2 May 2009
Current XBox 360 Achievement Rules
What is Microsoft doing with achievements these days? The only published “rules” that have been dictated were set in place over two years ago on the Gamerscore Blog, a publication which has since been shut down.
Some games were to break the 1250 Maximum Gamerscore Points rule, including Halo 3, Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3. With the new DLC coming in May, Fable 2 will also upgrade to 1350 GS. Jumps for GTA 4 and Saints Row 2 are announced. Obviously the old maximum of 1250 is smashed to bits, though the numbers are a bit odd (Fallout 2 with 1350, GoW2 with 1425). Why not 1500 or 2000?
Here’s what i’ve found on some websites, let’s take Fallout 3 as an example: Bethesda was only adding 100 points for each of the first two content packs, then going over 250 with the third pack, since it was a new quarter at that point. It also explains how Fable recently added 13 achievements from one single DLC, having only used up 3 achievements in its first quarter. Finally, Halo jumping straight to 1750 is also explained, since it had been over a year (four quarters) since the game’s release when that happened.
This somehow confirmed rule is in place to stop the game companies from releasing loads of content right after the release, instead leaving the game to be supplied with smaller bits of content for months and months after release, or a big helping later down the road if they so choose.
There is still a lot left to be made clear without Microsoft having much to say on the subject. Are there any rules regarding the requirement of peripherals such as the Vision Camera, something on requiring another title to unlock an achievement or is the roumour about “no achievements for free content” true?
Maybe Microsoft will clear up the situation in the next weeks…
