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[Capndrake]

http://www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/news/article.do?elementId=5OWvJBgv7nhltpYYUXq0HCjrUen3iiWh

Today we bring you news about certain changes to the Nintendo website. After we experienced some security issues in the past, the community forums have now been closed for good.

Since the start of this website five years ago, our primary goal has always been to provide the most in-depth and up-to-date information about our full range of products. As well as being the first port of call for people looking to find all the latest Nintendo news, the site has acted as an important hub down the years for people who want to share their views or stay in touch with other Nintendo enthusiasts through our forums.

When the forums launched we felt they were an essential service for our many loyal site visitors, and the response to them suggested you felt the same way. Since then, however, a number of other online Nintendo communities have surfaced. Dedicated solely to providing a place for Nintendo fans to meet and chat together, these forums are looked after by people who are able to focus all their resources in one area.

Given the growth of all these other online communities, we think visitors to our website would be best served if we focused all our energies on putting together a new Nintendo-Europe.com that will offer Club Nintendo members a number of new features for an expanded experience with our products.

Also, I looked around on the other NoE sites and Italy got some nice Stars Catalogue stuff today, a couple of items that were on the Japanese Club Nintendo!

Italian site also has news about more features but I'm not 100% sure what it says:

Come anticipato dalla newsletter della scorsa settimana, l'attuale Star Catalogo e le Stelle da te accumulate scadranno il 31/12/2007, come dichiarato nei nostri termini e condizioni e in conformità alla durata stabilita per le operazioni a premio. Lo Star Catalogo è attivo fin dal 2002, e le Stelle sono state parte della tua esperienza con Nintendo nel corso degli ultimi anni, ma non devi comunque essere triste, perché sono in preparazione molte incredibili sorprese per il 2008!

Nei prossimi mesi avrai svariati modi di spendere le tue Stelle, quindi ti consigliamo di visitare spesso il sito Nintendo, in modo da non perdere nessuno dei prossimi aggiornamenti dello Star Catalogo. Il primo, grande aggiornamento è già disponibile, per cui non perdere tempo e corri a vederlo con i tuoi occhi cliccando qui.

I think it says something about more stuff coming before 2008.

 

[CassSept]

First NOA, now NOE
Man, Nintendo loves their community

PS. Noe forums sucked so hard its not even funneh

 

[maxmars]

It says that all vip points accumulated will be reset on dec 31 2007.. So, all in all not great news. thanks to your heads up message however I could snag a couple of Mario keychains and a classic gaming notepad with the 7000-odd points I had. Thanks!

..Too bad for the zelda statue.. Oh well!

 

[Creamium]

Instead of doing stuff like that, they should focus on giving that goddamn piece of shit NOE site an overhaul. This isn't 1998 anymore

 

[Capndrake]

Instead of doing stuff like that, they should focus on giving that goddamn piece of shit NOE site an overhaul. This isn't 1998 anymore

we focused all our energies on putting together a new Nintendo-Europe.com

.

 

[grandjedi6]

This must be part of a whole corporate policy or plan since both NOA and NOE are doing it

 

[later]

You would think that with the current web 2.0 fad they would promote communication, instead of abandoning it completely. Stupid.

 

[Creamium]

.

Yeah well, let's hope it turns into a site that's actually worth visiting.

 

[Haunted]

I hope there's some new stuff coming to the German star catalogues OR we finally get the chance to convert our Star points to Wii points.


Does the expiration date of 31.12.2007 only concern the Italians for now?

 

[Dascu]

VIP Stars => Wii Points.

That's all I want.

 

[Shiggy]

I hope there's some new stuff coming to the German star catalogues OR we finally get the chance to convert our Star points to Wii points.


Does the expiration date of 31.12.2007 only concern the Italians for now?

In Germany it won't be any earlier than June 1st, and it is only for stars that are older than 24 months (or 12?).

 

[Creamium]

VIP Stars => Wii Points.

That's all I want.

That would be cool but you can bet your sweet bippy that the ratio on it will be insane: something like a bajillion stars for a few points.

