By Jeremy Azevedo

Months ago, Microsoft announced that “Avatar Awards” would be a part of the new user interface for Xbox Live. What this means is that, in addition to achievements, you could also unlock gear for your XBLA Avatar by completing certain objectives in a given title.

Since then, not one game that I am aware of has implemented this. I did read somewhere that "Splosion Man" was actually the first, but I don't give enough of a shit about Splosion Man to actually look into it. Anway, moving on...

The Avatar Awards drought will end with the release of Left 4 Dead 2, which will feature a handful of unlockable shirts that you can win and then clothe your avatar with, which is a much better alternative to spending actual real money on virtual clothes for them to wear. Finally, you can stop pretending that you own a sweet leather jacket and start dressing your avatar more like yourself in real life: A nerd that wears video game t-shirts in public.

The specific Avatar Awards that have been confirmed thus far are as follows:

• Med Kit: Earned by beating all five campaigns.
• Bull Shifters Shirt: earned by winning 10 games of Versus.
• A Left 4 Dead 2 shirt: Earned by winning 10 games of Scavenge.
• Zombie Hand Shirt: Earned by killing 10,000 Infected.
• Depeche Mode Shirt: Earned by rescuing Gnome Chompski from the Dark Carnival.

It’s a nice gesture, but call me when I can equip my little dude with a bloody clown suit or an AK-47 or something radder than a shirt. Then we’ll really be onto something.