Over the course of the last year of owning an Xbox 360 my Gamerscore has been steadily climbing, although I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's impressive. My score is exactly 11,715, which I suppose is a decent number for only a year of gaming. According to the new "Achievement Progress" tab on my 360's dashboard I have a potential Gamerscore of 51,640. This is, of course, made much higher by games that I popped in for only a second before never playing them again (Spiderman 3, Fable 2, Too Human, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Prototype, Flock, Need for Speed Carbon, and many others among them), but I've also only gotten 100% in one game in all of my hours playing the 360 over the course of the last year, that game being the original Banjo-Kazooie for XBLA.
Needless to say, I've gone for 100% in many of my other games, but with no success. Several achievements for Left 4 Dead alluded me due to the necessity of having a great team to acquire them (Safety First and Nothing Special come to mind), and I put over 100 hours in Tales of Vesperia before deciding halfway through my second playthrough that I simply did not have the time to go for the full 1000. Despite my lack of success at getting all the achievements in each game I played, I often spent hours grinding away at games that I otherwise would have put down much sooner; I did this all for the sake of getting something extra tacked onto the big flashing number that greets me whenever I turn on my console.
While going for the insanely difficult "Manbearpig" achievement in the surprisingly fun XBLA release, South Park Tower Defense, I had a bit of an epiphany. As I restarted the level for the 10th time due to the drunkeness and overall inability to do anything correctly of my teammates, it hit me that I was not having fun. I had performed a meaningless task in a game that would have otherwise been enjoyable for hours, with no reward to myself. Even if I had gotten the achievement, I still could've spent those hours of my time doing something interesting instead of just tacking on another 20 points to my Gamerscore. What other games could I have been experiencing for the first time if I had chosen to spend my time with them instead? Mass Effect and The Orange Box are sitting unplayed in my library, and I know that once I dive into those games I'll enjoy them a lot, so why would I waste my time going for achievements in games that I have already played to the point of souring them?
Take for instance the "Smile" achievement in Geometry Wars 2, where players not only have to beat the ridiculously difficult "Sequence" mode, but they have to intentionally fail on some parts of it in order to make the sequence board look like a smiley face. That's not fun! I had to spend hours just to beat sequence in the first place; beating the mode while intentionally doing badly on the 2nd, 4th, 11th, 15th, 17th, 18th, and 19th levels of it (as the "smile" achievement requires) would likely take an entire day, and the reward of getting 25 meaningless achievement points would simply not be worth it.
I'd love to hear from someone who got the "Light Seeds Master" achievement in Prince of Persia. Tell me, was that fun for you? I bet following around the predetermined paths and revisiting all of the environments more than twice, all for the mindless collection of over 1,000 of those God-forsaken light seeds was just a blast. How about it, those of you who found every flag in Assassin's Creed? Were those few points really worth the hours upon hours that you spent holding down the trigger button and running laps around the cities?
For me, I think that while achievements are often fun little distractions that can add on significantly to the amount of time (and ultimately value) that players get out games, really hard achievements that require repetitive action, grinding, or otherwise boring activities that wouldn't be considered fun should be completely ignored in favor of spending gaming time with something new. Instead, it might be better to just enjoy games for what they are, playing through the campaign and, if necessary, letting that stand as the experience that was had with the game.
Despite my rather staunch stance on the fact that a Gamerscore isn't worth anything and shouldn't be pursued with too much of a person's time, I do believe that achievements are a great way to get more out of a game in an interesting and fun way. The best achievements are ones that can be acquired through cooperative play, as getting in other people on a challenge can make for a fun experience. I eventually got the "Manbearpig" achievement in South Park TD by playing the game locally with friends, and explaining the game's mechanics and successfully completing the challenge was pretty enjoyable, but I don't think that I'll ever return to the game to go for the other two achievements that I'm missing. As gamers, we should always get our money's worth out of games, but we should also know when to put a game down and go do something else, regardless of whether or not we've wrung all the silly achievement points from it. There are too many fantastic games available on the 360 to only experience a few, so go ahead, rent some random games that you think might be fun to just play through one time. Dig into the back catalog for your game system and just have fun.
The next Xbox 360 update is only just around the corner and we know Microsoft Studios are launching their new Xbox 360 "Games on Demand" service and some other cool updates but we haven't seen a full list of titles and features available until now.. Check out the full list below.
