99 achievements in Orange Box

[Thrik]

I think anything that adds replay value to a game is good, and if achievements manage to do that for a lot of people then it's hard to seriously criticise them. After all, it's not like anyone's forcing anyone to get them.

[Mojo]

To be honest then I think the most brilliant part of the achievements is the fact that I can follow how long people have progressed in games I'm also playing. For example with Bioshock I could check out how far somebody else from work was to see if I'd be able to talk with them about something the next day, that kinda stuff.

Plus even the people at work who were thought it was the dumbest thing ever eventually got soft when they finally got a 360 and started playing a few games. Everybody can agree that its fucking dumb in the long run, but it does add something that makes each game you play feel a bit more valuable beyond just completing them. Plus the fact that developers can almost invent new game modes just by using achievements for those who want to hunt them.

Anyway, you're all naysayers and haters but Mojo know what its about!

haha, I completely agree. I could care less what my score is, I have only achievement hunted in a few games, but my score really is just from playing games for a good year and a half. Plus its nice to see, as Mazy said, where others are in a game, or what actual games they have played.

It has caused me to play some games that I would never otherwise play (Just Cause, NFS Most Wanted, any of the Call of Duty's). Some I enjoyed for parts of it (NFS) and others I just hated (the CoD, I guess I am just a bit jagged).

If it comes between a PC game and a 360, I'll pick up the 360 one, mainly since my computer is from 2003 and I would rather upgrade storage than just get a new computer (Though I really want to play civ4 at a decent framerate). The other, more minor, reason I pick up 360 games is the achievements. People can see I have played a game and to what degree. When you collect all 100 packages in GTA what do you get? Just something that is unlocked in the game. With achievements you get a badge to show to everyone else (that cares to look at it) that you found all those packages.

[Taylor]

The achievements are a great idea really, the completists know for sure if they have 100% a game, people can set little goals for themselves, share their game score for obvious e-penis points, and it encourages games to make a lot little things that give positive feedback in the game.

Of course, it also encourages some games to put batshit achievements in them that you couldn’t do with an offical guide or an unofficial guide on GameFAQ’s lifted straight from an official guide (hello Blue Dragon!).

[Zacker]

I would really like to see a well written article by a psychologist / game developer about why people love these arbitrary achievements and the base way to use them in games.

People have always loved high scores and loved to brag about how far they could get in a game. When taking all this online and public then it's fairly obvious that lots of people go crazy:)