Achievements are a rather simple and overused gimmick which require no brilliance to implement. They add precisely nothing to a game, except an artificial goal to act as extra padding on a game.

If anything, the fact that people waste time on repetitive and pointless tasks in games get them is rather depressing; more so than people who spend hours a day farming monsters insubstantial rewards in a World-of-Warcraft type game; because at least there the player will be rewarded with some sort of game progress.

The best addition this generation have been additional interface options such as motion controls and touchscreens.

Presuming NintendoPie has played video games, he knows an experience better than getting an xbox achievement or a ps3 trophy. He has experienced unlocking something of actual damn substance at some point.

Unlocking something of substance is a matter of personal opinion to be honest. Getting a platinum trophy can have just as much substance as unlocking luigi in Super mario galaxy. 

Luigi is a character you can use, and as such enhances the gameplay experience. A trophy is ???

Now before i get too far into my rant, i must point out that my only problem with them is you get jack shit for doing them (and they are not a goal in and of themselves. That is a categorically invalid argument). If, say, Microsoft were to sell things, trivial things, for Gamerscore (not that you would lose GS for buying stuff, just lose the ability to use that amount of GS to buy stuff in the future), that would be a separate matter. What burns me is that people just accept them for what they are, rather than demand what they should be. Rewards in video games should have some underlying substance to them, however trivial, like the fat penguin in Super Mario 64.

They are great if you are broke and only get a new game every 3 months, the best thing that happend is online multiplayer.

I find it a useless gimmick. That so-called serious gamers play Hannah Montana games for a easy trophy or achivement makes it worse

You said it yourself in the final sentence. Trophies and unlocks are just trivial things that give longevity to a game. Some people take pride in their trophy score and see it as a great achievement. Gamers don't deserve to get things for their gamerscore, it is just a personal accomplishment like unlocking characters in a mario game. The difference is though, a gamer can display his trophy and achievement count on the internet and compete with friends. To say they are stupid is foolish. A lot of people love unlocking trophies just as much as nintendo gamers love unlocking in game stuff. Once nintendo gets their own reward system ala trophies, we will see how the nintendo fans change their tune.

It comes down to more foundational differences in gaming philosophy. Games should incentivize their rewards internally, and not rely on strictly social components to create rewards out of nothing (pure MMOs notwithstanding here, but even there the rewards often have some use in the game itself). I cannot speak for the Nintendo community, but I at least will retain consistency towards my ideology. I won't be shooting for any Nintendo-rewards system unless they get smart about it and give me something i can use: accessories for my Mii or what have you, but i don't buy in to the notion of elongating my e-penis, and that seems to be the root of opposition to them in others i have spoken with who share my views on the matter.

I totally get you. So you want achievement systems to be like the ubisoft way. Their uplay system is great, collecting trophies in assassins creed allows me to unlock themes for my ps3 and multiplayer skins. 

Says the regular whore.