XBox 360 owners have been enjoying achievements since the launch of the console. Love ’em or hate ’em, achievements are a big part of gaming for a large number of 360 gamers. Every time you hear that sound, you feel like you’ve accomplished something grandiose. You know the sound. For some people, increasing their Gamerscore is paramount. To what end? I’m not sure. Gamerpoints don’t have any real world value that I know of, other than bragging rights, of course. There are people who will play the most awful games just to get the achievement points from them, a practice commonly referred to as ‘achievement whoring’. Some people have even gone so far as to cheat and modify their saved games as to increase their achievements but I think they were dealt with fairly. I’m always down with a little public humiliation.

This week the Playstation 3 launched its new trophy system with the 2.41 firmware update. Gamers are now able to earn bronze, silver, gold and platinum trophies. The eventual goal of the trophies is to be able to display them in Home, the upcoming Second Life-esque platform that will act as the PS3’s main interface. Your buddies can come over to your home and gawk at your collection. I can think of nothing better to do with my time.

One potential problem I see with the trophy system is that Sony is not forcing the system into every game. With the 360, Microsoft insists that every single game include achievements. This creates a standard that gamers are able to easily understand. Sony is not making any other companies promise trophy inclusion in their games. I would assume that Sony will include trophies in all first and second party games but even that has not been confirmed.

Another problem is that trophies have not been around since the get-go. Day 1, the 360 had achievements. Currently, there is only one game that supports trophies. One. So, if you downloaded Super Stardust HD, you can jump on the trophy crazy train. The rest of us will have to wait. Many games that have already been out for some time will apparently never be patched to include trophies, including some head scratchers like Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction.

Trophies will also not be retroactive. If you’ve played your heart out on Warhawk, rumoured to be receiving a trophy patch this month, none of your previous accomplishments will register in the form of trophies. This could prove especially frustrating for a certain couple if Rock Band ever includes a trophy for completing the Endless Setlist. Bah!

I’m sure that someday, eventually, trophies will become a ubiquitous part of the PS3 experience. Until then, I’ll be scratching my head with every new game release wondering if there are no trophies or if I’m just not very good at the game.

Honestly, I don’t really get the whole Gamerscore thing. The only appeal in achievements for me is that I can track my completion of a game. Once I’m done the game, and I’ve earned all of the achievements, I cease to be interested in them. Even if I was somewhat inclined to be proud of my Gamerscore, people cheating really takes away from it. I know what games I’ve beaten, I don’t feel the need to share that with strangers. Then again, I also hate playing online, so this system is obviously not aimed at me.

I understand why Sony is implementing trophies, because I know there are people out there who own more than one system who will buy a multi-platform game for the 360 just for the achievements. That being said, the 360 was out for a long time before the PS3, and you would think they could have thought of this earlier. Say, before the console launch. Playing catch-up now seems kind of desperate. Especially since developers aren’t required to use the trophies. Oh, and if they patch in trophies for games you’ve already played, but don’t give then to you for things you’ve already done, trophies will mean even less. So people who bought the system early on, and have been buying and playing games all this time get nothing? Ridiculous. What’s the point in having some number that defines you as a gamer if it’s not actually representative of all you’ve accomplished on the console?

Another problem I have with the Gamerscore system (and presumably also the trophies system), is that there are two gamers living in our house, and we often play single-player games together, but only one user can get the points, or trophies, or whatever. I know that if Chris and I were playing the same game independently, I would want my achievements to be mine alone, but that is seldom to never the case, and it would be nice if achievements could be attributed to more than one user if they are playing the game together. If a couple of guys are living together and want to separately play through Ghost Recon and get their own achievements, that’s fine, I get it. But what if a family with separate user accounts go through a family style single-player game together? Who gets the points? I think my apathy towards the whole thing comes from the fact that even on the 360 where every game has achievements, an individual user’s Gamerscore may not really be indicative of their actual achievements. Add to that the cheating and whoring, and it loses whatever appeal it may have had. I do like the sound it makes, though. If trophies don’t have a sound, I will be disappointed.

As far as PS3’s Home is concerned, I’ll admit I was excited when I heard about it last year, but I’ve really lost interest since then. If Sony thinks I’m going to spend real money on virtual furniture to impress strangers, they are crazy. Also, unless I want to share an apartment and a trophy room with Chris (and believe me, his decorating tastes are sub-par), I’ll have the same issues with Home as I have with Microsoft’s Gamerscore system.