Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Playing Some Mafia (Definitive Edition)

Posted on by Viljami

I started this morning spending two hours of my time playing Mafia – Definitive  Edition. As you can see from the featured image I have now a new controller for my Xbox Series X. It is the Microsoft Elite Pad 2. Yes, it did cost some money but I am very pleased in its performance. At least I am for now.

It has battery and I keep it connected with the cable that came with it when I am not playing. When I am playing I do take the cable off. The cable has to be connected before I shut down the console. Otherwise the console gets powered on again. Also for taking a screenshot you have to first press Xbox button and after that you have to press Y button. Regular game pad offers a screenshot with one button press. Elite game pad did cost me something like 155 euros I think.

Mafia has been on my list of games to play since I read about it from a gaming book. The book was “Pikselipölyä” that was written in Finnish. The name can be translated to something like “pixel dust”. I don’t think this book has been translated or even available outside Finland but it was an interesting book that I borrowed from a library. In where I live we have very nice libraries. There are many of them and they have lots of new and good books to borrow. I like it a lot.

So, Mafia was recommended in that book. The game was first released on PlayStation 2. Also, in the book, it was mentioned that the Definitive Edition, the remake, would be a better opportunity if you can choose the version that you want to play. I didn’t have the game for PS2. So, I just bought the whole Mafia Trilogy collection of Mafia games. I have only played Mafia – The Old Country.

Mafia – Definitive Edition offers straight from the beginning some driving, shooting and very much discussion between the other characters and the main character. From the beginning you are starting to wonder why would a person like to work in a mafia. Well, there are some reasons why the main character just ends up on a mafias payroll. So, the plot starts to form from the early moments in this game.

There might be some other games that many gamers are playing right now. Forza Horizon 6 was released under two weeks ago. There was the new Bond game released just some days ago. The game is titled “007 – First Light”. I just yesterday watched some content on YouTube about the new Bond game. It was said that it is very good as a video game. Many of us are already also waiting for the next Grand Theft Auto Game – GTA VI. Well, I don’t care so much about actually playing games that are somewhat straight from the oven so to say. I just like to play any good game that I have missed and haven’t put so much time in. This makes my mind pretty much why would I want to play a game like the first game in the Mafia series. I might play the second or the third game next. I really don’t know yet.

Since there are so many good games out there you really have to try and think what to play next. I do, as you might notice from the blog post that I wrote yesterday, play some retro games also. I like to play some PS2 games and also Mega Drive games. I end up casually playing some good games also for NES and SNES with not forgetting PS1 games. Sometimes I like to escape the limitations and when I feel that kind of a sense I turn to some more modern games. In this way I can really see how the technology and also the design of video games has improved.

I could go on about some movies that are going to be available soon in 4K disc format (the next Avatar and also the Silent Hill movie) or tell you about how it uplifted my moods to see Finland win Canada yesterday in ice hockey’s World Championships but I think this is enough from me right now. See you next time my dear reader!

Aladdin (Sega Mega Drive)

Posted on by Viljami

Aladdin is a very good Sega Mega Drive game. It isn’t a long one but it surely is of a good quality. It only takes about two to three hours to complete. This is what we were actually used to back in the beginning of the 90s. So, I am writing this whole blog post about this game Aladdin.

As there have been some discussion about the release of Neo Geo console I have to make a brief comparison of these systems. Sega Mega Drive as a gaming console had a completely different strategy if compared to Neo Geo. The latter one seemed to invest in power and also had a higher price. Mega Drive was competing with Nintendo’s NES and was a whole lot cheaper gaming system. This also meant that the games weren’t as impressive graphically. This did also mean that Mega Drive was available to more consumers and was way more popular than Neo Geo.

Sega Mega Drive is also very important to me personally. I do have today maybe 40 games for this system. I do have also still every game that our family had when I was kid back in the 90s. I have kept them and haven’t sold any of them. I also have the console which is replaced in my gaming setup by Retro Trio since it you can play also SNES and NES, and also Master System and Game Boy games with the adapters I own, games. This way my setup doesn’t take so much space. I sometimes use real hardware and sometimes I play games with an emulator. I do buy games for Mega Drive at times and Aladdin is one these games that I have bought.

