Nintendo Points non-transferable between Wii, DSi

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 6th 2008 at 9:09PM }

To allow for the fact that the DSi will feature an online store, Wii Points were recently renamed to Nintendo Points.

Despite this rebranding exercise, Nintendo has revealed that you won't be able to transfer points between its new handheld and the Wii. In other words, if you buy a Nintendo Points card and use it to purchase (say) DSWare, you'll have to spend any remaining Points from the card on DSi downloads (and vice versa). This also means you won't be able to transfer any 'spare change' Points from the Wii to your DSi, meaning you're stuck with the 100 Points that have been on your Wii account since about March 2007. THERE'S ALWAYS A SPARE 100 POINTS ON OUR WII. They sit there, silently mocking us.

Anyway, the above slide, dug up by Siliconera from Nintendo's Media Summit presentation, highlights the point emphatically enough: you won't be able to transfer Nintendo Points.

Gallery: Nintendo DSi

Tags: dsi, nintendo-dsi, nintendo-points, wii-points

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ChibiKawase @ Oct 6th 2008 9:24PM

Is Hiroshi Yamauchi making decisions again? This seems like something that (admittedly cool at times) arse would come up with.

No transfer, domestic games only, FINAL DESTINATION. Seriously, does someone not get that not allowing a portable system to be unlocked defeats half the bloody purpose of the system to begin with?

"THERE'S ALWAYS A SPARE 100 POINTS ON OUR WII."

That annoys the hell out of me. They could at least offer some small media bonus, like a free song off any Nintendo soundtrack. =/

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:25PM

LOL, Chris. Hopefully on Oct. 13th you can buy MM9's Extra Stage DLC to fix your 100 pts. issue.

On-Topic: Dammit, Nintendo. You really make no sense some times. If I buy 2000 points for DSi & nothing comes out, i'm screwed. Same for Wii, though we know that the VC has games once a week.
Let's all just hope that between November and DSi's US launch that Nintendo has GB, GBC, and GBA downloads ready for a weekly schedule.

Roto13 @ Oct 6th 2008 10:39PM

You just raised the possibility of a Virtual Handheld.

That would be fantastic.

justin @ Mar 24th 2009 10:14PM

LOL at the spare 100 points! i've had spare 100 points on my wii for ages!

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:29PM

Also, this means that i'll have to spend $40 if I want both systems to have enough points. Let's hope that Nintendo points come in 1000, 2000, and 3000 amounts.

Sonic_13 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:45PM

You can already buy points in increments of 1000 within the Wii Shop Channel, if you enter your credit card. Presumably you would be able to do the same within the DSi shop.

Mr Khan @ Oct 6th 2008 9:30PM

This is, of course, due to a lack of any kind of account system for Nintendo systems.

They definitely need to implement something like that, which would be the first step to solving their online problems.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:35PM

But, what if I give my account to pedophiles which is no different from the Wii Address code/Friend Codes?!
THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!

And god knows we can't rely on parents to watch over their kids! That just impossible! Every parent knows video games & TVs were made as babysitters!

Sonic_13 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:41PM

The Wii Shop Channel actually is (or can be) connected to accounts with Nintendo. My Wii Shop Channel has been linked with my My Nintendo account since launch.

Since you can already link your account so any games you purchase are automatically registered, it doesn't seem to far of a stretch to believe that account balances could also be matched with your account.

ZombiePikmin @ Oct 6th 2008 9:41PM

WE WANTZ UR MONEYZ
-Reggie Fils-Aime

Sonic_13 @ Oct 6th 2008 9:47PM

"On-Topic: Dammit, Nintendo. You really make no sense some times. If I buy 2000 points for DSi & nothing comes out, i'm screwed."

Why wouldn't you wait to buy points until you know there are games that you want to buy?
That's what doesn't make sense to me, because it seems like you're bringing this problem upon yourself and then blaming Nintendo for it.

bug frawg @ Oct 7th 2008 4:48AM

Agreed. after all there'd still be a chance of you effectively locking $20 into your wii dsi or no.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 7th 2008 8:51AM

EVERYTHING I DO THAT IS WRONG IS NINTENDO'S FAULT!!!!

Clint @ Oct 6th 2008 10:32PM

So if you buy 10 DSi hot dogs, you'll have to buy 16 DSi buns? And 10 Wii-dogs means 16 Wii-buns? That makes 12 left over Nintendo buns!!

Spike @ Oct 7th 2008 5:57AM

no, you will have 6 for your DSi hot dogs, and 6 for your Wii-dogs, they aren't interchangable

scissors125 @ Oct 6th 2008 10:43PM

I thought the DSi was alright at first...

But it's stuff like this that make me hate it. I'm definitely not going to get a DSi, EVEN if someone makes a flash cart for it.

I want something less irritating for my hard earned money.

Miike @ Oct 7th 2008 12:08AM

This might be a little off topic, but I still gotta know. What does the i stand for in DSi?

ramuji @ Oct 7th 2008 2:23AM

Well, a lot of people think the "i" (i.e. "eye") in DSi is a pun that refers to the new camera function. I don't know of any official comment about this, but it sounds good to me.

Of course, it's much moar kewl to bitch about how Nintendo is going all Apple-y.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 7th 2008 8:24AM

The SP in GBASP stands for Special.
DSi = eye, like camera
The Gameboy Color = color, like colored pixels... :P

FantomRedux @ Oct 7th 2008 5:45PM

I know it's nit-picking, but I got told the SP stood for Special Project. Can't remember where but I think its Nintendo Official Magazine, long before they became ONM, which is less fun to say QQ

Pyromaniac @ Oct 10th 2008 11:37AM

i think that dsi does stand for dual screen "eye" but i heard that sp in gbasp stands for "super portable" (because it folds)

Allengator @ Oct 7th 2008 12:35AM

:'(

I think I'm officially off my Nintendo high again.

Bones3D @ Oct 7th 2008 1:12AM

Strategically, this is fairly ingenious move. The obsessive compulsive behavior of most people will drive them to try to "even out" their points to zero in some manner to feel like they haven't somehow wasted money on the purchase. By preventing the transfer of these points, it will ensure this occurs on both the Wii and the DSi.

In the meanwhile, this is somewhat telling of what else may not be transferable between the two consoles, such as downloaded virtual console content. (Assuming there is a DSi virtual console...) Obviously, if they could facilitate the transfer of purchases between the two consoles, they could do so with the points themselves, right?

Josh @ Oct 7th 2008 2:14AM

Hahaha, that's ridiculous on every conceivable level.

Ethan @ Oct 7th 2008 6:32AM

Missed opportunity to turn this into a proper content portal eventually.

Ujn Hunter @ Oct 7th 2008 9:51AM

Super Fail! The big N shows again that they can't get with the times... I can't wait for more friend codes too! Weee! Even MS allows MS Points to be used anywhere from Xbox Live to Zune Marketplace... Get with the program Nintendo!

R_Fusion @ Oct 7th 2008 2:20PM

Ditto. and here I thought M$ wanted money above all.

Nate @ Oct 7th 2008 10:15AM

Here's what I think will happen. This DSi thing is a stop gap measure.

When the next home console comes out there will be another portable, and THAT will have the proper 'content portal' stuff with a single login that works between the 2 systems.

Mr Khan @ Oct 7th 2008 12:56PM

I think so too. DSi is going to be the "Missing Link" in the evolution from DS to its proper successor

And from it we can get an idea of where Nintendo's going. After all, DS features have always preceded Wii features: Opera Browser, Voice Chat, Online Play, User Interface, etc, DSi is a peek into the future