Microsoft intros cross-game rewards program for XBLA
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Avatar Famestars will allow players to earn rewards for their avatars by completing various challenges; program to launch with this week's release of Wreckateer on XBLA.
Microsoft has announced the introduction of a new rewards program for Xbox Live Arcade called Avatar Famestars.
The program will allow players to earn rewards for their avatars and accumulate "Famestar points" by completing challenges across multiple XBLA titles.
According to Microsoft, the Avatar Famestars program will include weekly and onetime challenges, and provide players with avatar rewards such as new outfits and items. Players will be able to carry these rewards over from one game to the next.
Avatar Famestars will launch this week with the release of Iron Galaxy's Wreckateer, part of Microsoft's Summer or Arcade annual promotion.
The avatar rewards program will also be added to Full House Poker and A World of Keflings, as well as upcoming titles including Fire Pro Wrestling, Homerun Stars, and Avatar Motocross Madness.
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.
58 comments
hmmm that might as well just stick to avatar award locked away in a game like they have already been doing.
@jtthegame316As much as I loved avatar awards in games, it was such a lost cause since barely any games took advantage of it! What a waste...
1 Like @jtthegame316 But that was only because Mirco$oft wanted these game companies to have all their game avatar crap in the marketplace instead of in the game, that way Micro$oft gets a few extra dollars in their pockets off of idiots who are stupid enough to pay for avatar clothes in the first place.
1 Like So glad they finally added something like this....in the last year of their console....
This comment has been deleted
I hope this does not overthrow the current "Avatar Awards." I actually like free swag just for playing a game, not for this crap.
In all the cases I know of people having avatar add-ons (new clothes, a pet, a lightsaber, etc) it's because their accounts didn't have enough to buy a full game. So for example, after you've bought a card and then some games or DLC, you end up with 80 points left over and just get a hat.
I'm hard-pressed to imagine that anybody is gonna play games just so they can get some new avatar swag though.
6 Like None of the 3 main consoles really utilize the avatars to an engaging point. To complain about the Xbox 360 avatars is to complain about them all really.
At the very least I'm glad Xbox is attempting to expand (even if ever so very slightly) the usefulness of the avatar. It is nice to use your avatar in a lot of XBLA/Indie games though, such as Kingdom of Kieflings (and World of Kieflings), etc.
I don't know why people bother complaining, it's not like they are being forced to complete the famestart challenges, it's just another option!
1 Like They should have something like gaiaonline or PShome for the avatars, then more people might actually care about outfits and accessories.
@Scarab83 LMAO....well played, good sir. You've given a moody chick her best laugh for today. XD
pass and dont care if i did want something for my Ava i all ready got it this is just Microsofts way of saying buy our new games we want your $$$$$$$$$$
2 Like Avatars are just about the most pointlessly intrusive features ever added to the 360.
If not for Kinect, they'd easily be the number one worst thing to happen to the 360... well... third at least if you count RROD.
3 Like @maximumbarmage I like Kinect. I don't play it that often- I prefer Battlefield 3 and Skyrim- but its cool to have and keeps me in shape.
Don't like it, don't buy it. That's my motto.
1 Like So... you guys ever gonna get rid of those RIDICULOUS Mii Knockoffs?
Seriously. Bring back the classic blades dash. Much cooler.
5 Like @DrKill09 One thing I've always wondered, is it still a knockoff if they made it better? Because Mii's are total crap.
1 Like @CyhortI82 "is it still a knockoff if they made it better"
Yes.
Oh, and it's not better. The application of Miis in 3DS features has been streets ahead of anything MS have done with their knock offs.
@maximumbarmage who cares why do ppl like you bother to keep saying crap like this yes its a sort of knockoff just like the ps move and lots of other stuff and look at the wii u thats a knockoff of the i pads so spare us all
5 Like Wait wait, wait,WAIT!! Fire Pro is coming out for the 360? Why the hell isn't THAT the headline news?! I'm squeeing over here.
@CyhortI82 Yeah, it's been up in the air for awhile now. Really hoping we see it soon, and the mention of it in this article is definitley good news. The hell with an Xbox avatar, I'm still creating dudes on the PS2 game that came out over here. :D
Wheres the games ? i think we should be asking microsoft, like we should ask the top 1% who got all those tax breaks wheres the jobs ?
1 Like who would buy a game for avatar nonsense? here's a thought...for all consoles...cut the gimmicks and give us quality games.
6 Like What's the point really? with the stupid Metro UI the avatars are mostly invisible now so why should I care about this???
suonds good its yet anoter amazeing thing the xobx can do the that the ps3 is uncapeble of doing cuz its a steeming pile of garbege
6 Like @tehtimeisnow Much like your spelling skills there, good lord -.- PS3 really doesn't need stupid gimmicks like this, this is terrible.
Intentional spelling mistakes to make xbox players look bad. I've seen those posts before.
7 Like Hey kids! Do you ever say to yourself: "Gee, I'd really like some cool new duds for my avatar, but who has the money to blow on something so ludicrous and stupid?" Well, you're in luck, because by the time you've tried to win those items from playing these God-Awful games, paying for them will seem like the most practical decision you've ever made!
Ripping off the Nintendo Wii avatars was bad enough, but the fact that these things still serve no real purpose and feature in 0 decent games is embarrassing. I will be very surprised if there's any good reason to buy the next generation X-box, other than the handful of exclusive titles--like Halo and GoW--that most people are sick of by now anyway.
@TedSheckler The Wii was the only console to make good use of avatars, mainly because they were baked in from the beginning and not added as a competitive afterthought. I do think the avatars are used well in some of the Kinect games (like Kinect Adventures, for instance) but I'm well aware that most people on this site wouldn't consider that a "good" game.
But yeah, if my avatar gets some cool new shades for something I was already doing, that's great. But no way am I gonna start playing particular games just to get some new avatar swag.
1 Like I was with you until you said "0 decent games". Xbox Arcade has some very good games, if you take into account that they are mini games (kinda), and are cheap by comparison. Minecraft, Walking Dead, I Am Alive, Peggle, Worms, Poker, HD versions of Monkey Island, Castle Crashers ... I'd gladly re-play those games to get some extra rewards, as they are all very good games for their low price.
6 Like @TedSheckler To be fair, I'd argue Nintendo's miis don't serve any purpose or feature in any decent games either.
1 Like @Dragon_Nexus Thank God I'm not the only one who thinks this. Nintendo's Miis are about as goofy looking as those Lego Duplo block people for really little kids to play with.
At least the Avatars actually look like people, and have more appealing features. It's pretty sad that the Wii U isn't even upgrading their looks. :|
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Wreckateer
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- Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios
- Developer(s): Iron Galaxy Studios
- Genre: Action
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- ESRB: E10+
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