Achievements Poll.

[directhex]

Originally Posted by Trash Man

Not sure if it's already been said in this tread or not, I can't be bothered to read all of it sorry.

Is it not possible to turn off the achievement notifications at all?

i don't think so.

[directhex]

Originally Posted by revol68

Oh wise up anyone with a notion of economics would know it just isn't viable for most publishers to ignore the 360.

yet strangely, many games, even from "smaller" developers, end up as single-platform, in either direction.

As for making games more competitive being a necessarily good thing, no I don't think it is always. Yes it's great to have massive online competitive play, yes beating your mate is great fun, but there are many games that should be about you experience of the game itself. I also don't think those gamescores are in anyway properly competitive, it isn't a matter of skill, style, creative play, it's a number, a crude quantifier of something fundamentally qualitive. Yes, trying to beat a game on it's hardest setting is cool, especially when your mate flew through it on easy, but the gamescore doesn't show that itself.

no, the gamerscore doesn't show it itself. but the achievements list does. you know a friend managed "little rocket man" in hl2ep2, because it's written in black and white. on tyhe 360, you can see in black and white what you've managed versus your friends, in detailed form - not just as a useless number. i have no interest in my gamerscore (which is low considering how much i play), but i think it was worth my time chasing those last few flags in assassin's creed, and the achievements gave me a small sense of satisfaction for doing so, beyond what i would normally.

let's take another old-school example. ever play mario 64? if you manage to get all 120 stars ouit of 120, you're rewarded with infinite lives. this is, frankly, ****ing pointless. being rewarded with a little badge i can show my friends saying "i got 120 stars" on the other hand, would have been a MUCH greater encouragement than the "just because" of completionism on last-gen systems

Likewise you might have done something in a game that is properly cool but isn't rewarded by the achievement system, thus it encourages players to play in more preset ways instead of wasting time dong it the otherway that gets no points.

that's largely a problem with the developers, though. striking a balance between what to reward and how to reward takes consideration on the part of the developer - and only a poor dev would allow you to show a big badge of honour to people without needing to fully explore the outer corners of the game (see fight night round 3, avatar, or king kong for examples here) - on the other hand, making all the achievements unpleasant and uninteresting grind, with literally no reward for finishing the game, is also unfulfilling (see blue dragon) for an example. a game like bioshock encourages you to explore EVERYWHERE, bygiving you a badge to show off saying "i found ever upgrade", as well as letting the not-so-studious gamers show a lesser badge saying "i killed the final boss"

you think it would be a bad thing for deus ex to have given you a tangible reward for finishing the game all three ways, encouraging more play? or for system shock to give rewards for finishing the game with all three character classes? or a special "i ****ing rule" badge for finding every cybernetic module or equivalent? i think it's great that there ware ways to push the replayability of games past "kill final boss on easy"

[SmileyUK]

yeah fight nights achievements were terrible but it was a blinding game though.

i agree with the majority here though, achievements add a nice extra level of depth to the game, and its not like the little plink noise ruins the atmosphere of the game, nor does the banner for the 2 seconds or so it shows.

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by SmileyUK

i agree with the majority here though, achievements add a nice extra level of depth to the game, and its not like the little plink noise ruins the atmosphere of the game, nor does the banner for the 2 seconds or so it shows.

Thats about the top and bottom of it, yes.

[SmileyUK]

and besides i set myself a goal of hitting 20k by the end of the year and only have 30 points to go!!

tonight its mine muahahah.

[keef247]

good thread mate

[Stewart]

Thanks. I wrote, produced and directed it myself.

[Steven W]

Originally Posted by directhex

i don't think so.

Yep it is, can't remember how though. I have mine turned off.

[keef247]

Originally Posted by Stewart

Thanks. I wrote, produced and directed it myself.

copyright?
if not i'm stealing it and putting it on the bay

[EvilWeevil]

Xbox Guide>Personal Settings>Notifications>Uncheck Show Notifications.

Case closed.

[revol68]

Originally Posted by EvilWeevil

Xbox Guide>Personal Settings>Notifications>Uncheck Show Notifications.

Case closed.

really? sweet.

[Trash Man]

Originally Posted by EvilWeevil

Xbox Guide>Personal Settings>Notifications>Uncheck Show Notifications.

Case closed.

It does state that some system notifications are shown regardless of your show notification settings. Does doing this definitely turn off the achievement messages?

[mediaboy]

Achievement messages are hardly system notifications I would have thought...

Yet again - I'm not sure what system notificiations are, so I don't know

[directhex]

download complete, stuff like that?

[EvilWeevil]

Unfortunately haven't verified it myself as a) I like the notifications and b) haven't got an achievement since discovering this.

But from what I hear it should do the job. In fact I can try it out now...will report back.

I assume system notifications also include stuff like signed in/out connected/disconnected etc?

**EDIT**

I can confirm that I just unlocked an achievement on Just Cause and got no notification whatsoever