Club Nintendo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Club Nintendo is the name of several publications and programs by Nintendo.

1 Club Nintendo México
2 Club Nintendo Japan
3 Club Nintendo Europe
- 3.1 Magazine
- 3.2 Nintendo VIP 24:7
4 External links

[edit] Club Nintendo México

In Mexico and Latin America, Club Nintendo is the name of the official Nintendo magazine, essentially the Spanish-language equivalent of Nintendo Power.

It was founded in 1991 by Jose Sierra and Gustavo Rodriguez(Gus). Last year the magazine celebrated its 15th anniversary. In the anniversary celebration, they gave away Wii systems to a few people who assisted to the event.

[edit] Club Nintendo Japan

Club Nintendo (Japanese: クラブニンテンド) is an official Nintendo club for Japanese fans. Membership is given as a type of commodity. Anyone who lives in Japan can eventually receive membership if the person gathers a certain amount of points which can be gained by purchasing and registering games published by Nintendo. They often receive nice and exclusive gifts from Nintendo, such as Wii remotes with television remote functionality, personalized imprints of their favorite Mii characters onto their Wii remotes, and exclusive & unreleased games.

Points contained on a Nintendo Club account can also be transferred onto a Wii Shop account in order to download additional bonuses from Nintendo's Virtual Console store.

[edit] Club Nintendo Europe

[edit] Magazine

In Europe, Club Nintendo was the name of 3 magazines released starting in 1989. The European version was published in several languages, and there were separate publications for Germany, Scandinavia and Finland. All but the German version were later discontinued and eventually replaced[1].

[edit] Nintendo VIP 24:7

Club Nintendo

Nintendo VIP 24:7 was launched on May 3, 2002 to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo GameCube in europe. It promised exclusive news, reviews, previews and forums. However often because released titles are delayed in European countries (often to sort out translations) the exclusive features could be found elsewhere on the internet corresponding to the American release. [2]

To coincide with the release of the Wii Nintendo Europe's VIP 24:7 service has been renamed to Club Nintendo and has adopted the Club nintendo japan logo.

Club Nintendo of Europe Club Nintendo of Europe features a star point system where members can exchange stars earnt by registering games and consoles for assets in the Stars Catalogue. Users may enter Pin codes found on Nintendo VIP 24:7 inserts, included free with 1st party games and hardware to earn stars. These can range from 250 - 1000 stars. Upon registering as a member on Nintendo of Europe, you are rewarded with 200 stars. Visiting Nintendo of Europe daily will earn you 5 stars per day. Encouraging other people to register with Nintendo of Europe earns users 250 stars per sign-up. [3]

The assets in the star catalogue include: games, hardware, posters, keyrings, clothing, bonus discs, bookmarks, calenders, soundtrack discs and Nintendo mobile ringtones. Unfortunately for some countries within Nintendo of Europe, the updating of the Stars Catalogue can be of a rarity due to high expenses of importing assets. [4]

Recently, after months of speculation it has now been confirmed that there will be a way of exchanging stars, for Wii Points in a similar fashion to Club Nintendo japan. It is unknown when this service will be introduced[5].

In March 2007 during a test of the new system, 1000 wii points accidentally appeared in the stars catalogue for a price of 789 stars. Nintendo Europe have apologised for this and has offered anyone who purchased these either 1000 Wii points or a refund of their stars. [6]