@skyoon: Digital Devil Sage is one of the greatest RPGs of all time. You have now heard of it, and should buy it. NOW!

ggodo

@Scottendo: "Too bad I'm not at all interested in Gears of War".

Not even a tiny insy-winsy, itty-bitty, reaally really mini bit of interest? You must have a little interest seeing as how you're "FURST!"
---

Anyway, this does sound really cool. I wish more games would do that. Gives me more reason to go back to the first and play it all over again (I'm not sure if I've found all the COG tags yet).

As for the Mass Effect comments, I wish a game like Madden would do something like that for Franchise. It would be really cool being able to import your players every year. It takes me upwards of 3-4 hours to build my team through a Fantasy Draft. I hate doing it all over again when a new game is released and I abandoned all the work I did before. Maybe if they just let us keep the leagues the way they are and hold another draft for the new draft class in each subsequent installment. Now that would be an EA game I would buy. (Well, like a mindless tool, I would buy it anyways, but you know...just sayin' is all...).

NeVeRMoRe666

@ManjiKengo: It isn't a very good point. I'm not saying it's bad, but I'm seeing the kinda reaction here usually reserved for the man who mixed chocolate and peanut butter.

Maldron

@Maldron: Skyoon does have a point man...

ManjiKengo

@Maldron: Well, now they're in a game more than 10 people have heard of. Good stuff, huh?

skyoon

I was wondering if I could play as my beloved power ranger Carmine. Good thing I played GoW 1

behrens14

So are they achievements or are they unlockables? Because if they don't give you achievement points also they are really just linked unlockables for Gears of War 2.

Either way this is an awesome announcement.

WPack911

... Seriously? What's all this adoration? Games that import data from their predecessor to unlock content in the sequel? That's incredibly old hat. "Finally, Achievements that mean something?" Hell, I'm playing through Digital Devil Saga Vol. 1, right now, to unlock bonuses in Volume 2.

I'm not denying that these might be nice things for the fans of the game, but c'mon - this isn't new or special.

Maldron

When I read it I thought it would be something more along the lines of 'All cog tags from both games' and 'Complete both on casual/hardcore etc.'

But this is better (I think)

Dr_Pie

Also, TheAngryHeretic, I'm not singling you out. I just wanted to state my opinion on Achievements.

Corrin

Guild Wars is doing something similar with the Hall of Monuments. Basically, you get something cool, put it in there, and you get something in Guild Wars 2. I think it's a great Idea, especially for an MMO because the largest problem EQ2 had was players not wanting to lose what they had.

ggodo

@TheAngryHeretic:
This is an argument I've never understood. The "Achievements don't mean anything" argument is just beyond me. Achievements for your Xbox Gamerscore mean just as much as any virtual achievement you, or anyone else have ever made in any video game. Ever. If you like to play video games and be rewarded by whatever little "virtual achievements" they present you with, then you shouldn't say the Xbox Achievements are meaningless.

Corrin

Works pretty good both ways, sell more copies of the original and to those who already have/had/achieved it, more stuff!

two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake up the surrounding neighbors with a loud annoying noise

I hope seriously... unlocks something amazing.

DOM'S WIFE...PLAYABLE!!?

Perhaps Ted Nudget for the bow achivement...

Terance!

w00t--seems pretty cool. :D

NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not... Mass Effect does give you stat boosts after completing certain achievements, but I like the idea of bringing over benefits for playing the first game. Very cool

tehGloom

You can still unlock those characters without the achievements though, right?

Rohit_N

@BlazinNoni: Yes, but I'd like to see it also embrace maybe some additional unlockables just based on your achievements in the first game.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

I wonder if "Seriously..." will carry over to allow people to gain points for both between each game?

Preyfar

Carmine! I love playing as Team Helmet online.

ItotheCtotheE

Lol, it's not that big, but stuff like this is always a welcome addition =D!

Katorok

@GoGoGodzilla:
Sorry, but JFK takes that spot, but jsut by a bit.

M-26-7

cant wait....

.... for a pc version.

niall077

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: Mass Effect will actually let you continue your character in its sequels. First feature like that for an rpg on that scale.

