The weird and wonderful pencil pushers behind Xbox 360 Achievements have had their rulebook leaked by a ”very credible source” apparently.
Revealed are quarterly allowances for premium DLC to add gamerscore points, how many unlockables a title can have altogether and the new roof limit of 1750 points. Free DLC = none?
”…I received a message from a very credible source with information on what the current practices are,” reports Xbox360Achievements.org.
Maximum Additions: 1750 Gamerscore, 80 Achievements
”This explains Halo’s mad jump to 1750 late last year, as well as Gears 2, Fable 2 and Fallout 3 passing 1250, and announced jumps for GTA and Saints Row 2. Obviously the old max of 1250 is smashed to bits, though the number is a bit odd. Why not 1500 or 2000? Regardless, we still have one rule-breaker with The Orange Box sitting at 99 achievements.”
”That will perhaps be the exception to the rule since it was apparently before these “new” rules were set and since it is such a unique game overall. Valve swears they are going to add new achievements when (or at this point if) they release their Team Fortress 2 update. According to this, they are just talking through their teeth, because it won’t be allowed. We’ll see how that one plays out.”
Maximum Additions Per Quarter: 250 Gamerscore, 10 Achievements
”This is a an interesting stipulation, but it does explain some things. My source used Fallout 3 as an example, Bethesda only adding 100 points for each of the first two content packs, then going over 250 with the third pack, since it was a new quarter at that point. It also explains how Fable recently added 13 achievements from one single DLC, having only used up 3 achievements in its first quarter. Finally, Halo jumping straight to 1750 is also explained, since it had been over a year (four quarters) since the game’s release when that happened.”
”My source confirmed that this rule is in place to stop companies from releasing a whole slew of content immediately after a game’s release to hit its 1750 max right away, instead leaving the game to be supplied with smaller bits of content for months and months after release, or a big helping later down the road if they so choose. The additions are cumulative, letting companies plan big expansions with a huge amount of extra achievements, or still allowing them to stick with smaller additions over a number of releases such as we’ve seen lately.”
Right now a rumour is circulating that free downloadable content yields no new achievements, but this remains unconfirmed and even this ‘source’ couldn’t provide an answer. The last info for how Achievements worked was over two years ago.
