Exchange 'Stars' for Wii points in UK

by James Ransom-Wiley { Dec 8th 2006 at 6:15PM }

are you more of a green star or gold star?

UK Nintendo membership holders will finally be able to put their 'Stars' to good use. Earned via codes packaged with Nintendo hardware and software sold in the UK, Stars have been useless (redeemed for wallpaper) until now. Nintendo has announced it will be adding Wii points to the Stars Catalogue.

By linking a Wii Shop Channel account to an online Nintendo membership, Wii owners will soon be able to put their Stars toward Virtual Console purchases (by way of Wii points). But it gets better: completing a survey upon purchasing a VC title will transfer some new Stars back to your membership. It's almost like the VC games are paying for themselves -- but not quite. We're willing to bet the 'Stars to Wii points' exchange rate ain't so hot.

Tags: Virtual Console, VirtualConsole, Wii Points, Wii Shop Channel, WiiPoints, WiiShopChannel

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andrew Yoon @ Dec 8th 2006 5:19PM

And Nintendo of America constantly ranks in last place in the swag-awarding arena. Why do the Japanese and European markets get bonuses for being Nintendo fanboys, while Americans continue to get ignored? I've registered dozens of products. I hope maybe NOA will come around.

Splinter @ Dec 8th 2006 6:33PM

The only swag deal ive ever seen was with Kirby Canvas Curse (KKK 0_o) where they were offering a free pink stylus.

Wow. Aint that something.

Ritz @ Dec 8th 2006 6:33PM

Agreed, Andrew.

I have so much registered with Nintendo, and have even recieved a few bonus's like a Metroid Prime 2 demo disk... but for the most part its not much compared to Nintendo's club thing in Japan =(

Kevin @ Dec 8th 2006 6:33PM

Still waiting for NOA to catch a break...

European Wii's Wii Sports even came in a DVD case.

White Cloud @ Dec 8th 2006 6:45PM

Yeah, maybe it's all good now, but for years the rewards have hardly been worth it, the best I could find were some crappy songs. About time Nintendo UK provides an incentive to register those stars.

bill pullman @ Dec 8th 2006 6:47PM

the UK seems to get the ass-end of gaming, when it comes to the 50hz thing, later releases, etc... congrats on getting something kinda cool, you guys.

Bob King Neverland III @ Dec 8th 2006 6:50PM

Thanks Nintendo, but I'll stick with my ROMs and usb-psx adapter.

Vince @ Dec 8th 2006 6:51PM

But stars is all we have. :(
oh... and DVD cases.

At least we won the stars!

...and another wait, till March.

LuigiHann @ Dec 8th 2006 6:51PM

I wish the "three free Nintendo Power issues" offer would reset once in a while... I've registered so many things I could easily have a constant free subscription...
Come on NoA, give me something...
Anybody else notice that "Sorry, special content areas temporarily unavailable" message on VC games? I wonder if they have anything planned to fill that space...

Marc @ Dec 8th 2006 6:52PM

Since when does UK equal Europe? The other countries covered by nintendo-europe.com have the same "Nintendo VIP 24/7" system too you know...

Zozart @ Dec 8th 2006 6:54PM

Don't complain, Americans: we do have to pay that European premium after all.

Instead of moaning about how we get something you don't, you could give us a congratulations, even if it is a lame, lame consolation for the stupid prices we have to pay. :)

Blah @ Dec 8th 2006 7:00PM

Actually, 1 star equals 1 Wii Point. And the Star system isn't just for the UK, but for pretty much all European countries. You get 500 Stars for a hardware registration, you get 250 points for a game and you get 5 stars everytime you visit the site, though you can only register 1 copy of a game. The Japanese have this system too, but they can buy all kinds of cool swag with it, which only sometimes comes to Europe, like Miyamoto signed posters, sometimes games and other stuff.

Anyway, I never bought anything with them so now I have over 7000 stars. Yay for me!

Chris @ Dec 8th 2006 7:02PM

Nintendo should seriously consider rewarding US gamers with some Wii points for all the stuff they registered. Its way better than the overly compressed wallpaper they're trying to toute as a free bonus.

bill pullman @ Dec 8th 2006 7:03PM

"Instead of moaning about how we get something you don't, you could give us a congratulations, even if it is a lame, lame consolation for the stupid prices we have to pay. :)"

you missed me.

