Today I have achieved absolutely nowt.


A addictive and commonly utilized device in modern gaming is a system of achievements to unlock when a player accomplishments a difficult task on a game, or just reaches a certain level.
From the xbox 360's achievements and gamerscore, to the ps3's trophy method and to a lesser extent stea
ms achievements.
For the longest time I have been in two minds about achievements Of course with me bean the sort of gamer I am, all Its really serves as is to show how fickle I am when It comes to playing a game to the end.



I will use the example of 360s achievements because it the one console I am the most accustomed to.
My gamerscore tells a story It shows a game that I have played maybe for an hour or two with about 120G then a game I have played to the end with maybe 300-650G 

So it is clear to see I am not going out of my way to get everyone of these achievements nonetheless I still can't help getting sucked in.
To really Know how addictive seeing these little milestones pop up on the bottom of your screen, telling you how awesome the last thing you did was, 
You have to go back on your playstation 2.
Playstation 2 has a ton of games that are amazing to play and worth anyone's time to do so, but now when I play an older game it does kinda bug me and bum me out that there's no achievements in place.


So are they a good thing? I say they can be when used in the proper manner, they seem to be a issue of balance with the achievements you unlock for how hard they are, from the laughable press start achievement on the Simpsons game.



To the seemingly impossible world cup 2006 complete all challenges.




Then there is a sense of added content within the achievements themselves, they often inject humor and references to popular culture with the game that definitely adds some charm to an otherwise dull and grind ridden part of the game.




Then there are times when Its just uncanny ludacris coincidence I was playing fable 3 listening to the mental cast podcast they were talking about the film predator, One of the hosts of the show started quoting “if it bleed we can kill it” off the movie the moment that he started to say the quote this popped up on my xbox.




So all in all they do add a new layer and dimension to ones gaming experience and does make the player get the most out of a game, sparing you on to try your hand at harder difficulty's and the likes and even cracking a joke or two on the way and opening an insight on what the developers where thing at the time, I mean It can be taken to far sometimes buying games you have on other consoles with no extra content just for the added achievements, But then it is just another gaming mechanic to make you want to come back for more and keep playing and that's never a bad thing.









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