 

[maxmars]

Also, it says that in the coming months they'll be adding more prizes, so perhaps I will be able to redeem the last 3k points I have left.

 

[SovanJedi]

I'M SOOOOOOO GLAD THEY SENT OUT AN E-MAIL INFORMING EVERYONE ABOUT THE NEW STUFF ON THE STARS CATALOGUE.

Seriously, I'm signed up to practically everything they have and I heard nil about it - and now the site won't load and probably will stay that way until the catalogue has been picked dry of everything worthwhile to buy. And NOW I discover my points will expire in 3 months time?!

This seriously pisses me off. Seriously.

 

[CTLance]

Does the expiration date of 31.12.2007 only concern the Italians for now?

Since they introduced an expiry date for your Vip points not too long ago I doubt they'd go ahead and wipe out all our Vip points.

 

[Xun]

we focused all our energies on putting together a new Nintendo-Europe.com

Ah, so the copyright is now going to display 2007 instead of the year 2000?

 

[Jocchan]

Come anticipato dalla newsletter della scorsa settimana, l'attuale Star Catalogo e le Stelle da te accumulate scadranno il 31/12/2007, come dichiarato nei nostri termini e condizioni e in conformità alla durata stabilita per le operazioni a premio. Lo Star Catalogo è attivo fin dal 2002, e le Stelle sono state parte della tua esperienza con Nintendo nel corso degli ultimi anni, ma non devi comunque essere triste, perché sono in preparazione molte incredibili sorprese per il 2008!

Nei prossimi mesi avrai svariati modi di spendere le tue Stelle, quindi ti consigliamo di visitare spesso il sito Nintendo, in modo da non perdere nessuno dei prossimi aggiornamenti dello Star Catalogo. Il primo, grande aggiornamento è già disponibile, per cui non perdere tempo e corri a vederlo con i tuoi occhi cliccando qui.

As we anticipated in last week's newsletter, the current Star Catalogue and the Stars you gathered will expire on December 31st, 2007, as reported in our service terms and conditions, and in compliance with the length of prize competitions. The Star Catalogue is operating since 2002, and the Stars have been part of your experience with Nintendo during the latest years, but you don't have to be sad, because many incredible surprises are being prepared for 2008!

In the next months you will have several ways to spend your Stars, so we suggest you to visit Nintendo's site often, not to miss any of the next Star Catalogue updates. The first, big update is already available, so don't waste your time and go check it with your own eyes by clicking here.

 

[Capndrake]

Wait, so does that mean the Stars Catalogue as a whole is going?

Club Nintendo JP system please!

 

[Visualante]

New site coming soon, but I heard that from one of the web designers months ago. All part of Nintendo Europe's insane marketing budget.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Stars to Wii Points is still meant to be coming – at least according to Nintendo Europe’s support staff – but all they have been told is that it will be before 2008. I really hope it’s implemented sharpish, as I’ve got over 10,000 Stars that I would really like to use before they become (more) worthless.

 

[squatingyeti]

First they keep the stupid friends code idea and now they abandon their own forums. It's confirmed folks, Nintendo hates the interwebs. Apparently, only pedos are found there.

 

[Danj]

Is there any cool stuff on the UK Stars catalogue? The cool stuff the OP mentioned seems to be for Italy only.

 

[crbowen]

First they keep the stupid friends code idea and now they abandon their own forums. It's confirmed folks, Nintendo hates the interwebs. Apparently, only pedos are found there.

And people who say "interwebs"

 

[Dash Kappei]

I'M SOOOOOOO GLAD THEY SENT OUT AN E-MAIL INFORMING EVERYONE ABOUT THE NEW STUFF ON THE STARS CATALOGUE.

Seriously, I'm signed up to practically everything they have and I heard nil about it - and now the site won't load and probably will stay that way until the catalogue has been picked dry of everything worthwhile to buy. And NOW I discover my points will expire in 3 months time?!

This seriously pisses me off. Seriously.

.

