Achievements coming to Diablo III and Starcraft II, linked to Blizzard account
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Aug 3rd 2008 at 11:30AM }
These achievements will join the recently revealed achievements for WoW (which will make their debut with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion) -- however, Kaplan revealed that eventually, achievements from the three games will be linked to your Blizzard account, forming a "Blizzard Level". Kaplan likened the system to the Xbox Live gamerscore -- only without all the embarrassment one must suffer after earning 780 points from Pimp My Ride.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
syrik zero @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:37AM
Cool?
BrotherSimon @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:39AM
What a great thing Microsoft started.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:46PM
Microsoft started? Are you telling me achievements were none existant before that?
NaeemTHM @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:12PM
Microsoft certainly made it an industry standard. Before the 360 I never cared for completing certain task in games. Now I'm looking for skulls and finishing every race!
Kinda like how Nintendo didn't invent motion controls, but if it wasn't for them we never would have waggled are way through games.
BrotherSimon @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:41PM
like he said they made it standard
imo games on every platform should have them as theyre fun and pretty addictive and good for bragging with
Shawn @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:57PM
DICE had them in BF2 in 2005, the first meaningful achievements that actually affected gameplay, not the BS MS started like "get 10 headshots" for a certain achievement, which is a step back, and is a real pain in the ass when you're on a team of kids that "want that certain achievement so they only play a certain way" type BS. SP achievements are fine, but MP achievements needs to be done carefully, sorta like what Epic is doing in Gears 2 by straddling MP achievements per session so that people can't spam them.
I like what STEAM is doing with them, and gametap, and hopefully whenever Sony get's around to actually making them available to more then a game or two. MS definitely mainstreamed it though, but didn't start it.
BrotherSimon @ Aug 3rd 2008 3:34PM
Microsoft dont make the acheveiments like that
The game devs do..?
Lord Bowser @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:42AM
I checked out some youtube videos of Diablo and to be honest it looks like a medieval version of Marvel Alliance. Why so much hype? Or are PC gamers so starved of content? The top ten PC charts looks a little Simish.
BrotherSimon @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:46AM
Its just overrated.
Ive never seen all the fuss with this diablo, warcraft or starcraft stuff its all the same imo
Mr. Bill @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:19PM
Because, um, Diablo 2 came out a good five or so years BEFORE Marvel Alliance, so in fact, Marvel Alliance looks a lot like a comic-book version of Diablo? They were the originators, man, and a lot of PC gamers have a lot of fond memories of those games, myself included.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:33PM
@Bowser
Diablo is one of those games you just can't watch, you have to play it. AS much as I completely hate pc games, Diablo was fucking addictive.
Dovi @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:38PM
Diablo sucked.
Diablo 2 was awesome...
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:47PM
Diablo had me playing non stop, I admit I was one of those addicted from the moment my friend brought it round to my house and installed it on my PC.
Shmil @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:34PM
Diablo 2 is responsible for taking away 3 years of my life
Shmil @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:35PM
@brothersimon
do yourself a favor and go buy starcraft and brood war for 10 bucks, install it, play it, then come back and voice your new opinion
Shawn @ Aug 3rd 2008 3:32PM
There's a huge following, and most of you were probably in diapers when the first came out. It's far more fun then 99 percent of the junk put out there, especially for consoles. Gears 1? lol...that community is nothing compared to Diablo's. To put it simply, you can dislike a game all you want, but you and others look like fools for at least not respecting the fact that it basically started the ARPG genre, which is HUGE. Are you intersted in Too Human? Ask Dyack what games are the biggest inspiration? Don't bother, he's said it many times, it's Diablo. Diablo is a loot game, very deep loot game, and if you go back now and play D2, if you can manage to look past the dated but playable graphics, you would see that. That is, if you're a hardcore gamer. If you're a casual console gamer, like you sound, than don't bother.
Anti-Blizzard League @ Aug 3rd 2008 3:54PM
I loathe Diablo II. That's the only one I've played. Clicking to move? Fuck that. That, along with Blizzard's extreme hatred for customization in most every god damned thing, ticked me off. That, and it simply wasn't that fun.
It's just one of those things that PC gamers love. I call it PC gamer brain damage!
