The slippery slope to Achievement addiction

You've just saved the world but no-one noticed. Feeling a bit disgruntled, you take your team all the way to the World Cup. Again, everyone is oblivious. Desperate for acclaim, you then foil an evil Troll King, become a motor racing champion and defeat Tiger Woods in a PGA Tour. No-one could care less.

That would be a pretty unfair existence wouldn't it? But don't get all bitter and cynical - you're about to get all the kudos you so richly deserve. How? Well, with Xbox 360™ and Xbox Live®, all those gaming milestones now unlock Achievements! These will let you compare like for like with your friends on any Xbox 360 game! You even earn these in all of the Xbox Live Arcade titles including Bankshot Billiards 2, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Zuma amongst many others! Check out the whole list of fantastic Xbox Live Arcade titles here!

How does it work?

The goals you have to fulfil to earn your achievements and bump up your Gamerscore vary from game to game. In fact, they’re totally in the fiendish hands of the game developers. Once you’ve got a game, you can check the list of Achievements by pressing the Guide Button on the controller. However, some achievements remain secret until unlocked. Yes, it’s a sad fact that you’ll just have to keep gaming in order to unlock the whole lot in some cases, a terrible burden on us all as I’m sure you’ll agree.

You can see how some achievements vary wildly here:

• Complete Basic Training in Call of Duty II for 50 Gamerpoints
• Becoming a Platinum Champion to bag 100 Gamerpoints in Project Gotham Racing 3
• Join the Arena within the Imperial City in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion™ to get yourself not only 10 Gamerpoints but also the status of “Pit Dog”!

Different games give out Gamerpoints in different ways and the pursuit of these Achievements will steer you in a whole direction as to how you play the game.

You’ll get your Achievements and Gamerpoints whether you’re online or offline – if you’ve achieved something in single player offline, your Gamerpoints will be added to your profile the next time you sign into Xbox Live.

Another extremely cool feature is that other gamers can see your Achievements within your Xbox.com profile. You may even become a bit of a guru as they ask you how you managed to get past a really mad challenge. You can of course ask them for hints too, but we’ll just keep that between ourselves eh?

On Xbox.com you can now also search for Gamertags, see your friend’s total Gamerscores to see how you measure up across all of the games you play and see the total Achievement completion percentage of each game you’ve played.

Get out there and achieve!

Now you’ve had your introduction to Achievements, it’s time to get out there and start accumulating those Gamerpoints. Finally a definitive answer to the eternal question “Who’s best at this game?” Will your friends be bowing before your gaming genius or will you be forced to recognise theirs?