Jules @ Dec 8th 2006 7:04PM

I've got over 6,000 stars in my nintendo profile so i hope that earns me loads of points.

on a slightly different note when i bought my wii today i bought a 2,000 point card. and the chap that sold it to me said that it also entitles me to download mario 64 for free as a bonus. but i've found nothing in the instructions or on the VC saying this? so did the guy get it all wrong?

and how come mario 64 is priced at 1,000 wii points on the vc when the official wii europe site stated it as 800 points?

Sam @ Dec 8th 2006 7:24PM

Anybody have any diea what kinda time frame we looking at here? I've got several thousand, and would be very pleased if 1 star did in fact transfer directly to 1 Wii point. Will it be via stars catalogue?

MJ @ Dec 8th 2006 7:51PM

Hey, we pay a lot more for the console (£180, convert that) and for games as well (£40) and all the other stuff, we deserve the bonus. I guess the japanese has something to do with Nintendo being japanese, loyalty and that shit.

KraazyCraig @ Dec 8th 2006 9:24PM

If anyone wants to talk about getting a bad deal you should try living with Nintendo Australia, i dont think they have even heard of a "reward system" or "member benefits". You should try looking at the website www.nintendo.com.au.
Not only do we got screwed other like the other PAL areas but also have to pay more for games too.

ps: It doesnt even look like we are getting the Turbo Grafx games on the virtual console down here!

Brian @ Dec 8th 2006 9:50PM

The only good NOA registration bonus ever given out was the first one. The first prize the handed out when the registration was just getting started was the Legend of Zelda Collector's edition (Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's mask on a single Gamecube disk). Everything since then has been worthless. I'm praying we get some kind of Wii points deal here in the states too so my registrations are finally worth something.

jonesy @ Dec 9th 2006 1:54AM

Yeah have to agree we get the short end of the stick. Roughly a game costs £40 = $80 and the system itself £180 = $360. Things are more expensive tho not complaining about it, it's always been like that lol. Though getting the Wii Sports in a proper game case sweetens the later release!

The stars catalogue needs something like this though I think the points-stars ratio will be a bit stingey, The Zelda collectors game (the one with OCT and the NES Zeldas) cost 5000 stars a few years back. Least you'll be able to get the VC points regular and they won't sell out. (Would be reeeally cool if they put the Component or RGB cables on but not likely lol).

As a side note, has anyone in UK/Europe had problems registering the VIP card from Wii Sports? the code on mine has a weird character which kinda looks like | (its not L or I) it's stopping me from registering the game (and Nintendo CS is closed weekends lol).

Paul @ Dec 9th 2006 3:17AM

Us Canadians get the worst shaft. we get the NOA stuff except when they do anything more than registering for wallpapers and icons. I couldnt even get a pink kirby stylus :( they better give us wii points for game purchases or as achievements :@

Alan Mack @ Dec 9th 2006 4:53PM

I imagine it includes Ireland as the UK site is for the UK & Ireland.

ben @ Dec 13th 2006 10:57PM

yeah, it sucks that NOA doesn't give out a bunch of freebies like japan and now NOE. i've registered over fifty games, and the prizes i've recieved as a result have been... minimal. granted, it's stupid to buy something in the hope that you'd get some little trinket in return, but when nintendo of japan gets stuff like the game and watch collection, or those custom ds carry cases, i can't help but feel jealous. let's see... i've recieved free from NOA:

3 free issues of nintendo power
nintendogs
a pink ds stylus
metroid prime 2 demo disk
advance wars ds player's guide

yeah, that's it. it's no game and watch collection, but it's something...

Stuart @ Dec 28th 2006 10:25AM

Andrew, I disagree
When the Wii was released in America (several weeks before the UK, you got several games well ahead of us. Infact, we still dont have 'Traumer : Second opinion'. I think you also got a couple of very good snes games that didnt come out here either.
We've been denied any physical gifts for months now, trying to get a game or clothing on the stars catalogue (when they are available...which is rare) is like trying to beat sniping software on ebay!!
Generally, the Americans get everything way before europe, Microsoft gave you Halo 2 three days before anyone else, just so you could all get good at it and beat the crap out of the rest of the world!