I'm putting this question in Off Topic because I'm not sure where is should be...

Anyway, as I'm only a 2 month old Xbox gamer I'm only really getting the gaming bug back from years ago... When I was younger and didn't have the money for consoles or games etc I'd usually have games MONTHS after they were out and wouldn't really be that bothered about finishing them. If I got bored I'd switch them off without thinking twice...

Anyway after getting into the xbox and gaining a WHOLE 1375 gamerpoints (so far) I find myself checking what achievements I can get and how much work i am going to have to put in to get them. Also there is the fact that you don't REALLY feel like you have finished the game until you have the full 1000 points per game.

I know there are very few games I will ever get the 1000 points on but it will defo bring me back time and time again to older games to try and get those final achievements.

Do you find that there are now achievements to eh.. achieve in all xbox games that your more of a gamer than with previous consoles on PS2 etc??

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I've my 360 for 3 months now. i agree that it certainly breathes some life into games one would have otherwise got bored with but i don't play more often than i did on the ps2.

Definitly agree with you there. In saying that if I get 500 points in a game I'm pretty happy with that result. But the fact you have to play on Live means I will be buying games sooner than second hand. I suppose M$ can be happy with that result!!

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There are two rules in life:
Rule #1: There are no rules
Rule #2: Always obey rule number 1.

Yeah i also agree. Im always checking to see what achievements i need to get. Its a great way to get people to actually finish a game imo

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I also think the idea of achievements was a masterstroke by MS. I've really only two games PES6 and GoW and I'm trying to get the achievements in both. I keep having to choose which one to play and whether to go for the online or offline achievements.

Its good to have the extra incentive to play.

As long as I have more points than random I'll be happy...

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I think it adds a lot of playability to some games. particularly the worse games where people will play them for the sake of achievements, king kong to name one which is an awful game,a game which could be used to torture gamers.it also sells a lot more games for M$ where people on top of the leaderboards are buying every game just to stay on top, people like them could hardly be enjoying games if they feel they are only in it for the achievements.on a positive note it extends the lifespan of better games where you try to complete everything in the game as best you can , giving you more reason to play.

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Controlled Aggression

I think it works like high scores did in old games when playing with friends. Where you'd always try to beat each others score.

My brother, a friend and I used to have a competition to see who could get the fastest lap around Nurburing in a Lotus Elise in GT4 but that is kind of falsely setting one up on your own. 360 achievements organise this. It is part of what made games fun.

With achievements they also can give them for things you wouldn't normally expect to be rewarded for in a game (like certain gun fights in GOW) so it eliminates the need for pointless challenges like do this within this time frame in games as they can just make the bits where you can get achievements a natural kind of end of level part of the game and when you get the achievement you'll know.

In other news I hate artificial time limitations in games. Where it makes no sense to have a time limitation but because the section of the game was easy they decided it would make it more challenging. I think that means the game is broken and it is just putting a band aid on a wound that needs stitching as it is simply not realistic and runs any kind of immersion the game is trying to create and just makes it frustrating if its really difficult to achieve.

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