In my ever-expanding quest to gain those lovely achievement points, I decided to head down to my beloved local Games 'n' Things to pick up a new game...since they still happen to offer super low ass prices.  What to buy, though?  We all end up facing that problem at some point:  staring at the endless line of games at our favorite local boutiques when we know damn well we shouldn't even be spending the money anyways, but there's that void that needs to be filled with a new interactive experience.  In other words - I was fucking fiending, fool!!!  Three F's in a row there...did I unlock an achievement?

Anyways, I was originally walking in because I remembered seeing a used copy of Sacred 2 for around $30.00, which after doing some hearty research, I've come to realize it's a game that I REALLY want to play...glitches and bugs and all.  However, they sold it.  -_-  Damn.  Luckily, I had noticed a copy of Prince of Persia for $18.95 and said "dood, that's hard to pass up, and I've been talking about how I want to play it...so let's rock".

Shadow Complex is a game that I'm seriously looking forward to ever since I had heard about it at E3.  I know that's not a very long time to get excited over a game, but between the use of Orson Scott Card's Empire as source material and the fact that it's a 2D side-scrolling asskicker like Metroid and Castlevania, I'm psyched.  It'll probably end up being the first Arcade game that I buy which isn't featured on a compilation disc...along with 'Splosion Man.  Nonetheless, I have this issue that some other people seem to agree on:  why the Hell is this FULL GAME at $15 only coming with 200 achievement points?  I know, I know...it's a small complaint to many that don't seem to give a shit.  However, just because YOU may not give a shit, that doesn't make it less of a problem.  It just means you don't care what the result is.  There are those of us who think that it IS a problem.  So, here's my argument, bare with me and see what you think:

With that said, achievements update:  due to my lack of interest in Prince of Persia, I decided to pick up a game that I always wanted to play but never did - Stranglehold.  As a martial arts and Hong Kong flick enthusiast (I'm not the biggest of fans, but I know enough to hold up against other enthusiasts), I owed it to myself to finally see what John and Chow had to offer...and I like it.  Is it great?  No.  Is it fun?  Sure.  Does it have achievements?  Fuck yes.  Amazingly enough, there were actually a couple of people online the night that I started playing!!!  So I even got a couple of those rare achievements for the multiplayer.  = D  I'm going to be breaking 30K soon, but I need to figure out what game to do it with.  Anyone have suggestions?

Awesome blog, mate. I would love Shadow Complex to have more achievements because, you know, achievements are the best things in the world. The side-by-side argument is a good one; why is the way we are receiving the game the reason it is getting a smaller share? With Games on Demand arriving soon, it is going to be hard to tell the difference.

Stranglehold is also a fun game. Yeah, it wasn't great but I had a fun time with it. It got way repetitious at spots but the action was lively and there was a healthy dosage of achievements.

Fuck, I was hoping you would have picked up Sacred 2, just curious about that game.

I completely agree with you, arcade games need 1,000 achievement points. Having "200" just sitting there in your recent games list just looks weird, especially if it's surrounded by 900-1,000 scores.

I honestly disagree. I mean, sure not all of them, but a large amount of downloadable games are short and don't offer an awful lot of room to flesh out 1000 points. Sure, some do but those larger games are exceptions, not the norm.

I honestly think that for a $60 retail game that comes with 1000, 5 smaller games each coming with 200 for about the same price works out about just fine imo.

I'm a huge acheivement whore, but somehow I just reckon most XBLA games would feel very very hollow with 1000 points, especially stuff like say, Worms, or Monkey Island for example, they are already clutching at straws for their achievements, giving them 1000 just means they have to spend more time programming for almost no reason in order to track more things, that or they simply use the same achieves but boost the score up, which makes no difference the number just gets bigger.

Besides, it's kinda nice the way 12 acheivements fit nicely on the one card next to the game when you're browsing. Maybe that's just me, but yeah I feel there should be a tough stance drawn on this stuff whatever the case, problems happen when MS make rules and don't stick to them. As we've seen prior to the 1k rule, and now with popular games being given leeway to have more achievements than others.

