As I sit here, using my computer (image above; note tongue sticking out), I think that it is perhaps time to come clean on the trophy challenge I have secretly been undertaking.
Before I do that, I must describe the nature of the challenge…
The Playstation3 has a system of in-game achievements they call trophies. When you reach certain milestones within a game, perform a feat of exceptional skill or just do something unusual or funny you can obtain a trophy. The trophies are unique to each game, decided by the developer, and range from trivial to extremely difficult to get. Each game has a certain amount of trophies to earn, and getting them all results in earning the ultimate ‘Platinum’ trophy.
Trophies are fun. They give an incentive to go above and beyond, and to explore perhaps more of a game than one otherwise would. They are also compulsive, so I like to earn them. It peeves me a little to see the trophies I have unlocked for the games I own to be less than 100%.
You can browse the trophies I have unlocked here.
Another aspect of the trophy system is competition. It is easy not only to browse the trophies of another Playstation3 user, but to compare them to your own. I have precisely 2 people on my PS3 ‘friends list’, namely BS (my brother) and JBF (dad-in-law).
My challenge to both of these people is this: beat my trophies!
Up until now competition has been slim (to say the least). I regularly browse the trophies of my competitors, and it keeps me aware of how they are doing in their games (for instance JBF has already beaten Uncharted 2, and gotten a trophy for killing 75 people without dying. Or BS doesn’t seem to have ever beaten GTA4). But sadly I seem to be earning new ones faster than they are (granted, I probably have more games). Even so, each of them has a mighty amount of trophies they still have to earn in many games, and the potential for strong competition is there!
So get to it big brother and dad-in-law! Beat me!
I dare you 🙂
For the record I have beaten GTA4. Trophy support was added to GTA4 in a patch when I was half way through. Earning trophies required restarting the game, which I didn’t want to do.
I’m intending on playing through a second time.
However first it seems I need to take a look at Borderlands…
Borderlands is very, very awesome. Buy it ASAP.
Also, Burnout Paradise is an absolute steal for $20 (check best buy). A very entertaining arcade driving game.