After finally obtaining my Xbox 360 this past May, I was instantly entranced by the achievement system put in place. Having witnessed friends racking up points for their gamerscore, I always knew it was something I’d be quite interested in. With every new game purchase, a door was opened to the potential of a usual 1k of gamerscore to be added to my online persona.

Points? Milestones for completing certain objectives in-game? Genius. However, as time marched on I was introduced to the more ugly, cheap world of the in-game reward system, and the people that inhabited it. As I struggled to complete a game by Xbox Live’s standards, I realized that this would be impossible in a number of ways.

So, achievements–the bane of some gamers’ existence, and the reason some load up the disc tray and even bother signing in. How do I feel about them? Read on to find out, and earn 50 points of gamerscore.

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Note: This is part III of my write-up of EA Sims Bloggers Day. You can read Part I and Part II here.

We all love animals, right? Sure we do. Witness the success of all the various animal games out there. Neopets. Catz and Dogz. Nintendogs. Tamagotchis. Pokemon. If it’s cute and furry, then we want it. End of story.

So, the Sim franchise is the best selling franchise that EA have. It’s not that surprising. In the Sim world, you’re God. You can build - and you can destroy. That’s something that appears in every Sim game, from Sim City (unleash Godzilla, anyone?) to The Sims (I know you set one of your Sims on fire. Don’t lie to me.)

So what happens when you mix the Sims and animals together? You get SimAnimals, an upcoming EA game for the wii and DS that enables you to explore “the backyard and beyond”. Basically, you get given a plot of land and you’re supposed to get animals to move in and make friends with you. You manage to befriend the wildlife by treating them nicely - giving them food, shelter, water and all the rest of it, until they trust you. You can then use this trust to make them become friends with each other, leading to the unlikely scenerio of wolf cubs buddying up with squirrels. Eventually you get given more plots of land, each yours to look after.
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When I was a kid I actually hated piņatas. I considered them yet another adult-conceived contraption purely meant for the taunting of children. Think about it - they make you wear a blindfold and then as if that wasn’t enough, they spin you around to the point of nearly vomiting. After handing you a large blunt object, they face you vaguely in the direction of the piņata and laugh as you wobble and swing violently at anything in your path. Eventually you may hit the piņata and be rewarded with candy; except you have to fight off all the other kids that swarm over to get their hands on it. Thankfully Rare’s versions of piņata related games are drastically more reasonable and fun.

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