60 Gamer points in Perfect Dark Zero, automated

Some people must really cherish grabbing every Achievement and Gamer point from every game. And with Microsoft promising rewards for such obsessions, who could blame them? Diego K. wanted to nab the 60 points for playing 1,000 multiplayer deathmatch games and 1,000 DarkOps games (30 points @) in Rare’s Perfect Dark Zero, but obviously didn’t want to sit there pushing buttons. So he built a robot to do the job for him.

With an erector set, a couple of solenoids, some other electronic stuff, and time to waste, he built the xBot (not the pejorative term), which automates the process of getting those 60 points for him. His full description of how the thing works can be found at the source (Read link), but what it does is simply presses the Start and B buttons at timed intervals, as demoed by his video below.

For him, perhaps, the satisfaction comes from creating the device, and not really on obtaining two Achievements and 60 points. On the other hand, it only took him 40 hours to Achieve 60 points – and in those 40 hours, his hands were free. Heck, HE was free. Doing some math, that’s 1 hour of work for 4 hours of not having to play the game, and about 6 points per hour, that equals to… 60 Gamer points.

It’s not much, and so far, it seems only applicable to Perfect Dark Zero. And it’s a one-shot deal – Achievements earned, mission accomplished, no further need of device (unless it can be programmed for another game). It’s still break-even territory, in economic terms.

But here’s the kicker. His little 10-hour side project earned him a little publicity, via a 2-page spread in Official Xbox Magazine. In Mastercard mathematics, that’s priceless.

Some people must really cherish grabbing every Achievement and Gamer point from every game. And with Microsoft promising rewards for such obsessions, who could blame them? Diego K. wanted to nab the 60 points for playing 1,000 multiplayer deathmatch games and 1,000 DarkOps games (30 points @) in Rare’s Perfect Dark Zero, but obviously didn’t want to sit there pushing buttons. So he built a robot to do the job for him.

With an erector set, a couple of solenoids, some other electronic stuff, and time to waste, he built the xBot (not the pejorative term), which automates the process of getting those 60 points for him. His full description of how the thing works can be found at the source (Read link), but what it does is simply presses the Start and B buttons at timed intervals, as demoed by his video below.

For him, perhaps, the satisfaction comes from creating the device, and not really on obtaining two Achievements and 60 points. On the other hand, it only took him 40 hours to Achieve 60 points – and in those 40 hours, his hands were free. Heck, HE was free. Doing some math, that’s 1 hour of work for 4 hours of not having to play the game, and about 6 points per hour, that equals to… 60 Gamer points.

It’s not much, and so far, it seems only applicable to Perfect Dark Zero. And it’s a one-shot deal – Achievements earned, mission accomplished, no further need of device (unless it can be programmed for another game). It’s still break-even territory, in economic terms.

But here’s the kicker. His little 10-hour side project earned him a little publicity, via a 2-page spread in Official Xbox Magazine. In Mastercard mathematics, that’s priceless.