Gamerscore Discrimination

While there are a lot of ways in which other players will judge (and even discriminate) each other in the world of online gaming, perhaps one of the most egregious and objectionable is to judge a gamer  by nothing more than their Gamerscore - or lack thereof...

Due to recent events - specifically one of our very good mates was recently married (well, technically they were re-married) and as they now have a brand new family complete with teenage daughter and two not-identical teenage sons --  they have recently purchased a brand spanking new Xbox One console for their new family. 

Now I am not going to even bother with pointing out that the reason for the purchase was so that the boys will not want or need to play on my mates personal Xbox One.  I totally understand not wanting strange paws on your consoles!

My mate happens to be a games journalist who makes his nut each week by previewing and reviewing games, and covering game events for a major newspaper.  So naturally he has pretty much unfettered access to the studio and PR system and, as a result, a very impressive games library for all of the major console systems.

I actually think that what he has done is pretty cool - it is not like he took the boys to the end of the dock and threw them in the water and said "Sink or Swim BudEEE!"

Instead what he did was hook up the new console in the den, attaching it to the massive 56" flatscreen and its theater sound system there - and then tell the boys:

"You can check out games from my game library as long as they are NOT rated M (for Mature) or above. 

"If you want to play a game that is rated M or above you need to get your Mum's permission - which means SHE needs to come and discuss the game with ME.

"Fail to do that and you will be cut off from access to the games library totally."

Naturally both of the boys instantly agreed to these conditions.

So he walked them through creating their own Gamertags - and he even created a Gamertag for their Mum and made it the primary on the new XBone - giving it 12 months of Gold so basically ALL of the accounts on that XBone have gold.  How cool is that?!

So the boys began playing - naturally enough most of the games that they played were ones that they could both play at the same time and with each other.  They very quickly began to rack up what I consider to be respectable gamerscores - they have only been playing on their new Gamertags for like six or so weeks and they are already each above 4K in gamerscore!

To clarify this I know gamers - in fact I have FRIENDS in my followers list - who have been playing for YEARS and have less than 5K Gamerscores1

So it is pretty understandable how the boys ended up getting upset when some loser in a COD lobby told them that their low Gamerscores clearly revealed that they are totally lame newbs not worthy to play with.

Okay, ignoring for the moment that these are two preteens (they are both 12) whose new dad is pretty hip and cool, and they are not playing lame games mind you, standing over them and totally judging them by having less than a five-digit Gamerscore when they have only been gaming for six weeks?!  That is sooooo lame!

What is Gamerscore?

If you do not happen to be a gamer you may be confused right about now by my use of words like Gamertag, Gamerscore, and the like.  So I thought I would quickly if briefly explain that so that we are all on the same page here.

Gamertags: A Gamertag is the account name - and the actual name - by which you, a gamer, are known on the LIVE Network.

A Gamertag includes a surprising amount of information about the person to whom it belongs, including:

• Their real name (though it is usually concealed)
• Geographical Location - where in the world they are and whether they have seen Waldo?
• Gamer Icon / Picture - an image that they picked to represent themselves 
• Reputation Score (which by default as long as they have had no complaints lodged against them should be three out of five stars) 
• Gaming Zone - the self-proclaimed zone in which they think they belong... There are four of them: Recreational / Family / Pro / and Underground.
• Motto - a motto or phrase that they can add to their profile to express their gaming attitude
• Bio - a short paragraph or two that they can use to say things about themselves...

In addition to the above the Gamertag also displays the last four Achievements that they have unlocked in the games that they play, as well as a list of their friends and followers.

On the new Xbox One a LOT more information and a deeper examination of their Achievements and actual online activities on LIVE is readily available - but the one other thing that is displayed here that is important in terms of this post is the Gamerscore that they have earned.

Gamerscore: This is a number that represents the cumulative total score that all of the Achievements that the gamer has unlocked is worth.

Every game for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and even certain mobile phones that can access the Games for Windows (mobile) LIVE are required to have a set number of Gamerscore spanning the various Achievements that they are also required to have.

Generally speaking a game should have 1000 Gamerscore (usually written as "1000g" as well as a reasonable number of Achievements (an Achievement is a specific action, activity, or collection of items that the players try to complete in a game).

Rachel fainted when she learned Javier's Gamerscore was 448,545 - overwhelmed by its manly powers!

Despite the fact that Gamerscore really is only an indication of how much game play one has completed, it really is not a very good scheme for judging the merits of a gamer and their gaming skills.

Now the individual Achievements that a gamer has unlocked?  Well that is a different story, because that CAN tell you a lot about their skills.

Xbox LIVE: Xbox LIVE is the online gaming and partly social network to which Microsoft's gaming consoles are connected and to which those willing to pay for the privilege can connect. 

Back to the Post Now

D'accord we should be all on the same page now...

So the boys are out in the den playing some game and some jerk boots them out of the game play lobby for the game and tells them they suck.

Very upset, they pop into Dad's office where Dad and I are sitting chatting and they tell him what has happened.

That triggers one of the major talks that all Dads today have to have with their sons - and that is the "Son(s) the world is full of a mixture of people and some of them are Asshats."

In the end all that he can do is urge them to consider the source, give them hugs, and tell them that they are boss with him!  I of course tell them they are awesome and I will play with them any time they want and to pudding with that asshat!

My wife is constantly accusing me of speaking Eskimo -- when I say something off-color or outright profane she will chide me, saying "That is too Eskimo!" 

Now clearly she must know something about the indigenous people inhabiting northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland that I do not know...  But then she IS a Cultural Anthropologist, so yeah, that would make sense...

UPDATE: I have since learned that the phrase actually originates in a series of books that she read as a child and that she likes.  

The phrase and its explanation can be found in the book Belles on their Toes, by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (Harper Perennial, ISBN-13: 978-0060598235) which is the sequel to the book Cheaper by the Dozen (Martino Fine Books, ISBN-13: 978-1614275008)

""Don't be Eskimo," Mother warned.  "Eskimo" was Mother's word for anything that was deemed evil minded."

So anyway yeah, I try not to be so Eskimo...

The kind words and reassurance was too little to really blunt the pain that the harsh judgement by that asshat had caused but what else could we do?

What is YOUR Gamerscore?

I was more than a little miffed so I went to the den and used the gamepad to chat with the asshat, first checking HIS Gamerscore, which was 11,485.

"Why is a newbie like you judging a pair of 12-year-olds who have only been gaming for like two months?!" I asked.

His reply was "I'ma Pro daddie what is yer gamerscores?" he answered.

Now clearly he thought I was their dad.  I set that straight.

I am not their parent, I am sort of an uncle.  But since you asked, my Gamerscore is 150,855" I answered.

