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South Korea tests prepaid cards to replace pocket change
Coins are a pain in more ways than one. You probably don't like fishing for change, of course, but they're also expensive to make (the US loses money on every penny) and require mining that hurts the environment. Wouldn't it be good to get rid of coins altogether? South Korea is trying just that. The country is starting a trial that could lead to a coinless society. As of April 20th, shoppers at several stores (Seven Eleven, CU, E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Lotte Department Store) can deposit their change into mobile and prepaid cards. If you need to pay with cash, you can stick with paper notes instead of lugging around coins that you're unlikely to use all that often.
Cash out of Club Nintendo by trading Coins for games
So Club Nintendo is closing down in just a few months, and you've got a huge stockpile of Coins. What's a gamer to do? Well, Nintendo is helping members of its soon-to-be-dead loyalty program spend their accrued currency by adding 117 Wii U, 3DS and Wii titles to the rewards catalog. Pricing varies drastically between games, starting at 150 Coins for Super Mario Land and other 3DS virtual console titles and ranging all the way up to 850 Coins for Wii Party U. There are some seriously great games to be had in the promotion, which runs through June 30th. You can browse all the titles on offer over at Club Nintendo.
EA banning FIFA Ultimate Team coin sellers from its online games
We're roughly one month away from the launch of FIFA 15, and EA Sports is reminding the series' fans that it won't tolerate cheating, especially in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), the mode that continues to earn big bucks for the publisher. In a lengthy update on the official FIFA site, the publisher discussed the effects that coin and card-trading bots have on its FUT servers. In May, the publisher opted to de-activate trading in the FUT web app due to "the severe Transfer Market search issues caused by coin-farming bots," which caused the loss of in-game currency and athletes for other players. In turn, the makers of these bots sell the Ultimate Team goods on third-party websites (when they aren't phishing for account information on social networks). Whether buying or selling these items, EA considers these folks cheaters, and has already taken action in the past: "Since February 2014, we've banned hundreds of thousands of FIFA 14 accounts for coin selling and buying," it said.
Amazon's opening a store for coin collectors
Amazon's well known as the one-stop online shop for practically anything you might want, but apparently it has, until now, regretfully underserved numismatists -- that's coin collectors to the uninitiated. According to the company, rare and collectible coinage is one of the most popular product categories people search for on its collectibles and fine art portal. As such, Amazon's thought it necessary to open a dedicated page (in the US, at least) showcasing such items from "highly regarded dealers." The Collectible Coins store is now live for your perusal, through which you can even buy a 1907 Saint Gaudens Ultra High Relief Pattern $20 coin -- provided you have $3.75 million to hand. Not the best exchange rate, but the shipping's free, at least.
Club Nintendo adds accessory box, pouches, eShop games to catalog
Club Nintendo is offering new rewards for loyal customers, namely the sort of rewards you put other items in. Those with 700 free coins can pick up a green Mario-themed accessory basket that measures just under a foot wide. Don't be fooled by the name, as Nintendo can't stop the rebels among us from putting anything other than accessories in the basket, like cats. Or other, smaller baskets. Club Nintendo's two other new physical rewards are Animal Crossing-themed pouches. Available in both pink and blue, the pouches store handheld systems as large as the 3DS XL for 500 coins. We're eyeing up one of the pouches to store candy instead, because Nintendon't tell us what to do. As for the loyalty program's featured eShop game downloads, players can pick between four games until April 6: Kid Icarus of Myths and Monsters on 3DS (150 coins), Number Battle on 3DS (200 coins), Yoshi on Wii U (200 coins) and Bonsai Barber on WiiWare (250 coins). [Image: Nintendo]
Chaos Theory: A guide to The Secret World's tokens and currencies
In life and in games, the overarching method of commerce involves currency. Occasionally, you might find a game (or a friend) that will work with the bartering system, but that is far from the norm around these parts. Then you have The Secret World. TSW has the best -- or worst, you could say -- of both worlds. Bet you didn't know you would take up coin collecting when you started playing, did you? With a plethora of different currencies that can be spent only at certain places for certain things, players have keep tabs on whom they can spend what with and where said whos actually are. Wondering what those Credits of Ca' d'Oro are good for? What about whether Sequins of Solomon Island can be used in Transylvania? This handy guide will help demystify coin collecting and show you the ins and outs of all those tokens filling up your wallet.
Amazon Coins available for Kindle Fire, users enjoy $5 credit to get started
Forget Bitcoin: Amazon's got a digital currency of its own, known as Coins, coming to the Kindle Fire right on schedule. The virtual money, which was originally announced back in February, is now ready to go for anyone who frequents the Amazon Appstore or uses a Kindle Fire to purchase apps and games. Bezos & Co. is willing to throw in a bit of an investment to get you started, as the online retailer will hook up existing and new users with 500 free coins -- a value of $5. Need more than that? Head to the More Coverage link below to grab as many coins as fits your fancy. A 10 percent discount awaits those who purchase in bulk, which adds a tad more incentive to go all-in on the new service.
