Trophies have started to take the place of extras that gamers used to spend hundreds of hours playing older games to get. You get a great feeling every time you earn a Trophy and that delightful chime rings out as the Trophy icon appears in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The anti-Trophy brigade sees them as the worst thing to happen to gaming since the Wii (Yeah I said it!!!). Excuse my French but the phrase “Trophy Whore” has now entered the vocabulary of most gamers. This is a person who has basically become addicted to collecting Trophies.

This is the main problem most people have with Trophies. There is no denying the fact that there are now people who only buy games in order to get the Trophies in them. One look at www.ps3trophies.co.uk gives us a clear example of how big this “Trophy Hoarding” has become. Right at the top of the Trophy Leaderboard is Killerxx from (Yeah you guessed it!) the USA, who has collected no less than 2683 trophies, including 44 platinum ones, which means he/she has bought and played at least 44 games to death! I don’t mean to insult this person but a certain “World Of Warcraft” inspired episode of South Park springs to mind!

Having looked at both sides I suppose I’d better get back to the title of this piece: Are Trophies ruining gaming? It’s hard to say really. In the end it’s all a matter of opinion, you can either choose to become a “Trophy Whore” or just earn Trophies naturally by playing games at your own leisure. Either way, Trophies are here to stay so I guess we are stuck with them!

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on the transaction:

“This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

d Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am.”

Robert Altman, the founder, Chairman & CEO of ZeniMax Media stated, “We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand.”

Of course with an already-inked contract with EA, Wolfenstein will not go out under the ZeniMax name, however, any future titles (most notably, Rage) will go out with a new logo on the box!

Over the coming days we’ll be adding content and building the site before beginning our full on assault on videogame culture, particularly in Ireland!

If anyone else is still interested in becoming a writer for the site please get in touch and we’ll take it from there. I’m looking for staff writers for news, reviews, previews, the lot! Even a bit of journalistic blog-style ranting would be great. Once off, or regularly!