"You are a total liar!" they replied.

"Their dad's Gamerscore is 132,555" I added.

"Bullshit! They declared.

So I told him - "My Gamertag is Recnef look me up."

A few minutes go by and they finally send the following message: "Huh that is really impressive but you probably cheated."

Wow.  Nice.  Classic.

I then showed the boys how to set a Gamertag to Ignore, removing its ability to send you ANY sort of communication or message - and then showed them how to set it to be avoided, though I had to explain that this does not always work.

In practice the game servers will TRY to prevent them from being included in a multi-player game lobby you are in if it can but there is no guarantee.

Live is so short in terms of time and all, so why should we have to tolerate the asshats of the world?  Really!

And hey - Asshats?  No matter how cool and bad you think you are, there is ALWAYS going to be someone out there better than you...

The Forza Rewards Program

In conversation with fans of the Forza games I find myself often mentioning the free Forza Rewards program and its website to players who are not aware of it. How they can be not aware of it still has me scratching my head, since it is not only widely discussed on the boards but has also been integrated into the most recent game in the series - Forza Horizon 2 - but there you have it.


An offshoot of the conversations brought the whole status and standing question up and that got me thinking about the very well structured system of what amounts to bragging rights that are a focus of the games... And I am speaking of a recognition system that goes well beyond the Achievements that are part of each game.


One element that the folks at Turn 10 Game Studios and Microsoft Game Studios do very well is the tracking of stats that are related to your game play. This is something that may very well have started as an off-shoot that was enabled by the Xbox LIVE Achievements scheme, but it has grown into a very deep and unique focus of its own as a result.


The actual tracking process began years ago - in 2007 to be exact, which is the year that the first sequel to the Forza Motorsports series arrived, Forza Motorsports 2.

The points earned in each game add up to your Tier level...

The Forza Rewards Platform
Between Turn 10, Microsoft Games, and Microsoft's LIVE Network, they have managed to create a very deep and interesting stat tracking system in the form of the Forza Rewards website and service, which is officially part of the LIVE network (it is hosted on servers that belong to Microsoft's LIVE Network).


A casual examination of my account on the Rewards Service reveals that of the 100+ friends and followers I have connected to my LIVE Gamertag, 37 have played a Forza game. That is not to say that all 37 are active gamers among what fans like to call the Forza Faithful - au contraire, a number that adds up to nearly three-quarters are what would be considered the most casual of Forza gamers.


Of the 37 Gamertags with at least some points earned in the Rewards Scheme, 13 of them are just Tier 1 (there are 7 Tiers so far), having less than 100 points collectively including all of the games in the series (which includes the primary Motorsports game series of Forza Motorsports 2 through 5, and the split-off special Horizon series, Forza Horizon and Horizon 2).


Twelve are Tier 2 with less than 600 points total, nine are Tier 3 with less than 2,500 points each, and one is Tier 4 (having 2,506) and another Tier 6 (having 8,013 points) - whereas I am Tier 7 with 9,490 points in total.


Points Awarded
The points scheme that is used is restricted to a set of specific activities - though which varies by specific game title - while the value for these activities tends to be a set part of the system. Looking at this from a title by title pov, the points scheme grows progressively more complicated with each new game in the two series' starting with a very basic approach for FM2.


It should be noted that the original Forza arrived prior to the creation of Xbox LIVE and the very popular Achievements scheme that is the foundation for it. That is why it is not included in the Forza Rewards system - as no data exists on the LIVE network that can included or tracked.

Starting with Horizon 2 the Rewards Program is built into the game - taking the form of the Horizon Hub.

An overview of the points scheme looks like this:


Forza Motorsports 2 (500 Points Total)

• Achievements (500 Points)
  

Forza Motorsports 3 (1,000 Points Total)

• Achievements (300 Points)
  
• Cars Owned (200 Points)
  
• Driver Level (100 Points)
  
• Paid DLC Owned (100 Points)
  
• Days Played (200 Points)
  
• Miles Driven (100 Points)
  

Forza Motorsports 4 (2,000 Points Total)

• Achievements (350 Points)
  
• Cars Owned (250 Points)
  
• Driver Level (250 Points)
  
• Paid DLC Owned (250 Points)
  
• Days Played (300 Points)
  
• Miles Driven (250 Points)
  
• Perfect Passes (50 Points)
  
• Tokens Purchased (300 Points)
  

Forza Motorsports 5 (3,000 Points Total)

• Achievements (500 Points)
  
• Cars Owned (250 Points)
  
• Driver Level (250 Points)
  
• Paid DLC Owned (350 Points)
  
• Tokens Purchased (350 Points)
  
• Badges and Titles Unlocked (400 Points)
  
• Days Played (500 Points)
  
• Miles Driven (350 Points)
  
• Perfect Passes (50 Points)
  

Forza Horizon (2,000 Points Total)

• 1000 Club Challenges (200 Points)
  
• Achievements (400 Points)
  
• Cars Owned (150 Points)
  
• Days Played (400 Points)
  
• Miles Driven (250 Points)
  
• Paid DLC Owned (250 Points)
  
• Perfect Passes (50 Points)
  
• Tokens Purchased (300 Points)
  

Forza Horizon 2 (3,000 Points Total)

• Achievements (500 Points)
  
• Cars Owned (250 Points)
  
• Driver Level (350 Points)
  
• Paid DLC Owned (150 Points)
  
• Roads Discovered (200 Points)
  
• Bucket List Items (400 Points)
  
• Days Played (500 Points)
  
• Miles Driven (350 Points)
  
• Perks Unlocked (250 Points)
  
• Ultimate Passes (50 Points)
  

While the games tend to give significant weight to the aspects that include spending real money for in-game objects, they also give some weight to in-game activities like the number of days played, miles driven, and electives completed. Another area that gets significant weight is the Achievements in each game, so at least in theory the typical player can obtain quite a decent Rewards Score by simply playing the game.


That is particularly true when you consider that the Tier levels are strictly point based, and do not require the player to obtain specific levels of accomplishment in a given game. It doesn't hurt if you happen to be a serious fan of racing games - or own most of the games in the series...

Audible Badges and the Keymaster

In the slightly less than four days since I finished the blog post before this one (Audible Badge Collection Revisited) a flood of email messages from other Audible Listeners (that's what we call ourselves and each other it seems - as Audible Listeners) has illustrated for me just how popular the service has become and, what is more, how intense the feelings are that exist within it.  I received a lot of email - a LOT of email - almost all of which was both supportive and equally of note, demanded to know what my personal Badge Count is?  With details?!