Rock Band Blitz coin system adjusted, more coins for all
The economy is rough all over, including inside of video games that just came out, apparently. In response to player feedback collected from Facebook, Twitter and its official forums, Harmonix has changed how coins are earned in its PSN/XBLA score-chasing music game, Rock Band Blitz.First off, power-up costs have been adjusted and Track, Note and Overdrive doodads now cost 100, 200 and 250 coins respectively. The amount of coins earned at the end of a song has also changed; players now receive 100 coins per star earned during the song. Additionally, Score Wars winners will now be granted 1,500 coins, with Score Wars losers taking home 500 coins.Basically, earning more coins more quickly means that players will have to spend less time grinding, and will be less frequently unable to purchase the power-ups needed to potentially earn a song's maximum score. Also, you ever look at a word so long you stop being able to tell whether its spelled correctly? That's where we're at with coins. Coins, coins coins. Coins coins coins -- coins. Coins?
New Super Mario Bros. 2 download nets twice the Club Nintendo coins
When New Super Mario Bros. 2 arrives in August, Nintendo will give everyone who buys the downloadable version some extra Club Nintendo coins. Registering a store-bought copy of New Super Mario Bros. 2 will get you 50 coins, but if you download it you'll get 100 coins instead. Those looking to download will want to make sure they've registered their 3DS account with Club Nintendo first.As the first game to launch simultaneously at retail and as an eShop download, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is in a unique position to push Nintendo's new digital distribution system, especially with the promise of extra fake coins.
UK's New Super Mario Bros. 2 pre-order bonus is a rad Mario coin case
New Super Mario Bros. 2 has more gold coins in it than the United States Bullion Depository and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York combined, but the only way to extract real, honest, actually completely fake gold from the game is to pre-order it from either GAME or Gamestation in the UK.The "gold" coin seen above is actually a small case for storing a single 3DS cartridge and is only available as a pre-order bonus from the aforementioned English retailers. By being so pretty and yet so impractical, the coin case satisfies the two most important bling requirements: Flashiness, and superfluousness.
Wings Over Atreia: Drowning in dailies
Two weeks ago, in the midst of supplying Daevas below max level a list of things to do (which I am so glad many of you found helpful!), I mentioned daily quests. Since then, you've been asked about your opinions on repeatable quests, including daily ones; even the Massively staff members chimed in with their thoughts. Love 'em or leave 'em, daily quests are a pretty abundant in Aion. Abundant -- that's almost an understatement. I was not kidding when I said we're drowning in dailies; there are just so many dailies sprinkled throughout Atreia now that it's crazy! Heck, I almost went insane just trying to hit them all up these past couple of weeks. No one can accuse Aion's system of being a minuscule afterthought with all of the various quests and rewards available for all levels. But with so many other things to do besides daily quests, you might find it easy to miss out on them even if you really want to do them. We can't have that! So here is a quick(ish) reference guide to all of the types of daily quests... assuming the devs don't sneak more in on me that I haven't even found!
Club Nintendo coin rewards changing on July 1
You may want to redeem those coins you've accrued through Club Nintendo, because the reward values are changing as of July 1. Completing registration surveys for the Nintendo DSi or Nintendo DSi XL will yield only 100 coins, as opposed to the previously established 160 coins.Software rewards are also getting a shake-up, though only select titles will see a decrease. Completing registration surveys for some 3D Classics and other downloadable titles will grant fewer coins; however, a lot of first-party 3DS games like Mario Kart 7 and some third-party ones, such as Resident Evil Revelations, are seeing increases. Wii and DS/DSi games are sadly seeing a reduction pretty much across the board. Better put in your Animal Crossing: City Folk code before time runs out!
Trade in your real currency for toy currency today!
Earlier today, the European Battle.net community site announced the release of both the latest set of collectible World of Warcraft action figures and a brand new collection of Alliance- and Horde-themed coins. ... Wait a second, haven't we seen those coins before? Oh. Yeah. We did. We saw them at Comic-Con in 2009. I'm going to cut Blizzard a break on this one and assume it doesn't control DC Direct's production and distribution facilities. So ... DC, this one's for you. Holy crap, guys. Almost three years ago! Three! Well, anyway, if you're looking to spend your hard-earned coins on different coins that aren't worth as much as the ones you started with, you can purchase them on the North American Blizzard Store for $49.99 USD per set or on the European Blizzard Store for £56.95.
Dutch coins feature QR codes, promise 'surprises'
Governments cram all manner of bizarre imagery onto the back of currency, so really, what's a few little QR codes between treasury departments? And heck, who are we to suggest that these new coins from the Royal Dutch Mint aren't the beginning of a larger barcoded money trend? The mint is celebrating its centennial with two new QR-packing collectable coins. The codes bring their owners to the mint's website, which promises a "surprise," once the coins are officially available later this month. Some sort of cloud-based vending machine, perhaps?
