Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Where to Start With PS4?

Posted on by Viljami

I have recently got to play some very nice games for PS4. The idea behind this blog post is to introduce some games that are good starting points if you are just starting out with PS4. I have three recommendations if you are trying to figure what game to start with when it comes to PS4.

PS4 was originally released back in 2013. That makes it already eleven years old as a gaming system. It had some competitors (mainly Xbox One). It offered improved performance, graphics, a new controller and updates to overall playability. The device offers Full HD through HDMI. So, it isn’t capable to 4K.

There are some reasons to buy a PS4 in 2024. If you do not have the latest and greatest television or any other type of display you can still enjoy smooth graphics performance. There is a huge library of games released for PS4. Also the price of this console is lower than newer devices. You can also easily find a new console or maybe a used one. Either way you are paying many hundreds of euros less if you pick PS4 over, for example, PS5.

You made your decision and want to get into playing some PS4? Great! “What would be some good games for this system?”, one might ask. I have an almost perfect answer to you. I am about to present to you my current favorite games for this system.

I got my PS4 back in the spring of 2014. I was still very keen on my studies at that moment so I had to save some money. The console did cost 400 euros. As I wanted a game to go with my PS4 I chose to spend additional 50 euros for a game. This game was then very new and shiny Tomb Raider. This is a new game and it has very little to do with the original adventure game series. In any way this game was my first and it is also a very good game that I personally picked for my first PS4 game.

There have been two more games released in this a bit newer Tomb Raider game series. The other games are Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018). Games are available also for PC and Xbox One and also for most newest consoles that actually are PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. I have to bring up also Tomb Raider I-III Remastered in this conversation. These games were remakes of old Tomb Raider games and they were released earlier this year. These might be your piece of cake if you are into some old school and retro type of action games.

I have two other games that I am going to deal with in this blog post. These are way newer than Tomb Raider that was actually not a launch game but released very closely after PS4 was launched. It was launched in 2014. Spider-Man Miles Morales was released in 2020 and God of War – Ragnarök in 2022.

While the first Spider-Man was a good game I think Miles Morales made a significant improvement. I really liked this game. It wasn’t so long as a video game. It took me maybe ten hours to clear. If you really like the game there is also some content that you can play after you have finished the main story.

God of War – Ragnarök has become my favorite game in the God of War series. I am still actually onto playing it. I have spent 26 hours already in it and also waiting to finish the game very soon. It just offers you a perfect experience as a video game. I have really enjoyed playing God of War – Ragnarök.

About Sega Dreamcast

Posted on by Viljami

Sega Dreamcast was released 1998 in Japan and 1999 in North America and Europe. Its game library consists of about 600 games. This is considerably lower than all games that were released to PS2, a console of the same era and console generation, that had several thousands of games in its game library.

Some other gaming consoles of this generation were Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2. So, Dreamcast was competing with these giants. This was an era in which we saw definitely more games released than we have in todays world of gaming. It has to said that the competition was tough. PS2 sold most consoles and had the most games in its library while Xbox and GameCube sold well but not as much as PS2. In 2001 Dreamcast was discontinued. It didn’t sell well.

Today Dreamcast is considered to be a definite gem as a retro gaming console. You can get the original console for about 200 euros. It is also possible to play it by emulating Dreamcast on a system like Recalbox that you can run on a Raspberry Pi 5 or PC. Raspberry Pi 5 has enough power to run Dreamcast emulation while some older Rasbperry Pi models might lack this power. We have to consider if this way of playing Dreamcast is actually legit or not. After all every Dreamcast game isn’t available.

I have solved this problem with buying this Dreamcast Collection for PC. I bought it a long time ago but it seems to be totally legal. This collection has four Dreamcast titles in it. While Sega quit manufacturing gaming consoles they still make video games for other systems. There are lots of good quality games still getting released by Sega. This tells something about their position as one of the most legendary game companies in the history of video games.

Sega’s history includes classic consoles like Mega Drive / Genesis, Master System and Saturn. However some of its products weren’t so successful. They did take a wrong direction with releasing 32X and Mega CD. They weren’t commercially successful which evidently lead to some financial problems that lead to discontinuation of Dreamcast.

What are some good games for Dreamcast? There are some role-playing-games like Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II, a boxing game, Ready 2 Rumble, many 2D fighting games, some 3D fighting games, like Virtua Fighter 3tb, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Resident Evil – Code Veronica and many others. The game library is in its entirety a very solid and of good quality. I think that finding a bad game for Dreamcast is a difficult task to complete.