This Audible dot Com Thingy

As the exclusive supplier of audio book content to both iTunes and Amazon the folks at Audible have something like a monopoly (but not really) in the area of digital books and audio entertainment (not including music and/or songs) whose primary delivery system is the Internet via the World Wide Web -- the notion that a community, or perhaps a community of sub-communities would be a better take on the matter? Well, either way, the fact that such a community has sprung into existence really is not all that surprising. 

This being a very busy time of year for me, I cannot indulge in the philosophical aspects inherent in developments such as this, despite the fact that they practically beg for me to do so.  If ideas could talk this one would be saying "Explore me!  Delve into the quirky and yet mind-boggling fact of my existence!  Find the humor in me, it is there!  Really it is!  Please?"

But they cannot - and I wouldn't have the time anyway, in fact the best that I can do is jot down these notes and the briefest of observations as I attempt to fulfill the requests that have been made of me, and share with you the details of my Audible Badges since this appears to be a rather urgently important matter some of you...

Just be thankful that I am not Stephen King.  

I recently sent an email to the human interface at his publisher to whom one sends such requests  asking for just three minutes of his time to ask and obtain the answer to the questions: "How important would you say that your experiment in publishing your recent book exclusively online was?"  And "What did you learn from the experience?"

Those two questions are central to the issue that I will be examining in a column I am working on that explores the whole issue of PoD and online publishing. 

It has been suggested that we, each of us, have a book floating around in our heads waiting to be written, and but for the lack of a publisher to take our project on would all of us be published authors...

Of course Stephen King has never heard of me and I have no doubt was completely unaware of the exchange between myself and some faceless drone at his publisher whose job is to read the email that is submitted by that form on his "official" web page on their website. 

The fact that this particular drone has allowed their "power" to rush to their head and so chose to deny me in so transparently obvious and passive-aggressive a manner, well, I try not to take that sort of thing personally.  I understand - he is so busy he just cannot find the time to answer those questions.  Ever.

I am just saying that you should be happy I am not the Kingster - or more to the point, you should be happy that I do not have such a tool screening my email; if I did we would not be having this little experience that we are having, and where was I?

Oh yes!  My Audible Badges!

The Audible Listener Badge Collection has become something of a point of pride and, for many audiobook fans, a symbol of accomplishment...  For this Audible Listener the badges represent pleasurable hours spent multi-tasking while he earned his TCoB Badge!  Yeah, I've pooped in the woods...

The Official Badge Count (and information)
of Audible Listener CM Boots-Faubert

So the email that I have been receiving from readers has included their present badge status and nicely and politely requested that I share mine.  Since it was nice and polite for the most part, I figure what they heck, why not?  So here is my Audible Listener Badge Collection Status as of 0600 GMT -5 on 31 July 2013:

1. Stenographer - Silver
2. Social Butterfly - Silver
3. Audible Obsessed - None
4. Weekend Warrior - Gold
5. Repeat Listener - Silver
6. All Nighter - Diamond
7. Marathoner - None
8. Undecider - Silver
9. Flash 80 - None
10. High Noon - Diamond
11. Binge Listener - Silver
12. 7 Day Stretch - Silver
13. Procrastinator - None
14. The Stack - Silver
15. Mount Everest - None

Thanks for your email, thanks for reading the blog, and thank you for reading the paper!

Cheers!

C

Audible Badge Collection Revisited

Back in January of 2012 -- during a period wherein I was gathering information for a column that related to early adoption of consumer technology for the column that I write for the Cape Cod Times (Digital Grind, appearing every other Tuesday in the Business & Tech Section of the newspaper) and having  accidentally stumbled upon the Audible Listener's Badge Collection built into the iOS version of the audio book app from online audio book website Audible.com --  I ended up briefly covering the subject in that blog entry.

I mention this for two reasons... 

The first reason being my genuine surprise at the explosive interest in that subject as shown by my readers.  In fact the post generated a whopping 73 email messages on that subject -- not counting the replies to my replies to those 73 original email messages mind you --  and considering that I did not know I had 73 regular readers for this blog, let alone 73 readers who were invested in it to the point that they would actually take the time and make the effort to send me email about something I had written about in it, well, let us just say that it was a gratifying experience indeed! 

This was a matter I found to be worthy of note personally as well as professionally, though come to think upon it, certainly it can be argued that as my activities with respect to the blog Speaking of... are more in the way of uncompensated and voluntary writing as opposed to writing assigned by an editor and in the general scheme of things, compensated, it is... but I digress...

The second reason has to do with the significant number of follow-on email messages addressing the subject that have been reliably appearing in my In Box over the course of the past eighteen months, the most common topic of which being genuine inquiries as to my own progress with respect to the Badges I have unlocked and, naturally, the sharing of their own progress in unlocking said badges.

My loverly wife and companion Yvonne, avid Pokemon Trainer and willing co-conspirator in the ongoing seemingly never-ending quest to obtain each rare and special Pokemon as those made available at GameStop's everywhere (or at least in the case above, at GameStops in Mashpee, Massachusetts), which is to say located in Paradise save for the fact that it is Winter in Paradise at the time that this snap was made so really not so Paradise as one might expect Paradise to be, there being no brilliant sun, heady temperatures, and Boat Drinks - mustn't forget the Boat Drinks, just saying...

Gibbs, Calvin, and the Odd Photo or Two

In my initial efforts to document the extension of what had at that point become a very well accepted and recognized means for promoting individual and group cohesion with respect to the obtaining of an established and valued visual symbol of status and rank in terms of participation in a given activity - in this case listening to Audio Books - I made it a point to include wholly unrelated photographs in the interest of illustrating that piece, and in keeping with that tradition endeavor to do so again herein...

Really though if you pause to give the matter thought, the present level of both popularity and success that this particular form of rank and recognition enjoys can be said to have a shared link not only to the more obvious military practice of the display of square ribbons on the breast, but in more contemporary terms the dashingly successful affiliated Gamerscore and Achievements systems created by Microsoft for its Xbox 360 games console (about which I have written upon numerous occasions, including here, and here, and also here, not to mention here and here!).

It turns out that the Audible Badge Collection is not only of particular interest to the very large community of Audible Listeners (of which I am one), it also appears to be of interest to a somewhat larger community of potential Audible Listeners - that is to say consumers of audio books who are not as yet customers of Audible.com (by the by, I have in no way been compensated for the above plugs and promotion of the audio books from Audible - I am no shill, I just happen to really like and enjoy that service, for which just like you, I pay with my own money to enjoy).

It may interest you to know that I have been a client at Audible since the very month that it was launched in the previous century by founder Don Katz, and in fact I have actually written about the service - see my column titled Heard any good books lately? (DigitalGrind, Cape Cod Times, 27 May 2008) - just to comply with my own policy of full-on transparency.