I still feel cheated Sega didnt put out an update for Condemned, it's not so much the fact it's onyl got 8something, but that i'm missing 2 and i'm too afraid to go back and get them because theres a glitch that gives you the same achieve over and over again because it doesnt registers, but it still registers that you've earned it, people have glitched millions of GS this way, somehow it actually ups your score :S So yeah, I dont want that glitch to happen and to get banned so i'm never playing it again lol.

Edit: Just to add to that, achievement glitches that don't get fixed irk me more than any achievement amount issue ever could. Games like Command and Conquer 3, the above mentioned condemned, and tons tons more with glitched achievements piss me off so much, especially ones that are difficult, they make me not want to even play the game.

Well...the issue about Achievements is that if your $5 Arcade game has the same quantity of points as your $60 game, then the Achievement Point-hoarding nutcases would just buy every $5 Live Arcade game) and load up on points faster. Which goes against the company's preferred approach of those same people loading up on the $60 games instead.

Both Canuck and A Drain bring up good points each.  By no means am I saying that EVERY Arcade game should have 1,000 points.  Peggle just doesn't need that many...maybe.  Actually, let me pick a different game.  LOL  Geometry Wars doesn't need 1,000 points.  200 fits it quite well.

should@jakob187 said:

" @The_A_Drain: But achievements are so damn tasty, sir!  They are smothered in chocolate and peanut butter!  I just can't get enough!!!  *scratches neck*

I'm totally trying to work on my completion percentage, but I'm a conflicted human being.  I want to get EVERYTHING in the games...but I also want to play so many different games.  It's such a tough balancing act.  I've gotten to the point that if I pull at least half of the game and/or 500 points, I'm usually satisfied enough to know that I'll pick it back up at a later date.  lol

I just bought Phantasy Star Universe for $8 this morning.  Does that make me a bad person...knowing that it's got a pretty streamlined 1000 points?

"

"should@jakob187 said:

" @The_A_Drain: But achievements are so damn tasty, sir!  They are smothered in chocolate and peanut butter!  I just can't get enough!!!  *scratches neck*

I'm totally trying to work on my completion percentage, but I'm a conflicted human being.  I want to get EVERYTHING in the games...but I also want to play so many different games.  It's such a tough balancing act.  I've gotten to the point that if I pull at least half of the game and/or 500 points, I'm usually satisfied enough to know that I'll pick it back up at a later date.  lol

I just bought Phantasy Star Universe for $8 this morning.  Does that make me a bad person...knowing that it's got a pretty streamlined 1000 points?

"

Will it help make up your mind if I told you "you can't take your Achievement Points to the grave"? "

Great blog as always! Well I've been doing a little bargain hunting and was able to pick up Dead Space for $19.99, so I guess we'll see how this goes. 

I completely agree with your point about increasing Achievement totals for certain Arcade games, especially in light of some recent DLC trends. I don't see how it's fair for a full $15 game like Battlefield 1943 or Banjo-Kazooie to be limited to only 200 points, when each $10 DLC map pack for Halo 3 adds another 250 points to the game's point total.

I almost bought Prince of Persia over Mirror's Edge back a couple weeks ago. From what you said, I'm glad I didn't. Also, I never got into the Stranglehold game when I played the demo but I hope you enjoy it. Oh and one last thing, I stared too.

Talking about the new PoP game...it's ok for the first few hours, but then you start realizing how linear EVERYTHING is..the fighting is really boring, the platforming can't keep me interested long enough and the story is pretty shit. One thing i will give the game is that it looks beautiful..stunning visuals but that's pretty much it.

Also, are you honestly bitching about not having enough Achievements in a game to keep you interested?
Did you play games Pre 2005?

Because most people played the new PoP as a challenge, it's not, it's an experience, you sit down like a movie and let the game flow. Oh and the visuals were breathtaking, I've never said "wow" so many times whilst looking at just the beauty of the game. The soundtrack is awesome too.

People expected it to be like the new Sands of Time, but Ubisoft chose to go down a whole different path, focus less on combat and more on environment, though the combat in the new PoP does get boring after a while, with focus on the same combo's over and over again.

Bionic Commando Rearmed is a $10 downloadable game that lasts 3 to 4 hours on the hardest difficulty and comes with 200 points for achievements.