Don't call 'em achievements: Greenhouse adds 'triumphs' and 'standings'

by Christopher Grant { Oct 28th 2008 at 10:20AM }

this will have triumphs </GLaDOS>

Greenhouse Interactive – the digital distribution portal operated by the familiar faces at Penny Arcade and Hothead Games – announced the availability of its very own software development kit: the Nitrogen SDK. Here's the idea: the games selected to be a part of the Greenhouse service can use the SDK to enhance their games with "the social networking functionalities of 'triumphs' and 'standings'" – the Greenhouse equivalent to Achievements, Trophies, or ... Achievements. Greenhouse (and Hothead's) Vlad Ceraldi says, "In a crowded gaming world of achievements and trophies, it's inevitable that all of the good words are gone. We've just snatched the last few that make any sense ..." Say, whatever happened to entitlements?

The first game to be enhanced will be, unsurprisingly, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two, launching this Wednesday on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms (plus XBLA!). And from there? Greenhouse (and Penny Arcade's) Robert Khoo says, "In fact, triumphs and standings are only the beginning. There's so much more in the works with Nitrogen that we just haven't found the vocabulary for yet." We've got an idea: Greenhousescore. Think Gamerscore, but without all the trademark liabilities!

Tags: Greenhouse, Nitrogen-SDK, Penny-Arcade, Standings, Triumphs

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dirty @ Oct 28th 2008 10:27AM

Cheevos by another name are still cheevos

Shmil @ Oct 28th 2008 10:44AM

I swear everytime I see cheevo I think of some sort of junk food.

Dirty @ Oct 28th 2008 10:46AM

It has many of the same effects. Addictive, no real substance, makes you fat.

Marty @ Oct 28th 2008 11:50AM

Exactly. Achievements. Trophies. Kudos. Triumphs. Pats on the back. Copping a feel.

You get the idea. All the same.

Frostybolts @ Oct 28th 2008 3:07PM

I'm kind of tired of the whining over not calling achievements "achievements"

X-Box Live wasn't the first place to see achievements

I remember them in the first Smash Brothers game, and even that was probably not the first time you could do a bunch of random stuff unrelated to beating a game and be recognized for your efforts

Sharp @ Oct 28th 2008 6:04PM

Achievements were the first on consoles to actually mean something out side of the game. I'm just as tired of people dismissing achievements as not being the first and that is some justification that these clones(I'm looking at you trophies most of all) are OK. Yet, MS is crusified by the media for using Avatars. The double standard sucks! Avatars = Mii2 but trophies, badges, attaboys or whatever the hell you want to call them are fresh and new! NO!

Waffle Slayer @ Oct 28th 2008 10:31AM

I thought they were edgier than that.

Anything game related with the word triumph involved somehow just isn't proper anymore after Portal.

[.sm0ke.] @ Oct 28th 2008 10:56AM

I'm making a note here: huge success

Mr_Ed @ Oct 28th 2008 11:51AM

Surely they would call the Wiiwards?

kaneda @ Oct 28th 2008 11:16AM

For me to poop on!

Foetoid @ Oct 28th 2008 10:31AM

Now we just need Nintendo to scoop up 'Medals' or 'Badges' and we'll be set!

Kevin @ Oct 28th 2008 11:04AM

Kongregate has badges, so Nintendo Medals it is!

xFenixKnightx @ Oct 28th 2008 12:22PM

Stars would be better, and more fitting :)

Please Nintendo dont screw up your next console!!!

hahnchen @ Oct 28th 2008 10:36AM

It had to happen soon, given that Penny Arcade already has achievements on Xbox and Steam.

Steam however, already offers all this, and free with Steamworks. What do you get with Nitrogen? Sounds rather inert.

Nutter @ Oct 28th 2008 11:05AM

Maybe you havn't heard of these Mac and Linux thingie's, they are other operating systems that steam doesn't support. I can play my Penny arcade adventures on any OS I want for one price at greenhouse, steam not so much.

kaneda @ Oct 28th 2008 11:15AM

Conquests and Comeuppances

Genisus @ Oct 28th 2008 11:18AM

Ooo Ooo I can't wait till my 360 achievements get too high and some are taken away from me to be given to a gamer that has fewer.

A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Oct 28th 2008 11:25AM

Is this some sort of a knock at tax/spend? Or some sort of implicit jab at the detractors of the free market? Either way, i'm not seeing the funny.

T @ Oct 28th 2008 12:41PM

"Entitlements" was a terrible name for the concept. I'm glad that never went anywhere. The idea is you EARN them. Using "entitle" to me would make it sound like they're just given to you because you bought the game.

j.howlett @ Oct 28th 2008 1:07PM

i think the initial reasoning behind calling them entitlements was that by earning them they could entitle the user to prizes.

tlarkin79 @ Oct 28th 2008 12:26PM

I'm glad they are trying to have their own identity and call them something other than achievements.

Courtney @ Oct 28th 2008 2:22PM

Most of these systems have a way to tap into the information to display it elsewhere (like the plugin code to show what your xbox gamer score is). I wonder if it would be possible to tap into all of the different cheevo systems and display a single score for a player? It's something you could put in your forum posts or on your blog or whatever.

Damn, if I could code worth a crap I would get on that.