Less than a week from today, the Xbox LIVE summer update will arrive to more than 20 million Xbox LIVE members and with it will come the next evolution of connected entertainment on Xbox 360. Get ready to meet the many new faces of your Xbox 360; whether it’s new Avatar clothing and awards from Adidas or “Splosion Man”, or even a private home cinema, Xbox LIVE has something for you.
Movie night on Xbox LIVE
Browse, select and jump right into your favourite movies from the top genres: comedy, action, horror…even a tear-jerking chick flick. There are hundreds to choose from, with many in HD.
Avatars are people too!
Now thanks to Avatar Marketplace the options for customising your avatar are endless. With an ever-expanding selection of stores, full of premium outfits and accessories from your favourite games and fashion brands, you can express yourself through your Avatar like never before. Your Avatar’s one-stop-shop will launch with a growing collection from the top names in fashion and gaming including:
Top Brands: Adidas, Quiksilver, Roxy, Tokidoki
Unique Fashions: Steampunk, Recessionista
Your Favourite Games: “BioShock 2,” “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST,” “Gears of War 2,” “Fable II,” “The Secret of Monkey Island SE,” “Splinter: Cell Conviction,” “Star Wars Clone Wars: Republic Heroes”
You can also earn special Avatar clothes and items just by playing your favourite games, starting with a hot logo t-shirt from “Splosion Man,” the hit Xbox LIVE Arcade title that kicked-off off the 2nd annual Summer of Arcade. And to keep your Avatars from getting bored, we’re giving them fun new props to play with; everything from a basketball to pompoms, even a mobile phone…just try to stick with nights and weekends.
Games on Demand marks the introduction of digitally distributed full Xbox 360 games: the titles you want, when you want them, straight to your Xbox 360 at the push of a button. You’ll also have the option to easily purchase Games on Demand titles directly via credit card.
There will be no less then 24 games available for digital distribution in the US and another 24 games available for EU using the "Games on Demand" Service . The dashboard update is set for release this Tuesday August 11th, 2009.
No more hide and seek
Now you can view, find and arrange your content on Xbox LIVE the way you want. Want to send a specific friend a message? Sort your friends list by Gamertag, status and even activity, so you can easily find the friends you want. There are also new options for viewing your Achievements and progress, improved matchmaking support and more.
Best of all, you can now rate every single piece of content on Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace using a five star system. Support your favourite XBLA game with a five star rating, or find the top-rated titles in the newly-updated Indie Games Marketplace – it’s never been easier to find the best and most beloved game content on Xbox LIVE.
Just the beginning…
The Xbox LIVE summer update brings all new ways to play games, and connect with friends or friendly rivals anywhere in the world. It’s another step toward realising the Xbox 360 promise of entertainment for everyone, and another reason why Xbox LIVE is hands down the best entertainment value in your living room. But this is just the beginning…
Coming soon, we’re bringing a whole new wave of partnerships and custom features straight to your Xbox 360 – instant on 1080p streaming video with 5.1 audio from Zune, personalised digital radio stations from Last.fm, and the biggest forces in social networking: Facebook and Twitter.
In the meantime, have fun with your Avatar, or download that classic Xbox 360 game you’ve been meaning to pick up. Sit back, relax and enjoy and stay tuned for the next evolution in connected entertainment, courtesy of Xbox LIVE.
As always for all the latest xbox 360 info and updates be sure to check back to 360-HQ or install our new fancy toolbar which will link you with all the latest xbox 360 content we have on offer including: screenshots, trailers & videos, cheats, achievements, news, tutorials, hardware reviews and much much more.
First Onlive rolls out to try its hand at the console wars using the angle that you just download a small amount of info and play it off the server and now Zeebo is throwing its hat in the ring by selling to countries that are not the target for other consoles.
Edge-Online reports: June marks the launch across Brazil of Zeebo, a console that aims to tap an enormous new market for videogaming. Designed to navigate the dangerous waters of piracy, pricing and patchy wired internet infrastructure in Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and China, it’s an attempt to extend videogames outside their traditional, and increasingly saturated, stomping grounds of Europe, the US and Japan.
