Achievement Unlocked: 0G - Change In System.
Article by Dustin Murphy
In 2005 Microsoft began to tear a hole through what was formally known as competitive gaming with their new system many games had never seen known as the "Achievement System". It gave games a true reason for gamer's to chew through games, play through them, and unlock as many of the games secrets as they can for their money's worth. It is something that many gamers have become prone to looking into even on the Sony Entertainment PlayStation 3 and soon PlayStation 4. Earlier this year post-announcement of XBox One, XBox Lives Major Nelson also known as Larry Hryb sat down with the XBox Live Achievements program manager Cierra McDonald. In doing this they sat down and went over the changes coming to XBox Live's achievement system.
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| New XBox One Achievement Screenshot |
In many of the changes gamer's have been begging to know whether or not that their achievements will carry over. In that news Cierra dispelled many worries - one gamerscore per gamer tag. With these changes as we move into the next generation of XBox Live and the achievement system we will see new unlockables such as digital artwork, maps, characters, and temporary stat boosts via achievements. And this is not limited to just your games folks. They have stated it will also work on the XBox One's video apps, music apps, and of course other apps that will grant sneak peek content, early access, or subscription extensions. Only GAMES will give you Gamerscore. With these changes there will be two new types of achievements: achievements and challenges. The achievement is exactly what we know as veterans, but not to those inexperienced. Stated by Cierra McDonald gamer's like yourselves ca think of achievements as a "promise" and these new challenges - a opportunity.
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| Screen Shot of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Achievements List |
Achievements and challenges are both considered achievements on XBox Live, and they will both inherit similar benefits. You can unlock them as awards and reap their benefits. Once the challenges are unlocked, they are saved into your achievement history. kind of like a feat of strength. They will have their own icon to show other fellow XBox Live users your challenging accomplishment. Many of them will be captured and associated with the XBox One's Game DVR functionality to show others how a player accomplished their challenge. The nice thing? Developers can make new ones at any time to keep players coming back for more. With these challenges they are time based so that they are only available for a given time by the developers or Microsoft. They also do not give players a Gamerscore so don't expect to see your score jump. Some may actually go across titles and some may span multiple game titles. Achievements however will not be shared across both XBox One and XBox 360. Challenges can also be unlocked by the XBox Live gaming community, meaning team work will be needed (why wouldn't it be needed?). The nice part according to Cierra in Larry Hrybs interview is that the XBox One new achievement system is that it is completely used by the new cloud-system created by Microsoft. Awesome, huh? We think so. Think that is all? Well the cloud system is actually a good thing for us and our friendly developers. It means at any time they can created new achievements and challenges post launch. That also means no requirement to ALWAYS buy new content (note: free!) and that is great with the cloud or title updates. Also imagine game achievements being added on based on game play analysis and feedback from the servers.
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| Yes you can even take it on the go with you. |
Say you play a lot of for example Fable and the chicken kicking game people do and it's well known that players are doing weird, wacky, and amazing things. The developers can add that in. They can add a challenge or achievement for so many chickens kicked and the longest ranges giving them a reward to the gamer's be it in game, account based or even a physical item (real plushy with a foot in the side of it to mock kicking?). Think pretty much gamer's like yourself will be a major focus of achievement creation. That means (US the gamer's can help decide achievement creation) and of course we could submit ideas and or challenges.
To break it down here's what we are seeing.
-New XBox challenges and achievements for apps and games.
-Post game launch challenges and achievements via update or cloud service.
-Bragging rights to community or person based gaming depending on the developer decisions.
-Activity feed allowing players to see new achievements gained by friends.
-Ease of access on discovering new challenges available.
-The achievement page is now a beautiful art gallery.
All in all. It's a welcomed change.
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