I remember buying Aladdin for a decent price. I think it was 40 or 60 euros. And this was already maybe two years ago. It might be difficult to try to find the actual physical copy of the game from a web shop. It is a bit of a rare game although it isn’t the rarest of all Mega Drive games. What really makes some games expensive is if they are good games and if there have been only a low amount of copies produced in the first place.

Aladdin as a video game gives everything that a Mega Drive game can give. The 2D graphics look beautiful on the system. The game is all about slight problem solving combined with platformer elements and some moments of action. The main character can jump and sling his sword at the enemy characters that usually take maybe three or four hits and then they disappear. There is a lot of jumping and path finding. The game play fits perfectly for Mega Drive’s original pad that only has three buttons along with the start button and the directional buttons.

I can definitely recommend Aladdin if you like games from this era. Playing this game is a must if you love Disney’s Mega Drive games. There was this certain appeal in these two-dimensional environments. The graphics look very nice. The game doesn’t last but only two to three hours as I already mentioned in this blog post.

Today is Saturday and it is also the time for schools to shut down for the summer vacation times here in Finland. I do remember when I was that young. It has been a long time. I also do have a summer vacation. It is for four weeks. In Finland it is common to have a long summer break be it that you were a student or an employee. I know that it is common in USA to take only a two weeks break at maximum per year. This is how different some things are if you compare USA and Finland. This is actually my 400th post to this blog!

Prices of Some Retro Games Are Very High

Posted on by Viljami

Prices are high. I bought this copy of Silent Hill 3 for PS2 that is now on this blog posts featured image for 30 euros back in 2017. Now the price is on a popular Finnish gaming webshop is 130 euros. The condition is promised to be OK and the game includes also the box and manual. So, the price has gone up 100 euros in just nine years. That’s pretty high price for this PS2 retro game.

Silent Hill games are expensive today. I saw a copy of Silent Hill – Shattered Memories for PS2 sold for 500 euros. Prices of Silent Hill games aren’t the only ones that are currently very high. I have taken notice that especially PS2 games prices have been ricing recently. It is very common to see a PS2 game to be sold for a price of hundreds of euros. This makes me think how good of a value actually these games have. They are PS2 games after all. They aren’t some beautiful big box releases or even “collectors editions”. They are just your regular PS2 games packaged in a some plastic box.

I have also noticed that many people are trying to get some profit out of buying a retro game for cheap from flea market and then selling it for a high price. So, you just cannot expect to see a lot of cheap games on sale in flea markets anymore. The flea markets are also very popular right now. You almost cannot find games there. That makes you to go to look for games in these gaming shops.

I do appreciate that there are so many of these game shops also here in Finland. I very rarely order anything from outside of my home country since it is a bit difficult to make an order. It is way easier for me to buy a video game from Finland. Althought there are many game shops that offer service outside  of my home country also. I am just not so familiar with them.

There are also the options that are available when you use something like emulation. This has been a very hot area of discussion recently. The game shops make some money selling used games. However the publisher or developer of the actual game doesn’t receive any income from a purchase of a used game. So, many times no body even cares about profits. There isn’t a way to buy the game so it ends up being something that is called abandon ware.

When a game is abandon ware it is even legally all right for everyone involved that you actually can download a copy if one is available for free. There are some very good websites that offer these games and they can be downloaded. I have to mention “My Abandonware” that holds some old PC games. Also be sure to check out “Vimms Lair”. They have a huge collection of retro console games. Just write these titles of websites as a search to your favorite search engine. I don’t like to provide direct links to almost any content here.

Vimms Lair actually has every popular video game console games as something referred to as roms. There are present every console from Atari 2600 and NES to as new as PS3 and/or Xbox 360. You do need an emulator for your chosen gaming platform. Setting up an emulator on your PC setup might seem a bit tricky but if you are a knowledgeable person you can get it to work. You can even go as far as installing an operating system dedicated to retro gaming.

These are my thoughts about prices of some retro games. I have to mention that I am thinking, maybe not so seriously, about turning this blog to a paid one. How would that fit in your life as a gamer? We will have to see how this matter progresses.