I guess this is understandable considering Nintendo is not creating the DSi shop as a piggyback on the Wii shop. Creating a proper shop would take significant effort on their part.

They would need to either:
a) Update codes associated values in their database so that people could only offload x number of points off the card on either shop or
b) Allow people to create their own "cards" that Nintendo could give them a code for which they in turn could register with one of the other shops.

In either case it seems like more effort than its worth (for Nintendo). I'm guessing come the time of the Wii2/DS2 you'll see a more streamlined system as it won't be an afterthought as this clearly was.

I understand the points Mr. Jack makes but I see this as very inconvenient for Nintendo customers.  In other words it's a typical Nintendo policy.

It would be nice if we weren't tied into fixed amounts.  Having to buy a minimum amount of points on the Wii by itself is annoying but now the minumum purchase has doubled if you want to use both systems.  Just allow people to buy online whatever amount of Nintendo points they wish (you can make it groups of 100 for simplicity) and this "issue" doesn't even really exist anymore.

LAME. This is a cheap attempt to get more pure profits and not be kind to consumers.

I can see how it'd be difficult for casual users to have a combined account for points that could be accessed by both the Wii and DS, but personally, I've got my Wii account tied to my My Nintendo account, which would make it feasible to connect the two...

Like Ian mentions, the ideal solution is to allow one to buy the exact number of points needed to make a purchase(s), likely via the system itself.

Except that they WANT you to have points left over...

The current system of the Wii Shop has your points stored to your Wii, not the server, so making the points universal would require completely changing the way they do things on the Wii.

I wonder if it would be possible to create a system where you connect your DS to your Wii and transfer points directly instead of having an account, or maybe being able to send games to your DSi  from your Wii as gifts like you can currently do from Wii to Wii with VC and WiiWare games.

This doesn't bode well for being able to transfer Wii downloads to the DSi... :(

Really?  Seems like a real bad idea for teh haxxors...

Meh, not like they can't just warez the stuff from elsewhere.

They're not stored on your Wii.  Well, the Wii may keep a cached value of what you have to spend, but Nintendo has your Wii internal key stored with the number of points you purchased.  You also have an option to tie a "My Nintendo" account to that key.

The only thing that would be stopping them from making it more universal, is putting the emphasis on the "My Nintendo" account and forcing you to have one.  Right now it's an option.

In other words, right now you have a bunch of (Wii Key)=>(Points) records... and Nintendo plans on continuing the trend with the DSi by having (DSi Key)=>(Points) records.  To make it universal, they would need a (My Nintendo)=>(Points) relation.  With the current fact that My Nintendo is optional, it would be difficult of them to migrate the info... as they would have to have something in place to support the old style.  Not impossible, but not easy.  It may even be by choice (that they still don't want to require the "my nintendo" account).  Why not, like I said they benefit from the left over points and the whole reason the DSi exists is because they saw the $$ the VC pulled in on the Wii.

True... But if you can hack Points onto your Wii, you could also gift games to someone's Wii that hasn't been hacked...

There is no way the Wii points are stored on the Wii unless Nintendo is absolutely dumb beyond possible belief.  I programmed an online purchase program.  You don't keep anything to do with money on the client because it's too easy for someone to hack.  In my case they would be able to lower the price of something.  All money has to be tracked on the server.  Your Wii points has to be stored on a server and when you buy something they better confirm the price of what you're buying with a price amount stored on the server.  This is how it's done.  A company as big as Nintendo wouldn't go with something less than that.  If they did it would be common knowledge by now how to create Wii points from thin air.

I don't understand why 'Wii points' have been renamed. Putting points on the Wii means they are locked out from use on the DSi. Having a single name for the points implies the opposite. What would have been wrong with 'DSi points' and 'Wii points'?

As I understand it, the main reason behind the change is that they're going to have one SKU for retail cards that works with both systems, instead of two.

Hmm, I'm not sure if a single SKU is going to make it simpler for consumers to understand in this case.