Club Nintendo, Another Example of a Rewards Program Done Right May 30, 2010

I have been a loyal member of the Nintendo Fun Club…ahem, sorry, Club Nintendo, since the inception of the program in the US last year.  GameStop, pay attention, this is another example of a rewards program done right.

What makes a rewards program good is if it offers achievable prizes of value by buying something the consumer was probably going to get anyway..  By doing that it offers further value for your purchase, and can be the deciding factor between buying something now or later on when it may be cheaper, and can get the customer to continue to buy your products and not go to your competitors.

For each new game purchased for the Nintendo Wii or DS, you receive a certain amount of points (50 for wii games) that can be amplified by filling out surveys, or telling the club what you intend to buy and then actually buying it.  You also get points for filling out occasional surveys.  Like at a carnival, you can trade in these points for exclusive goodies you can redeem for no further charge, and if you make a certain point total in a year you can get another free gift automatically.

The good part is the majority of the exclusive goodies are not that high in points to redeem, with most of them requiring about 5 game purchases to redeem if you don’t catch any surveys (trust me, Nintendo easily makes five good games a year, and games like Wii Fit have a much higher value than something like Mario Kart).  Filling out surveys can lessen the amount of points required by as much as a whole game.  On top of that they’re expanding, and offering more exclusive goodies.  This year they are offering beautiful posters of the evolution of the art of Mario or Link, for free.

When I picked up Super Mario Galaxy 2 today, something I was going to buy anyway, I went over my point total for the year, and I was able to order that Link poster set.  Disney also offers something similar for buying their Blu-Ray and DVDs, recently I purchased a rare Oswald the Rabbit D23 pin from it (Can’t wait to play Epic Mickey).

GameStop is Starting a New Rewards Program, It Sucks May 24, 2010

GameStop has announced today that they’re replacing their overpriced Edge Card (they charged $14.99 a year for 10 percent off on used only games, you’d need to buy over a hundred used games to justify the price) with a free and paid reward program.

I have absolutely nothing against free reward programs.  Many retailers and supermarkets offer their customers free rewards simply for shopping where they would shop normally.  Coupons, discounts, and gift certificates are issued for free to program members, just for regular shopping at a store.  But this program looks like a pretty twisted version of much better programs just to exploit customers.

This sounds like a pretty terrible idea, since the point system is far too high and the rewards are far too cheap to justify so high a point value for the goods offered.  You get ten points per dollar spent on new games, and twenty points spent on used games.  There are a few bonuses offered, like points for signing up and points for your birthday.

The rewards range from coupons for $5-$10 off purchases ranging from 4000 to 8000 points to even free Xbox 360 controllers or Turtle Beach X11 headsets for 40,000 points.  So you get five dollars off for every 400 dollars spent?  You get a free 360 controller for spending 4000 dollars there?  That’s rediculious!

Now, if you want to know a much better program, Best Buy offers a program that gives consumers gift certificates good for anything in the store just for spending money there.  If you become a member of their Reward Zone, you get one point for every dollar spent, and if you have a premium account or credit account you get an extra percentage on top of that.  250 points equals a free five dollar gift certificate, and they do add up, you can use them on anything you buy.  They also will send you free coupons, usually once a month in the mail, and while those do have restrictions (like 10% off only on games, movies or music), they’re free coupons!

New Piece of the 3D HDTV Puzzle is on Shelves! May 24, 2010

I was in Target yesterday while my friend was getting a coffee just looking for a deal on any games, I didn’t find any, but what I did find was a lot more valuable.

I had mentioned previously for you earlier technology adopters who visit the site, 3D HDTV will only be possible if you had a 3D HDTV, a 3D Blu-Ray (or game) player, a 3D HDMI cable, and 3D Glasses.

Well some manufacterers have released TVs, but everything else on the list has not seen release yet, now another piece has come out.

Vizio has done something pretty impressive.  They’re selling a next-generation HDMI cable that is not outrageously priced!  Previously unheard of, a manufacterer of cables is not overcharging for them.  The new cables are HDMI 1.4, support 120hz and 240hz (depending on model), ethernet, and 3D.  I’ve seen bitrates listed on those cables as high as 10.2Gbps.

I wanted to buy a pack of these from the manufacterer, but I guess everyone universally thought this was a good price, because they’ve sold out online.

The final piece of the puzzle, the 3D Blu-Ray (and game) support, will be released by Sony along with their 3D Sony Bravias which will be coming out next month.  The PS3 will be fully 3D Blu-Ray compliant with a recently released firmware update, so if you want a player now, buy a PS3 (if you don’t already own one).

Remember, you will still need to buy 3D glasses from your TV manufacterer.