Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Transition From PS2 To PS3

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are dealing with the step from Sony PlayStation 2, PS2 for short, to Sony PlayStation 3, PS3 for short. Today we are used to see a new gaming console from a manufacturer in about six to eight years after release of a system.

I think that the transition from PS2 to PS3 was a huge one. Lets start by comparing these two systems and actually their specs. PS3 has 256 MB of RAM while PS2 has 32 MB. This means that PS3 has eight times more randomly accesssed memory. We can proceed and compare the hard disk space of these two consoles. PS3 has, depending on the model at hand, a hard disk of 12 to 500 GB. PS2 doesn’t have a hard drive. Instead it uses memory cards that have at least 8 MB of space.

PS3 has a more powerful processor and it handles graphics with a stronger and more powerful GPU. The actual weights of the units are for PS2 0,6 kg and for PS3 2,1 kg. PS2 offers an AV output with SCART connector while PS3 is also capable to output AV signal with an HDMI connector. Also PS3 has more USB connections available.

PS3 has a capability for its user to view a movie with its Bluray drive while PS2 is able to play you a movie in a DVD format. PS3 enables also an internet connection through WLAN while PS2 only supports Ethernet connection.

What it comes to controllers PS3 has a controller that is called Dual Shock 3. It is a wireless controller. I have always used the cable with my controllers but there is also wireless function which some gamers do prefer. The button layout is slightly modified in comparison to the Dual Shock 2 that is the controller for PS2. The controller of PS2 is a wired one while there can be some other wireless controllers available also for PS2.

What were some of the most important games for these two consoles? For PS2 there were games like Gran Turismo 3 and 4, Grand Theft Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Max Payne 1 and 2, Ratchet and Clank series and many others. As you can figure there were many sequels to some games that started on the first PlayStation, or PS1 for short.

Some of the greatest games for PS3 were Max Payne 3, Gran Turismo 5 and 6, Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, Skyrim, Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill Homecoming and many others.

All in all the transition from PS2 to PS3 was a huge one. While we could still use Full HD televisions while playing PS3 the graphics were totally clearer compared to what PS2 offered. I mean that you could still be playing PS2 with a CRT TV. Could you imagine playing a PS3 with one? I doubt that.

PS2 was released in 2000 and PS3 in 2006. Although PS2 has lower performance all in all it has sold way more units than PS3. The numbers are almost 159 million units for PS2 and about 87 million units for PS3. The production of PS2 discontinued in 2013 and the production of PS3 in 2017. You still might be able to buy a used  PS2 or PS3. Also I think that both of them can be played on a PC with a good emulation software today if you have a powerful enough computer.

Looks Like I’ll Be Playing Gran Turismo 6 For a Long Time

Posted on by Viljami

How I got to playing Gran Turismo 6 all over again? It started when I was going through PS1 games and I got to play Gran Turismo 2. It is a very good racing game but the graphics just seem too outdated. This happened many weeks ago. I was thinking about how I stopped playing Gran Turismo 6 for PS3 and I wanted to finish it. It was in my opinion  a better game than GT 2 would be. So, I started getting back into playing Gran Turismo 6.

If we consider that almost all Gran Turismo games are very good I can, in a positivite manner, say that Gran Turismo 6 is definitely in the top three of all GT games. I am not saying that it is better than Gran Turismo 4 which is by the way a game that has such a legendary status in gamers and racing fans minds. It might compete with GT 7 that was a very good game but was maybe a short one. I didn’t actually complete, that is to play the game and achieve everything that the game has to offer, Gran Turismo 7. I did finish it although.

How Long To Beat website tells you that it takes 44 and a half hours to finish Gran Turismo 6. When I look at the statistics that the game kindly offers I find that I have completed maybe 43 percentage of the game and I have driven maybe 19 hours. This is the actual point of this blog post. I think I still have a lot to play if I wish to finish or even complete Gran Turismo 6.

Gran Turismo 6 isn’t a perfect game. Graphics are nice. They are not as nice as with GT 7. This must not be a surprise because GT 7 was released for PS4 and PS5. We didn’t see a release for Xbox as we didn’t see Forza Motorsport on PS. That has been the way since the war between PS and Xbox first became. Noways we do have some conversation about some these exclusive titles getting released for both Xbox and PS. This makes sense since a game like FFXVI is getting a release for PC and it might even be released for Xbox also.