I do have some critic also about Dreamcast. The fact that the controller only has one analog stick makes playing first-person-shooters a bit clumsy. You have to map movement and aiming differently than you would with a better gamepad. Also when compared to some newer consoles Dreamcast lacks some power. But it has to be said that when considering it to be a retro console it handles its business very nicely.

It would be great to get something from Sega today that would be legit and also of good quality when it comes to retro gems like this one. There would definitely be many gamers that would like to buy a mini console, a remake or a completely new game from some of these classic titles. We have to see and wait for what the future holds for Sega fans.

Are You Waiting for GTA VI (or Not) ?

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are talking a bit about the upcoming video game from a video game series that might be the biggest name in the game. I am talking about Grand Theft Auto and especially the sixth game in this series.

I still remember clearly how it felt like playing the first Grand Theft Auto. There were possibilities in this games. You could impact and interact with the world that was inside this two dimensional video game. Violence was present and you could just tear everything apart until there was more and tougher forces on the streets to calm you down.

Many times it was not so necessary to commit violence in the game. But also many times you killed, in the video game, someone for example by driving over a person or shooting someone. I remember what my father said when he realized that I had played a game like this. It could have also been one of the first two Fallout games, also, I don’t remember so clearly.

First two GTA games were golden or at least in my memories they are. I still own a copy of both of them for PS1. However, the third GTA was the game that made GTA series a historically very important. GTA III was released for PS2 and PC in 2001. GTA III had bright colors represented in three dimensional environments. It had many relatable characters.

We saw GTA IV in 2008. It was released for PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows. It was finally 2013 when GTA V was released. It made its way to many consoles going past even whole console generations. I mean that GTA V was first released when it was still the dominant era of PS3 and Xbox 360. When time went by we saw releases for PS4 and Xbox One. This game is also available for the latest and current console generation.

To tell you the truth I never was so excited about GTA IV or GTA V. I tried hard to advance in GTA III but after all failed to finish the game. I think GTA III is the most important game in the series. And the first two GTAs are just so much of a memory for me to dwell in as they bring me so much nostalgia that I prefer to play one of them before I would even start getting into a game like GTA V.

As you can probably tell from the attached image I still have a sealed copy of GTA V for PS4 literally in my hands. I think I bought it for 25 euros and this was already some years ago. You could say that this means I don’t have an interest to play the game. You are actually right with this one. I am not saying it is a bad game. I’m just saying that it isn’t interesting for me.

I could go on about GTA IV or GTA V and how especially the fifth game doesn’t interest me. But there is something happening soon that might take my concentration. What’s happening? There is going to be a new GTA game released. The game is the sixth in the series. This might be a hit. This might be a nice game. For all we know there are lots of expectations for this game to be a success. We can take it as a game for us gamers. We can deal it and review it as a piece of digital art and also a piece of gaming.

So, the final question is, are you expecting this new GTA game? Just ponder it a little while. Think about how you feel about this soon to be released video game right now. Is it going to fail and flop? Is it going to make some developer company some profit? Or would it be the case that it just brings something new to gaming? Whatever it will be we are going to see soon…

Why I Bought PSP In 2024?

Posted on by Viljami

Here’s a blog post about PSP (PlayStation Portable). I bought one this year. Why would you want to get a PSP in 2024? Here are some reasons…

PSP is very cheap today. I paid 80 euros for it. It has been some months already. I really like the device. I got also an adapter and a memory card (microSDHC) that holds 32 GB of storage. The deal included also a charging cable. I actually had to buy the memory card and adapter separately so they weren’t included in the price of 80 euros.

What are some good games for PSP? I bought three games: Colin Mcrae Rally 2005, Marvel – Ultimate Alliance 2 and NBA 2K13. These are just some examples. You are actually able to play PlayStation 1 games on PSP. The games seem to be more advanced than PS1 games as PSP was released later than PS1.

You can also play games like Metal Gear Solid – Peacemaker, Silent Hill – Shattered Memories, God of War – Ghost Of Sparta and Gran Turismo just to name a few. There are a total of almost 2000 games in the library of PSP games. Many of the games are ports of well-known titles.

I just today read some news that Sony might be working on a new portable gaming console. We have seen a handheld console already after PSP. That device was PS Vita.

We have seen how Nintendo Switch can be played in a handheld mode and it can also be connected to a television screen. Right now Switch is in the top five of the gaming consoles that are sold most. The top position is held now by Sony PlayStation 2 and Switch is actually on the third spot right after Nintendo DS. I do own also a Nintendo DS.

