***** about PS3 trophies). It would be nice if they would at least let you suppress the achievement messages while in the game and then give you a summary of your latest achievement the next time you hit the dashboard. It would also be nice if I had a million dollars.
Post by: vudu on December 18, 2009, 04:02:23 PM
BTW, I should mention that Japan's Club Nintendo works quite differently from the one in the US. Besides the fact that you can register third-party games (and besides the fact that they get actual desirable stuff), there's also an expiration date for the registration. The closer to release that you register, the more points you get, and after a certain amount of time, you don't get anything.
Um, that's that way it works in the US.
Post by: MegaByte on December 18, 2009, 04:19:52 PM
Post by: vudu on December 18, 2009, 04:35:10 PM
If you register the game within the first few weeks (or maybe month; I'm not sure about the exact time limit) you get an extra 10 coins. You might have to indicate you "intend to buy" on the website before the game's release; I'm not sure.
If you don't register a game within 5 years of its release you don't get any coins for it. I've signed up for a few "intend to buys" but haven't bought the game yet. These games now appear in my To-Do list with an expiration of 5 years since the game released (ex. 5/18/2014 for Punch-Out!! and 8/24/2014 for Metroid Prime Trilogy). My assumption is that even if I didn't choose "intend to buy" this 5 year limit would still apply.
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on December 18, 2009, 05:34:09 PM
Post by: famicomplicated on December 18, 2009, 09:09:39 PM
You watch a trailer for a game, then it asks you if you intend to buy it - fast and simple.
I think Nintendo of Europe even gave/gives you stars for logging onto the website everyday, why not apply that to the Nintendo channel?
I also think getting the "soccer moms" online is a tricky task, why not include a simple setup wizard when you first turn on a Wii? I can't believe they haven't done something like that already.
The Ambassador programme seems like a very convoluted way of getting them online IMO.
Anyway, the more I think about it, the more I feel all this could "easily" be done with a firmware update.
I'll hazard a guess at firmware 6.0.
In 2014.
Post by: Stratos on December 22, 2009, 04:43:35 AM
So we should all click on the intend to buys just in case we eventually purchase the game....
I do that. ;D
Post by: famicomplicated on December 25, 2009, 03:09:37 AM
So we should all click on the intend to buys just in case we eventually purchase the game....
I do that. ;D
On the Nintendo Europe site they state that if you click "intend to buy" on 3 games and don't ultimately buy/register them, you'll be banned from "intending" in the future!
Also there is a time limit after a game is released (I think it's 2/3 weeks) so after that period you can't intend to buy anymore.
Is that not the case on the US one?
It's crazy that each region has different points systems, gifts and rules!
Post by: Stratos on December 25, 2009, 05:45:15 AM
So we should all click on the intend to buys just in case we eventually purchase the game....
I do that. ;D
On the Nintendo Europe site they state that if you click "intend to buy" on 3 games and don't ultimately buy/register them, you'll be banned from "intending" in the future!
Also there is a time limit after a game is released (I think it's 2/3 weeks) so after that period you can't intend to buy anymore.
Is that not the case on the US one?
It's crazy that each region has different points systems, gifts and rules!
You have until just before the game launches to click intend to buy. so for the two weeks before launch it is available.
Post by: Mop it up on December 25, 2009, 06:58:47 PM
On the Nintendo Europe site they state that if you click "intend to buy" on 3 games and don't ultimately buy/register them, you'll be banned from "intending" in the future!I haven't seen any warning on the US Club Nintendo site about intending to buy too many games and not registering them.
Also there is a time limit after a game is released (I think it's 2/3 weeks) so after that period you can't intend to buy anymore.
Is that not the case on the US one?
I think the "Intend to Buy" appears one month before a game is released and ends one week before it is released, but there isn't anything available right now so I can't double check.