I don’t clearly know if my controller is working fully. I checked if there would be any professional level game pads for PS3 available. This made me a bit disappointed. I only saw some Spartan Oplon controllers, which I do have a  one piece that is presented in this image next to this blog post and also there were some basic Dual Shock 3 controllers also available. I do have a racing wheel but I have to confess that I am not so into racing wheels. I just never got the hang of it and I have played with a controller since the end part of 1990s when I was getting first into these Gran Turismo games which then has lead to me to this day which I seem to be spending playing Gran Turismo 6.

Is Gran Turismo 6 a good racing game? Definitely. Should you spend almost 45 hours playing it? Well, if you do enjoy it, then go ahead. But if it feels like you have seen the whole game after 20 or so hours I advise to you to think about this decision again. I do have games that I have played hundreds of hours but these games are kind of a special cases, like NBA 2K games for me (:D). I had an idea of a blog post in which I would have discussed with you about how long would be the preferable time to spend on a video game but this current topic seemed more interesting to me. Anyways…happy Saturday to you, my reader. We’ll see each other when you read my next blog post. Take care!

PS3 Games Are Still Playable (But For How Long)?

Posted on by Viljami

This blog post is all about PS3 games and how you can play them today. PS3 has some thousands of game titles that were released through the history of the console that started its way into gamers hearths in 2007 in Europe. PS3 was released already in 2006 in North America and Japan. Its manufacturing stopped in 2015 to 2017 depending on where you happen to live.

Although the manufacturing of the console did eventually stop there are lots of used consoles still available in gaming stores world wide. Also there are lots of used games available. So, you could imagine that the console has a bright future ahead. Is this the case?

Xbox is well known of its backwards compatibility. Xbox 360, One and Series X are all partly backwards compatible. Sony made some decisions about this matter. One thing that affects the playability of PS3 games today is that PS4 never was compatible with any earlier PlayStation games. So, this includes PS1, PS2 and PS3. PS5 supports also PS4 games but not these PS3 games that were in large part released as physical copies.

PS3 games can be played on PS3 consoles. We have many different models with some models being partly backwards compatible with PS1 and PS2. I do have discovered that my PS3 has a lousy PS1 performance. It just has a terrible delay that makes playing PS1 games a nightmare.

PS3 is a very durable gaming console. How long will these used devices last in use? This might be a critical matter if we, the gamers, can’t have any newer consoles that could enable playing PS3 games. Shouls there be a sort of a mini console released of PS3? What would the gamers think about this?

As the performance of PCs gets better as time progresses we might see emulators taking over when it comes to playing PS3 games. There is already an emulator for PS3 games and the name of the application is RPCS3. It’s requires a PC with a fast CPU, GPU and 16 GB of RAM. SSD is also recommended.

So, to summarize we can say that there are many good games that are important for hobbyists world wide. It would be a damn shame if all these PS3 games would be unplayable in the near future. There are however many ways to avoid this situation. I have provided some ways and there might be something else we can do also to preserve these PS3 games so that they would be just games that we forget some day in the future.

Getting Into PS1 (What Games Should You Play?)

Posted on by Viljami

There are thousands of games for Sony PlayStation 1 that have been published since the console was released in the middle of 1990s. The amount of games can be overwhelming especially if you are new to PlayStation 1. In this blog post I am going through some of the best games for PS1 in different genres from roleplaying to 2D and 3D platformer games.

Lets start with RPGs. Roleplaying games usually take longer to finish. It is improtant to know something about the game that you are about to start to play. First RPG for PS1 that comes to mind is, of course, Final Fantasy VII. While there are more RPGs, also, this must the most improtant out of all of them. It practically brought the Final Fantasy series to Europe and made it a popular game world wide. You can also check titles like Breath of Fire, Grandia, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story and Suikoden.

Maybe the favorite genre in PS1 games for me is racing. The first racing game that comes to my mind is, once again and of course, Gran Turismo. There were two Gran Turismo games released for PS1. If you are new to Gran Turismo I suggest that you start from the first game. Other good racing titles include Colin McRae Rally 1 and 2.0, Ridge Racer (at least Ridge Racer Type 4), Need for Speed series and Driver 1 and 2.

PS1 has also some great FPS games in its game library. While the graphics aren’t as impressive as with some later releases in this genre with some newer hardware. My first suggestion if you are interested in FPSes is Medal of Honor and the sequel Medal of Honor Underground. There was also a port of Doom and also Final Doom and I think these are also worth of getting into. I mention here also Alien Resurrection.

What would a list of the most significant PS1 games be without some survival horror games? If you’re into this genre you have the opportunity to check and play the games that almost started it all. I am saying almost because maybe the first survival horror game that was ever released was Sweet Home and it was originally designed for NES. Games that I have in mind right here are Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3, the first Silent Hill and Clock Tower.