I am not very comfortable playing a handheld device. I enjoy more  about a gaming console when I can connect it to a big screen and play it with a good quality gaming controller. I like to sit and lean my back towards a comfortable chair or a sofa when I play.

Handheld devices can be nice if you are on the move. It is very nice to play a device like PSP in a hotel room for example. A handheld device is good when you don’t want to carry around many cables and other heavy equipment.

You can also check some games on a PSP emulator also. There is a very nice emulator called PPSSPP. The games do have some limitations and cannot be compared to some device that gets connected to a 4K or Full HD screen. Also the controls are a bit compromised.

Gremlins 2 (NES) – Some Notes About Gameplay

Posted on by Viljami

Gremlins 2 – The New Batch is a very neat Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, game. In this game you control the main character, Gizmo. I am not going to go over the movies plot or setting. If you haven’t seen Gremlins 1 or 2 yet I think you should really watch them especially if you’re really into 1980s and 1990s entertainment.

As with any NES game the controller is a lot more simpler compared to a modern gaming console. You have directional buttons, select and start button and A button and B button. This is of course very logical and clear to anyone familiar with NES. I am mentioning these because I think that Gremlins 2 makes great use of the controller. The movement of the main character is very fluent in every way. As fluent as in a retro game like this can be.

The movement consists of directions (up, down, left, right), jumping and shooting. When you press the jump button Gizmo is up in the air for a short moment. You have to try to time your movement and jump so that you actually get over a gap in the game. This takes a while to learn but is very essential in the actual gameplay.

There are a total of 5 levels in this game. It can take several hours for the player to finish the game. The amount of continues isn’t limited in any way so you can continue to play as long as you wish. You get a password when you loose your life and you get to this menu where you can choose to continue to play or quit playing. At the end of the level 1-2 you get a better weapon that deals more damage and shoots a bit further. It is difficult to move to any other direction than directly to up or down or left or right but this is also possible in this game.

There are some clever strategies in Gremlins 2 that you can utilize to try to succeed better in playing the game. When you fall off the edge you get a chance to float around with a balloon. This way you can move freely over enemies or gaps until the balloon wears off and you fall to the ground. You have three hearths of health. When you get hit with an enemy you loose a half of a hearth. So, you can get hit six times after you loose your life and have to start from the beginning of the level. After getting hit you are “immortal” for a while and you should take advantage of this to progress more efficiently.

Sometimes enemies move in directions that are random. Try to figure where and how the enemy is moving and then shoot it to destroy it. Collect pearls that you get from defeated enemies. You get to go to a shop at times in the game and you can buy more lives, health or upgrades to weapons. Write down the password each time you die in a level.

Graphics and animation, also in the cut scenes, are very adorable for a game that was released in 1990. I am currently in level 2-2 out of the total 5 levels that the game ultimately has. There are many different enemies in the game that have you to think about different kinds of strategies. This is a very good NES game that I can recommend for every NES fan. I have the actual, real, physical copy of the game that I do play on my Retro Trio console. The game is a bit cheaper when it comes to its price. It can be bought from a game shop (here in Finland) for about 30 euros. You can probably get it cheaper if you buy from some private individual or from flea market of some sort as is usual with older, retro type of, video games like this.

Download Half-Life 2 For Free (Until 18.11.2024)

Posted on by Viljami

It is now possible to get to download and play an old FPS game called Half-Life 2. You can get your copy now from Steam. It is available only until 18th of November 2024. It was released earlier today for free. Just search for it in Steam. Type “Half-Life 2” and you should see a link that gives you a permission to download and install the game. The game will stay in your library if you have activated it until 18th of November 2024.

I started to play this game as I decided that since it is now free I should at least give it a try. I have played this game earlier on original Xbox. It is very different to play it with a mouse and a keyboard. Half-Life 2 was released in 16th of November 2004. That means it was released exactly 20 years ago.

It is possible to play Half-Life 2 with a controller. I haven’t tried that yet but I think my Xbox Series S/X controller that I play my PC/Windows games with will function just fine. I had to fiddle a bit with the settings. I adjusted the movement level of the mouse and also checked for some controls. The graphics still look nice. I also had to find a way to take a screenshot from within Steam so that I could share you some more content from the game. You get to play also Episode One and Two with this free release.

My deeply rooted and deep relationship with Half-Life series’s games start right from the first game. I got to play it on a PC while it was also later ported to PS2. The first Half-Life was released in 1998. It had a true competitor that I got also into. The competitor was a game called Unreal. I remember buying a bundle of big box games that included at least the first game in Abe’s Oddysee series and Unreal. I actually right now don’t remember if it had any other games included. The box was partly yellow because it was a re-release, so, the box wouldn’t have been as valuable as the original one if I even had kept it even in a good condition.

