Over the past week I've been delving into some of the elements of the August 11th 360 dashboard update, specifically with avatar props and Netflix additions. The final part of my interview with Ben Smith, the Director of Program Management for Xbox Live, looks more towards the future, and what we can expect to see from achievements.

Read more...

Just a few months ago, Keith Lee was the Lead Producer on "Diablo 3." Before that he was Lead Programmer at Insomniac Games, in charge of the "Ratchet & Clank" series. His new company, called Booyah, is much smaller than either of those development houses, but it's allowed him to delve into a space he's always been curious about: Real-life achievements. You know that feeling you get when you unlock a particuarly difficult achievement in, say, "Halo 3"? Keith wants you to get the same feeling of accomplishment from, say, climbing a mountain or seeing an exclusive movie screening. And thus "Booyah Society" was born.

Read more...

I finished "Fallout 3" last night. Well, I got all the achievements, at least. Yep, all 1450 points, which includes the main game's achievements and the add-on packs. It was sort of a proud, if ridiculous moment, considering achievements are meaningless, but you all probably know the feeling I'm talking about. So I posed the question to the followers of the MTV Multiplayer Twitter feed, what is your proudest achievement (or trophy)? Thanks to everyone who responded, here are some selections!

@dave_haas - Getting to level 50 in Puzzle Quest. I think I threw my fist into the air even though I was by myself.

@zackjewell - clearing the epilogue of CoD4 in under a minute. 3 broken controllers and a hole in the wall.

@feitclub - must it be 360? My proudest one (2 actually): opening all seeds on Garden 10 in PJ Eden & finding all Spectra. Exhaustive.

@GameCouch - Endless Setlist! [Ed note: 84 songs, in "Rock Band 2" with no stopping. Insane.]

Once again, thanks to everyone that participated. Lunchtime Twitter Poll will be suspended tomorrow for the US holiday, but participate on Monday and be a Twitter celebrity for a day! Woo!