Nintendo has confirmed that 'Club Nintendo' - the loyalty programme that has run on its official website for several years - will be closing this year.

Club Nintendo, in Europe, rewards purchasers of Nintendo products by letting them earn 'Stars' on the official website, which they can exchange for goodies in the Stars Catalogue. Rewards available over the years have ranged from ringtones and wallpapers to full games and exclusive figurines.

The scheme has run for over a decade, but has gone under the guise of Club Nintendo since the overhaul of VIP 24:7 in 2007.

Here are the dates you need to be aware of:

From April 1st, boxed Nintendo games will no longer come with a Club Nintendo code to redeem Stars.

From April 20th, you will no longer be able to redeem Stars for games bought digitally on the Wii U or 3DS eShop.

However, you'll still be able to redeem any Club Nintendo codes you either have lying around, or find in stores, up until Septemer 30th 2015. After this date, you will no longer be able to register codes to redeem Stars, any Stars you have will expire, and the Stars Catalogue will close.

A new scheme will replace Club Nintendo, but no details have been announced. Nintendo has revealed, though, that anyone who signs up to the new scheme early on will receive a free copy of Flipnote Studio 3D on 3DS. So that's nice.

Nintendo has promised to include more new items on the Stars Catalogue between now and September, so any codes you still have knocking around may still prove to have some worth.