Free Wii Points

... er... technically.

I'll explain what Wii points are first, just in case some people have no idea what it is. Wii Points are the Wii's virtual currency, if you will. They are spent in it's 'Wii Shop Channel' currently you can only buy retro (old) games from previous generation consoles. And it's an amazing service with awesome emulation; even so Nintendo are going to add a 'WiiWare' section, come 2008 where original titles from all sorts of developers (including indie) can release their titles easier and cheaper.

Anyway, on to the meat of this post.

For 1337 people in the know, Nintendo of Europe recently updated their website - and took their f*cking time too. I wasn't expecting too much off it and generally couldn't care less. Until I heard about the: 'Stars to Wii-points scheme.' I should explain that you get stars by doing certain stuff; mainly inputting PIN codes from a piece of paper that comes with the game. So, anyway. Normally, for me anyway, these stars just sit there on the website unused because before this the store generally totally SUCKED. Before it was all wallpapers and ringtones that were real crappy, and you could probably find on the internet for free. Until now. These idea is a great one and is actually worth me typing in a 14 letter long PIN code and filling out a crappy questionnaire to obtain these stars.

And that's exactly what I did.

I went round the house, scrounging for every Nintendo product I could get my rascallian hands on. At this point, I noticed I do have a rather large pile of games sitting round and should really trade some in some time. Perhaps next Friday. So, by the time I got back to my laptop with a bunch of games it was about 11PM, and I set about inputting every code and doing pretty much the SAME FRICKIN QUESTIONNAIRE OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Argh, it was pain. That reminded me on why I didn't do a mass input of PIN codes before... but I remembered my goal. And I was going to reach it.

It took about an hour but I finally did it. I put down the final piece of paper (which was actually the PIN code for the Wii - 1000 stars [YAY!]) and sat back relieved. And I racked up about 4600 odd stars, not bad. Then I saw the exchange rate... it wasn't a 1 - 1 conversion, but I didn't expect that anyway. I was thinking along the lines of: 2 stars - 1 Wii Point. But no. Nintendo decided that 4 - 1 was a good idea... which it isn't. So I only managed to get a 1000 Wii Points (I didn't bother with the remaining 600 odd stars - maybe some other day). I received the voucher code and I'm pleased to say it does indeed work.

But still the conversion rate is very steep.

But hey, what am I to look a gift horse in the mouth (wait, what?). It's better than nothing, right?

My primary candidate for VC game to buy is: 'Pokemon Snap.' Here's the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article (because I'm too lazy to explain myself and I've already explained one thing already today [look above]):

Pokémon Snap (ポケモンスナップ, Pokemon Sunappu) is a video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is part of the Pokémon series, and was first released in North America on June 30, 1999.

It is set for release on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on December 4, 2007 and December 10, 2007 in North America with the added feature of being able to send pictures taken in the game to the Wii Message Board and sending them to friends.

Pokémon Snap was originally revealed as a Nintendo 64DD game.

Didn't explain much, did it?

Well, here's the basic premise that you may, or may not, have gathered from the name: You are taken along a predetermined route (on-rails, so to say) and you have to take pictures of Pokemon.

Yes, you heard that correctly. Take pictures of Pokemon. Doesn't sound very fun, does it?

I'll actually use my friend Duck (not his real name) to explain it's fun factor:

'Whenever I describe this game to someone who's never played it, it sounds incredibly boring. Seriously, the thought of taking pictures of Pokemon while moving along a fixed path with almost no freedom at all? Comes across as somewhat boring, huh?
But, despite this seemingly snore-worthy concept, Pokemon Snap was a great amount of fun. Moving throughout each level and finding new and creative ways of taking pictures was an amazing adventure. It wasn't enough to merely snap a pic of a Magmar! No, you had to catch it when it's breathing fire on another Magmar! This is a great action shot, and it earns you a whole lot of points!
Further more, getting the Pokémon to fill as much of the frame as possible is important, too. If it's really far away or much too close it just won't do! You have to make it so it's as close as can be without surpassing the borders of the picture. Keep it all in-frame, and it can really be worth quite a bit. Also, make sure the Pokémon's facing you, too. A picture of a Kangaskhan's butt isn't exactly gonna cut it.
You could also interact with the environment and the Pokemon themselves! Throwing apples to tempt a Bulbasaur out of a tree stump or chucking Pester Balls (Sleeping gas-filled Pokéballs) at a switch is often key to getting the best pics of a Pokémon, and sometimes even makes new creatures appear.
Sure, Pokémon Snap may not sound like the greatest idea for a game at first, but behind it's boring concept lies a great little puzzle/adventure game waiting to be discovered. Snap is probably my favourite Pokémon spin-off yet, and I can't wait to download this once it hits the Virtual Console.'

So there you have it. Straight from the duck's mouth (geddit?). Duck is also one of the driving forces behind me getting this game, as he seemed to have issued a death threat to me in the process when I last talked to him: "Buy Snap next week, or your DEAD TO ME." Ok, less of a death threat more of a hard-hitting statement.

Anyway, enough of that.

Another factor in my choice is that this is also the first (and probably not the last) game to receive some added features to. Nintendo are adding a feature to send pictures to the Wii Messageboard so you can send it to friends. I bet Gavin and Lewis (my only two Wii contacts on my Wii - I was suppose to have Daisy's but I forgot to ask her for her Wii number. Oh well.) will be jealous when I start bombarding their Wiis with photos... muhahaha

Awesome.

That pretty much wraps up this post, I've probably forgotten a bunch of things but it's starting to get late now and I can't be missing my beauty sleep can I? Even though tomorrow is Sunday and all I'm going to do is lie in until I suffocate from my own procrastination.

Oh and before I forget. Here are links to the new Nintendo website and the Wii Points change service thing:

NINTENDO UK

Stars to Wii Points

Oh and just for the record, here were the other titles I was thinking of buying on the VC. Obviously my choice isn't final behind Pokemon Snap.

• Ocarina of Time
• Super Mario 64
• Link to the past
• Sonic 1,2 or 3
• Any of the SMB games
• Super Mario World
• Gunstar Heroes

There were some more, but I forget.

To ease any hatred towards me if you don't live in Europe and can't exchange stars for Wii Points, here's a video of Wii Fit (that's already released in Japan):

Hm... that may not have helped. But the game looks awesome, I'm highly considering buying this when it comes out. Although much depends on it's price tag...