Wings Over Atreia: Mira, mira, on the wall...
Who is the happiest to be done with it all? If not me (I will certainly defer to those who endured 10+ attempts at the hot heart of magic craft), then I surely rank right up near the top! Yes folks, there is a Santa Cl... I mean an end to the Miragent/Fenris questline in Aion, and I have found it. To those naysayers, those unbelievers who think otherwise, I say I am living proof that Mira does not stand for mirage! I admit, I am indeed grateful to be looking back on the experience, instead of ahead to it. Between the grinding, the spawn camping, and the curse of the RNG, to say that the journey to obtain Miragent or Fenris armor is a rough road is putting it mildly. I spent a fair share of time just being grateful the questline doesn't include belts and hats; I think there would be a mass exodus if NCsoft introduced Miragent/Fenris jewelry. Although each leg of this race has had rough patches, I still believe it has been worth it. Make a final dash past the cut to experience the end of an era: the completion of the quest for Miragent armor.
World of Warcraft currency becomes real-world coins
We can easily wrap our minds around the hobby of coin collection -- after all, coins are pretty awesome, and at the end of the day, you're really just spending money on money, making it a relatively low-cost endeavor. However, DC Direct's recently pressed World of Warcraft-themed currency -- which comes in a set of one bronze, silver and gold coin, each featuring a faction leader and major city from the MMO on both sides -- is a bit beyond our understanding. According to G4, these three coins were on sale at Comic-Con for $69.99, though their real-life spendability is negligible at best. Heck, even if you wanted to use them to purchase your Artisan Riding skill and mount, you'd have to shell out well over $350,000 in order to do so. Then again, those things ... aren't real. But these coins are! And, as we've said, coins are awesome. We're so conflicted!
Blizzard starts selling gold (coins)
I don't have a lot of detail on this, but the news from Comic-Con is that Blizzard is finally starting to sell gold! Collectible WoW-inspired gold, silver, and copper coins, that is. What did you think I was talking about? They'll come in both Horde and Alliance versions, and are being made by DC Unlimited. DC also handles the WoW comic, so that's unsurprising. If we hear anything more on pricing and/or availability, we'll be sure to let you know.
[1.Local]: No one plays WoW because of clams
Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. My city of ruinsWe suspect that reader Vektorix may have a bright future as a developer. Confronted with the state of Quel'danas today, he offers an idea that meets with resounding approval from other readers: "I really think that after all the work that was put in to taking and holding the Isle, killing Kael'thas and banishing Kil'jaeden, Blizzard should declare the war won and Quel'danas should become WoW's first resort. Beautiful golden sun, pleasant environment, no mobs -- it'd be the perfect sanctuary for weary adventurers. Who would hang out in Dalaran or Shattrath when there's a beach!!?"
It's-a Mario World: Coin Heaven
One of the first things we do Friday morning is pull out our huge Mario-themed dartboard from under the bed, blindfold ourselves, take a small sip of OJ, spin 2.5 times, then wildly toss sharp darts at what we hope is not anything expensive. When that whole process is finished, usually we have landed a dart somewhere on the board, thus determining our topic for It's-a Mario World that day. Just so happens today we're talking about coins. And you're going to like it. Please like it.Today we are also introducing a hip new aspect to our already fairly hip feature. At the bottom of this post you'll notice a place where we have listed "links of the week," where we will hereafter link you to recent Mario content on WiiFanboy as well as to other cool Mario thingamajigs on the Intertubes. Hopefully, this will serve as a means for all of us to continue agitating our unhealthy addictions to Mario & friends. Before you go clicking away on them, though, check out our new gallery in which the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom is discussed at uncomfortable length. Coins! It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back every Friday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps. * * * Links of the week: Wario steals Born for Wii! | Real Mario-karting in France! | Cheap BK toys! | Mario Paint lives! | Jazzed SMB2 theme!
Breakfast Topic: What would you wish for?
Today's breakfast topic is a bit of a roleplaying question as well. Yesterday we heard about the new coins that were added to the water fountain at Dalaran in the Beta of Wrath of the Lich King. There, usinging your fishing skill, you can find coins tossed in by anyone from King Terenas Methenil to "Prince" Magni Bronzebeard, and see what it was that they once wished for. It got me thinking, what would your character wish for if you could toss a coin into the fountain? Even if you don't roleplay, just imagine it for a moment. Or if that's really too much of a stretch for you, imagine that you the player could stand at the edge of that fountain and toss a coin in. Would your wish be any different from a fountain in the real world somewhere? Would you wish for epics, PvP glory, class buffs or something else related to your real life?Even though my main character is a hunter, and war has kind of become her business, she's still a pacifist at heart. She always tries to disable her enemies rather than kill them, and she silently prays to the Light for the soul each person to cross her path, whether friend or foe. At the fountain, she would wish for peace on Azeroth. For my part though, I would personally wish for less QQ, bad mouthing and generally stupid communication in the game (I would save my wishes for peace on earth for a real fountain).
