Are You Addicted to Achievements?

On the other hand, there are some titles that pretty much give their achievements away, and playing these games can be an easy way to (some might say artificially) inflate your score. The most obvious example is King Kong, which gives the player 1000 points for doing stuff that's essential to finishing the game. One playthrough (of a fairly short game, we might add) will net you all 1000 points. EA's NBA Live 06 is guilty, too, especially considering that you don't even have to play the game to get nearly 800 points. Just simulate a few seasons with one of the league's top teams (such as the Spurs or Pistons), and there's a good chance you'll win an MVP, have one of your player voted an All-Star, and win the title.

Since there were limited games available at the launch of the console, the number of attainable achievements is still pretty low, so many people haven't gotten swept up in the wave of excitement that some of us have. I've noticed that the gamers who rarely venture on to Xbox Live aren't really interested in their gamerscores, either, mainly because they aren't able to compare their scores to those of their friends. However, as more and more games are released and an increasing number of people get their hands on the system, I believe that achievement addiction will begin to sweep through the world like wild fire.


So, you might ask, what's my gamerscore? Currently, I've got 3680 achievement points (a far cry from TeamXbox's Rob Semsey, who's got a whopping 7875), although there are still a number of games I've yet to play. Alas, I played a lot of the games on a debug unit (which we use to play games before release), so I didn't get the points added to my standard Xbox Live account. Do I dare play through the games again, just for a few points? I know I probably shouldn't, but I just need another little taste.

My dear readers, it's now time to tell me what your gamerscore is and what games you've been playing. The highest verifiable score will get a little surprise from yours truly. E-mail me and tell me how good you really are!

[My So-Called Live is written by Will Tuttle, who recently spent 5 hours playing Zuma, just for a measly 10 points.]

Have any questions? Feel like challenging me to a game online? Any topics you'd like to suggest for future columns? Drop me a line! I promise I'll write back if you're nice. Or even if you're not.