Nintendo announced the launch of a new club today, one that will replace My Nintendo and is made for gamers who have a penchant for their systems and games. Club Nintendo allows members to register their games or consoles and fill out surverys about them. Of course, there wouldn't be much of a point in creating a whole new site devoted to filing your customers' purchasing habits without making them feel like they are getting something out of it, so Club Nintendo members are rewarded with Nintendo Coins, which can then be redeemed for limited-edition Nintendo rewards available only to Club Nintendo members.

Here's how it works. You create a profile on the Club Nintendo site ( http://club.nintendo.com ), and register select Nintendo products by inputting a product serial ID. There is a complete list of compatible products on the site, so if you're not sure if you've got something you can register or not, you can always check. Once you've registered that product, you're asked to complete a survey, after which you are rewarded with a certain number of Nintendo Coins.

Registering a Wii game will get you 50 Coins, while a Nintendo DS game will get you 30 Coins and Wii Shop Channel games or Wii Channels will garner you 10 coins. There are ways to boost the amount of coins you can collect though, as you can increase the number of points you earn by indicating your intent to buy a game and then registering it once you've purchased it, another 10 points for registering a game and completing the survery within four weeks of the game's launch, and yet another 10 points for completing the Post Play survery that is made available within four to six weeks after a game's release.

You can't just register any game for Wii or Nintendo DS though. Like My Nintendo, Club Nintendo will only allow you to register Nintendo hardware and Nintendo-published games, which considerably narrows down your options for games you can earn points on.

The good news is that the rewards the coins can be put towards are actual, physical things, like game accessories or exclusive games. The list is short at the moment, but it does include some pretty cool things, like Mario Party or Animal Crossing Playing Cards, Nintendo DS game cases or stylus sets, game racks, or even an exclusive Club Nintendo Game & Watch Collection for Nintendo DS.

Even more rewards will be made available to you if you reach the Gold or Platinum member status. There are no extra membership fees, you just have to earn enough Coins in a year (300 for Gold, 600 for Platinum), but it does mean that you'll probably need to buy more games.