New Xbox 360 Achievement Rules Explained

Way back in February of 2007, Microsoft made their only public declaration regarding Xbox 360 Achievements limits: A retail title must release with 1,000 points, with an additional 250 points allowed to be added through downloadable content afterward. Since then, games like Halo 3, Fallout 3, and Fable 2 have clearly broken that limit, leading many a hopeless Achievements addict to wonder what gives. The folks at Xbox360Achievements.org (via Kotaku) were wondering the same thing, and seem to have uncovered a simple answer: The rules changed.

According to a "very credible source," there have been two important changes to the Achievements rules since that Gamerscore blog post in 2007: First, the new maximum points allowed for any retail game (including subsequent DLC) is 1,750 points, spread across no more than 80 Achievements. That puts those aforementioned titles that broke the 1,250 rule in the clear, although it still leaves Valve's The Orange Box unaccounted for with its 99 Achievements. We're assuming The Orange Box received special ex-post facto clemency, because it's awesome.

The second rule is that every game can add a maximum of 250 new points and 10 Achievements through DLC every yearly quarter (but only until reaching the 1,750 point cap). And evidently this rule is also cumulative, so that theoretically, a developer could release a new game with 1,000 points, not add any new achievements for the next three quarters, and then release a massive 750-point DLC pack in the fourth quarter. The anonymous source explained this rule is meant to discourage developers from releasing a ton of content and all 750 points immediately after a game's release, and instead doll it out slowly over time.

So there you have it -- the unusually complicated rules governing your unusually ridiculous Achievements addiction. Feel better, junkies?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173929

I'd have thought Orange Box got clemency because it is 5 games.

Fantastic

Putting rules and regulations in to Achievements is as useless as Achievements themselves.

cooldawn wrote:Putting rules and regulations in to Achievements is as useless as Achievements themselves.

I suppose it stops developers putting a million gamerpoints into a gooseberry fool game to make it sell.

It does indeed. But achievements are still pretty pointless :shifty:

Achievements make me feel nice.

Henke wrote:Achievements make me feel nice.

This. Nice to see the old avatar again.

As much as I enjoy getting achievements from games, I have to say that they have completely destroyed gaming. I no longer want to play PC games because there are (usually) no achievements there.

Also, these 'rules' are totally stupid on the part of Microsoft. If DLC is large, like Lost and Damned, then it can warrant a whole bunch of new achievements. Surely the rule should be that the achievement value matches the challenge more than anything else - if there is more content in a game then it should have more Gs.

On another note, the achievements in Forza Motorsport 2 are stupid. More and more and more longer races for tiny numbers of Gs.

I still maintain that I don't need a number to tell me which way to play a game.

Bigerich wrote:
Henke wrote:Achievements make me feel nice.

This. Nice to see the old avatar again.

I figured it was time to give him a spin, it's been far too long. :wub:

Eh, I'm not sure if achievements even need rules in first place (although without them no doubt there'd be game with too many achievements. Orange Box is exception, since it's more than one game on disc.)

Achievements are fun, however I don't understand how people seem not enjoy other games just because they don't have achievements to offer.

Ah well.

Doesn't this pretty much limit DLC to three expantions though? Unless you start releasing it with no points.

Extralife wrote:Doesn't this pretty much limit DLC to three expantions though? Unless you start releasing it with no points.

Well, there are DLC without no points, Oblivion has DLC that offers some quests, and didn't bring in any new achievements.

MCN wrote:I'd have thought Orange Box got clemency because it is 5 games.

Quite funny, the Steam version of Team Fortress 2 has over 170 steam achievements, with many more to come.

I don't know why, because I'm really not that much of an achievement-whore, but even though I own both a PS3 and 360, any multi-platform title will always be bought on 360 for me because of achievements. Trophies are strawberry floating gooseberry fool.

Skarjo wrote:I don't know why, because I'm really not that much of an achievement-whore, but even though I own both a PS3 and 360, any multi-platform title will always be bought on 360 for me because of achievements. Trophies are ******* ****.

What's the strawberry floating difference?

cooldawn wrote:
Skarjo wrote:I don't know why, because I'm really not that much of an achievement-whore, but even though I own both a PS3 and 360, any multi-platform title will always be bought on 360 for me because of achievements. Trophies are ******* ****.

What's the strawberry floating difference?

It's cooler to hate Sony stuff.

cooldawn wrote:
Skarjo wrote:I don't know why, because I'm really not that much of an achievement-whore, but even though I own both a PS3 and 360, any multi-platform title will always be bought on 360 for me because of achievements. Trophies are ******* ****.

What's the strawberry floating difference?

The difference is PS3 is lame.

I'm all for the achievements, but I hate the gamerscore. I have a friend who is obsessed with trying to beat me and he constantly goes on about it, of course I just make jokes back about how superior I am. 8-)

New Xbox 360 Achievement Rules Explained

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