Video: Why Gamerscore Should Be Regulated
I've been accused of being a gamerscore whore once or twice in my time. When I was teased for earning 1000 points each playing through Open Season and Meet The Robinsons, I defended the former as being a fun distraction and the latter as an underappreciated and well designed platformer. When someone jabs at my full points earned for King Kong or Fuzion Frenzy 2, I explain that King Kong was a solid title and that I won Fuzion Frenzy 2 in Xbox Live's Old Spice Challenge. I can justify doing a lot of things for gamerpoints, but what I won't do is play Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth. Any game in which you can earn all 1000 gamerpoints in less than two and a half minutes is ridiculous.
It's fairly obvious that the THQ employees that worked on the Xbox 360 version of Avatar:TLA:TBE don't really understand the point of the achievement system and put minimal effort into creating the uninspired "achievements". Never mind the argument that gamerscore should not have any impact on how fun a game may be, this does raise a valid question. Should there be any sort of guidelines or regulations placed on game achievements by Microsoft? Should developers regulate themselves? I can't help but wonder if having easy achievements translates to an increase in sales and rental popularity. I believe it certainly has an effect, but is it the amount significant enough to influence developers?
New Avatar Game Awards 1,000 Gamerpoints in Two Minutes [Joystiq]
TexCub
Posted to Video Games, Videos on 18 November 2007
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: 50 hit combos, achievements, airbender, avatar, gamerscore, lame production decisions, live, rentals, sales, xbox
Delicious. If i gave a crap about my gamerscore I'd 1) Be angry and 2) Check that game out from work.
I'd like to point something out about the above comment:
"It's fairly obvious that the THQ employees that worked on the Xbox 360 version of Avatar:TLA:TBE don't really understand the point of the achievement system and put minimal effort into creating the uninspired achievements."
While THQ published the game, the developers at NickGames are the ones responsible for the unbalance here. One of my friends is a game tester, and I can guarantee you someone would have bugged that little item. Of course, that doesn't mean the developer guys have to listen, I guess...