A also bought Blue Shift and Gunman Chronicles. I still have the copy of Blue Shift in my gaming shelf. I am very sad to announce that I did sell my Gunman Chronicles big box game with manual included for about four euros a bit over ten years ago. Gunman Chronicles was a mod of the first Half-Life and Blue Shift was a sort of a spin off of Half-Life where you play as a regular security guard of Black Mesa facility. It was very popular to make a mod for Half-Life and there were many good ones available. I have to mention a mod called They Hunger.

I was in a bit of a hurry while writing this because the deal lasts for only about some days maybe two days or so. As you are in a hurry to get this game please don’t hurry while playing it. I think we have a very good game right here that can offer you a lot especially if you are into retro games for PC.

How to Rip Your PS1 Games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are going to go through about how to rip your PS1, PlayStation 1, games to rom files so that you can play with an emulator or a piece of hardware like Raspberry Pi 4/5. This way of copying your games for your personal use is completely legal. What is currently illegal is copying rom files of games that you don’t own and/or if you share some games that you have ripped to someone who doesn’t own that particular game. We are dealing with a sensitive legal issue right here and things can change, for better or worse, in the future. I don’t want to encourage you to break law in any way.

So you have your PlayStation 1 game. What else do you need? Here’s a list:

  • External DVD drive
  • A PC running, preferably, Windows 10 (this guide has been written using this OS)
  • Magic ISO Maker (the software that actually rips the disc and converts it to the rom file)

External DVD drives today cost something from 40 euros to maybe 60 euros. You don’t need a special DVD drive. You just need something that works. The DVD drive should be connected to your PC through USB. Many PCs today don’t have a DVD drive so you might need an external one. If you have internal DVD drive or something like that you can also use that.

The discs that PS1 uses are colored in black on the side that gets read in the DVD drive. That doesn’t stop the disc from being read. Note, also, that you can rip your PS2 games in this similar way if you are into emulating PS2 also.

You do need a special software. I am using currently Magic ISO Maker (trial version). However there are also some other alternatives. You might want to check them out also. Ripping the disc is pretty straightforward. You select “Tools” from the upper main menu. Then you select “Make ISO from CDRom”. There is a new window that pops up. Select your DVD drive that has the disc in it and make sure that you have connected the USB cable of the DVD drive to your PC.

Then you select your DVD drive from the drop-down menu. Now click the folder icon on the right side of the part that says “Output File” and choose the destination where you want to save the rom files and also give these files names. This doesn’t have to necessarily be the name of the game that is being ripped but that could make things somewhat easier. Then change the file format (“File Format”) to “BIN image file”. That way your game will be in a form of two files that are .bin and .cue. You need to copy both of them to your game library or the location that you are running your emulated games from.

Now make sure that there is Make CD Image selected from the radio buttons that is titled “Option”. Then just click “OK” button. Now the disc of your PS1 game gets ripped to a BIN-file and a CUE-file. You can rip multiple games and place them in some folder where you can have one game in one folder. That way you will find your games easily.

A Casual Gamer Or A Serious One?

Posted on by Viljami

The last time I wrote a blog post I was in the middle of getting into Black Ops 6. It just so happened that I got stuck in the campaign and somewhat lost my interest to that game. I decided to first pick up Art of Rally that is a rally game for Nintendo Switch. I didn’t finish that. Instead I started playing some Doom. This is the version of Doom that was released in 2016 and ported in 2017 for Switch.

It didn’t stop there however. I did spend some hours with Doom. Yesterday I got stuck again and this time with Doom. So, when I first woke up this Saturday I decided not to play more of Doom. Instead I picked a new game. It was actually still sealed. I had bought it maybe six months ago. It was time for me to play some Aces of Luftewaffe. I played this shooting game for maybe one or two hours.

This idea I think isn’t such an unusual matter. I am talking about how we today consume these games. There are extremely many games available. As you can think there are new games and also old, retro, games that you can pick and play. Newest games we are seeing today as rarer ones. There are many games that we get remakes out of and that we do play. Many games seem to take something old and add nice graphics and some updated features and release them even with the same title. Just “remake” gets added to the games title.

I am not complaining after all. I might not finish every game but is actually every game a great one? Or should it even be like that? I think we need some smaller and maybe indie titles that we don’t take so seriously that can make a difference when it does come to them titles that we do play a lot and that seem to be taking video games to a next level. What I am actually saying is that every game cannot be as popular, good selling and interesting as a game such like for example Skyrim.