Where they have an insane love and admiration for Blizzard and Valve, to an extremely high degree that they shouldn't, to the point of which they're allowed to do mediocre things and get praised for it, and just about anything they do will get praised, or ignored, whilst any other developer does it, will get chastized.
Plus, it takes those two companies multiples times longer to do things, that other companies can do in much shorter time. Some people like to act like they're really doing something special, or whatever. (Moreso Blizzard than Valve here, folks), but really, they're either just hellishly slow, or incompetent.
deaftly @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:43PM
Lord Bowser... no one likes you.
Tasogare @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:41PM
Whenever anyone says that opinions can't be bad I'm referring them to the comment directly above me.
Tasogare @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:42PM
Or two above it...that works.
drsashamd @ Aug 4th 2008 12:39AM
"That, along with Blizzard's extreme hatred for customization in most every god damned thing, ticked me off." - Anti Blizzard League
God you are so ignorant. WoW, a Blizzard game, is INCREDIBLY CUSTOMIZABLE. There are so many websites dedicated to user created mods, UI's and programs to customize it yourself. Don't make broad sweeping statements when you don't know the whole story ok? Good.
ZeroCorpse @ Aug 4th 2008 11:53AM
I just want to point out that Diablo did in NO WAY originate this genre, and anyone who thinks so was likely not around when games like the original Gauntlet and Dungeon Explorer did it in the mid-80s, or when Rogue did it well before that. You've probably never even seen the D&D Gold Box games, or things like Eye of the Beholder or Dungeon Hack (first person, but the same gameplay ideal- Random dungeons, loot hunt, etc).
And if you really want to go back in console history, I do believe Atari's "Adventure" did it long before Diablo, as did Wizard of Wor, Night Stalker (Intellivision) and the excellent Quest For The Rings (Odyssey2).
Diablo only made it look prettier and built a killer randomizer. In the end, I think the whole genre owes D&D/Chainmail pen & paper games for the inspiration, and Rogue (an early ASCII dungeon hack type game) for the first video game version.
Dungeon! (later copied by "HeroQuest") did it with miniatures on a tile board long before Diablo ever existed. I was playing Dungeon! in the 1970s. Diablo is just Dungeon! turned into a computer game.
Shawn @ Aug 4th 2008 6:02PM
Zerocorpse, give me a break. Every fantasy game can be brought back to D&D and Tolkien. There was no other loot based ACTION RPG game before Diablo, or anything even like it. If there was, people wouldn't be saying the word "Diablo Clone" in the industry. There were dungeon crawling concepts in very basic and bad games, but Diablo is known and is credited by just about everyone except yourself as the Father of the ARPG, period. At the time, Blizzard took a lot of heat for it's action styled combat over top of an RPG. The founders often talk about it(there are numerous videos over at GS with interviews discussing just this). Switching genres, If you want to go back, when it comes to Starcraft, alot of people will say SC was unique to RTS gaming for the way it conducted it's gameplay, true, but the lore was done long before with Warhammer and the races, etc..etc.. You can then say, Halo is almost a carbon copy of Starcraft, which then leads to Warhammer. But who wants to be lame about it? There's something to be said about revolutions in genres, and Blizzard takes a lot of unnecessary heat and not enough credit as far as I'm concerned, as for CRPG's in general.
I lived all through the 80's, so it's not like I've lived under a cave here, and I think you can at least admit that the word "Diablo Clone", which is used a lot for a reason, has a meaning and a legitimate reason. It was fresh, new, and bucked the trend and created a new sub genre in the RPG genre, the ARPG. We can go back to Pen and Paper all we want but that's just the roots that RPG's took when they made the transition to 0's and 1's. Lastly, I never said Diablo created RPG gaming, just ARPG gaming, and did it the best like no other. I would certainly agree with you about Pen and Paper, it's owed everything as the root to all of this.
Forcepath @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:57AM
I don't know how I feel about this. On one end, achievements are addictive, but on the other, they're pointless and frustrating ways for a gaming company to keep their players playing a game slightly longer than the expected shelf life of the game.
I'm also trying to imagine achievements for SC2 and failing to find anything worth achieving. "Drone rushed to win the game!"
