New Xbox.com spoiling secret Achievements

by Richard Mitchell { Jun 19th 2009 at 3:30PM }

After running into some significant (and now fixed) issues on Xbox Live Marketplace, it looks like there are still more kinks to be worked out of Xbox.com since the Xbox Live maintenance earlier this week. Tipster soulpopped reports that secret Achievements are showing up on gamercards, regardless of whether or not you've unlocked them yourself.

Specifically, the new Xbox.com shows three of the most recent Achievements unlocked on any person's gamercard. If one of those three Achievements happens to be secret, it will still show the full achievement description and image, even if the person viewing it hasn't unlocked it. If, however, you open the "Compare Games" section, the achievement is simply listed as "Secret," as it's supposed to be. If you're still confused, check out the images in the gallery below for a more detailed example.

We haven't been able to replicate the bug, as there's a slim chance that one of the three most recent Achievements unlocked by someone happens to be secret, but it's still worth noting if you absolutely hate to see any part of the gaming experience spoiled.

We asked Major Nelson if Microsoft has encountered this (admittedly minor) issue. We'll update this as soon as we hear anything.

Gallery: Xbox.com Secret Achievement Weirdness (6/19/09)

Tags: xbox-live, xbox.com

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 19th 2009 3:37PM

Secret achievements are retarded anyway. How the hell is anyone supposed to unlock them unless they're extremely lucky? Besides, the achievement websites just show them anyway when one of their tipsters unlock it.

DiGiTAL SiN254 @ Jun 19th 2009 3:51PM

A lot of the time they are for story progression. They are secret to avoid spoilers.

Alex @ Jun 19th 2009 6:46PM

'A lot of the time they are for story progression. They are secret to avoid spoilers.'
See Bioshock. What about the 'Turned into a Big Daddy' achievement?

the_pop @ Jun 19th 2009 9:19PM

Secret achievements should only be used to prevent them spoiling the story. There are loads of secret achievements in games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band which are extremely pointless, get rid of it.

FNG @ Jun 20th 2009 12:35PM

@ alex. the words "a lot" do not mean all.

Prox @ Jun 19th 2009 3:47PM

I'm still having problems with the "Service" section of Xbox.com (ironic, huh?). As far as I can tell, nothing under "Console Management" works.

Jonman @ Jun 19th 2009 5:11PM

Neither does the Check Repair Status, which is doubly frustrating, as I'm trying to get tracking details so I know when to expect my 360 to return.

FuzzFace @ Jun 19th 2009 3:53PM

I just checked and it's not showing the secret achievements from a friends rock band achievement list.

Ozzpot @ Jun 19th 2009 3:57PM

I hate secret achievements too. Everyone just goes on the internet and finds out what they are anyway. It only takes 30 seconds to do so. So why bother? On some games I have more than half of the achievements are secret. It's just annoying.

On a completely different note, why does that achievement say "Once S'more into the Breach"?

The quote, from Shakespeare's Henry V, is "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more". I'll let the unto/into slide, but what's this "S'more"? The "S" sound comes from the "Once". What the hell does "S'more" mean? Sorry to be so pedantic, but this kind of bad English / Ignorance / Poor attention to detail, really annoys me.

Ray42 @ Jun 19th 2009 4:02PM

It's a marshmallow...

Ozzpot @ Jun 19th 2009 4:07PM

It's an American brand I assume? lol, okay fair enough. My bad!

cuteSAVAGE @ Jun 19th 2009 4:18PM

S'mores are usually a large marshmallow and milk-chocolate bar sandwiched between two graham crackers. Most of the time they are made over an open fire, roasting the marshmallow on a stick.

Reddrive @ Jun 19th 2009 4:19PM

S'mores are graham crackers and chocolate held together with a toasted marshmello (it's a pun)

GewurztraminerX @ Jun 19th 2009 4:24PM

A "s'more" is is a combination of toasted marshmallow and Hershey's chocolate smashed on (or between) a graham cracker piece(s). Often associated with recreational camping.

And since it's the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.... yeah.

Quite common in the US and (according to Wikipedia, which automatically makes it suspect... = ) Canada.

Richard Mitchell @ Jun 19th 2009 4:37PM

As described above, a S'more is a graham cracker / chocolate / marshmallow treat.

The name is derived from the feeling it gives you: You want some more. S'more.

Ray42 @ Jun 19th 2009 6:04PM

I think that about clears it up. Good work everyone.

the_pop @ Jun 19th 2009 9:22PM

Thanks for explaining it. I didn't quite understand it until I read it for the fifth time.

Ozzpot @ Jun 20th 2009 12:14AM

Thanks guys. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what a S'more is now!

Kevin949 @ Jun 20th 2009 3:00PM

I can I have s'more of something when I don't have anything to begin with?

No smalls, not some more. S'MORE!

K1LLER HORNET @ Jun 19th 2009 4:50PM

who the hell like secret achievements?

if its story based - then i know that there is a feature that allows the achievement description to change once it has been unlocked.
- forgotten which game supported that.

Kev (XBL: ksiddique) @ Jun 20th 2009 3:56AM

I believe it was like that in Prince of Persia.

soulpopped @ Jun 19th 2009 5:05PM

The main reason I submitted this tip was because in some games - BioShock comes to mind - the secret achievements would RUIN the experience if someone caught wind of them ahead of time. The one I saw didn't matter at all to me, and I agree that secret achievements generally are annoying, but I wanted to point out that in some cases, it could be terrible.

Ghoti @ Jun 19th 2009 5:09PM

I hate secret achievements. If they're gonna have them, they should at least offer you the ability to not have to deal with them. Like a "show all secret achievements" checkbox in your profile.

Mo @ Jun 19th 2009 6:19PM

This will probably get lost in the mix, but this "issue" occurred in the previous version of the Xbox website as well, this is nothing new. On the friend's detail screen, if they had a secret achievement that I didn't have in their most recent achievements, it showed the full name and description of what it was.

Same goes for achievements that change descriptions once you achieve them (like the Banjo-Kazooie XBLA achievements, for instance the "Get Jiggy" achievement. Before you get it, the description is "It doesn't matter which two, just successfully collect any two Jiggies." After you get it, it is "Collect 2 Jiggies."). I had friends get achievements that changed descriptions before I got them, and the Friends Detail screen of the old Xbox.com showed the "achieved" description, while the Compare Games screen showed the "unachieved" description.

John @ Jun 20th 2009 9:57AM

Do you think it would be possible for designers to create 'random' acheivements. I was thinking ones that would present themselves as secrets, but don't necessarily match up with ones they have seen online? This would give people more incentive to just play the game, instead of getting 150 kills with the pistol, for instance.