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More On Xbox One's Achievements & Challenges
Microsoft has teased some changes to its wildly popular Gamerscore/achievements system for the Xbox One, and the company has detailed some of them – as well as explaining what Xbox One's new challenges are all about.
At Major Nelson's blog there is an entry by Cierra McDonald, the program manager for the Xbox Live achievements service. McDonald went into detail about the cloud-based achievements and challenges on Xbox One.
Achievements
- Your Gamerscore from your Xbox 360 carries over to the Xbox One
- Achievements can unlock items like "digital artwork, new maps, unlockable characters, and temporary stat boosts"
- Achievements are not limited to games. Music or video apps, for instance, can give them and offer such rewards as early access to content or subscription extensions. However, only games can add to your Gamerscore
- Will be surfaced more on the Xbox One dashboard and the achievement gallery will look better
- Developers can show you how far you've progressed in a game's achievement even before you start up the game
- The dashboard will show you which achievements your friends have recently unlocked
- You can see video clips of the moment the achievement was earned
Challenges
- Challenges offer a reward for an opportunity completed by a set amount of (real-life) time, and like achievements give you an icon
- Do not add to your Gamerscore
- Can span multiple titles, unlike Achievements
- Challenges can engage a community. Ex. A headshot weekend where everyone has to get so many headshots over a three-day period. Everyone will get the reward if completed.
- Like achievements they can be added after a title is released
- You will be able to see future challenges for a game
[Source: Major Nelson]
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