Wouldn't it be great if the services of the Winebulance (photo inset above) truly were available throughout the USA?  The UK-based parent company and its rather interesting concept now available in the Miami, Florida area and elsewhere - but sadly (and I firmly suspect that the laws pertaining to alcohol where I live, on Cape Cod which is to say in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts though there are plenty of locals who might argue that we only slightly accept the notion that the Cape is part of Taxachusetts, it being a nation in its own right) would prohibit the operation of such a clearly convenient and valuable service.  If  we measure political independence by arbitrary scales such as fun, peace, and tranquility than Cape Cod is clearly an independent nation along lines similar to those of the Conch Republic...

Audible Badge Collection

The badges that make up the Audible Listener's Badge Collection at the present time (and as of the writing of this post) consist of a total of fifteen (15) unique badges, each of which have at least three distinct and graduated levels, those being Silver, Gold, and Diamond, which are based upon the level in a particular category unlocked by the individual user.

Each of the Badges represents a specific action (or nature of actions) and each offers the listener a means by which they can visually gauge their participation in a meaningful way while at the same time present that participation in a format that suggests rank or standing in the Audible listener community, and how cool is that?

The current list of Badges consists of the following, with meaning, as presented in the Audible.com iOS App version:

1. Stenographer - add a bookmark/comment X times.
   Silver = 10
   Gold = 40
   Diamond = 125
2. Social Butterfly - spreading the Audible word via Twitter, Facebook & etc.
   Silver = x5 shares
   Gold = x25 shares
   Diamond = x100 shares
3. Audible Obsessed - you have used the app for X days straight.
   Silver = x7 days
   Gold = x30 days
   Diamond = x90 days
4. Weekend Warrior - listened to X number of hours on the weekend.
   Silver = x5 hours
   Gold = x10 hours
   Diamond = x24 hours
5. Repeat Listener - listened to X number of books over again.
   Silver = x3
   Gold = x10
   Diamond = x20
6. All Nighter - listened to X number of hours at night.
   Silver = x4 hours
   Gold = x6 hours
   Diamond = x8 hours
7. Marathoner - listened to X number of hours straight (uninterrupted)
   Silver = x16 hours
   Gold = x18 hours
   Diamond = x24 hours
8. Undecider - listened to parts of X number of different titles in one day.
   Silver = x3 titles
   Gold = x15 titles
   Diamond = x40 titles
9. Flash 80 - awarded for checking your stats screen X number of times.
   Silver = x50 checks
   Gold = x200 checks
   Diamond = x500 checks
10. High Noon - listened to X number of hours during lunchtime.
    Silver = x2 hours
    Gold = x3 hours
    Diamond = x4 hours
11. Binge Listener - listened to X number of books start-to-finish in one go.
    Silver = x2 books
    Gold = x5 books
    Diamond = x10 books
12. 7 Day Stretch - complete X books in a single week.
    Silver = x7 books
    Gold = x15 books
    Diamond = x50 books (whoa)
13. Procrastinator - have X books downloaded but not marked finished*
    Silver = x10 unfinished books
    Gold = x20 unfinished books
    Diamond = x75 unfinished books
14. The Stack - have at least X number of books in your library.
    Silver = x50 titles
    Gold = x200 titles
    Diamond = x500 titles
15. Mount Everest - completed a book that is X hours in length.
    Silver = x30 hours
    Gold = x40 hours
    Diamond = x50 hours

The inclusion of all of the X's above is, of course, meant to represent the sliding scale of numbers that relate specifically to the Level of the Awarded Badge - that is to say that the number is going to be different depending upon whether it is for the Silver, Gold, or Diamond Level Badge Awarded.

The inside colour does not appear to mean anything with respect to the badges but the outside rim of the badge clearly does - as you can see above the Marathoner Badge is "Diamond" Level while all of the others appear to be "Silver" Level...  The disturbing bit is that at some point in the recent updates to the app it appears that the edge graphic has been disabled, as there seems to be no relation between their colour and their status.  For example, one I know is Diamond Level has a gold border, and one I know is Gold Level has a silver boarder, while a Silver Level one has a silver border, and so on...  I very much dislike being confused like this...  Sigh.

* Note that with this badge if you delete the book from your device you can "lose" the badge since it appears to apply to the present inventory/status on the device.

In addition to the above, you should be warned that IF YOU CHANGE YOUR LOGIN for Audible - say if you have more than one account, or your significant other wants to listen to books from THEIR account on YOUR iOS/device this will wipe and reset ALL of the stats.  When you log back into your own account your stats will be reset to zero on all.

The Badge Collection is also now available for the Android version of the app.

Listening Level

In addition to the Badges listed above there is also a screen whose title is Listening Level and upon which is displayed the five levels of Audible Mastery, which are:

1. Master
2. Scholar
3. Professional
4. Novice
5. Newbie

I do not actually know what the required times are precisely, though you can probably figure them out for yourself simply by reviewing my status at the time that this post was written (though bear in mind that the status only accounts for my listening statistics since I installed the app on my most recent iPhone - as my actual number of hours listening to books via Audible is a MUCH higher number spread across all of the platforms, from iOS to PC):

1. Master (1907 hours to go)
2. Scholar (907 hours to go)
3. Professional (407 hours to go)
4. Novice (7 hours to go)
5. Newbie (Achieved on 12/13/12)

Based upon the numbers above the overall total appears to be based upon 2000 hours of listening...

Back in 2000 my wife Yvonne had her own "webcam" that featured two field mice that she had captured in humane traps that had, until their capture, been playing hell with our stored food stuff as well as anything in a cardboard box in the basement - but once the outlaws were captured became the focus of Mousecam!  That's right, the image of their domesticated mouse dwelling was shared online via the web every 30 seconds.

You Know, Whatever?

If you are curious, 2000 hours of listening breaks down to:

• 83.333 Days
• 120K Minutes
• 7.2 Million Seconds
• Number of hours of Cosmetology Classes required by the State of Utah in order for an applicant to qualify for a state license to work as a Hair Braider for pay.
• The minimum number of hours that a non-partner lawyer is expected to bill in a 48-week year (they get four weeks holiday each year don't you know).
• Number of volunteer man hours it took to build the 2,000 Hour Trail on the western slope of the Massanutten Resort by the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition.
• From planting of the coffee tree to your first sip, 2000 man hours go into making that cup of coffee. (http://rnrcoffeecafe.com/blog/?p=428)
• Amount of time that budding game designer Alexander Velicky spent creating a mod for Skyrim just to get a job interview with Bethesda Softworks.
  
  

Hiding the Body in Dishonored

Due to a combination of circumstances that include ill-health and the fact that I never actually had the opportunity to fully play-through the video game Dishonored on my Xbox (I played it on PS3 when I did the review), and due to my curiosity about whether it would feel different on Xbox as opposed to PS3, I finally got around to playing Dishonored on my Xbox.

Being ill sucks.  That is not a gray-area issue.  Having a video game to play that you can really and truly immerse yourself in - and especially when that game has a good story line and interesting alternate play options - well, let me just say that when you are ill that sort of thing really can go a long way towards helping you get through your day.

The mask is about the story and the protagonist shifting from protector to avenger and assassin!

Gotta Hide the Body?

The way Dishonored is engineered, there are basically two ways you can play the game...

(1) As a stealth action-adventure title in which your primary goal is to be a literal ghost, not be seen at all, not set off any alarms, not kill anyone and not allow any of the bodies you incap to be discovered.

(2) Play it as a bloodbath adventure in which you go all out, killing everybody.

While it may seem like the latter would be the more difficult method, considering the huge number of enemies and potential targets in the game, it turns out that it is the former that is really the challenge.

I have a lot more respect for CIA wetwork agents now, particularly when I consider the potential issues that are associated with hiding bodies.

What I mean by that is that it is easy enough to not kill anyone - that is basically a choice you make - while it is slightly more difficult to not kill anyone AND not trigger any alarms or be seen not killing anyone, but not killing anyone while you are not seen not killing anyone and at the same time not setting off any alarms while AT THE SAME TIME finding places to hide the bodies so that none are discovered, well, that is hard.

I say it is hard EVEN while acknowledging the mechanism in the game that causes the previous bodies of the targets you have incapped past five to disappear (basically the game will only allow you to have five bodies in a zone at any one time, so each time you incap or kill a new one, the oldest body in your collection despawns).

Game play is surprisingly fluid and the game is largely bug-free.  But you expect that from Arkane.

Remember the Hitman Series?

The whole stealth action-adventure approach in Dishonored was not a real challenge until I reached the mission called "Return to the Tower" which was, let me tell you right now, a bitch.  Really really challenging.

In fact it was so challenging due to the random patrol pattern of non-combat NPC's who somehow kept stumbling upon incapped bodies and sounding alarms - even when those bodies were on the other side of walls, hidden in shadows - that I finally came to the realization that I was going to need to really hide the bodies well.

The solution I devised was to kill the pack of rats in the Torture Chamber after incapping the Wolfhound and Torturer, and then haul every body down there after I choked each out.  Granted there was never a huge stack of bodies due to the five-body limitation (in the Hitman games I would often end up with a HUGE stack of bodies), it was still close enough to the feeling that I used to get playing the Hitman games to give me pretty decent flashbacks to that series.

I should mention that I have always been a fan of the Hitman games - it being a game series that somehow took on a subject that IRL I would never go near, but due to the approach that was used in the game and its back story, really helped to define "entertainment" for that genre.

But getting back on the subject, if you happen to have played Dishonored AND you did the no-killing and no-alarms play through AND you managed to do the "Return to the Tower" mission without staking bodies in an out-of-the-way location, would you please email me and tell me how you did it?

I am particularly interested in hearing from you if you managed to do this level in full-on stealth mode by avoiding dealing with any (or very few) enemies.

Seriously, I couldn't figure out how to play that mission without clearing the enemies floor by floor, so it took me longer to complete that one mission than it did for me to do all of the previous missions combined.  Which was really odd when I thought about it later.

While the selection of enemy types is very narrow for this type of game and its genre, there is still plenty of challenge and variety to be found in Dishonored, which is one of only a handful of games to earn a perfect 10 out of 10 review score.

Achievements in Dishonored

One of the really cool aspects of the game was the collection of Achievements / Trophies that they devised for the game.

While the Achievements are not really divided into logical groups with respect to which set of goals you ended up choosing (either the no-kill / no-alarm approach, or the bloodbath approach) what I discovered was that they really do sort of split into three distinct groups: (1) the ones you will unlock during the no-kill / no-alarm play-through; (2) the ones you will unlock during the bloodbath style of play-through; and (3) the ones you had to go out of your way and do things you would not ordinarily do in order to unlock them sort.

Actually there is a 4th type but it does not really count, being as it is the small number that are part of the story and so will unlock no matter what method you chose to play...

If you are playing the game (or are contemplating playing and I really recommend you do play if you are looking for an immersive and fun stealth game that you can replay Rambo-style after you beat it all Ninja-Ghost style), I recommend the following Achievements / Trophies logical grouping:

Note: There are 70 Achievements worth a total of 1,420G for the Xbox 360 version of Dishonored, with 50 of them (worth 1000G) from the base game, and 20 (worth 420G) from the DLC.

Category I: Stealth Run Achievements

These include all of the Achievements that are unlocked as a natural consequence of playing through the stealth action play through.  There are 10 in total, worth 330G and when you add the 170G from the story-based automatic ones, you get a grand total of 500G, which appears to suggest based on the other numbers that the Stealth Play is really the intended method of play.

1. Clean Hands (100G) You completed the game without killing anyone
2. Faceless (20G) After escaping Coldridge Prison, you completed a mission without alerting anyone
3. Ghost (30G) You completed all missions after the prologue, alerting or killing no one but key targets
4. Just Dark Enough (50G) You completed the game in low chaos (S)
5. Poetic Justice (30G) You neutralized all key targets using indirect means (S)
6. Political Suicide (10G) You brought about the Lord Regent's fall from grace by broadcasting his crimes
7. Shadow (30G) You completed all missions after the prologue without alerting anyone
8. Specter (20G) After escaping prison, you completed a mission, not alerting anyone and killing less than 5 people
9. Surgical (30G) You played from the first mission through Kaldwin's Bridge killing fewer than 10 characters
10. Vanished (10G) You escaped prison and navigated the sewers undetected (S)

Category II: Bloodbath Run Achievements

These include all of the Achievements that are unlocked as a natural consequence of playing through the bloodbath (killing-action) play-through.  There are 4 in total, worth 80G and when you add the 170G from the story-based automatic ones, you get a grand total of 250G, which is like half of what you got on the Stealth play-through, and that appears to suggest that this is the secondary approach at least in terms of G, and maybe the fun-factor too?

1. Cleaner (10G) You fought 5 enemies at once and none of them survived 
2. Dunwall in Chaos (50G) You completed the game in high chaos (S) 
3. Razor Rain (10G) You killed 5 characters with Drop Assassination 
4. Rogue (10G) You assassinated 10 unaware enemies

Category III: Achievements you have to actively unlock

These are the ones you will need to actively work towards unlocked, which means in theory they are missable.  There are 28 in total, worth 420G.

1. Alive Without Breath (10G) You took possession of a fish (S)
2. An Unfortunate Accident (10G) You killed Morgan Pendleton with steam (S)
3. Art Dealer (50G) You collected all the Sokolov paintings
4. The Art of the Steal (10G) You got the Art Dealer's safe combination for Slackjaw, but robbed the safe first (S)
5. Back Home (10G) You grabbed a live grenade and threw it back, killing an attacker
6. Big Boy (20G) You killed a tallboy using only your sword
7. Bodyguard (10G) You protected Callista's uncle, Captain Geoff Curnow (S)
8. Creepy Crawly (10G) You used a rat tunnel (S)
9. The Escapist (10G) After Coldridge Prison, you eluded 5 pursuers at once without killing them or leaving the map
10. Food Chain (10G) You assassinated an assassin (S)
11. Gentleman Caller (10G) You completed all the Granny Rags side missions (S)
12. Harm's Way (10G) You caused 5 unintentional suicides
13. Hornets' Nest (20G) You killed 4 enemies in less than 1 second using the crossbow
14. Inhabitant (10G) You stayed in possession of others for most of a 3 minute period
15. King of the World (10G) You reached the top of Kaldwin's Bridge (S)
16. Lights Out (10G) You deactivated at least 5 security systems on Kingsparrow Island (S)
17. Manipulator (10G) You made others kill 5 of their own allies
18. Merchant of Disorder (20G) You acquired 15 equipment upgrades
19. Mercy is the Mark (10G) You spared Daud’s life (S)
20. Mostly Flesh and Steel (50G) You finished the game without purchasing any supernatural powers or enhancements, besides Blink
21. Speed of Darkness (10G) You traveled 30 meters in less than 1 second
22. Street Conspiracy (10G) You completed all the Slackjaw side missions (S)
23. Tempest (20G) You killed 6 enemies in less than 1 second
24. Thief (20G) You pickpocketed items worth a total of 200 coins
25. This Is Mine (10G) You recovered your belongings
26. Versatile (20G) You killed characters with each weapon and offensive gadget
27. Wall of Sparks (10G) You killed an enemy with the Wall of Light
28. Well Mannered (10G) You completed the Boyle Estate mission without spoiling the party (S)

Category IV: Automatic (Story-Based) and the like

These are basically automatic Achievements unlocked as a natural consequence of playing through the story, so they apply to both styles of play.  There are 8 in total, worth 170G.

1. Capturing Genius and Madness (10G) You abducted Anton Sokolov, Royal Physician
2. Child Care (10G) You located Lady Emily Kaldwin, heir to the throne
3. Dishonored (5G) You escaped Coldridge Prison
4. Excommunication (5G) You eliminated High Overseer Campbell
5. Long Live the Empress (10G) You saved Empress Emily Kaldwin (S)
6. Occultist (20G) You collected 10 bone charms
7. Regicide (10G) You assassinated the Lord Regent, Hiram Burrows
8. Resolution (100G) You completed the game

Category V: Optional DLC Achievements

These are unlocking inside the two DLC expansions for the game - note that to obtain these you will need to spend money (well, Microsoft Points on Xbox Live anyway).  If you did not pay for these, and then download them, you cannot unlock them!

1. Assassin Vs. Machine (15G) Complete Train Runner before the train arrives at the station*
2. By My Hand Alone (15G) Get to Wave 13 in Back Alley Brawl killing all combatants personally*
3. Cleaner Hands (40G) Complete The Knife of Dunwall without killing anyone**
4. Daredevil (15G) In Bonfires, perform all the special combination jumps in 1 round*
5. Headhunter (15G) Complete Assassin's Run with 100% accuracy using only head shots*
6. Just Business (15G) You got the information you needed from the Rothwild Slaughterhouse**
7. Long Way Down (15G) Perform a drop assassination of at least 150 meters in the Kill Cascade challenge*
8. Message from the Empress (10G) You performed a drop assassination from atop the Empress statue in The Knife of Dunwall** (S)
9. Missing Pieces (15G) You obtained Delilah Copperspoon's identity from Thalia Timsh** (S)
10. Mrs Pilsen's Remorse (30G) Find Emily's doll hidden in each of the 10 challenges*
11. Natural Talent (15G) Finish Mystery Foe without using any active supernatural powers*
12. No Regrets (35G) Complete The Knife of Dunwall in High Chaos**
13. Rare Collector (15G) Find all of the collectable figurines in Burglar on Expert*
14. Rats and Ashes (10G) Attach an arc mine to a rat, resulting in a kill**
15. Redemptive Path (35G) Complete The Knife of Dunwall in Low Chaos**
16. Stone Cold Heart (10G) You spoke with the statue of Delilah in Timsh's estate** (S)
17. Time Management (15G) Finish Chain Kill or Bend Time Massacre without failing any wave, including bonuses*
18. Void Star (50G) Complete all Normal and Expert challenges with a 3-Stars rating*
19. Well Connected (10G) Purchase all of the Favors in The Knife of Dunwall**
20. Whisper Ways (40G) Complete The Knife of Dunwall without alerting anyone**

(S) Secret Achievement.

* DLC: Dunwall City Trials (10 Achievements worth 200G)

** DLC: The Knife of Dunwall (10 Achievements worth 220G)

The image embedded above is from the Trials DLC - if there is any question in your mind as to whether paying for the DLC for this game is worth it, well, yeah, it is worth it.  Big time!

Hindsight is Not Always 20/20

My first exposure to Dishonored was a bit unusual in that unlike almost all of the other AAA titles for console that released in 2012/2013, for some reason I was not on the press release and PR list for it, so my first experience was at last year's E3 (2012).

After we sat through the presentation for Dishonored I remember thinking three things:

(1) It looks like a Steampunk approach to the stealth-shooter genre;

(2) It is being developed by Arkane, and they made the new Batman series, so it is going to be a well-built, graphically sound, and very impressive tight story;

(3) I am probably not going to like it.

So yeah, it very much is a steam-punk-influenced title, and yes indeed it was made by the same studio that made the new Batman series, which means it is very tight in the story, well built, and has very pleasing graphics as well as effective use of game mechanics (which is not always the case when a game combines traditional swords and sorcery with the shooter-fusion-genres).  Ah, but as far as number three is concerned, I got it wrong.

It turns out that I liked it a LOT.  Well, there you go - cannot be right all the time, right?

If you are interested, Dishonored was one of only a handful of games that actually earned a perfect score in its review - you can read my review of Dishonored here -  and I should note that in addition to scoring high, Dishonored also happens to be an economical game (due largely to its high replay potential and score) coming in at an average admission cost of just .74 cents an hour, which is really good for a modern shooter.  Just saying.

. . . GamerScore (G) and MyAchievements

The New Xbox LIVE MyRewards Program has arrived 8 years later...

