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Glossary

1K - Complete the base gamerscore in a game, typically 1000 points, thus 1K. Sometimes used to refer to a completion in general.
Achievements - see Cheevos
Bean Dive - Annual challenge on TrueAchievements.com aiming to earn at least one achievement in every game in your backlog, coined by it's creator, Beanpotter. The "dive" refers to the loss of completion percentage as a result of starting many new games.
Boosting - Using gameplay mechanics specifically to unlock achievements. Generally refers to the act of setting up multiplayer matches in particular ways to perform achievement criteria without interruption from regular players. Working towards achievements in lieu of regular gameplay.
Cheevos - see Achievements
Discos - Discontinued achievements - achievements that are no longer unlockable, probably due to online server shutdowns
Gamerscore League (GSL) - An annual gamerscore competition hosted on XboxAchievements.com
Great Random To Do List Challenge - A contest run by Facial La Fleur on the AchievementHounds.com community forums
GTASC - The Great True Achievement Score Challenge, a year-long, weekly elimination contest run by planting42 on TrueAchievements.com
Knobs - Unobtainable achievements - achievements that have never been unlockable due to a bug or some other issue
NTSC - See NTSC-U
NTSC-J - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles, mostly associated with Japan, Korea and other countries in that region. Also see Region Locking, NTSC-U and PAL.
NTSC-U - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles, mostly associated with North America, Canada, Mexico, and other countries in that region. Also see Region Locking, NTSC-J and PAL.
PAL - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles, mostly associated with Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Also see Region Locking, NTSC-J and NTSC-U.
Potentially Endless Bean Dive - A contest created on the AchievementHounds.com community forums that requires starting a new game every day. Began on the 28th of February 2013, and still going.
Preloading - The act of working on the criteria for an achievement until it's almost unlocked, and saving it for a later time, usually for competitions.
Ratio - Generally refers to the rarity of an achievement as determined by numbers of players of a game vs number who've unlocked the achievement. A statistic calculated on the TrueAchievements.com website.
Region Locking - Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. See NTSC-U, NTSC-J and PAL.
Stack - Sometimes a game is released in multiple versions, for example in different regions or on different platforms, and in these cases they can have an entirely independent achievement list. To "stack" a game describes earning the achievements on more than one version of what is, in gameplay terms, the same game. Examples: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Bioshock
TA - True Achievements, either the score type or the website TrueAchievements.com

003 Back and Forward, Rants and Boot Camp Laserlife

Jan 6, 2016

003 - Looking Back and Forward, Rants and Boot Camp Laserlife

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

We look back at the 2015 and discuss what's coming in 2016, introduce the Gamerscore Boot Camp segment with Laserlife, find more Knobs and Discos, news, zombies, and more.

Please give us a rating or review in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on True Achievements.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies.

Gamerscore Boot Camp music: "Tally Screen" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies.

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro

0:01:12 - Achievement Sponsor

Achievement: Pure Poker from Pure Hold'em

0:02:34 - Recap

TrueAchievements.com Game Collection Feature
Game: Quake II - zero gamerscore
Game: Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PC) - achievements are a mess
Big Buck Hunter World Championship
Achievement: Ghûls Gone Wild from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Achievement: The Collector from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Achievement: The Hunt is my Mistress from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

0:34:11 - News

Publisher Masteronic in administration - some titles delisted:

Spectra

January 2016 Games with Gold

Xbox 360

DiRT Showdown

PSA: VIP Pass require for online play on Xbox 360 (but not Xbox One) is not free at time of recording

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Jan 16)

Xbox One

Killer Instinct Ultra Edition which includes Killer Instinct Classic

PSA: Killer Instinct will automatically pop the achievement Stylish Orchid on load!

ZHEROS (Jan 16, replacing THIEF)

Xbox Fitness no longer requires Kinect (Source)

Unclear exactly what affect this has on achievements

Mike Ybarra confirms that the 30 Day Gamerscore Leaderboard will return to Xbox One
Phil Spencer regarding Original Xbox emulation on Xbox One and related achievements

0:55:11 - Talking Zeds: Looking Back

2015 Game Highlights:

Tarragon:

Randy:

Brandon:

2015 Game Lowlights:

Crandy Rants!