In anyone’s money, making a console for the billion-strong emerging middle classes of such countries is ambitious. And it’s ambition that can’t be achieved by conventional wisdom. “When it comes to traditional consoles, even if you ignore the cost of importing them, the price of the games is massive,” explains Reinaldo Normand, founder of Zeebo. “That’s the reason piracy is such a big problem in these countries. It’s the only way people can afford to buy games.”
It’s a situation he knows well, having worked as a journalist and organiser of game events in his native Brazil. But it was only when he helped set up the mobile division of Tectoy, a Brazilian company that made its reputation releasing Sega consoles loaded with embedded games, that a solution started to become apparent.
6000 miles away in San Diego, Mike Yuen, director of the gaming group at mobile telecommunications company Qualcomm, was having similar thoughts. With 3D graphics acceleration becoming commonplace in cellphones, he was experimenting using TV-out to connect phones to bigger screens and using generic gamepads to provide a more console-like experience. “Internally, everyone thought it was a great idea but the phone-as-a-console concept wasn’t something Qualcomm itself could take further because we create technology for other people to use, so it remained just an idea,” Yuen explains.
Microsoft is now giving holiday shoppers even more value by reducing the price of its incredibly popular Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel by $30 to just $99 (U.S. ERP). The newly priced Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel now comes bundled with a driver disc and a demo of the acclaimed “Forza Motorsport 2” including full force feedback support. With its sleek design and cutting edge technology, the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel immerses gamers in an unparalleled racing experience.
The Wireless Racing Wheel is compatible with all of the most popular racing games on Xbox 360.
Xbox 360 offers the best value among next-gen consoles and is the only place you can play the greatest holiday line-up in video games history. This holiday, buyers will receive two free games bundled with every Xbox 360 console and Xbox 360 Elite. The highly-rated “Forza Motorsport 2” (Microsoft Game Studios) and “Marvel Ultimate Alliance” (Activision) are both included for $349.99 (U.S.) for Xbox 360 console and $449.99 (U.S.) for Xbox 360 Elite
The guys over at Xbox 360 Rally have done a fantastic job and gone to all the effort of writing up a Complete List of FREE Xbox 360 Live Marketplace Downloads..
Kudo's must go to the guys for putting in such a great effort..
Please remember that this is a US-based list! If you live in, say, Canada or the EU and see items on here that are region specific.
The Xbox LIVE Marketplace is a true cornucopia of stuff. Whether it be classic arcade games like Paperboy, Time Pilot and Contra, or downloadable content for your favorite games, like Santa Claus outfits for Saints Row and expansions for Oblivion, Xbox LIVE is chock full o’ stuff for just about everyone. If you have the MS Points, you can open the door to all the world’s delight and joy.
But what if you’re broke? Are you just left outside in the snow, to stare in the window from behind the bushes to see all the joyous boys and girls playing with their horse armor and their extra Crackdown skins? Of course not! There’s stuff for you, too, cheap ass!
In fact, there is a LOT of free stuff for you. Whether it be extra content for your favorite game, or the most worthless of things (*coughgamerpicscough*), there is a surprisingly large amount of free stuff for your downloading delight on Xbox LIVE.
DREW CAREY PUTS $100,000 ON THE LINE AS HE TAKES ON U.S. SOCCER STARS IN … SOCCER? (NO, HE HASN’T LOST HIS MIND)
CHICAGO (May 30, 2007) – Drew Carey is a big soccer fan. Drew Carey is a big EA SPORTSTM FIFA Soccer 07 on Xbox 360 fan. Drew Carey hates to lose but likes to donate money to good causes. U.S. Soccer loves, well, all those things. So Drew has laid down the challenge and opened his checkbook to the tune of $100,000 large.
Comedian and TV Star to Play U.S. Soccer Stars
In EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 07 on Xbox 360 on June 5 at
The Home Depot Center with $100K for Charity on the Line
At a VIP invitation-only event on Tuesday, June 5 from 7-10 p.m. at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., the comedian and star of the upcoming CBS game show The Power of 10 will play five players from both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams in FIFA Soccer 07 on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and for every game he loses, he’s throwing in $10,000 bucks to benefit the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund in honor of former coach and U.S. captain Glenn “Mooch” Myernick. In the main event, Drew squares off against self-described EA Sports king and U.S. National Team star Landon Donovan with $50,000 up for grabs. Members of both the Men’s and Women’s National Teams will be on hand to heckle Drew for a good cause.
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