The 360 and PS3 track gaming accomplishments. But are both methods just as good?
The last time I played the PS3 was when Metal Gear Solid 4 was released. Since then, Sony has released Trophy support: PS3′s answer to Xbox’s Achievements. Back at the old site, espion4ge and I discussed whether the achievement system could be improved. Now that I’ve experienced Trophies, I’m finally able to compare and contrast the two systems. I think it’s awesome that Sony has gotten on board with Trophy support, but I still prefer Microsoft’s Achievement system.
Points or no points?
The biggest difference between Trophies and Achievements are that Achievements have point values associated with them. Trophies, on the other hand, are broken down into four categories: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Bronze, silver, and gold trophies are awarded for feats of varying difficulties, with gold obviously being the hardest. You receive a platinum trophy for earning all the trophies in any given game, the equivalent of a 1000 Achievement point Gamerscore.
There are pros and cons to having point associations. On the Xbox, you have people playing games just to pad their point total (ahem, Avatar), which I think is a negative aspect to having points. Other than that though, I prefer having points associated with my Achievements. It makes it easier for me to compare game completion with friends. It’s annoying when games have 2 point achievements though, because it really makes your score ugly if you can’t balance it out. When the game developers put thought into how many points are given to each Achievement, it really makes the tougher Achievements feel worthwhile. I don’t know if a gold trophy feels as satisfying.
On the PS3, you can compare the number of bronze, silver, and gold trophies, but it just isn’t the same. Plus, if you get a platinum trophy and then more trophies are released via DLC or whatever, then does it become cheapened? At the same time, I think it must be a great feeling to get a platinum trophy, much like getting a 1000 score. If your friends see your platinum trophies, they know that you have done everything there is to do in a given game. I’ll take the full 1000 on the Xbox, but I don’t think platinums are very far behind.
boop-boop
There is something about the Xbox Achievement sound that triggers an endorphin rush in my brain. When I am expecting an Achievement to unlock, I wait until that notification and sound trigger and then do a little fist bump. Sometimes I get excited when my friends sign on because I think I’ve unlocked an achievement I didn’t know about. Sony’s trophies have a sound as well, but it didn’t carry the same weight for me, but that’s probably because of the Pavlovian Xbox training I’ve had. Anyway, it’s the little things about Trophies/Achievements that make them so addicting: the small notification, the tiny sounds, the clever names. I love it!
Accessorize!
Although this isn’t directly related to Achievements or Trophies, I think Xbox has another slight leg up on Sony when it comes to Avatar awards. 360 has its Avatars, and PS3 has Home, and both systems have awards unlock for certain games. The thing is, you have to go into Home to see your awards, whereas with 360, you can customize your Avatar awards to appear on your Avatar at all times. For example, my Avatar is wearing the Depeche Mode shirt from Left 4 Dead 2. It’s not as easy to see your Home awards – you need to load up Home and visit your friends’ spaces. I think BOTH systems should offer more of these awards – I think these free unlocks benefit both gamers and Microsoft and Sony’s bottom line.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is, I prefer Achievements to Trophies, but not by much. Now that Sony has mandated Trophy support in all of its games, PS3 only owners have the chance to display their gaming accomplishments like 360 owners have been. Of course, Trophies/Achievements are mostly an indicator of how much time you spend playing games, but hey: that’s where all the fun is. 
in a way, the PS3 trophy system has a score as well – the total number of trophies you’ve unlocked. it’s not as detailed as the 360′s gamerscore, but it’s still a pretty good indication of how many games someone plays when you see something like 1000+ trophies unlocked for their profile.
i think both the achievement system and the trophy system are very comparable and would be happy as an owner of either system. but yeah the Avatar thing that the 360 has going on was actually quite a good idea and PS3′s Home is probably a bust.
Its cool that you’ve been able to get your hands on a PS3 for awhile and check out some its games and features.
I didn’t think much about the trophies when they first started, but now I do get excited whenever I unlock one. I don’t know if I’ll ever get any platinums though (not enough time to unlock everything in a game)!
There is another way you can compare your trophies – under your friend’s profile you can look at a list of all the games they have trophies for, and it will tell you the percentage of the trophies that each of you have unlocked for each game. That’s also a good way to see all the games your friends have played!
As for Playstation Home – so far I’m disappointed with it. I sometimes log in and run around to see what’s new, but other than that, I don’t really see the point of it all. Plus, I don’t really want to spend money on virtual clothes, so I probably look like a bum wearing the free stuff all the time! Is the Xbox avatar system good? Do you have a virtual space to play games and meet up with friends?
the Xbox avatar system is actually really good because it’s very simple. there’s no virtual space to play games or meet up with friends. What happens is when you turn on the 360 it’s just a simple looking dashboard, and you see your avatar there. if you check your friends list, you’ll see all of their avatars as well and who is online. if you want to start a party/room for voice chat, you just begin inviting your friends from the menu and your friends will see you grouped with the people you are chatting with.
there’s no walking around looking in rooms or whatever – people can just play games together and join chatrooms instantly and you are displayed as such on your friends’ menus as what game you are playing, who you are playing with, etc. i think it achieves exactly what Home is trying to achieve, but with a much simpler and streamlined effort.