Images on Twitter have circulated regarding how different achievements will be on the Xbox One. Mike Ybarra, a Partner Studio Manager at Xbox, has tweeted two photos of how they’ll look.
No more will achievement hunters have to deal with mere small icons and unsatisfying thumbnails! Now they can have full-screen high-definition visuals to accompany them. And boy, do they look great.
@NBAKirkland @notwen Scroll over them and you can press A then see something like this. (also shows progress twds). pic.twitter.com/uBQFHGcNnB
— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) November 16, 2013
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Screenshots?
What the Twitter pictures don’t give away, however, is whether these are pre-rendered images, or images that are actually captured from gameplay itself; although it looks like the former. The only other thing Ybarra is letting on is that you’ll be able to track the progress of each achievement as you play (although, how you track the progress of “get rare item, equip rare item during multiplayer” seems somewhat baffling).
If it’s the latter, then it’ll be a really exciting way of sharing achievements, as it will give each players a unique associated visual to make them extra proud. This could therefore be a rather nice and unique approach to achievements. However, doing so does have the potential of some rather dull in-game captures; equipping your first rare item is probably not going to look as dramatic as Ybarra’s picture. However, this is only speculation, and we could still be proven wrong.
However, if the former, then this is nothing more than a slide show of promotional stills. Yes, they’re pretty and will no doubt looks amazing if you happen to have a full HD television to go with your console, but otherwise, they’re wholly superfluous.
Are We Being Blind-Sided…Again?
After making huge efforts to once and for all clear up the flip-flopping surrounding policies, Microsoft have been turning on the charm offensive since September by showcasing the console’s aesthetics and functionality. But everything from Phil Harrison’s pushing of the support for game developers and player-made video content at Eurogamer Expo 2013, to last week’s less than convincing extensive overview of how the system’s functionality, feels a little shallow. There’s a lot of emphasis on how things look, with the nitty gritty, like whether player videos will be able to be exported to YouTube and just how useful voice-commands will be, left to ambiguity.
Much like the rest of the razzle-dazzle Microsoft have been supplying us of late, the supposedly candid release of how achievements will look isn’t exactly a press-stopping announcement, and seems hollow.
It does feel a bit like how the old saying goes:
“You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.”
Why We’re Unimpressed
Achievements do not a good game make. Whilst they do foster friendly competition between friends, provides fodder for 100% completion nuts, and even (if well designed) provide a piloting hand to enable players to fully experience a game, they’re not core gameplay. Neither are they reasons to buy a system. For the most part, achievement capability is only going to interest a very specific type of gamer and isn’t really a general selling point.
“You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.”
Furthermore, how many other developers, especially indie ones, are going to take the time to additionally produce a gallery of high-spec images to accompany these achievements (although, we assume, forcibly via contract)? And will they even look as good as Ryse: Son of Rome’s? Remember, Ryse: Son of Rome is a day-one game, therefore all the stops have been pulled out for this title.
Conclusion
The achievements do look gorgeous, but this isn’t enough to cover-up the undeniable PR disaster which has left many feeling like they’re getting an incredibly raw deal from Microsoft. Despite reassurances of absolute clarity and transparency on policies, many are still dubious of the computing giant’s intent.
However, the damage regarding policies was never going to go away, even after giving gamers exactly what they wanted in the end. So why not just revel in how pretty everything looks on the Xbox One, and actually try to push some of the unique selling points instead? After all, “haters gonna hate”, and those achievements are bloody stunning!
