Giant Bomb Video Game News

No time for introductions, let's get right down to business. If you keep track of the Giant Bomb achievement tracking system, then you've probably noticed the big error message at the top of your profile page, mentioning that we're experiencing issues with getting Sony's trophy data, and that we've been attempting to contact them about it.

Well, I've got an update on that, and it's not terrific news. Sony has informed us that it's not looking to share its trophy data with external sites at this time. So, in short, we're cut off. If you want to see your trophy statistics, you'll have to venture over to Sony's official site. In the days ahead, we'll be removing PSN accounts from your profile pages. We'll leave the game-level trophy pages up, though, in case you want to see (or comment on) what trophies are in a given PS3 game. It's our hope that Sony decides to officially open up its information to sites like ours in the future. We'll keep your PSN account names on file, just in case.

OK, let's get to the lists of achievement popularity. As a reminder, these lists are based on traffic to Giant Bomb's pages over the last week. And we've got a new leader in the form of Brutal Legend. Double Fine's new metal/adventure/action/RTS thing may have gameplay that kind of pushes me away at every turn, but that's not stopping it from breaking out to a good start, at least in terms of the number of you that are playing it.

As of this writing, 2,609 of you have played Brutal Legend. That's a pretty big start that actually puts it ahead of several major releases that have been on shelves for a lot longer. Here's a sampling of games that are not as popular with you as Brutal Legend:

• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (1,810)
• Need for Speed: SHIFT (895)
• Wolfenstein (1,228)
• Madden NFL 10 (1,509)
• UFC 2009 Undisputed (2,406)
• Guitar Hero 5 (1,552)

 
Now before you start jumping to conclusions and try to directly tie these to eventual sales figures, remember that Bionic Commando got most of its 2,100 players in the first week or two. And that one? Not exactly a sales success. Anyway, onto the list! 

Top Ten Games

1. Brutal Legend
2. Modern Warfare 2
3. Halo 3: ODST
4. Risen
5. Borderlands
6. Batman: Arkham Asylum
7. InFamous (PS3)
8. The Beatles: Rock Band
9. Garry's Mod
10. Forza Motorsport 3 (blocked)

  
OK, let's talk new stuff. We've got Left 4 Dead 2 achievements on the site now, along with a pile of other games, like Lego Rock Band, Tony Hawk: RIDE, and... well, hey, how about you just look at the full list? 

New Sets

• Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? Game Time
• Dreamkiller
• Dreamkiller (Steam)
• Perfect Dark Zero Bonus Disc
• Tekken 6 (blocked)
• Axel & Pixel
• Tony Hawk: RIDE
• CSI: Deadly Intent
• Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
• Backyard Football '10
• Cars: Race-O-Rama
• LEGO Rock Band
• Bakugan Battle Brawlers
• Panzer General
• Madagascar Kartz
• Metal Drift (Steam)
• Zombie Bowl-O-Rama (Steam)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast
• Call of Duty Classic
• Wallace & Gromit #3
• Jurassic: The Hunted
• Way of the Samurai 3
• Left 4 Dead 2

And here are your top ten individual achievements. Again, like the other popularity list, this one's based on traffic. Some people still seem to think that it's based on how many times a given achievement was unlocked. It's not. 

Top Ten Individual

1. CSI: Deadly Intent - We Love CSI Fans
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum - World's Greatest Detective
3. Garry's Mod - Secret Phrase
4. Halo 3: ODST - Naughty Naughty
5. Risen - Map Reader
6. Brutal Legend - Beast Master
7. Halo 3: ODST - Audiophile
8. The Simpsons Game - Press START to Play
9. Halo 3: ODST - Be Like Marty
10. Halo 3: ODST - Super Sleuth

Well, it seems like the era of Halo 3: ODST is coming to a close, achievementally speaking. It's just not dominating the list like it has been for the past couple of weeks. That's really no surprise, since most of the points-focused people of the world have gotten those achievements already, so they don't need to look them up on the site as often. It certainly had a good run, though.

The CSI and Simpsons achievements are on that list because I talked about them on Twitter last week. I think that CSI achievement (which gives you points for watching the opening) might be the easiest achievement ever, even easier than the Simpsons one, which gave you points for pressing start. The difference, of course, is that The Simpsons Game did it as a hilarious joke. CSI: Deadly Intent... isn't? Or maybe it is, I guess we haven't seen the final product yet.

OK, I should probably get back to writing the Borderlands review. Check back tomorrow for that.