This new addition to the Xbox LIVE Online Community caught me totally by surprise - in fact if I were a grunt in one of my favorite war games out on patrol I would have been shot in the butt by a sniper from five miles away in a windstorm, because the overall stun-effect was so great that I just sort of sat there like a rock as I tried to absorb this.

What am I talking about? Well to fully explain my reaction and the events I am about to relate to you we have to jump into the Wayback Machine and zip back to late 2005, and an event that Microsoft decided to call the “Xbox 360 Zero-Hour Launch Event.”

You have to understand that the launch of the Xbox 360, which was a seventh generation gaming console and only the second games console to be created by Microsoft was a major deal. Major.

Not only was Microsoft about to launch their new console, they were doing it at an invitation-only party in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and far from being a press-only event, the tiny company from Redmond, Washington was inviting gamers as well as the media to the event, which was really Microsoft's version of a Rave, minus the Rave Drugs and sleazy guys named Guido and Jerry who can get you in for a price...

Access Control - if you were caught without one they buried you in the desert...

For gamers, access to the event was by prize only - that is to say that Microsoft made the vast majority of the non-VIP, non-Media, regular tickets available via a number of contests that were hosted by a very broad selection of games-related and video-game-focused websites (some of which no longer exist) that included the following:

1UP.com (http://www.1up.com/)

G4 (http://www.g4tv.com/)

Game Informer (http://www.gameinformer.com/)

GamePro* (RiP: November 30, 2011 -- site no longer exists even for an obit page)

GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/)

GameSpy* (RiP: Feb 21, 2013 -- Obit page still up at http://www.gamespy.com/)

IGN.com (http://www.ign.com/)

MSN Games** (now at http://zone.msn.com)

TeamXbox.com* (RiP: August 17, 2012 -- survives as a fan-driven set of chat forums)

UGO* (RiP: Feb 21, 2013 -- obit page still up at http://www.ugo.com/)

Xbox.com (The official website for Microsoft's Xbox Gaming Division)

* This website and its company no longer exists.

** As a result of the ever-changing landscape that is the games industry and the news media beats that cover it, this website has changed considerably since that time in 2005 when the gaming world collectively held its breath and prayed to win a ticket to the Zero-Hour Par-TAY!

Have Site, Contest Varies

While the official announcement said “a total of 3,000 lucky gamers will join VIPs from the U.S. 'Hex 168' and European 'Origen' campaigns to be the first gamers in the world to fully experience all that Xbox 360 has to offer,” among other things, depending upon the website you chose as your every hopeful access source, that either meant filling in an online entry form for a random drawing (curse you luck!) or the reward of tickets based upon your activity in the sites forums...

If your significant other was a gamer and you won a ticket to the event there were to chances that they could go as well, the first chance came from the announcement that the first 360 eligible entries whose name and contact information was registered would automatically receive an invitation for two to attend the awesomely special Microsoft "Xbox 360: Zero Hour" Rave event that was to be held at some super-secret location in Southern California, and the second chance came in the form of a random drawing for the winners of the 3000 tickets that were to be given away on the above websites, with precisely 1140 very lucky winners to be selected from among all eligible entries that Microsoft received to ALSO win an invitation for two to attend the event, and you were so getting laid if you won.

If you do the math, in addition to the estimated 350 Media Passes that were distributed to the Fourth Estate, and the estimated 500 or so VIP passes that were distributed by Microsoft to the peeps they wanted to show the love for, that worked out to a potential party containing:

0350 Reporters and Journalists...

0500 Microsoft Love Children...

0360 Lucky Spouses / Boyfriends / Girlfriends / Significant Others / BFF's from Drawing I...

1140 Lucky Spouses / Boyfriends / Girlfriends / Significant Others / BFF's from Drawing II...

3000 Winners of the Primary Ticket Giveaway via the above websites...

???? Passes given to Major Nelson and his friends from Xbox da Team...

So if you add all of that up with tricky guestimation, the number of attendees for this Dance in the Desert was something north of 5,350 warm dancing thirsty human bodies whose only desire was to fondle, prod, poke, and otherwise get busy with a cadre of Xbox 360's to be featured at said Zero-Hour Event!

How you knew for sure that you were very close to arriving...

The Event Was...

Pretty freaking awesome.

Bear in mind that in addition to the huge number of gaming stations where attendees could experience the Xbox 360 for the first time in groups of four, the live entertainment that did not include the crowd as entertainers but should have, and the around-the-clock gaming, it was a sort of Woodstock for Gamers...

Not only that but Microsoft arranged for Big Box retailer Best Buy to set up a temporary store so that attendees would not miss-out on the chance to buy the new console with accessories because they were attending the event -- remember that the rest of the world was patiently waiting in line at, well, pretty much everywhere, for the clock to strike Midnight and the new console to go on sale!

So yeah, it was pretty cool.

There were vendors and merch booths, and even a plethora of food kiosks where attendees could purchase fuel for their tummies (the Fourth Estate did not have to pay for its food, just saying), and there were a bunch of give-aways at the top of each hour featuring, among other things, special controllers and the much-desired Zero Hour Event Commemorative Xbox 360 console faceplates to help remind attendees that they were actually present at the event in case the Woodstock syndrome kicked in and they forgot...

The point behind all of this is that the launch of the Xbox 360 was a big deal, but that is not the story that I told you all of the above to lead into, that is a completely different story entirely! And here it is!

T-Shirt? We don't no noting about no T-Shirt!

The Big Story

So at the Zero-Hour Event among the noise and the clutter and the gamer girls who kept inssited that this was Zero Hour and not Mardi Gras, and hence there would be no shirt lifting even IF we happened to have a box of Mardi Gras beats to give away - some people are just killjoys it seems (see obligatory Mardi Gras shirt-free illustration below) - there was a relatively quiet area set aside for the press that was ostensibly referred to as the Media Lounge and it was there that the conversation that is at the heart of this story took place.

The Zero-Hour event was held on the grounds of what we were told was originally a Cold War testing facility built (or maybe it was rebuilt) for Lockheed at which they tested all sorts of secret spy stuff secret airplanes that were invisible secrets and secret stuff like that...

The madness that was the event was only a few hundred feet away but it may as well have been in another universe because we were burned out and sharing the large hamper of sandwiches and Gatorade that one of the games journo's wives had packed under the assumption that there would be a lot of his people there (fellow games journos) who may need sustenance in addition to, well, you get the idea.

As far as industry events go it was a good one - there was plenty of excitement and verve, but the crowds were manageable, and though it felt like it had the same level of energy as E3, unlike E3 there did not seem to be any shortage of games or consoles to play them on and as a result when we were not talking about the new console, we were playing on it.

