Why go to Amazon to purchase a game on a console? Why not just buy it off the console were you can actually play it after you buy it? I'm so confused. Can someone explain to me why this might make sense?

The only two things I can think of are maybe gift giving and extra marketing... but really... I'm not seeing a lot of potential in this.

Because I cannot use my Visa (even thought it is International) at the Nintendo shop since I don't live in USA, but can use it in Amazon. This is a great service for all those who want to buy from Nintendo but are rejected due our location.

It's also another use for Amazon gift cards.

Also avoids monetary waste from unused points. On Wii shop, I can only buy points in 10, 20, and 50 dollar amounts. If I decide I want just World of Goo, I have to buy an extra 5 dollars of points. While sure, some of us will just accumulate those points for later, not everyone will.

Now, if Ninty allowed us to by points based on product cost, I'd agree this is completely unnecessary.

Bah, never mind. There are two checks when buying: an IP check to ensure you are from USA, and then a credit card check. I was first stopped at the IP check, so I used a proxy to bypass that. But they don't accept international cards anyways. So I kind of agree with Mike now, it is a waste of time for me (and anyone with my same problem).

@Roberto Alfonso: When I was in Brazil I was able to buy Wii Points using my Visa International. But it was more than an year ago, before Nintendo renamed it to Nintendo Points. I'm not sure what is the state of this matter as of today.

There is a Nintendo Brazil and your card is likely from Brazil. My problem is using an Argentine card to buy USA points. I can only buy the cards and wait for Amazon to ship them (which is why I had high hopes for this side product).

@Mike Smith: as Roberto said, depending on your card (mine's european), your console region (my Wii is US) and where you live (I'm in Asia) it can get very complicated to buy anything and shipping prepaid cards that fit your console might be the only way to get a game. It's true with all consoles (360, PS3 & Wii).
I'm a big fan of region locked things, games in particular : (