Club Nintendo will shut down later this year

If you've been saving up your Club Nintendo coins/stars, thinking they'll be the new standard currency after the inevitable collapse of the world economy, I have some bad news for you: Nintendo's shutting the whole thing down later this year. Club Nintendo, I mean, not the world economy.

You have until March 31 in America or April 20 in Europe to make a new profile or earn coins from filling out surveys and registering products. And lastly, you have until June 30 in America or September 30 in Europe to grab any rewards - the services will be taken offline for good by the next day. Nintendo says it will keep adding more downloadable games and reward items to the catalog over coming months so users can burn off their remaining currency.

One last regional difference: Nintendo of America says all current Club Nintendo members will receive a download code for Flipnote Studio 3D in February as thanks for using the service, while Nintendo of Europe says it will give out codes to users who sign up for the new loyalty program within its 'launch period'. Weird.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.