Rii @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:41PM
Given that the active life of your average Blizzard game approaches that of most gaming consoles, I'm not sure what they think they need achievements for.
Bouille @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:16PM
Considering StarCraft 1 has been around and active longer than any console and longer then mediocre Halo for that matter, I think Blizzard's doing it to give the WoW addicts something to do inbetween BGs and raids.
aristokrat @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:31PM
So the big news here is: Pimp My Ride has easy achievements?
Morgon @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:55PM
Doesn't look likely -- according to stats on MyGamerCard.net, the average GamerScore is 104.
This either means it's not as easy as it seems, or it's just that horrible that people can't stomach going any further.
Anticrawl @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:34PM
Hrm, so no new worthwile game info? Any release dates yet? Multiplayer info? Did they finally announce the other classes in Diablo III?
Blazur @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:34PM
I'm psyched! Can't wait to see what they dream up for SC2.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:52PM
I predict that everything in future will have achievements.
"Congratulations! You have successfully managed to get 50 peices of clothing into your washing machine, you have unlocked an achievement"
"Congratulations! You have more friends then your twin brother, you have unlocked a silver trophy".
"Congratulations! You have successfully toasted your bread without turning it black, you have gained 26 life points".
"Congratulations! You have successfully shown your girlfriend you are a beast in bed, you have now become a real man".
ratm @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:57PM
At least in your case, we'd gain something.
WorMzy @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:08PM
EX-CITE-MENT!
Preston @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:08PM
Are we truely to the point where the average gamer is too young to remember Diablo? Damn, I'm old...
Tycho @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:25PM
Good way to tell what gaming generation people are in is to ask them what ISP-run quake1 server they played on and if they remember where they were the day that QuakeSpy launched to work with Quake World.
If the answer to those two questions is "no". move along.
And yes Diablo was awesome. WOO! Godly Plate Of Whales!
Shmil @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:37PM
@ tycho
what about the old gamers who didn't play quake?
Anti-Blizzard League @ Aug 3rd 2008 3:56PM
MY answer to that would be no, but I've been gaming since the darn Atari.
I'm just not big on shooters.
sam @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:40PM
does blizzard account = bnet account?
iofthestorm @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:52PM
That would be nice, but I doubt it since I don't think WoW accounts are tied to Bnet accounts. But they might merge them when D3 and SC2 launch, since I think those will use bnet.
Marzz @ Aug 3rd 2008 4:07PM
@iofthestorm
Blizzard accounts will be necessary for Wrath of the Lich King. The beta login screen has you logging in with your email address and password for your blizz account.
TwEE @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:49PM
I can't believe people get excited over achievements, gamerscores or any of that crap..
Mr.ESC @ Aug 3rd 2008 4:23PM
Not really but it enhances the gameplay a bit.
I just hope they give you something cool.I hope collecting all the achievements in D3 unlocks the necro.
xandeR- @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:12PM
More reason to be addicted to WoW. Great.
007craft @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:23PM
while i enjoy achievements, I dont really care for these. On the 360 I earn achievements across 1000 games. In blizzards model, im earning achievements across 3 or 4 games, which only 1 of them im buying (starcraft 2). So I really dont care.
When achievements come to pc games, and their linked across all pc games, like the 360 achievements are linked across all 360 games, THEN i might care.
Anti-Blizzard League @ Aug 3rd 2008 3:54PM
and also, Total Annihilation is about five MILLION times better than Starcraft.
Dovi @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:06PM
You seem a bit too biased for me to believe you.
Anti-Blizzard League @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:18PM
It's the truth! The ultimate truth.
Man, that game needs to be played by all.
Ihavepants @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:52PM
Total Annihilation was absolutely awesome yes, but so is Starcraft.
Tasogare @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:47PM
TA is no where near as good as Starcraft. I don't know a single person who still plays the original (come to think of it I don't know anyone who played Supreme Commander after launch month either), but I can show you an entire country that still plays SC.
Anti-Blizzard League @ Aug 4th 2008 3:58AM
Tasogare... that's entirely irrelevent.
People still listen to the beatles. That doesn't make them better than all other bands.
It just means people stick with one thing, and don't like branching out. Typical of the average Blizzard fan!