Sin & Resolution: Xbox Achievements

When Microsoft initially unveiled its achievements system for the Xbox 360, it was seen as not only a way to show off your gaming skills, but as a means of lengthening the enjoyment and value that every game has to offer. "I'm going to get every achievement for every game I own!" cried enthusiastic gamers, eager to rack up the points and enjoy video games in an entirely new light.

Then the Xbox 360 launched and Perfect Dark Zero asked players to gain 1,000 kills with the sniper rifle. The dream was dead.

[eraroha]

I have to admit I am addicted to achievements. Its one of the better points of Xbox Live.

Also all the compalining about the $50 yearly fee for Xbox Live has to stop. Its worth every penny.

[bumnut]

ps3 online gaming is free, and so is pc.

why should 360 be different? it does not offer a better service and everything on there is too expensive.

[brothersimon]

Nope PC is dead, PS3 sucks for online service so 360 has the rights to charge for offering teh BESTZ

lolololo

[SL1M DADDY]

PC dead? Please...

Here, let me direct you to the open zone --->

Anybody that defends MS charging for online play is a douche.

[dan-boy]

that's why sony are incorperating their own system! i'm not bothered about gamerscore, but i do like to hear the achievment unlocked sound when i get it! plus, it's good when you complete a level or game!

but it's how they are put into the game that counts! becoz pdz had a 1000 sniper kill, it does'nt mean that the system failed, just that rare did'nt really think about it properley! great concept imo

[NO_PUDding]

I am happy however that the PS3 achievemnets will onyl eb for home. It makes game develoipers lazy. I can't believe Sony are implementing their own. It's completely destroying one of their underlying ethics that work.

[FCOLitsjustagame]

I have found achievments to do pretty much what they said (means of lengthening the enjoyment and value that every game has to offer)....if the game is to my liking that is.

Perfect Dark Zero was a horrible experience and I had no need to get achievements in it. But other games like COD2, Gears of War, COD4, Mass Effect, Lost Odyessy, Bioshock and others I have played far more then I probably would have had their not been acheivements.

I loved these games but I tend to move on once I "finish" a game. With acheivements I never really "finish" the game until I get all the (single player) acheivements so I tend to play it a lot more times. Having a goal out there that can be acheived and marked as acheived does motivate me. I never played a game on the hardest setting in the past because there was no need. You beat it, the end. Now its like "did I get the acheivement for beating it on the hardest difficulty? No. I can beat that on the hardest, that wasnt so bad." and I play it (unless I think I have no hope of beating it on the hardest, or the game just doesnt hold my interest).

Acheivements are a little thing, but I think they were a stroke of genius. Not that MS was the fist to do it. It seems like the old Madden and NCAA games (when they were good) gave you ingame achievments and trophies. I see it as an expansion on that. Soon PS3 will have achievments as well. So people other then me must enjoy them.

That said the article is correct that not all developers use them correctly and there are a lot of cheap or unmotivating achievements that I tend to skip (like MP or absurdly long collect-a-thons that you cant complete without multiple replays of the same level)

[brothersimon]

Adding achievements was a dream come true tbh, it's best thing added to next generation.

[Superiorrior]

Again like every other comment, your oblivious to almost the last decade of gaming, again your an idiot.

Achievements have been around for a bunch of consoles usually targeting games like they now do, but in the wake of achievements there were Rewards, where you would actually get something useful out of it instead of some gamer points to add to your gamer points.

[kingme71]

Achievements have been around since the dawn of gaming, just in a much simpler form. Being able to put your initials in the high score list on arcade games was often enough draw to motivate gamers to practice up or keep playing... of course some guy named a$$ seemed to always have the high scores everywhere I went :)

Still, I think the best draw for an achievement is some type of in game reward. Flag collecting in Assassins Creed was just a waste of time.

[Covenant]

I remember a lot of arcade high scores belonging to "@ss," "poo," "suk," "dik" and the like. :)

[OutLaw]

I thought it would be easy to get all the achievements. But I realized I couldn't do it. I have 15000 plus achievement points out of maybe 56000. The worst was Blue Dragon, I finish the game and only got 60 achievement points out of 1000. But hey as long as the game is good achievement points is just a nice bonus. When I purchase a game I really don't think about achievement points.

[M1am1U]

I love achievements. I've gotten far more play out of games because of them. They are a true motivation for me. In the past, I would have never tried to complete games on the highest difficulty. Now, it's the first thing I do. While the idea of achievements has been around for a long time, the evolution MS brought to them is quite impressive.

[RealityCheck]

The greatest thing about achievements is that they are optional. People that love them have them and people that don't care about them can ignore them. For others like me, I care about them some just when it's a game I really enjoy and the achievements have been well designed, otherwise I'm not addicted to them.

[Mike134nl]

I don't care that much about achievements, I know that I have achieved at least some achievements. But I perceive them more as a tool to perceive my skills (or non existing skills).

Achievements on the xbox 360 should unlock more, something like artwork, virtual caracter models etc. So that in a way they gave you a bigger feel of achieving something.

What ps3 is going to do with their acheivements I think is far mor interesting by allowing you to put them in your "home" house.

[Captain Tuttle]

But I won't play a crappy game just to pad my Gamerscore. A bad game is a bad game and Achievements can't change that.

[nutjuice]

for people new to the game they aren't worth as much because they started so easy years ago it made the scores out of whack for the people that went all out for them.