Lets take a look at some fighting games that were released for PS1. Fighting Force 1 and 2 delivered some classic street fighting in a 3D environment. Games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy and many versions of Street Fighter brought you some 2D fighting while Tekken series and Battle Arena Toshinden presented some fighting content in 3D. I can also mention Bushido Blade here. If you are into stealth style of fighting you should check Tenchu and also the sequel for it.

There are also some very good 2D and 3D platformers for PS1 and I have to mention some good games in this genre also. We cannot forget Crash Bandicoot. There were a total of three games released for PS1 in this series. Spyro The Dragon is also one good game in this genre. If you like 2D platformers check the first Rayman and also Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee and the sequel to it.

Other good games that I haven’t mentioned yet in this list are: Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, all sport games, Spider-Man series, Wipeout, Tomb Raider series, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night and all other titles that you might find just if you look deeply into the PS1 game library.

There must and there has to be a game that I forgot. And of course this is the list of most important PS1 games in my opinion. You might have a different idea of it. If there are thousands of games there also have to be some hidden gems and you have to spend some time with PS1 to get to know these games. But anyways I hope you did find something from this blog post. I hope this gives you some sort of an idea of what games you shoudl play when you are starting to get into PS1 and its huge game library.

Organizing Your Game Collection

Posted on by Viljami

Right now in this blog post we are going through some simple ways that you can have to organize your game collection. The need for organizing depends on how large of a collection you do have and also do you collect and play also already a bit older games or even these legendary retro games.

I think if you only play the newest games you can save a lot of time and you don’t have to think about organizing your game collection so deeply. It is also easier to handle your game collection if you buy only digital copies for your gaming consoles and personal computer.

I do have a huge game collection. I like to keep those games that I can actually easily start playing in my gaming shelf. I also have several gaming consoles attached to my television. So, I have lots of games available and I can change from system to system quickly. I also have a storage to which I move some games that aren’t playable currently in my setup.

Some collectors like to keep their game collection in a very good and clean shape. If you want to be precise you can even sort your games alphabetically. I don’t have my games in any special order. But I do like to keep those games that are for a certain console in same place. So, I cand easily find a game that I like to play on a precise system.

As you can figure from the featured image my game collection might need some configuring. This picture that I took just moments ago shows you my GameCube collection, all my SNES and NES games, my Game Boy Color, some adapters, my Game Boy games and some other stuff also. This is my Nintendo part of my collection.

I have a large collection of games. As I already said my game collection would need some more organizing. For example I have two rows in this shelf right now that are dedicated to DVDs. Their price has come to be low today. I wouldn’t want to display so much of them in this shelf. I also have some older but not yet retro PC games on one row that I probably should move to storage.

I have had some difficulties with storing SNES games in a reasonable way in my game collection. They seem to be just placed on top of each other and you cannot even tell from the back of these cartridges that which game  is which (I mean that the titles aren’t seeable). I don’t this problem with my NES game cartridges. I have also run out of space with my Mega Drive games.

I would like to collect even more games. I just need to think what gaming consoles I want to dedicate my shelf space to. I have seen some huge game collections online. I don’t think that I would like to display more games. I am somewhat a collector but I like to also play them. I guess you can say that I am a bit of both of these types of game collectors.

Finishing and Completing Games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I write to you, dear IGD blog readers, about finishing and completing games. The thing is that for me back in the 1990s and in the era when PlayStation 1 was the most powerful gaming console it was a habit to finish a game that I had bought. There are some reasons why I am not today finishing all these games that I have.

First that comes to mind when thinking about finishing anf completing games is that we have seen hundreds, even thousands of new games becoming available fom older consoles, like PS1, and for consoles that have been released after that. Just think about thousands of games released for PS2. Add also games that were released to these systems: Xbox, GameCube, Xbox 360, PS3, and so on. There have been many games releaseda and so there are more games to be finished.

Finishing a game is a one thing. Some games can be completed. The difference between these two is that when you finish a game you have had enough from the game. It has provided you some entertainment. When you actually want to complete a game after you have already finished it the game seems to have still something to give to you. So, you play the game until there is nothing left to accomplish in it.

There were many PS1 games that I finished. There are a few games that I wanted to play even after I had finished them. These games are Gran Turismo 1, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Colin McRae Rally 1 and 2. I don’t know if I completed for example THPS 1. I did unlock every skating level and achieved a gold medal in every competition but I didn’t finish the game with every character. There was also some characters that could be unlocked and this was kind of a bonus for someone that was feeling  a deep motivation to totally complete the game.

