January 19th I will of reached my first full year of Xbox 360 ownership. I jumped on the wagon a little late compared to others, I didn’t understand why I needed to enter the next generation and I certainly didn’t understand the obsession with achievements, or perhaps I was just afraid what would happen once I got started. As a gift to my 360 I prepare this list, remembering the good times and the bad, with my top 30 highs and the lows of our first gaming year in glorious achievements.

	1/19/2007 - Viva Pinata - 20 - Label Designer - Made a Custom LabelMy very first achievement, a long road ahead.
	1/26/2007 - PGR3 - 45 - Ferrari Owners Club - Ferrari Owners ClubI picked up some bad car collecting habits from PGR3, if only they didn’t tempt me with so many shiny gamerscore points.
	3/26/2007 - Superman Returns - 100 - Twisted - Saved Metropolis from the rampaging tornado.Superman can save Metropolis, but he can’t stop crappy games being released with his name on it. None the less, game completed.
	4/11/2007 - Tony Hawk’s Project 8 - 50 - You made it into Project 8 - Congratulations you cracked the top 8, can you get higher?Sports games really are not my cup of tea, but there’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you pull off some of those crazy skateboarding stunts.
	5/7/2007 - LOST PLANET - 50 - Moth Hunter - Defeated the giant moth!I may not of been able to defeat the moth in my living room, but I didn’t have such a large selection of weapons.
	5/28/2007 - 2006 FIFA World Cup - 250 - Win the World Cup - Won the World Cup in 2006 FIFA World Cup™ ModeI won the world cup, how could I not be proud of this!
	6/21/2007 - Worms - 15 - Challenges - Complete all 20 single player challengesPerhaps my most frustrating achievement, some of those challenges get super hard.
	6/23/2007 - Madden NFL 06 - 10 - Activate RS Card - Activate any of the RS cards.Lamest achievement, 10 points for pressing down the right thumb button!
	6/23/2007 - Crackdown - 20 - Master Agent - Earn 4-star ratings in all five skill areas and then max out your Skills Status meterCrackdown really took the whole item collection game to a new level, although I never got all the orbs, at least I maxed out eventually.
	6/24/2007 - Saints Row - 10 - Grease Monkey - Owned a total of 50 cars.More car collecting goodness.
	6/26/2007 - Fusion Frenzy 2 - 100 - Tournament Hero - Won an Online Tournament.One of my favorite achievements as it forced me to go online and team up with someone I didn’t know, perhaps not every XBL player is a crazy wannabe rapper.
	7/9/2007 - Dead Rising - 20 - Zombie Genocider - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Defeat at least 53,594 zombies.I can’t believe I took the time to kill this many zombies on one playthough for just 20g, this took several hours and is my proudest moment.
	7/9/2007 - Dead Rising - 20 - Level Max - TYPE: Total REQ: Reach Lv. 50.Killing 53,594 zombies does have a rather positive effect on level ups.
	7/19/2007 - Sonic the Hedgehog 1 - 30 - Fast Win - You beat the game in under 40 minutes.I think the 360 is the 5th or 6th system I’ve purchased this Sonic 1 for, but wow, 40 minutes.
	8/2/2007 - Test Drive Unlimited - 30 - EXTREME COLLECTOR - Own at least 50 different models of cars.Yet even more car collecting goodness.
	8/4/2007 - Gears of War - 30 - Commando - Complete all acts on Insane DifficultyA tough achievement, it helps to have a kid with an insane amount of online GoW fragging experience.
	8/14/2007 - Dead Rising - 20 - Life Saver - TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Get at least 20 survivors out of the mall.Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but trying to get these survivors around the mall is the ultimate test of patience.
	8/19/2007 - Viva Pinata - 20 - Master Talent - Player has reached Level 50After giving up on Viva shortly after buying it, I sat down with a great FAQ and finally got my incestuous worms on the go.
	8/20/2007 - Madden NFL 07 - 100 - Complete 30 Years of Franchise - Successfully complete 30 years of Franchise mode.This was a good evening spent simulating 30 years of football by cycling through menu screens.
	8/25/2007 - Bioshock - 100 - Little Sister Savior - The player has completed the game without harvesting any Little Sisters.They’re just so cute and adorable, aren’t they mr bubbles.
	9/14/2007 - Open Season - 50 - Adventure completed! - Boog completed his adventure!A sad moment. Is there anything that I won’t play for points?
	9/29/2007 - Halo 3 - 125 - Campaign Complete: Legendary - Completed the Campaign on Legendary difficulty.Heck yeah, first playthough baby!
	10/8/2007 - PGR4 - 20 - Buy an Achievement - Buy the K1,000,000 gamer picture to earn this Achievement.Another rather sad moment, but I keep the gamer picture as a testament to the time I’ll waste for 20 gamerscore
	11/1/2007 - The Darkness - 25 - Cannibal - Devour 300 enemiesMmmm, people hearts.
	12/5/2007 - Assassin’s Creed - 5 - Enemy of the Poor - You managed to scare away 25 beggars. I hope you’re proud of yourselfOnly 5 gamerscore, but toy get it by throwing beggers across town when they ask for money, priceless.
	12/6/2007 - Call of Duty 4 - 20 - Down Boy Down - Survive a dog attackNever did I think I’d see an achievement for breaking a dogs neck, none the less, chalk up another one.
	12/10/2007 - Mass Effect - 10 - Paramour - Complete romance subplotI had sex with a blue alien, possibly the definition of achievement.
	1/1/2008 - Rock Band - 40 - Axe Assassin - Finished Guitar Solo Tour on HardNever thought I’d ever be able to complete a song on Hard, let alone all of them.
	1/7/2008 - Forza 2 - 50 - Level 50 - Reach Level 50 in Career mode.A whole lot of time spend hiring drivers to do my bidding.
	1/11/2008 - Rock Band - 10 - Flawless Fretwork - Scored 100% notes hit as a guitarist on ExpertI still can’t believe I managed this one, it’s shallow only in the way that I know that I’ll never manage this with the drums

And so ends my first year of next gen (current gen?) gaming. Looking back back over the points I’ve collected over the year sure does remind me of some times I’d otherwise forgotten. Points force us to play games in different ways and give us a way of looking back through the highs and lows of the things we’ve accomplished. Here’s hoping that Sony bring trophies to the PS3 and they work just as well as what we’re used to.