When it comes to gaming Achievements and Trophies, I have mixed feelings. I think they’re fun to earn and they can give me a fixed goal on games or a unique challenge for talking trash with my friends. There is also a dark side of trophies where avid fans start getting feelings of superiority, poor games get good sales based on easy trophies, and good games get criticized for having glitched or broken trophies. In general, I consider these types of achievements a benefit to the industry when used and appreciated appropriately. I’m also a non-denominational geek, which means I love to see people get a ridiculous amount of joy over something that probably isn’t a big deal. Sports geeks who can trade stats may not make sense to me, but I love them for it. I even know weather geeks who enjoy analyzing Doppler data and trying to make better predictions than the “hacks” on TV news. History geeks, gaming geeks, comic geeks, serial killer geeks (creepy), whatever your joy. If you’re not hurting anyone with your hobby, I dig it. Which brings me back around to trophies. I like my 29 platinum trophies, but I’m nowhere near the level of PSN’s “blackangel887462” who recently earned his 500th platinum on “Killzone: Shadow Fall.” This guy loves his trophies so much, he commemorated the event with a physical replica for his shelf at home. You can read more about Ronny’s trip to 500 and his process for acquiring the thing (not cheap) on his blog. If you just want to see it:
Feel free to mock this gamer is if you must. Just remember that it’s his money, his hobby, and his pride. If you own every season of “The Simpsons” on DVD and have watched each episode in order only to start back at the beginning, you’re really in no position to judge. Congratulations “blackangel887462.” Now on to the news.
With the big release of “Titanfall” today there is going to be a definite demand for the new headset adapter for XBox One. Thankfully, it is available now as well. However, it’s not really plug and play, so save yourself some frustration and be sure to update your controller to work with the device. The stereo headset adapter will be $25 and will support any headset with a 3.5mm jack, or any 360 headset with a 2.5mm chat cable. To update your controller (instructions courtesy of GameSpot):
- Make sure your console is on and you’re signed in and connected to Xbox Live. (It’s important to connect to Xbox Live because your console will need the latest system update, which contains the newest controller software. If you’ve connected recently, your Xbox One is probably already up to date, but you should connect anyway just to be sure. If your console needs an update, you’ll be prompted to install one.)
- Plug the Stereo Headset Adapter into the bottom of your controller.
- Plug in a headset (a headset must be plugged in so the adapter will turn on).
- Plug the big end of the included USB cable into the port on the side of the console.
- Instructions to install the update should automatically be displayed. Follow the instructions, and don’t disconnect the USB cable while the update is in progress. (The process can take up to 3 minutes.)
- When the update is complete, unplug the USB cable. If you have additional controllers to update, you can connect them now, one at a time, select the Update another button on the screen, and then follow the steps.
- Press the Xbox button on the wireless controller to turn it on. Your controller is now up-to-date, and you’re ready to use your Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter.
Telltale Games has been providing details about their upcoming “Tales from the Borderlands” to attendees of SXSW. A few of the details to surface so far are the names of the two main protagonists, Fiona (a con-artist) and Rhys (an Hyperion employee with cybernetic enhancements), both of whom were featured in the trailer. Neither character is a vault hunter, and the story takes place after the events of “Borderlands 2.” While previous characters will make an appearance, wrtier Anthony Burch says this story will be “more about schmos trying to get by.” Player decisions do make a return, though the consequences will not be as harrowing Telltale’s “The Walking Dead” series. Instead, you should expect more of the humor and over-the-top action of the traditional “Borderlands” series. One of the notes that sounded most interesting to me is that the gameplay actually takes place in the form of flashbacks, with the characters reciting stories of how they claim it went down. Like a good fish story, that’s probably not what actually happened. No release date yet, but they’re doing a good job with building eagerness.
Fans of “Metal Gear” need to schedule some time on Thursday. The Konami Twitch Channel will be “airing” a live interview with Hideo Kojima, hosted by Geoff Keighley. The one-hour interview will begin at noon Eastern (10AM MDT). Have a question you want to ask Kojima? Tweet it to @GeoffKeighley and your question could be one he puts to the legendary developer. Now’s your chance to learn a little more about “Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes” before it’s launch on March 18th.
A few insomniac Reddit users saw some intriguing information pop up on XBox Live last night, only to quickly disappear again. Spotted on the XBox One Games store briefly, a “Watch Dogs” closed beta has since been pulled. Obviously everything is rumor until it’s confirmed by Microsoft or Ubisoft, but this type of thing happens a lot when software is being prepped for release. Or, more likely, Microsoft is running an internal or invite-only beta and this thing popped up to allow those users access to the files temporarily. Regardless, I’m still looking forward to playing this game on May 27th.
Thus ends this week’s early edition. Check back on Friday for more news from throughout the week.