I think in a way I have become busier. I don’t have as much time for video games than I had back in the 1990s. Also the society has become very different from what it used to be. The games often try to hold the play and games have become longer than they were. The capacity that a game takes from your disk has grown. It went from one CD, about 650 MB, to one DVD, to one Bluray to something like over 100 GB. There are more possibilities in a single game and there is more content. Also game manufacturers have become more ambitious with their games.

I used to complete every game I had. Back in 2014 I tried to complete every game that I bought for my then so shiny PlayStation 4. It started well. I was using PS4. I finished maybe five games and after that the backlog started growing and I started to skip a game that I got stuck with and buy another game and start playing it.

Even back in 2006 when I played mainly original Xbox I had some more ambition in trying to finish the games that I had bought. There has been a shift in this way. We are seeing more games that are very long. Publsihers are trying their best to get players hooked in that particular game and to play their game for a very long time. At the same time we are seeing fewer games.

So is the innovating started to become less of a thing when it comes to modern video games? We are seeing fewer games than back in the say era of PS2 and original Xbox and other consoles of that era. The stakes might have risen. And there is more money involved.

All Original Xbox Games I Own That Are Playable On Series X

Posted on by Viljami

I have exactly only nine original Xbox games that are backwards compatible with my Xbox Series X. There are only 63 games in total out of every almost 1000 Xbox games that are backwards compatible. These games that I own are Black, Manhunt, Dead or Alive 3, Dead to Rights, Max Payne 1 and 2, Oddworld Munch’s Oddysee, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Full Spectrum Warrior.

The fact that you can play these games with a modern hardware seems amazing to me. Owning a working original Xbox would be another way to get to play these games. The controller of modern Xbox just feels much better than the original Xbox’s controller. You don’t have to concern yourself with poor video output quality or a need to use an adapter to get an HDMI out of your gaming console. The poor quality of original Xbox’s can lead you to buy many Xbox consoles if you aren’t able to repair them by yourself. But what kind of a gaming console would last over twenty years and still work? After all the device would need some maintenance.

Now I have tens, maybe even over a hundred, original Xbox games. I have had to move some of them to storage as I have had issues with consoles getting to malfunction. I have a broken original Xbox and also a Xbox 360. The issue with my Xbox might have had something to do with a broken condenser. These things can start to leak and cause some internal damage. The symptoms were that the console wouldn’t turn off. I had to unplug the power cord just to shut down the console. Otherwise it worked fine. The problem I had with my Xbox 360 was that it didn’t read any game discs no more. This was caused by some dust that had gotten into the console. I tried to solve the issue with compressed air but didn’t eventually succeed.

Over twenty years old gaming console can have many different issues. These devices aren’t actually today made to last tens of years. I don’t think that software developers and manufacturers of electronics were really thinking in the future for such a long period. This is somewhat understandable. Today there is this scene of old games that can inspire you in many ways if you just find yourself spending some time with them. After all there are so many games and so many systems to explore. This richness should be truly acknowledged.

Xbox Series X supports many Xbox 360 games also. There are 632 games out of a total of 2155 games that are playable. What happens when we move always to more modern consoles? Are we forgetting our past? Although the original Xbox can be emulated it seems today to be a difficult task while we are already seeing emulators that you can play Xbox 360 games with on our PCs. My current PC system just isn’t powerful enough to operate an emulator of this kind. The emulators name is Xenia.

What Makes You a Good Video Game Player?

Posted on by Viljami

What it takes to be a good video game player? You can be a professional level player or a casually playing person. Anyways we are going to go through some matters that can make you a better video game player. There has been a lot of talk about the limits of aged people and how you cannot be an eSports star if you are over 27 years old. This does have an impact but the matter is more complicated than this at least in my opinion.

You can be a single player gamer or you can be playing multiplayer games. Many of these points that we are dealing in this blog post have an impact on both of these ways of playing video games. Lets start to go through these facts right now.

You can have a long history in video games. This makes you familiar with all the games you have played in your whole lifetime. You might not have such good reflexes but you might just have developed very deep skills in some game or genre of games. When you are good at say FPS games you can be successful just by concentrating well.

Sometimes games do require a proper controller. Yuo might need a racing wheel and pedals or maybe you need a mouse and a keyboard to play some video game. Having skills in using this special controller can give you an edge. I have noticed that some people can have difficulties using a game-pad if they are used to using keyboard and a mouse. I have actually the opposite problem – I am not so good as a video game player when I don’t use a game-pad.