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

TrueAchievements.com added lots of great new features
Potentially Endless Bean Dive passes 1000 days
World Records:

Major Gamerscore Milestones

Celtic Force hit 1 million Gamerscore on 5th September 2015
The Dauntless hit 1 million Gamerscore on 20th December 2015

2:01:14 - Talking Zeds: Looking Forward

Zero Latency - Virtual Reality Zombie Experience
Tarragon:

Randy:

DOOM
Cyberpunk 2077 (Wikipedia)

Witcher 3 team has moved to Cyberpunk 2077

Brandon:

Maniac Mansion (Wikipedia)
Thimbleweed Park Kickstarter

2:33:07 - Gamerscore Boot Camp

Laserlife

2:35:09 - Knobs and Discos (unobtainables and discontinued achievements)

Unobtainable:

Weapon Collector from Overlord: Fellowship of Evil

Discontinued:

Toppest Of Top Drawers from Guitar Hero Live

Indirectly affects From Zero To Guitar Hero as well

Toppest Of Top Drawers from Guitar Hero Live (Xbox 360)
Early Bird from NBA LIVE 15
Every Street United (all achievements)

Fixes:

Achievement values fixed in Starwhal

2:37:28 - Zombie Corner

2:40:52 - Outro

Jargon:

1K - Complete the base gamerscore in a game, typically 1000 points, thus 1K. Sometimes used to refer to a completion in general.
Bean Dive - Annual challenge on TrueAchievements.com aiming to earn at least one achievement in every game in your backlog, coined by it's creator, Beanpotter. The "dive" refers to the loss of completion percentage as a result of starting many new games.
Boosting - Using gameplay mechanics specifically to unlock achievements. Generally refers to the act of setting up multiplayer matches in particular ways to perform achievement criteria without interruption from regular players. Working towards achievements in lieu of regular gameplay.
Discos - Discontinued achievements - achievements that are no longer unlockable, probably due to online server shutdowns
Gamerscore League (GSL) - An annual gamerscore competition hosted on XboxAchievements.com
Great Random To Do List Challenge - A contest run by Facial La Fleur on the AchievementHounds.com community forums
GTASC - The Great True Achievement Score Challenge, a year-long, weekly elimination contest run by planting42 on TrueAchievements.com
Knobs - Unobtainable achievements - achievements that have never been unlockable
NTSC - See NTSC-U
NTSC-J - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-U and PAL.
NTSC-U - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-J and PAL.
PAL - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-J and NTSC-U.
Potentially Endless Bean Dive - A contest created on the AchievementHounds.com community forums that requires starting a new game every day. Began on the 28th of February 2013, and still going.
Preloading - The act of working on the criteria for an achievement until it's almost unlocked, and saving it for a later time, usually for competitions.
Ratio - Generally refers to the rarity of an achievement as determined by numbers of players of a game vs number who've unlocked the achievement. A statistic calculated on the TrueAchievements.com website.
Stack - Sometimes a game is released in multiple versions, for example in different regions or on different platforms, and in these cases they can have an entirely independent achievement list. To "stack" a game describes earning the achievements on more than one version of what is, in gameplay terms, the same game. Examples: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Bioshock
TA - True Achievements, either the score type or the website TrueAchievements.com

Download this Episode

002 - Challenges Redux and End of Year Goals

Jan 3, 2016

002 - Challenges Redux and End of Year Goals

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

We invite Garrett (gamertag Xtowers) on the show to discuss challenges in depth, talk about our end of year (2015) goals and whether we made them or not, gaming news, discontinued and unobtainable achievement news, and more.

Please give us a rating or review in your favourite podcast application, it will really help us spread the word and make the show a success!

Contact us on Twitter @zedtozed or email us at contact@zedtozed.com, we'd love to hear from you! Also check out the Zed to Zed Podcast Leaderboard on True Achievements.

Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Guest:

Garrett aka "Xtowers" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

0:00:00 - Intro and recap

Achievement: "Fortnight" from Project Spark
Monthly Birthday Gamertag Challenge on the Achievements Hounds community forums
Pre-loading guide for SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge
Great Random To Do List Challenge 2015
Achievement: The Cat Came Back from Catwoman's Revenge DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight
Jazz Hands hand emulation program for TotemBall
Achievement: Goal Star from Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved
Achievement: 나바람의 운 (Or winds of fortune) from Super Star Karaoke
Thanks Black Buff for helping Xtowers out!
Xbox 360 running slow? Delete your profile and re-download it