BlazinNoni

Ah Carmine, everyone's favorite headshot victim.

GoGoGodzilla

I'd be more apt to trust this working if I had ever received my online achievements. I never got my curb stomping or execution achievement, and I gave up on the rest. What say you to that, Mr. Huge?

peAr nectAr

Achievements sounds cool.

Also, obligatory "Dude Huge" lulz.

skyoon

That's pretty awesome, actually.

kojirodensetsu

Diggin' the linked achievements idea -- Epic is always taking the mundane and improving it somehow

10 points for the name "Jablonsky"

Snake726

Yay! I have all the achievements in GoW!!

MetalGearMax

That's a really cool idea-- I'd like to see Mass Effect take advantage of that, to increase your character's starting qualities.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

In game rewards. Finally, achievements that mean something.

TheAngryHeretic

SOunds pretty easy.

M-26-7

That's pretty interesting. Perhaps more games will use this feature.

Too bad I'm not at all interested in Gears of War.

Scottendo

No, Skyoon. I'm talking aboutTheAngryHeretic saying that now "achievements mean something," or Snake726 saying that "Epic is always transforming the mundane into something interesting." If you haven't seen them, then you aren't terribly good at reading.

Maldron

This game will be crap just like the first one.

shredmanifesto

I thought i read somewhere that MS doesn't like achievements to grant any actual in-game rewards. can't remember where, though.

catapult37

Lets hope it works through achivements and not save files. I tend to delete my old save files and would find it rather annoying to keep them around for years just for an advantage to a game's sequel.

huginn

@Maldron: What, you mean like Katorok's? I haven't seen anyone really gushing over it, just seeing it for what it is. A neat addition to a neat series. Just sayin', dude.

@ggodo: eh.

skyoon

@PsycheE: *like*

PsycheE

This could only be made more awesome if you didn't have to buy a second game to unlock the content. You know, you put down $60, play the game and unlock extra stuff for playing that game.

Granted with GoW you probably already have the first one but this smacks of a sneaky $60 DLC unlock to me. What next, you need to buy a 12 pack of Mountain Brew to unlock content in Halo 4?

I know I'm being a sourpuss here and going way against the grain but honestly below the surface this just reeks of a clever way to push copies of your old game at the expense of people who are paying full whack for the new one. I fear the day where we buy a game and it's nothing more than a storefront to unlock and buy content to actually play the game.

Jelster

Sounds one way to get rid of old inventory.

PsycheE

@tehGloom: No, I was being serious-- I meant the idea of unlocked achievements in the first game affecting your character in the second game. No sarcasm.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

awesome, waiting for a PC version of GoW2 should be justified. I loved it once i got the sniper, perfect reload, perfect aiming, all thanks to the mouse. None can beat me, except having realised that that big blind monster cannot be pawned. And I thought my mouse was good enough, it wasnt lulz

LoganForge

@Corrin: When achievements are not linked to completing the game, or progressing in online play (ie: Kneeshot 20 people with the crossbow while playing a Bob Dylan song on your harmonica), they are quite meaningless.

That being said, I like the idea of linking achievements and giving a bonus to those who are sticking with a series, or incenting those that didn't start the series to go back and play them in sequence.

Omnimon

@NeVeRMoRe666: Now there's a game that could stand to benefit from importing from one year to the next.

Maldron

@TheAngryHeretic: That's not true, sure you're not rewarded, but achievements give me a way of going back to a game after I've completed it and seeing what I've missed, or giving me a challenge that will hopefully refresh the gameplay.

I have a largish gamerscore, mainly because I play a lot of games, but if a game has 1000 score in single player (I loathe multiplayer achievements) I'll try and get them all.

Klopfer123

Except for achievements that actually impact game play, I don't really see the point. I mean, do some people seriously not consider getting a game just because it has a low amount of achievements? Or buy licensed kiddie fare like Avatar just to beef up their score?

It's probably much less of an issue then I'm making it out to be, but being a Wii/PS3 gamer it's an interesting thing to observe.

Thorax

This sounds pretty cool.

Thorax

@Maldron: So other than a high gamer score, what do achievements mean? Do you get something for them? Does Microsoft give you a prize for every 1000 points you get? No. They are just for show.

TheAngryHeretic

@ggodo: Haha pretty much. The only JRPGs I play are the FF series, and then only because I grew up playing them.

I also don't have a PS2, but yeah, that's sort of a weak excuse :E

skyoon

What about the PC version? Will we get bonuses another way?

ƒox

@skyoon: Well maybe JRPGs aren't your thing, but if they are, BUY IT NOW!

ggodo

@Maldron:Honestly, I've got a feeling you're more about Epic hatin' than anything else here. Hence your well thought out personal attack on my reading comprehension. But hey, different strokes.

skyoon

@Corrin: Achivements don't mean a damn thing to me. The only thing you get from them is a gamer score, which does not mean nor do anything.

Then along comes Mass Effect, and for certain achievements, you get extra abilities on your next character. Now Gears of War gives you extra playable characters. That is worth something. That is something tangible that you can hang your gamer score on.

Achievements with nothing benefit mean nothing. It's just like in the Ratchet And Clank games when you get skill points. Some give you weapons, some give you extra skins to play the game as. But they all give you something.

TheAngryHeretic

I don't care if you like CliffB or not. He makes a Badass video game.

vagrantwade

I thought M$ frowned upon this kinda stuff...

TheExiledLeader

@TheAngryHeretic: The achievements in mass effect actually give you in game rewards. Some of them increase your experience point gaining rate by like 10 to 20 percent, some of them allow certain skills unavailable to specific classes to be unlocked in subsequent play throughs, some increase your characters damage or defense.

Are there other games that do this? Only one I have run across is mass effect.

auberondreaming

@skyoon: Seriously?! I've said a bunch of times that this is good news for fans of the game. I've never played it so I can't speak one way or the other - I guess since I'm not speaking in "praise" I must be speaking against them. Doesn't matter that I like Unreal Tournament 3 as an FPS better than I liked COD4 - no, I'm hating on Epic because I don't think what they're doing with Gears 2 taking data from the old and translating it into benefits in the new is new or innovative.

I mentioned your reading comprehension to be kind. What I really thought is that you're so clearly biased you'll glaze over those remarks and move straight to the ones that disprove my point. And then you won't address them, and suggest that I'm here to hate on Epic and attack you as a diversion.

@TheAngryHeretic: That's exactly it, they're for show. Remember my mentioning DDS Volume 1? Doing what I'm doing, attacking the extra bosses that are harder than the final boss - I'm doing it to get the features in volume two. Nobody will ever know for certain that I did it, nobody will necessarily believe me even if I show them a gamesave because I could've just imported one. Achievements are for show. They prove what you have and haven't done, and that's a purpose in and of itself. Now if that's not something you're interested in, as clearly it doesn't really affect anybody play one way or another, then that's fine. But that's exactly what they do.

Maldron

@Klopfer123: That is artificially lengthening game play. I have logged well over 350 hours in Mass Effect. Not because of the achievements, but because I love that game. It is one of my favorites.

I feel the same way about the Ratchet and Clank games. I continue to play them, not for a score I will get, but because the games are fun.

Most games I have on my 360, I could not tell you what the achievements are because I don't care about them. Mass Effect was the 1st time I cared because my next character would get a bonus for some of them. Prior to that, they meant nothing to me.

I never understood what the big draw was to achievements. I have seen people base which platform they buy a game on, based on it having achievements and how hard they were to attain. Seems silly to me, but to each his own.

I said it once, I'll say it again. I'm glad achievements finally mean something.

TheAngryHeretic

Kevin Riepl has been replaced with Steve Jablonsky? While I liked Jablonsky's work on Transformers (the only part of the film that wasn't utter shit), I really liked Riepl's score for Gears 1, especially the Gears theme that played during the last level of the game and over the end cut-scene. I hope Jablonsky isn't going to throw that theme out the window to make his own mark on the game.

photoboy

Cool idea, too bad those are some of the easiest achievements to get.

FoxHoundADAM

@Jelster: Usually If I am going to pay $60 for a game with a "2" in the title I'm going to have already played the first one anyway. Maybe jumping into the middle of a story just isn't my style. However, you are correct. Epic is a business, they want to sell more of their product to make more money. The trick is to find a way to disguise your money making schemes by making people want to buy your product. This announcement is a good way to sell their new Gears of War Deluxe Edition. It's a good way to sell more copies while giving fans something extra.

Oomingmak

@Maldron: Funny that you'd call me biased, as you're pretty much as guilty as "glazing over" comments here as I am.

Honestly, I could get all hot and bothered over this as you have, but I'd be breaking my philosophy towards people like you on the internet.

Oh, and I have to apologize for calling you an Epic hater. Seems as if you're just pissed off at Gears for some odd reason. I mean, what other logical reason is there for you to continue this comment battle with me that I've tried to keep amicable?

skyoon

Depending on what you eventually unlock, I may need to get a used copy of Gears and finally finish Act 5 on Insane. I played solo and I got to the part where you go up the ladder to fight the Reavers and I could never get past it by myself, so I sold it a while ago.

kagai

That sounds awesome! What else did Dude Huge have to say? Come on McWhertor tell us already I'm bleeding out ;)

Gunloc

This is a good excuse to take Gears off the shelf and give it another whirl, see how many achievements I've missed... clever Epic. You might even sell some more copies of the original to newbies too!

So, good for the company, good for the loyal fans. I like.

freakout

So, why no Kevin Riepl this time?

J.A.

Ahh I was hoping he meant weapon achievements. I only need about 5 more pistol kills and I don't really feel like going back and playing Gears 1.

omfg_its_dally

@TheAngryHeretic: I wouldn't call it extending the game play but adding something to a replay. I get you're not into achievements but they do come in very handy for some. They provide a point from which I can replay a game and visit areas or replay parts which I may have skipped before.

I hate it when games have their life spans artificially extended, I'm looking at you dead rising. Boo

Klopfer123

@NeVeRMoRe666: Nope, I just read EVERY SINGLE Kotaku page and give my imput.

Not to mention backwards compatible achievements can be used on games that I actually have a liking for.. as I said.

Scottendo

@Oomingmak:

True and for Gears it's probably justified as it'll be more of the same. What I don't understand is the apparent blind acceptance and enthusiasm for the idea like there is no monetary motivation behind it. I mean there is zero reason why Epic couldn't unlock the same features based on GoW2 achievements.

Gamers are sending another message here that, like DLC, they are willing to drop additional coinage on an already expensive $60 investment. Seems funny that games are getting shorter and shorter and yet developers are finding ways to make us pay to make the experience last longer and longer.

Jelster

RSV2 did the same thing pretty much with giving you an extra boost in rank if you played the first RSV. Incredible Hulk had the same thing with linked achievements. If you played Iron Man and then the Hulk you could unlock 2 achievements.

DazeOfWar

I guess some of you don't get it still. Achievements mean as much as anything else you do in a video game. They mean shit in the real world, just like everything else you do in any video game. They add to your entertainment experience just as defeating the Tyrant in Resident Evil or collecting all 493 Pokemon. Nothing in a video game means anything, unless it entertains you.

Corrin

@skyoon: I'm not glazing over the normal people, I expressed surprise at the number of ecstatic people, and the reasons behind their appreciation.

And it's because you're not listening, you're attacking me. Calling me out on hating something because I find it odd that other people are fawning over their sliced bread as if it's the best thing since sliced bread. I do not hate Epic. I do not hate Gears of War. I am surprised that the reaction is that Epic is somehow doing something incredible and new. It takes away from the people who came up with the idea and implemented it previously. It irks me, man. Same as it irks me that I once had somebody say that I should check out "Aerodynamic" by Kanye West.

This isn't hot and bothered, this is an attempt at a discussion. If you're not going to even attempt to understand that I'm capable of finding people's behavior questionable without it being a result of me hating on a game, then there's very little I can do to get a dialogue going. I get that this isn't everybody's reaction, but I'm capable of selecting a piece of the whole. Mindless, all-encompassing disdain isn't my speed.

Maldron

I've already unlocked these characters because i've already gotten those achievements. So they should be unlocked already when I first put Gears2 In?

Orionsaint

There's no reason why they wouldn't be playable in multiplayer. Raam is interesting though, because he's huge, like 8ft tall. Will he still be that big or be reduced in size to match the other characters?

Orionsaint

@Arttemis: Note, for those who were touchy on the subject - I was not trying to say it was a unique paradigm in sequels. I was merely commenting on GoW2's integration with achievements.

Arttemis

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: This idea seems like a great use of achievements or unlocks in sequels - but, for the sake of those who don't have the game, I hope there are also alternative ways to unlock those characters.

As for Mass Effect 2, I'd much rather see ME2 allow the player to use the saved data for ME1's Shepard - and - have separate story lines based on the decisions he made in the first game.

Arttemis

GG Cliff!! Finally, someone who knows how to use their platform to its fullest.

Karisu-Zero

Alright, as long as the linked acheivements arn't in anyway related to the online ones, just single player ones, I'm fine.

Cheroro

That actually sounds rather interesting.

hhbx

I have the single player game's achievements totally complete. It's cool I might find myself with some extra goodies in the second game.

RichMeisterMan

I actually think that's a bloody horrible idea.

I don't want to have to play through the 1st game in order to get everything in this one. I'm fine with games that allow you to carry stuff over, as long as you can still unlock that content without playing the previous game.

I hate achievements in general though really. I mean they basically take the worst part of MMOs - the pointless grinding for shiny items or stats - and then apply it to pretty much every (360) game you own. Why is that a good thing? I was briefly caught up in it when i first got a 360 but i quickly stopped when i realised i was being a goddamn moron when i actually considered playing bad games or doing things i find no joy in purely for achievements and gamerscore.

But apparently everyone thinks it's awesome so there must be something wrong me, obviously.

CoreWolf

@Jelster: I know there'll be players bitching their heads off because they played 2 before 1 and didn't get the magic unlocks, but I think it's a nice nod to the long-term fans. It's also purely cosmetic with no gameplay advantages... so I don't see the harm. Anybody with sufficient nerd ra3g can buy a used copy (cheap, no revenue to Epic) and still be sufficiently penalised for their sins of pride and/or envy without harming anyone else.

I honestly don't see this as a cunning plan to monetise old stock. Perhaps, since I already have all 3 achievements described, I'm just speaking from a position of privilege... but I don't think I am.

(It would be amusing to see how Cliffy would respond to avalanches of "Recon" - er, "RAAM" requests in his message queue.)

-- Steve

Anton P. Nym

@Jelster: I'm of the opinion that if you are going to spend $60 for a game you are only playing to unlock characters in the sequel, then you probably don't care if you are spending $60, or you just have seriously awful priorities. (Not you specifically, Jelster. Just the general "you.") I mean, most people who care if they would get to play as Carmine or Kim have already made a connection to those characters in the first game. This is basically just a nice incentive for the fans of the game.

peAr nectAr

Wow, those 3 achievements are actually some of the easiest. If you played the first Gears then there is no reason how this should be a concern.

Quicksilver4648

Oh man. Now I have to go back and beat this game again on my own gamer tag.

sir_carrot

Hey dude hugh.... if you beat GOW1 on insane then you should get Richard Simmons as an ulockabe multi-player dude in GOW2

davahsa

Makes me glad I put all those hours into getting all the achievements.

kyroN

@peAr nectAr:

It's not so much the ONLY reason, but hey if you hadn't made the purchase already this might be enough to make that decision. As I said the line is a little blurry here because Gears is a huge franchise. My concern is when, after this becomes expected, you do end up losing out if you haven't got Madden '08 when you buy Madden '09.

@Anton P. Nym:
I accept that it could be an innocent gesture but I see no reason why you should have to buy one game to affect another, even cosmetically. Just stinks of another way to push content beyond the actual retail package of the game you're buying.

Again, yes I'm being a grumpy old man about this. Also as someone else pointed out, if there is a way to unlock the content in GoW2 then my point is moot.

Jelster

Yay another Gears of War 2 story so i can post about how im going to play it on the pc instead. This never gets old at all....

sniper13x

I wonder what you get for beating Gears 1 on Insane difficulty.

foxwarrior88

@davahsa:

LMAO!!! It's not often someone actually makes me laugh my ass off, but you did it, kudos!

Orionsaint

@Jelster: I can see your point of view, especially if this starts bleeding into crossovers (ie: game content unlocked in Madden 09 for having a certain achievement in NCAA 09), but in this case it seems they're increasing the value of the same IP. I have nothing against that with the description given. In practice it may be different and I reserve the right to change my opinion. :)

Omnimon

@Thorax: There are several websites and blogs surrounding increasing your gamerscore. People want bigger, longer, more impressive to look at... gamerscoes. It's essentially the male enhancement industry for epeen. I wouldn't be surprised if they start inhabitting my GMail paid ads.

With that being said, I really don't care about achievements as they are, but making them an enrichment to future games is innovative and enticing.

Omnimon

@Datheron:

QFT

It's like going to watch a movie have it finish in 60 minutes and then having a quiz afterward to stretch it out to 2 hours.

Game design used to implement these tasks into the actual game. Like finding and using a valuable health pack encouraged you to explore the level and play cautiously, now you have regenerative health and the exploration is prompted by some random achievement. Just seems so cheap and lazy. What's most shocking is that many gamers lap it all up and call it awesome totally oblivious to this fact.

Jelster

I wonder what the Cole Train thinks of this.

KirbyMorph

@Corrin: Maybe you aren't getting it.

The entire points against achievements is that they're a cheap way to extend gameplay and provide feedback to the gamer that what they're doing is "valuable". This is beyond any inherit value that the game itself sets up by design; the game is essentially yelling at you that "getting headshots is valuable in multiplayer" by giving you an achievement for it.

Less cheap ways to provide the same kind of reward for goals are the fundamentals of game design: an intriguing cutscene, a bonus item, a graphical vista, new abilities, etc. Imagine how empty CoD4's ranking system would be if it was just about getting higher levels with no added abilities or weaponry; achievements and trophies are along the same lines, in that they provide some cheap thrills for the player, but lack substance in rewarding the gamer.

Datheron

They are obviously doing this just to boost sales of the first one but whatever I still own my copy if I ever run into trouble with achievements.

I'm all for this.

Murderdolls

Great idea; nice little bonuses for fans of the series. The GTA series could use this!

presidentrich

Interesting. Basically means you have to pick up Gears1 if you want to unlock a few things in Gears2.

belo

lol wtf? thats cool but still, weird thinkin.

SolidSnake1118

Seems cool, just would be nice if they gave a bonus for people who got Seriously, too!

ImmortalArbiter

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: Yea after hitting lvl 60 and basicly mowing through everything, i had better not start off at lvl 1.

deathtastic

Looks like you'll need pre-requisites to take this class, I mean play this game.

And once in a while, you'll have to insert the old game into the drive just to prove you're worthy.

gozirah

Also, Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 had something similar. If you played the first one, it gave you bonus XP based on what rank you were, and if you had completed the campaign on Realistic.

ImmortalArbiter

Nice idea. Creates an incentive to play the first game most definitely.

TC

I actually felt bad for Carmine. Poor guy, his weapon keeps jamming then, to add to it, he gets shot in the fucking head.

Is he not dead though? Because then I can stop feeling bad. Unless he has serious brain damage, then I'd still feel bad. Not as much as if he was dead, though.

insaneo

@mikes_stalker:

Wow I hope I don't need a Lucasarts or Namco game achievement to unlock Vader in SCIV.

Orionsaint

@Datheron:

Achievements can also be like a badge of honor. I can tell a friend I had the skills to do something you couldn't do and here's the proof.

Orionsaint

Sweet deal. More games should do this.

mikes_stalker

Maybe they could take the EA Sports approach - the "Commando" achievement in Gears of War could unlock playable Clifford in Gears of War 2...

uzivatel

yay my achievements are worth something!

KingParappa

@skyoon: Gran Turismo has had that since 3. I beat GT3 100% and if my memory is right it gave me 100 000$ to start in GT4. And license tests are always carried from the prologues to the full games. So yeah. More than 10 people heard about Gran Turismo I think.

Kaneda

It sounds pretty cool, but because I am against ranked matches because I like to play with friends I could be missing out on a lot...I hope they have nothing that involves ranked match achievements in there, but I can already see a Seriously reward in there.

DrowningInMercy

w00t, I got all the achievements finished for GoW.

y2julio

Finally someone does something more with Achievements. I have never liked them, I have never had a reason to care about them, but now I do. Hopefully more games will do this after Gears 2.

thecrimsonalchemist2

@Orionsaint: I'm in favor of the comparative aspects of Achievements. Of course, the system never works as you'd want when cred comes into play:

- On the PC, achievements are pointless beyond the occasional "oh, cool, I unlocked something". Within hours of Valve releasing new TF2 achievements, there are custom maps designed to obtain them for any player.
- On the 360, achievements would be great for comparison if they, say, got rid of the pointless numeric values, and did some quality control on what developers are putting into their games. You know as well as that the Gamerscore plays a huge part into the system, and there have been problems since the beginning of people grabbing all the easy cheap points (see: finishing Fight Night 3 for 1000 points, buying Burger King games...).
- The PS3 has it mostly right in differentiating the difficulty of trophies. I don't like the concept of levels, and I'm not sure if they have the provisions in place to stop people from sharing save files or hacking them to work across machines.

So yea, the cause might be noble, but for every one gamer who plays "by the rules", there are five who are looking to inflate scores just so they can brag about their nonexistent skills.

Datheron

Champions of Norath did this, only better -- I say better because it was an RPG where your character continued on from his last level and kept all of his items -- this is instead almost identical to the Dragonball Z: Budokai games where, if you have a save file, you unlock extra characters.

Fallible

Old hat, seriously. Importing saves into a sequel for bonus content is not new or amazing. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 for a quick example. I'm sure "more than 10 people" must have heard about those games.

Synthemesc

What a simple and clever idea, lock parts of the game until they buy the original. I'm surprised that other games haven't done this yet, surely EA, the masters of the sequel would have been on this now.

----

@Datheron: The greatest benefit of achievements is for the developers and platform holders. It artificially increases a game's longevity, and promotes loyalty. I don't mind them on any platform unless they get in way of the game.

You mention that on PC, they're pointless. But they can be useful in promoting different skills. If you make a choice to go onto an achievement farm, you'll fuck up your stats, and have to waste you time with these wasters - [www.rockpapershotgun.com] .

There is a hack though, which just sends achievement complete reports back to the Valve servers, so you don't even need the achievement box. That's a shame, I hope they patch that up before the Heavy update.

hahnchen

Providing that these linked achievements unlock "useless" bonuses (extra characters) or can be unlocked on GoW2 via other (harder) means, then I'm all for it.

Crazyreyn

@BlazinNoni: Really? I didn't know that. I'm currently playing as an Infiltrator. I'm thinking of maybe restarting the whole game from scratch (I'm 23 hours in. Been doing the side missions a lot. Just finished Noveria) Seems like the Infiltrator class doesn't use biotic powers and I don't think I'd want to finish the game using the pistol for close combat. The sniper is powerful but there's hardly any use for it. Hmm if what you said is true then there's a bigger chance of me playing it from the start again.

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: Yeah there should be. Knowing Bioware maybe there is something in the works no?

@Arttemis: That would be a great thing. But I think there's too much work involved to implement it. Though they can branch it as just Paragon and Renegade side paths then it could work. :D

I think this is great news for Gears fans. It's not like they're gimping the game or adding unnecessary microtransactions in it. This is something for the fans which I don't think people new to this would miss either way. =)

excaliburps

Old, this is more or less episodic content in watered-down form. .hack// series did that. Having DoA 3 unlocked Hitomi in DoA2 Ultimate. This isn't a revolution.

Altough yay for Carmine. He was the only human that looked like he could exist.