This seems to be the case with these ambitious game developers that seem to hope that their own game would achieve the sales and the popularity that only so few of these games can achieve. Am I, or are you, a casual gamer that just plays a game or two in a week and that spends only so little of his or her time in a video game? That is the question that I seem to be trying to think and resolve in my mind.

We can also think about collecting. I seem to be interested in many games. I buy a lot of games. Usually a low price gets me going. That is probably why I do have such a large library of games. Well, there is just so much to write about today. So, maybe we’ll leave it this way this time.

My First Hours With Black Ops 6

Posted on by Viljami

The newest game in Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6, has been released exactly one week ago. I have spent a total of four hours playing this first-person-shooter. I am playing it with Xbox Seiries X. It did take some time for the game to be delivered as I wanted a physical copy of the game. It would have been possible to order it in advance as I know lots of us gamers actrually did. I got this in a very cheap price of 55 euros with shipping included. I could have supported a smaller local game shop but instead I went for the lower price this time. I think I saved 20 euros.

After spending some hours playing I checked as I was curious about what other gamers think about the game what was the score for Black Ops 6 in Metacritic. It didn’t come as much of a surprise that it had an average score of 85 out of 100 at the moment that I checked. I am very glad that the game wasn’t a huge flop. We have seen some games that have not proved their worth in the eyes of a true video game player.

Call of Duty is a video game series that has already a strong legacy. The first Call of Duty was released in 2003. It was actually 2006 when I first played this game. I was in a moment in my life that playing some video games started to become again a reality for me. I played it with my original Xbox. I have always liked very much of the experience that Call of Duty offers. I soon also completed the first Call of Duty as I did spend many hours playing it and also continued to play Call of Duty 2.

The other day I had a short conversation about Call of Duty with a connection or should I say a friend of mine. I had shared a photo of every Call of Duty game that had been released. The pile was huge and consisted of 24, or was there even 25 games because there was also one PS Vita game, titles. My friend actually asked how many of these have I completed. I made some calculations and came to a conclusion that I have played through only six out of 24 CoD games. This gives me some edge to write about the game series while I have to say that I have some more games to play also.

What bad there is to say about Black Ops 6? I don’t have,  at least currently, anything to complain about. I think I am almost half way through the game since it takes, according to my information, about 8 hours to finish the game. I like the feel of my game pad. I couldn’t imagine playing actually any FPS with a mouse and a keyboard but I think that is possible. My experiences of this controlling method seem to be minor but I have to say that I have played at least the first CoD in this way.

The plot might not be the most interesting matter when it comes to this game. Of course like fans have come to know there are these political matters that really deepen the way that a soldier in a battle has to come think about his or her view of the world. I think these themes have become a bit stronger when it comes to Black Ops games in Call of Duty series. So, there is a plot but I don’t think that it would fit a game like this. It is a game where you shoot and move and also where the gameplay is filled with quick responses and constant action. That is everything I like about this game. I am continuing to play the game as soon as possible.

A Tiny Book Review

Posted on by Viljami

I have just finally got my copy of the latest Call of Duty game called Black Ops 6. I am excited about this. But…I have to write to you about another thing just before I start to get into playing some Black Ops 6 on my Xbox Series X. The game is installing right now so I have some time here to tell you about a book that I just completely read to the final page today.

The book that we are dealing here is named Armada. It is the second book that has been written by a novelist that goes by the name Ernest Cline. Of course you might have heard of his first book Ready Player One. There was a movie made based on the book. There have been some more books written by Cline later in his career (books like Ready Player Two).

I got this book free from my local library. They were handing out some older books so they can make some newer releases available and to be borrowed. I have read Cline’s first book and I thought it was okay. It is a bit “nerdy” even in my own somewhat nerdy considerations. It was a fun read. It featured many associations to well-known computer and video games including some references to music artists and also movies. The Atari 2600 gets a special valuation in the book.

This book is not only a science fiction book. It is something that might be an interesting way to spend some free time for a gamer. I liked this more than I did like Ready Player One. The story has somewhat more situations that feel very exciting to the reader. There aren’t as many awkward moments in my opinion. Of course there are some embarrassing moments between Zack, the main character of the book, and his father.

The book has a bit over 350 pages. So, it isn’t a long book to read. I got mine as a Finnish translation. If you speak English I think you find this book in English very easily. There must be translations to many other languages also. The book was originally published in 2015.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial