Pop a Cap on it, ‘yo
I don’t own Halo 3, but if I did I’d have 1750 GamerPoints to chase. I thought Fallout 3’s 1450 worth of Achievements were bad, but no, Halo takes the hardcore biscuit. Remember when retail games capped at 1000? Arcade games at 200? It seems this was only to be the case in the 360’s infancy, back when gamers payed little notice to the fruitless digits tagging alongside their GamerTag.
Now developers deliver additional Achievements, usually in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC). Whatever the case, it’s to keep gamers coming back, to give us a bit of replay value for what we pay (though, more often than not, we also have to pay for the DLC). However, there’s also a degree of agitation, for me at least, that comes with each increase in cap.
You see, gaming can be an expensive hobby, and I don’t always feel comfortable spending significant amounts of money on it. Especially right now, I’m watching every spare penny, with any pocket money being invested into my business. For that reason I’ve found it useful trading/selling games I’ve completed and am no longer needing. In fact, I believe the pre-owned market is what makes high street retailer, GameStation, the most money, and is - on the flip side - the biggest cause of concern for developers.
I don’t have anything derogatory to say about Alan Wake. My advice to you? Spend a night in Bright Falls and soak up the eerie atmosphere. Alan Wake excels at thrilling you psychologically. Which is why it’s called a psychological thriller, I guess…
