Dunaway Dishes on America’s Club Nintendo

One of the most promising pieces of news to come out of Nintendo’s Fall Summit at the beginning of October, in my humble opinion, was that North America was finally going to get Club Nintendo, which has been the name of a program which has persisted in Europe and Japan for numerous years now, with the latter being better known for the variety of rare, exclusive goods you could only get there (or on eBay) by buying Nintendo’s games. Among the goods offered have been TV remotes shaped to resemble Wii remotes, soundtracks for games such as Super Mario Galaxy (along with other arrangements), gold Mario trophies akin to those found in Animal Crossing for the GameCube, Super Famicom controllers that plug into the Wii, and even exclusive Nintendo DS games like the Game & Watch Collection or my personal favorite, Tingle’s Balloon Fight, which you can see at your right.

Meanwhile, Europe has had to make do with rewards of a more digital nature: By redeeming “stars,” members could obtain wallpapers, icons, and unless I’m mistaken, Wii Points after the launch of said console. Naturally, while ahead of America, they too have been a little envious of what Japan has provided.

But now that Nintendo is poised to launch an American Club Nintendo before the holidays, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Cammie Dunaway has revealed to MTV Multiplayer a little bit of what we can expect from our version of the program.

“When you purchase a Nintendo product, you go on and you say that you’ve purchased a Nintendo product, you get points for that,” Dunaway said. “You also get points for filling out surveys to talk about your experience with the product. You actually get points before you purchase, if you indicate an interest in purchasing… So it really helps us to gauge marketplace demand. As you collect points — these are actually gold coins — you’re able to trade them in for real merchandise.”

The actual details of what will be made available and when are still being worked out at Nintendo’s New York office, however. But, Dunaway was willing to share that the rewards offered would more closely resemble the Japanese version of the program. “It’s Lose Weight Exerciseed more toward physical goods: more like the Japanese program than the European which is pretty much digital.” And not only will we be getting some of the goods Japan has received, but also some new American options as well.

As noted, a launch date has not yet been set, but Dunaway says “We will launch before the end of the holiday…They are working 24-7 to get this thing done.” And if you’re in the New York area and would like to help, they are looking for people.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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