Tech: Achievement Whore

I've found out relatively late in life that I have a pretty vicious competitive streak. I can chill and have some lively conversation for hours, but put me in a situation where there's points, or where there's a winner and a loser, and I tend to go for broke. So it was clear from the start that the Xbox 360's system of Achievements would succor my competitive drive.

What are Achievements? Well, say you're playing Pac-Man. One Achievement might be to clear an entire screen of pellets without dying. Another might be to clear a screen without eating any ghosts. When you manage to pull off the feat in question, you get a nifty "Achievement Unlocked" message on your screen. The 360 also permanently records when you unlocked it and adds the Achievement to your Gamer Proile on Xbox Live.

The best Achievements get you to play the game in nonobvious ways. Survive the first 60 seconds of Geometry Wars without firing a shot, and you unlock the "Pacifism" Achievement. Achievements also give you Gamerscore points, which, while they don't actually translate to any reward in the real world, are a nifty way of giving you bragging rights over your friends. I'm up to over 2000 myself, but I view tend to place more weight on getting difficult Achievements than just mindless points accumulation.