No Gamerscores (aka. Entitlements) for PS3

One way to tell if someone has been logging some serious hours on their Xbox 360 is to check their Gamerscore. The feature tracks how many Achievements--various game goals set by developers--gamers accomplish by assigning each task a numerical score. By adding up all the numbers, gamers get their Gamerscore and bragging rights (provided they didn't buy it).

The feature has been a surprise success for the Xbox 360, with gamers playing games they otherwise wouldn't solely to try to boost their scores.

With its success, many thought Sony would mimic the system for its upcoming PlayStation 3. It was even once rumored that Sony's system would be called "Entitlements," causing a bit of a row among Microsoft fans.

Now it appears that Sony isn't jumping on the bandwagon. According to Wired.com, Jack Tretton, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has said that achievements, entitlements, or whatever else they may be called, will not be a part of the PS3's program.

When asked about the prospect, Tretton said, "We didn't mention that, but it is our intention that we would have it--although I think it would be game-centric. It's very difficult to draw analogies [between] your success on SOCOM and your success on Madden. Madden players care about peoples' success on Madden."

So instead of having one score across all games, it appears Sony is opting for glorified leaderboards for each game...

[kmis87]

So the question is, How big a deal is gamerscore for normal players? Xbox livers chime in please. Personally I like having individual leaderboards a lot, but an overall ranking wouldn't be unwelcome. I do think that having individual scoreboards is more important an overall board cause I'm not going to buy enough games to get into the top overall scoreboard, but I could try and get highest in Madden, Resistance, or whatever else.

[shortyNZ]

with xbox it just gives you more reason to play games for a wee bit longer to get the most from them, i dont personally aim to get my score up, but its still kinda pleasing to see the numbes tick over, really tho its not somthing i couldnt have lived without

[ElementX]

I'm not a completionist, however it's always satisfying to see the "achievement unlocked" window appear at the bottom of the screen....

[Jakens]

I'm a bigger fan of the hundreds of leaderboards than achievements. Having both is even better. The "overall leaderboard" may or may not be fair, but I like that idea too.

It other words, whatever choice is made, It's all good for me!!!

[TheMART]

It's all because of Sony's setup of the network. Not unified, put together of different systems. It's a mess. Like PS2 online was a mess.

XBL will have another gen premium service, Sony f*cks up AGAIN

[satanslilh3lp3r]

thats just like most MS fanboys. say something about the ps3 sucks and u havent even seen it yet, nor do u have any proof of ur claims from legitimate factual articles. no one cares about ur opinion if ur just going to talk crap about sony or any other company

[Nodoze]

Sony waits until the 9th hour to release this information about the PS3 network. Funny enough they are releasing information after the pre-order.

I foresee a horrid network experience on the PS3..Sony drops the ball AGAIN.

[THAMMER1]

First of all your gamer score give you real bragging rights. There is nothing worse than a gamer that lies and says I beat the game on hard and brag about it. Well with a gamers score you have to keep it real. And I like that.

Now with games that are released multi platform I will buy the 360 versions just to boost my gamer score. My current gamers score is 5996. DC rider has the highest gamers score on my friends list ( 10,500+ ) and I’m trying to catch him. So you can see the 360 is almost like a game itself. The more you play the higher your score.

Sony will get exclusive games played but most 3rd parties will be sucked up by 360 owners just to boost score.

Sony is slipping on this one.

[Schmitty07]

Now we don't have to bash Sony about copying once again.

[USMChardcharger]

xbox live has been doing leader boards since the 1st xbox.

achievements was the next step. so...

[Ugly American]

I love my Gamer score. I am not going to spend $6000 to falsely inflate my numbers, but I will play the crap out of a game for the stupid achievments. It is ridiculously addicting.

I will be picking my PS3 up on 17 Nov, and the fact that most of the launch titles are already on the 360 means that I will buy them for the 360 first just for the achievments alone. I have invested a lot of time getting those little buggers. It is a pretty sly move for MS. Take Fight Night 3 for example, it looks much better on the PS3, but I would rather get the 1000 Achievment points for the 360 than have better graphics. It is kind of like people buying the PS2 over the Xbox: The Xbox was more powerful and better graphics, but the PS2 library was ginormous.

I was going to find myself torn between playing games on the PS3 and the 360 just for the Entitlements alone. I am glad they are gone, because I can focus on the 360, and play without too much stress on the PS3.

[kmis87]

But with the 360 setup you could never have the bragging rights of being the top Fight Night player in the world, which an individual leaderboard could do. I think that's more important to me than comparing Gamerscores to other people, especially with all the cheaters and people with no lives inflating theirs.

I also kinda like it when getting 100% completion actually does something. In Insomniac's games, like Ratchet and Resistance now, for instance, getting all the skill points actually unlocks some cool content. I think it's better for developers to do stuff that way, because then completing the game fully doesn't just become a complete waste of time.

