When Geeks Become Nerds…

It’s amazing how the internet has an effect on how we game. I don’t just mean the obvious online gaming capabilities we take for granted these days but actual websites that change how we play. When I first started playing on the Xbox 360 I was determined to get at least 80% of the available points in every game I played, but over time that has dwindled down to a pathetic 60%. It’s not that I couldn’t get the harder achievements, it’s simply that I wanted to move on to something shiny and new. After all, with the variety of consoles I own there’s always something exciting that I haven’t had a chance to play yet. But recently, that has all changed and I’ll tell you why.

It started off on my trip to the Leipzig games convention with Scott, when in the evenings we would sit and talk about all things gaming related. He mentioned a site to I hadn’t heard of – Backloggery. The idea behind the site is to catalogue every game you have played on every format and list it as unfinished, beaten, completed or mastered. Master runs being classified as a crazy goal you set yourself before you embark on the game e.g. the time I decided to beat FFVII without using any materia. This site has become an addiction. Classing completed as everything noteworthy completed, not just getting all the achievements, I can often be found checking my little graphs to see what percentage of games I have completed.

This of course was originally a replacement for 360 voice, a quirky site that generates a blog from your Xbox 360’s point of view. It gave you some badges and some breakdown but there just wasn’t enough statistics to keep the nerdy side of me satisfied. It’s good fun and all but it just didn’t give me the hardcore facts I was looking for – how good am I really?

Now, along with my Backloggery addiction, I have finally found a site that gives me enough nerd-like statistics to keep me happily looking at graphs and charts tracking my abilities – True Achievements. Unfortunately the site is obviously only for the Xbox 360 but it looks at the percentage of people who have played whatever game and obtained that achievement and then adjusts the amount of points accordingly. This of course, gives you a closer indication of whether you’re a wuss taking the easy points or whether you work hard for those final kerplinks! This site will track everything you could possibly want and you can set goals to keep yourself motivated. This game is now my undoing because I suddenly find myself wanting to go back and finish all those achievements I couldn’t be bothered with. I’m back to trying to max out my back catalogue, and with the amount of Xbox 360 games I’ve played I may have to hide away till spring. So come and laugh at me if you want, whilst I desperately struggle to finish off games that are years old but I’ve embraced my nerdy side, and I want to see those stats climb!