11.18.07
Quick Shots
Link Wednesday? On a Sunday? It’s more likely than you think!
Let’s start with FATE/unlimited codes. I guess the SD tiger colosseum for PSP turned out to be pretty damn good, huh? Early rumors point to this one being a traditional 2D fighter along the lines of Street Fighter or (dare I say it) Guilty Gear, but no real information will be available until the 21st. That’s, like, Wednesday. We’ll all have something to be thankful for then.
On a break from the writing last night, I popped into my RSS feeds and found Chain Factor waiting for me. Ostensibly part of an alternate-reality game for Numb3rs (the TV show), it manages to stand out as an addicting little web game in and of itself. Well, enough of one to make me waste an entire hour’s worth of battery power sitting in Panera and playing the damn thing, anyway.
In the “low-hanging fruit” department, we also have troubling news that the 360 Avatar game’s Achievement points are ridiculously easy to get in full. Now, here’s the sitch– when you port a game to the 360, and you have to put Achievements in, you can basically do it one of two ways. You can do it the Final Fantasy XI way, which is to make them absolutely impossible to get (you get one for each job that you level to 75, which means that I have, oh, zero and no way to actually get them– and those are the only Achievements in the game); or, apparently, you can do it the Avatar way, which is to just make them throwaways and subvert the whole purpose of the Achievements. Now, I have my issues with the 360, but the Achievements are not one of them (by and large– it could, as always, be better). I dig the idea behind giving even an ephemeral extrinsic reward for accomplishing cool stuff in the games. But please, please. Make us earn them, and make sure they’re not all overtly ridiculous.
I’m in Panera Bread again today, but only for a little while. This was completely unexpected, mind, as I was positive my errands were going to take me longer than they did. Plus, I think I’m addicted to their “Muffies”… as overtly pornographic as those sound, they’re actually very innocent and tasty cookies made out of the tops of muffins. They’re soft, sweet, and delicious. …..right, digging myself deeper now. Back to writing for me.
Rob Browning said,
11.18.07 at 3:16 pm
apparently, you can do it the Avatar way, which is to just make them throwaways and subvert the whole purpose of the Achievements.
And what is that, exactly?
Plus, I think I’m addicted to their “Muffiesâ€â€¦ as overtly pornographic as those sound, they’re actually very innocent and tasty cookies made out of the tops of muffins.
They tried that in Seinfeld, and the outcome wasn’t pretty.
Rob
John said,
11.18.07 at 7:36 pm
apparently, you can do it the Avatar way, which is to just make them throwaways and subvert the whole purpose of the Achievements.
And what is that, exactly?
“I dig the idea behind giving even an ephemeral extrinsic reward for accomplishing cool stuff in the games.”
Apparently I didn’t make that bleedingly obvious enough. I’ll try better next time.