Club Nintendo

 

Today was a highly anticipated day for me as I anxiously awaited the arrival of my brand new Nintendo DSi.  In a nutshell the improved sleek design is in my opinion a dramatic overall improvement over the last DS, not so much in its esthetic, but rather its functionality.  The DS has now caught up to its gaming counterparts, and surpassed them in some ways, with the addition of 2 cameras, SD card support, an online store, music player, and a streamlined interface.  At the end of the day it still is a Nintendo DS (minus the GBA back-compat support), but it is the best DS you can buy.

I once owned an original Nintendo DS (the 'fat' one), and when I did I jumped through all of Nintendo's online hoops that they had set up at the time.  Fast forward a few years later with my new DSi in hand, and I decide to see what is the current state of their websites.  Even though I had not logged on in years it still retained my account which I originally signed up for December 17, 2005!  All of my account info was there, but now it has been transferred to there latest online portal, Club Nintendo.

So what is the deal with Club Nintendo?  When you purchase Nintendo goods, you earn 'coins' which can be redeemed for neat Nintendo prizes!  For me this is Nintendo's counterpart to Microsoft's Gamerscore.  By registering my DSi I earned a pile of coins, I also earned for all the registrations I signed up for my first time a round with the DS.  At the end of the day I am near 'Gold' status which will earn myself some sort of prize.  My next purchase will put me over the top.  A dangerous thing I see these coins being.

All in all it was an interesting Nintendo day.  After all my previous Nintendo history of the SNES, N64, GameBoy, DS, and now the DSi, I will see if I can make Nintendo stick around my house for a while.  After all, I have some coins to earn!

Club Nintendo | Nintendo Member Rewards

-SG