Achievements help boost sales. Am sure we can all agree to that??

e-Penis

What is the PS2's attach ratio?

Achievements are great because they give you goals!!

I mean look at geometry wars... why would anyone try to play for 60 secs without shooting if not for the achievement?

Basically they increase the length of the game if they are carefully crafted.
Achievements like "finish level 1" are on the other hand completely useless except for the people who collect points ^^ cause it brings nothing to the game, as by essence you are supposed to try and finish level 1 anyways.

Actually, The avatar game sold relatively well because it is the easiest 1000 achievement points, ditto TMNT game. People are quite sad.

Achievements is Meeh for me.

I'm 28 years old now, I don't have 7 hours a day that I can spend in front of my "screen" playing my PS360Wii or on my computer just so I can have 100% Achievement on every game I buy.

I've actually talked to gamers online who have admitted to doing this. It's probably even more common then you would imagine.

It's basically a never-ending game within all games. I feel sorry for the gamers addicted to it.

Achievements have spread like wildfire ever since they became a staple of Xbox Live. MS got a patent for the gamerscore tho, I wonder if they didn't try to/was rejected their achievement patent.

do many 360 owners act like this?

The average amount of games bought per month of console ownership isn't that different between 360 and PS3. That's IMO the main factor.

Some other factors IMO are (1) Some games have been released much earlier on the 360 than on the PS3, (2) Microsoft released sequels to their major XBox titles relatively early and (3) some PS3 owners may not be that vivid gamers due to the PS3 doubling as an amazing multi-media device (much more so than the 360).

Also a lot of FPS/3D shooter games have hit the market, which traditionally sell relatively well on XBox consoles. (With upcoming games like Resistance 2, Killzone 2 and existing unique online shooters like Warhawk I think the PS3 will become a very important console for 3D shooter fans as well.) Especially considering online play is "free" on the PS3 if you already have an internet connection.

For the long run piracy issues (although RRoD may put fear in the minds of pirates), disc scratching issues (short term positivie effect on software sales, but IMO likely a long term disadvantage), RRoD issues after warranty coverage, etc I think may well push things into the PS3's favour.