If you're one of those people concerned about their gamerscore, Test Freaks has compiled a list of retail games that allow you to easily boost it. The list also includes games on the XBLA. Among the list are games such as the newly released Ghostbusters, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, DiRT, Fight Night Round 3, and Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth. They've also provided games that are the toughest when it comes to unlocking achievements. Examples of these games include Burnout Revenge, Virtua Fighter 5, Devil May Cry 4, and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth.

In the early years of gaming, playing was all about getting that high score on the arcade machine that everyone else would see and revere. Making it through 574 identical levels of Pac Man meant that your score would hang out in infamy for quite some time, giving you bragging rights and a sense of superiority over other gamers.

These days, games rarely keep score. The content and format of most games are not conducive to such a tally, and as such, they have been replaced by other rewards. On Xbox360, the Gamerscore is the amalgam of all individual reward points earned in all games attached to a single Gamertag. This score carries with your avatar anywhere you go – online play, websites, or other friends’ consoles. It is the ultimate “nerd cred.”

The problem with the Gamerscore is that not every game developer designs their achievements the same way. Some games make it terribly difficult to gain achievements, while others throw them at you for doing nearly nothing. For that reason, Gamerscores are not always reflective of a player’s true ability.

McClubbin via testfreaks.com »