[UrbanJabroni]

"But with the 360 setup you could never have the bragging rights of being the top Fight Night player in the world"

Or you could just go to the leaderboard in the game...sort of like damn near most 360 games have built in _as well_.

[Boink]

I don't go nutz for them, but seeing that little achievment unlocked is quite nice.

some people live by it, and through the various online leaderboards, you can see who is the leader in carious games as well, they can also be viewed by country which is nice too.

there are a few gamercard stat sites out there, all with nice data about gamerscores/achievements.

360voice.com is the most creative way to use XBL information that I've seen.

Achievments are great, but I think they are just a part of what makes an overall enjoyable experience(the 10 year olds swearing is the rest) :)

[kmis87]

Yeah I think it's really cool being able to compare achievements to other players in a standardized way, but I think ps3 owners could still get a system that displays their info, but it would be more like a list of rankings in all of the games they own. I think that would be more relevant than an overall achievements score. I mean, having a gamerscore of 60,000 would mean a lot less to me than if someone was ranked #1 overall in Halo3. Just my opinion though.

[mephixto]

PS3 network without entitlements = PS3 Suck
PS3 network with entitlements = Sony is copying

No matter what Sony, for the xbox fanboys the PS3 will suck anyway.

[peksi]

Most of there suck-comments come from young kids whose parents have bought them consoles.

[Andyg213]

who cares...

[ASSASSYN 36o]

What ever you want to whine about gamerscore points can sell a game alone. Just the sheer inclusion of a way to show ev eryone how good or bad you are is selling games why do you thing fony...sony even considered using them. It is a heck of a marketing tool. Sony can`t do it because they don`t have a unified on-line network service. Meanwhile back at my splinter cell!

[DixieNormS]

I love achievements. Even though I've owned my 360 since launch I only have 5300 or so points, but I love seeing the Achievement unlocked icon on the bottom of the screen that's for sure. The other day I got a call from my brother in law who lives 2 states away bragging on how he is about to pass me with his score with only 2 months into gaming. Now if that does not give good competition than sony is dead wrong. There is a reason why they wanted to implement the system on the PS3 afterall. Right?

[BIadestarX]

I can't say I have huge score and I could, but I don't have the time to complete them all, but one thing I tell can tell you, ask any xbox gamer, everythime they unlock one of this, there is a sence of accomplishment that no other console has given. Also, I get to compare how far my friends are. And even do some competition. The fact is that these increase the re-play value for most games. I beaten a few games and I re-play them just to unlock the remaining achivements, something I would probably not do. Also, they give you a sence what you should keep an eye.

[LegendaryMark]

Achievements are a great feature, both for gamers and Microsoft. A good developer will use the acievements to get you to play the game in different ways, or to play different parts of the game which you may not have tried. I can think of several times when I've got a lot more out of a game by going for an achievement.

Overall, although it is a great feature, I think this was smart on Sony's part. "Entitlements" was such a blatant copy (even if it wasn't, it would look like it) and it seems they want to distance their online service from Microsoft's as much as possible, if they try to compete directly then they will struggle as Xbox Live is too highly regarded.

[THELANDSOFSAND]

why the hell should they have achievements? thats a 360 feature, not a gaming concept!

[God of Gaming]

Achievements are fantastic... and NOT for the gamerscore. Its hard to describe to those that havent really had the chance to use them in the way I think they work well. I have 90+ friends on my list and OFTEN I get Private Messages or chats by friends who want to know how on earth I beat a certain boss or level or just how I figured out an achievment. I do the same with my friends.

Its amazing to be able to pull up your friends list, see what they have been playing in order and how far they are in that game. I have offered help to friends even when they did not ask for it, you can tell if someone is stuck at a certain point in a game.

Also take Test Drive Unlimited for example... they have a great set of achievements.. I normally would have played this game for maybe 20 hours tops, but because of how they layed out the achievements im well over 40+ hours and was able to see parts of the island / game that I never would have!

Then take this system and have MS stream it right to the web... so you can pull up any of this info from any computer in the world.. send messages via the web right to a friend. And with the fact that MS lets this data stream go out to community developers so that sites like mygamercard.net and 360voice.com pops up and you start to realize why many gamers are loving the system..

Those that say "Achievements Suck"... should really look past the gamerscore... there is a lot more to them. To me, people complain that things arent NEXT GEN enough.. well I dont think there is too much more we can do as far as gameplay.. its the fully intergrated... achievements system and how it interacts with every game and the web that is something I love about Next Gen.. stuff that had to be so well thought out.. They REQUIRE each game to have them.. its fantastic... and honestly its kept me interested in gaming longer than I thought i would be.

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And I dont understand what they mean by individual leaderboards... ummm well the 360 also has that for every game.. and it has NOTHING to do with gamerscore.

[FadeToBlack]

I find that since having the acheivement system that i get alot more out of the games i buy. For me its more of a personal aceivement knowing that I played for those hours to get the particular acheivements completed. Overall its a great idea to get people there moneys worth out of the game.