Concentration and tiredness have an impact on how you perform as a video game player. At least for your health you should make sure that you sleep enough and have some exercise at times. Also you can keep in mind that your concentration doesn’t last for unlmited time so you have to take breaks so you can have a better concentration level.

Being young has a positive impact on your performance as a video game player. You have better reflexes. You learn quicker. When you start playing young you are probably a master in many ways when you become a bit older. I also learned a lot of English when I was playing some PlayStation and PC games when I was a teenager. I am actually from Finland.

Being a quick learner gives your performance a boost. Also knowledge of technology can give you an advantage. You can know some programming or some other sort of computer science knowledge. I have noticed that even when the game is not totally an open source game I do notice some things here and there that can give me an advantage.

Cheating is of course something that you can use if nothing else works. This gives you same kind of an advantage like if some sport competitionist would use doping. It kind of takes the point out of competing. Creating cheats for a game can be also technically intereting as is also making any mods out of a video game that already exists.

You can also understand a lot about games and the platform, or the console, that you are playing with. Remember also that there is an element of luck also. Many things in video games are totally random. This makes you sometimes have to try to play your run in a game over again. This can be annoying and can make the experience just a bit repetetive.

Why Would You Buy a Loose Game?

Posted on by Viljami

Now why would you choose to buy a loose game instead of a complete-in-box or only boxed game that comes without a manual? With a loose game I of course mean a game that doesn’t have a case, manual or cover at all. Considering games that are delivered on disc this can also mean in some cases that the disc is damaged.

We can go through some of these reasons. First thing that comes to mind is that the loose game is way cheaper. How the game looks or its condition might not also be an obstacle if you just want to play the game. Its better to own a damaged but working copy than just downloading that game, right?

You can also buy a case for a game. This is however not so popular as an option. I have to mention this, without any direct links, there are places on-line that you can find good quality covers for games. So, if you have an access to a good quality printer you can even buy an empty case for the game and print your cover. Then you just have to cut the cover out of the paper with scissors. I have to mention that empty covers can be hard to find. You can also swap maybe a sports games case and use that with your loose game.

I do have some Mega Drive games as loose copies. It was some time ago that I also bought some empty cases for these games. Right now I have my gaming shelf almost full. There is no room for new Mega Drive games. I would have to remove a row of PC games and also do some other things to better display my collection. There is some work to do in this matter. Maybe in some blog post I could share you a picture of my gaming room or living room.

Also all my NES games are loose games. I don’t find these NES cases so appealing. I do collect and have some PC games that are displayed in so called big boxes. Loose PC games that come only with the plastic case are very lame. I do have some copies of loose games likee these but I don’t actually collect them. This can of course be a matter of taste.

Digital copies of games have many advantages. They don’t actually run out if they become popular like physical copies do and they don’t take any space in your home. PC games have already seen a change towards digital distribution. The biggest sellers of digital PC games must be Steam, GOG and Epic. I currently don’t have a disc drive in my default PC. I do have a secondary PC that still holds a DVD drive inside it.

What’s Going on with Xbox?

Posted on by Viljami

Just some days ago we heard some news about new Xbox consoles to be released. We have seen already three models of Xbox Series consoles. First two were Series S and Series X. Series S didn’t have an optical disk drive while Series X did have. Series S had 512 GB of sotrage while Series X had 1 TB. The prices were about 310 € for Series S and about 510 euros for Series X.

We saw earlier a new fully digital model that had 1 TB of storage. It was a bit more expensive than earlier released Series S. It was maybe 50 euros more expensive or so. This console had a black colour while Series S was white and Series X was black also.

Many gamers today use their modern Xbox with the Game Pass. This enables you to play any game included in the offer. Games are changing from time to time so you never excatly know when or what you can play in the future.

A total opposite for this is someone that wants to buy every game that he or she does play. This is actually how I myself view this matter. I like to collect physichal games or at least own a digital copy. Owning a game can be difficult and it might become more difficult in the following years.

These new consoles are getting released 15th October this year. There is going to be a 2 TB Xbox Series X that has an optical drive, fully digital Xbox Series X that has a 1 TB storage and lastly Xbox Seires S 1 TB.

These consoles do add a variety to this generation of Xbox consoles. They seem to be targeted to new Xbox console buyers since they don’t have any major perfromance upgades. I, personally, am not so confident in getting a new console of this type. I have already Series X and also Series S that currently is in my storage space and I am not using it.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial