But as we continue into the second year of the Xbox 360's life-cycle, Microsoft have seen fit to revise its rules for those all important Achievements.
In an article posted on Gamerscore Blog they have outlined the three commandments publishers must follow in offering Achievements in-game to the consumer. In doing so they have also revealed that, after an initial purchase that guarantees a gamer 1000 points per game, an additional 250 points can be included in downloadable content. In the case of a game that at launch has only 900 points available, the additional 100 will always be offered via free downloads. Here is the description in full:
- All regular disc-based games MUST have 1,000 Gamerscore in the base game. This means that any consumer who buys a retail game will have the opportunity to unlock the full 1,000 Gamerscore without having to pay for any add-on content. Note that a publisher may decide to deliver a portion of this Gamerscore via add-on content, but the add-on content will always be free to the consumer.
- Game publishers will have the option to deliver another 250 incremental Gamerscore on top of the 1,000 via add-on content from Marketplace. This add-on content could be either free or paid. So if you complete a game and earn the full 1,000 GS, you could by getting new add-on content earn up to a total of 1,250 points from a game.
- Xbox Live Arcade games will operate in similar fashion, but given the size of these titles they will allow you to earn up to 200 Gamerscore from every game and up to another 50 points from add-on content.
So all the Gamerscore 'whores' out there who have thus far shunned downloadbale content that offers no further reward in terms of Achievements now have the option of picking up an additional 250 points for any retail title and a further 50 from an Arcade game. Bonus!
