Sony have now officially announced the release date for their Playstation 3 2.40 firmware update. They have somewhat copied the Achievement concept from Xbox360, were if you do certain things or complete a list of objectives, you earn different amount of achievements points. Achievements have growned and (or so it seems) become very important and appreciated for many players. Through Xbox Live, players can share their status with other players. All is stored over at Microsoft, and accessable to share even outside the Xbox-medium, read Internet.
Now, after months of nagging from Playstation owners all over the world, Sony finally have taken the beast horn and developed and released (July 2) a correspondent system called Trophies. Its been known a time back their were developing this, but now its here (tomorrow). The requested feature require the players to re-play their PS3 game to achieve the newly added Trophies. It’ll be interesting to see if Throphies will create the same bustle for PS3 fans as Achievements have for hardcore Xbox360 gamers.
I don’t see the apeal with this type of system, but its good for those who think it contribute to their game experience. The nearest example I can relate to is when I in the beginning of playing Warhawk online pretty much played just to increase in rank. It became a stressful goal to increase fast in rank, and made me play, not for fun but for the chase of points and ranks. Thats not to say its the same for all. For me, I could live without Throphies for the PS3.
Whats interesting about these features thou, is how they in some cases become selling point for games and systems. Often discussions in forums and podcastes I’ve read or listened to, the lack vs. inclusion can be the judging vote for with system they’ll purchase the game. People view it as a big deal, these Achievements/Trophies. Are Achievements/Trophies big business? To me it seems so. When people use them for a purchase dicisions, they are imporant. Almost as important in todays gameing world as downloadable content (DLC).