 

[maxmars]

As a bare minimum, guys, let's not register any more star from here to dec 31st.. I wouldn't want to be forced to get ring tones to use them up. :lol

BTW I'm sure they will have at least another round of prizes. I'm so sure that I saved my last 3k stars as a gamble.

 

[warthog]

Is there any cool stuff on the UK Stars catalogue? The cool stuff the OP mentioned seems to be for Italy only.

No, unless you consider a ringtone a cool thing...
I've got 3500 pts and nothing I can do with them.

 

[Valtox]

Wait, so does that mean the Stars Catalogue as a whole is going?

Club Nintendo JP system please!

What's the Japanese system like?

 

[Capndrake]

What's the Japanese system like?

Basically the same, except without wallpaper/ringtone crap and with awesome items available all the time (Plus sometimes they get games that can only be gotten through Club Nintendo).

 

[Shiggy]

So what's going on now? The whole site is unavailable, at least in Germany.

 

[DefectiveReject]

So what's going on now? The whole site is unavailable, at least in Germany.

Probably just deleting the forums... One post at a time!

 

[Thomper]

So what's going on now? The whole site is unavailable, at least in Germany.

Yep, down over here too. But that doesn't mean anything: the 'temporarily offline' page has been shown before for a couple of hours and when the site would be back online, nothing would have changed. Let's hope for change, though.

 

[Haunted]

Probably just deleting the forums... One post at a time!

:lol

 

[Danj]

No, unless you consider a ringtone a cool thing...
I've got 3500 pts and nothing I can do with them.

Yeah, it's the same here, and even if I wanted a ringtone my phone is too old to support the kinds of ringtones they have on there.

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

The forum *were* horrible, so fortunately there is no need to feel down.

 

[Rolf NB]

Nintendo Of Europe's core competence must be satire.
I think if Nintendo would just let a dozen or so dudes in an office in Tokyo with just a slight understanding of English try anything vaguely PR-related, the end result would still be better.

 

[Conrad Link]

If Nintendo hate the Internet so much why do they have a Internet Channel on the Wii? :\

Can the 360 even browse the web?

Nintendo ftw!!!

*hides from pedos*

 

[Creamium]

If Nintendo hate the Internet so much why do they have a Internet Channel on the Wii? :\

Can the 360 even browse the web?

Nintendo ftw!!!

*hides from pedos*

wtf :lol

 

[CoolS]

That would be cool but you can bet your sweet bippy that the ratio on it will be insane: something like a bajillion stars for a few points.

It would be thousand times better than loosing my 10 000 points because they expire. Damn you NoE at least put some decent shit online so I don't have to waste the points.

I will be really pissed if the majority of my points goes to waste because they don't launch their new site before 2008 / don't make star-->wii points available.

 

[Aurora]

What is this shit. I've been saving my stars since the launch of the GC back in 2002. I've got over 17,000 stars and have never been able to grab anything from the catalogue.

The UK site updated with a bunch of Pirates of the Carribbean action figures. I'm sorry... what? Where the hell are my exclusive Nintendo collectibles?

And now after years of saving up they're going to wipe all of my stars? This is beyond retarded.

 

[[Nintex]]

I've got 8000 stars and there is nothing interesting in the Stars catalogue. The only thing I bought with Stars is a Super Mario controller for the NGC. This year they've been trying to get rid of 100's of Pokemon Box/Geist/Megaman Battle Network 5 copies and some other shit.

 

[TJ Spyke]

Sigh, it's depressing to think that now Europeans wil get some of the stuff Japanese gamers get from Club Nintendo. Doesn't NOA realize no one wants stupid desktop wallpaper? Let us buy things things for registering games, especially to redeem them for DS games like Tingle's Ballooin Fight DS or Game & Watch Collection.

 

[Xavien]

That would be cool but you can bet your sweet bippy that the ratio on it will be insane: something like a bajillion stars for a few points.

You say that... but i got 1000 Wii Points to 789 stars earlier this year...

It probably wont be that good but i can imagine 2 stars to 1 Wii Point in the the future, which i would be ok with, because right now my stars are just sitting there, doing nothing.