So during a much needed break we sat around eating and chatting on some beanbag chairs provided by Microsoft, and somehow the subject came up about this new GamerScore System that Microsoft introduced for Xbox LIVE.

Now you almost certainly know what GamerScore and Achievements are but back then we did not. If you somehow are not aware of what that is, in a nutshell GamerScore (G) is an Achievements system on Xbox LIVE for pretty much all Xbox games for the Xbox 360 except for Indie titles that measures the number of Achievement points accumulated by a gamer in the games that they play on their Xbox 360 while logged into their GamerTag.

The Achievements are awarded for completing game-specific challenges, accomplishments, and sometimes levels, collecting X number of an in-game object, visiting X number of in-game locations, you get the idea. Each Achievement has a set number of GamerScore attached to it - typically the most common range is 10G, 25G, 50G and 100G though I assure you there are few enough of the 100G sort that we often wish for more.

Anyway the important thing for you to take away from this is that the GamerScore system was all new to us at the time, since the original Xbox did not have anything remotely resembling it, so you can probably imagine that in addition to semi-accurate information floating around at the event, there was also a lot of inaccurate information and just plain fantasy as well.

While noshing on sandwiches that not only traveled well from their home in San Diego that were rather unique in their own right - one of the types I split with another journo was made from Avocado and Black Olives and there were packets of salt and salad dressing taped to the baggie with the sandwich with instructions on how to apply it and how much to apply, and there was another type that I had half of that I can only describe as a Pizza sandwich but without all the mess...

So while we are eating these most excellent sandies and drinking ice cold yellow Gatorade from a well stocked cooler that weighed a ton and took two journos to hall out from the parking lot, someone who shall remain nameless in our sandwich and Gatorade circle suggested that they had heard that Microsoft was giving away prizes like free games and accessories to gamers who reached specific GamerScore target levels.

These things were like Gold man.  Like Gold!

Well this would have been a great deal if it were true - but it wasn't - and most of us did not believe him anyway, but still, would have been freaking great!

Slowly Coming Out of Shock

Tonight as I took a break from a Game Walkthrough and Guide I am working on I was thumbing through the menus on my Xbox when something that I saw on the GAMES menu caught my eye - it was the image of a man wearing a crown with the notation “Assassin’s Creed 3 Add-Ons” below it.

Before I could click on that link, which I assure you I was going to, I noticed this odd very crimson red Xbox controller that looked, well, odd. At first glance I thought it maybe was the new Xbox's controller, and Microsoft was offering a partial reveal for the console that they will be unveiling at this year's E3 in June, but the note below it was a rather cryptic “You Achieved Now Receive” so that probably was not it...

But I clicked on it anyway.

And revealed a colorful divided presentation screen whose title declared “Xbox LIVE Rewards - Unlock MyAchievements” and my brain froze. It was really clear that what I was looking at was exactly what I thought I was looking at.

On the left side of the screen was a block that declared:

“Get your free Rewards Membership now. Then check your email for a welcome message within the next 3 days.

“Please visit https://rewards.xbox.com for additional details.

“Register Now”

Waaahhhhhhhaaaatttttt?!

There were three columns filling the middle-to-right side that showed the graduated unlocks that were part of the program:

Unlock at G3000 - 9999 CONTENDER: At this level unlock a special gift during your birthday month.

Unlock at G10000 - 24999 CHAMPION: At this level receive a special gift during your birthday month and a 1% rebate on your Xbox LIVE Marketplace purchases every month.

Unlock at G25000 - LEGEND: At this level receive a special gift during your birthday month and a 2% rebate on your Xbox LIVE Marketplace purchases every month.

Okay well, yeah, that is pretty cool I said to myself. And it is recognition of (G) which is also very cool, but what is this special gifts they speak of? I wondered.

So I visited the URL

And discovered that there was a lot more to this whole Xbox LIVE Rewards MyAchievement thing than the announcement presentation page thingy suggests!

First there is a link to a video on the left that explains it in more detail, then on the right there is a link that details this month's special feature offer - which includes special virtual “punchcards” you complete by playing games and unlocking Achievements, for which you get some excellent rewards like Microsoft Points you can use to buy games from the Marketplace!

This was almost exactly what had been speculated about in 2005, except that it is 2013, so OK, it took them 8 years to get there but still, how freaking cool is that?!

VIP Exclusives

It seems that completing the Virtual Punchcards each month unlocks something called VIP Exclusives, which if I am reading this correctly, range from exclusive items for your Avatar, extra months added to your Gold Subscription, and free Microsoft Points...

The details for the April 2013 Punchcards are:

Punchcard 1: Eat. Sleep. Game

Game on! Play any combination of Xbox LIVE Arcade games for a total of five hours to get a punch. Complete all four punches to receive the Reward!

Reward = Exclusive Avatar Item.

Punchcard 2: Collect Games, Get Gold

Now's the time to add to your Arcade game collection! Purchase any Arcade game* from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace to earn a punch. Get all four punches to nab the Reward!

Reward = 1-Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership.

*Xbox LIVE Arcade game purchases must be 400 Microsoft Points or more.

Punchcard 3: Spend More, Get More

Our biggest Arcade fans get the biggest Reward! For every 800 Microsoft Points you spend on Arcade games, you'll get a punch. Earn all four punches to get the Reward!

Reward = 800 Microsoft Points.

Okay that's still pretty cool...

It's not exactly free-free but you know that at a minimum most gamers will be trying to get that Avatar Item just for the bragging rights.

The new or perhaps expanded (not sure about that) stats page is interesting, but seeing what the VIP exclusives will be each month is probably going to be the most frequent use for the MyAchievements pages...

You needed food? They got that.  Games? They got that!  Clothes? They got hoodies...

So There I Was

After selecting the Program Registration Gamer Pic a brief notice popped up informing me that there can be up to a 96-hour delay between the submission of my registration request and my actual registration for the program...

Then the screen changed, and now shows a big white pop-up notice that popped up following the download of the Gamer Picture that automagically registers the gamer who downloads it via LIVE that reads:

Your active and pending downloads appear here.

Recently completed downloads will appear in My Games and in the System Music Player and System Video Player apps.

To download new content, check the Xbox stores and media apps available in the Xbox Dashboard.

The reason that the page is still on the screen after five minutes is due to the shock I am still feeling and a feeling of horror that is deep and paralyzing that is prompted by the irrational fear that I will wake up and learn that it was only a fever-induced dream or hallucination caused by the antihistamines I am taking due to the nasty chest cold I am presently experiencing. That cannot happen, right? Right?!

So it looks like I have to wait three days or so before I can get a better picture of how this will work, since the details pages and tracking pages are not accessible until then...   Sigh.