0:39:29 - Talking Zeds: Let's Meet Xtowers and Challenges Redux

Achievement: California Drifter from Forza Motorsport 5
Xbox One Challenge Notifications leaderboard maintained by Xtowers
Achievement: Xbox One Preorder achievement from Microsoft Store
Achievement: Day One achievement from Xbox One
Undead Labs announces challenges for State of Decay

1:06:09 - Talking Zeds: End of year goals

1:26:53 - News, Knobs and Discos

Achievement: Reincarnationist from The Deer God - now obtainable, thanks Crescent Moon Games!
Achievement: Unfulmigator from The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - unobtainable
Achievement: Treasure Hunter from Nova-111 - unobtainable
Watchlist for Potential Discontinued Achievements list maintained by matdan12
Fallout 4 bottle duplication glitch has been patched
Listener question: seamonkeypowder asks about retail games with no unlockable achievements. Thanks WebChimp UK for digging this info out for me.

Only one physical title that fits this bill: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
Non-physical titles that have no unlockable achievements:

1 vs 100
Age of Empires Online (GFWL)
Ascend: Hand of Kul (XBLA)
Doritos Crash Course 2 (XBLA)
Galatic Reign (Windows 8 and Windows Phone)
Karaoke (Xbox 360)
Live Draft Tracker (XBLA)
Project Sunburst (Windows Phone)
Team Crossword (Windows 8)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Xbox 360)
Voice Studio (Xbox 360 and Xbox One)
Warface (Xbox 360)
Wordament (Web version)
WSOP: Full House Pro (Windows 8 and XBLA)
Zoo Tycoon Friends (Windows 8 and Windows Phone)

Xbox One Backward Compatibility Titles Announcement, December 17 2015
Press Release: EA announces The EA Competitive Gaming Division, Led by Peter Moore, December 10 2015
Batman: A Telltale Games Series
Platinum Games' TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan
Shadow Complex Remaster rated for PC
Rocket League
#madewithhololens
TheGreatGatsby solo run on Oryx
DLC plans for Destiny
Phil Spencer regarding WiiU Minecraft
@StarWhalGame regarding achievement bugs
Gone Home is actually coming to Xbox One after all
Cyberpunk 2077 in late 2016

2:01:14 - Outro

Jargon:

1K - Complete the base gamerscore in a game, typically 1000 points, thus 1K. Sometimes used to refer to a completion in general.
Bean Dive - Annual challenge on TrueAchievements.com aiming to earn at least one achievement in every game in your backlog, coined by it's creator, Beanpotter. The "dive" refers to the loss of completion percentage as a result of starting many new games.
Boosting - Using gameplay mechanics specifically to unlock achievements. Generally refers to the act of setting up multiplayer matches in particular ways to perform achievement criteria without interruption from regular players. Working towards achievements in lieu of regular gameplay.
Discos - Discontinued achievements - achievements that are no longer unlockable, probably due to online server shutdowns
Gamerscore League (GSL) - An annual gamerscore competition hosted on XboxAchievements.com
Great Random To Do List Challenge - A contest run by Facial La Fleur on the AchievementHounds.com community forums
GTASC - The Great True Achievement Score Challenge, a year-long, weekly elimination contest run by planting42 on TrueAchievements.com
Knobs - Unobtainable achievements - achievements that have never been unlockable
NTSC - See NTSC-U
NTSC-J - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-U and PAL.
NTSC-U - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-J and PAL.
PAL - One of the three regional variants of Xbox 360 consoles. Games can be locked so they only play on specific region consoles. Also see NTSC-J and NTSC-U.
Potentially Endless Bean Dive - A contest created on the AchievementHounds.com community forums that requires starting a new game every day. Began on the 28th of February 2013, and still going.
Preloading - The act of working on the criteria for an achievement until it's almost unlocked, and saving it for a later time, usually for competitions.
Ratio - Generally refers to the rarity of an achievement as determined by numbers of players of a game vs number who've unlocked the achievement. A statistic calculated on the TrueAchievements.com website.
Stack - Sometimes a game is released in multiple versions, for example in different regions or on different platforms, and in these cases they can have an entirely independent achievement list. To "stack" a game describes earning the achievements on more than one version of what is, in gameplay terms, the same game. Examples: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Bioshock
TA - True Achievements, either the score type or the website TrueAchievements.com

Download this Episode

The Zed to Zed Podcast: The Show For Xbox Achievement Hunters and Gamerscore Junkies

Categories

Glossary