Wahrheit

something similar is found in the game djmax for the psp. Its sequel would unlock songs depending on the original's progress.

vitrium

it's a very good dea, but just serves to remind me of my woeful GoW inadequacy [stares miserably at his shrivelled GamerCard] :(

Alphavillain

Groovy! I can't wait to play the game. Ah, GoW2, you can't get here soon enough.

Salen

Go go carmine rangers!

Beyond-Infinity

I'm kind of doubtful that this could be done because it will set a precedent for other games and publishers. Imagine playing Mass Effect 2 where several achievements require you to play another EA game, like Madden or something. This could easily spiral out of control if this achievement system gets approved.

Of course, there's always exceptions if the price is good enough, I suppose...

boopadoo

i really would love to see more of this sort of thing. i really liked how my stuff could carry over in the ratchet and clank games. i always wondered why more games didn't do things to extrinsically reward people for continuing to play a series.

thaKingRocka

"The first was that Steve Jablonsky, composer on films like Transformers and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, was working on the score for Gears of War 2"

I fail to see how this is good news as Both Movies were crap, specially The Taxas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which IMHO was one of the worst remakes ever made.

Moreover, he's also responsible for the boring and uninspired soundtrack in C&C3 and Kane's wrath. I loved the first GoW soundtrack, I hope this does not degrade que overall quality of the game.

ironraiden

I wish more games did this. Even between unrelated games by the same developer/publisher would be great.

Unlock certain in Beautiful Katamari and you can use a Katamari in Tales of Vespria. Or unlock "A Great Wind is Blowing" in Civilization Revolution and get a bonus against the Russian mob in GTA IV.

CyberSkull

Getting all the gow achievements = free pr0nz in GOW 2?!

Pbombas

@ironraiden:
Dude, Tranformers was an awesome movie, have u bother to actually watch it or the read the reviews!? dur dur dur...

Pbombas

@Corrin: No, they're pretty damn meaningless.

My friend has 10,000 points. I'm like, "cool, so what does that get you?"

"Nothing."

If I spent the same time in WOW, or the same amount in BF2, or other online games, I would have unlockables to show for it. New Weapons, armor, icons, mounts, cities, expansions, etc.

360 Achievements are just a score.. Great for those who love to keep score, horrible for those who want anything more.

Scuba Steve

The arrival theme for the Autobots was the best score I had heard in a movie in quite a while. It felt like an 80's movie. When movies cared and had good memorable movie scores. Seems movies and games these days have taken a backseat when it comes to original scores, for licensed music.

Orionsaint

re: Steve Jablonsky

YES! His work on the Chainsaw Massacre remake was top notch. That movie is highly recommended, btw, and I'm not a fan of most remakes.

kidko

I like it. I've not got all of the first game's achievements, but enough of them to unlock a load of stuff here Gears 2.

And I'm still going to continue call him CliffyB or maybe Blinky. Blinky is an awesome nickname :)

Dajmin

It just reminds me, Ratchet and clank on the PS2 did this, I remember getting discounted weapons in the sequels and then the all sorts of nice bonuses just for finishing the older ones.

Nice one.

flukielukie

Hopefully the "Seriously" (Get 10,000 Combined Kills in GeOW) Achievement is one of these backwards compatible achievements.

IceCold

@MetalGearMax:

thats ready cue lass.... isn't there one where you have to have 10 000 kills in deathmatch..?

Crooked

Gears of War is one of my favorite games. I am already planing on getting the limited edition of gears 2. this makes the deal even sweeter!

mr_grimster

@MetalGearMax:

Wow, that is a serious achievement! Weren't some of them ridiculously hard to get? Like 10,000 online kills or something.

Good job!

slayazzz

how about in COD4, in single player-story mode; get 100 kills with the silenced red-dot assault rifle and earn one for multiplayer? :) or hell no how about earning a Javelin for multiplayer heh.

F22

@Maldron: you got peanut butter in my chocolate.

you got chocolate in my peanut butter.

ManjiKengo

Yeah it would be cool if more games did this with sequels, it gives achievments a certain value and not just numbers being flashed up on the screen.

tooji