Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Category: History of Gaming

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.

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.

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.

Some of The Limitations of 16-bit Era

Posted on by Viljami

I have recently stumbled on to two great games that were first published for the 16-bit game console era. The first game I am going to mention here is Turtles – The Hyperstone Heist. It was originally released for Sega Mega Drive in 1992. You can also play it from the collection of Turtles games that was just released a while ago. I am talking about The Cowabunga Collection. You can pick it up for 40 euros from Xbox Store if you want to.

The other game that made me think about the topic we are going to go through here is Super Castlevania IV. It was released for SNES in the 90s. There were three Castlevania games released for NES before this fourth game was released. This is a good video game that has action and also some mediium level puzzles that the player has to solve. The Hyperstone Heist is basically a “beat-em-up” in just the way that you could imagine a Mega Drive fighting game to look, feel and sound like. Actually we can say that it reminds a lot of Streets of Rage games.

These two games do offer a challenge for a gamer. They are both great games. It just seems to me that these games have some sort of limitations. They are over 30 year old games after all. What are these limitations? That seems to be the reason for me to write something like this. Lets go over some points that I am right now thinking about.

Back in 1990s you didn’t have a way to save your game. So, as a starting point the games were designed to be played in a one session. In Super Castlevania IV there is a password option. Before anyone even had an idea of some sort of a memory card, that were later commonly used in gaming consoles, passwords were a way for a player to continue playing the game even after you had powered off your console. The issue was that lasting memory was expensive. The consoles did have sort of memory but it wasn’t for means to save a game.

Some limitations could be circled with clever game design and programming. Game designers had to know the console they were developing the game for very well. I don’t have a clear idea of what programming language was actually used but I am guessing the code that was used was sort of C and/or pure assembly code. You shouldn’t underestimate the talent that game developers back then had.

Why is the era called “The 16-bit Era”? What this basically means is that everything from background graphics to sound effects would have had to be in 16-bit format for the processor to be able to handle them. This was a huge step from using only 8-bits. Some 8-bit consoles include Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System. 16-bit consoles include at least Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. What this also means is that graphics were more detailed and sounds and background music also. Later there were even 32-bit and 64-bit consoles released but they did belong to other and newer console generations.

The music that had to be compressed is today called “Chip Tune”. This music genre has its roots in as deep as Commodore 64. You can enjoy many music tracks of this genre online. You can try your luck and trying to find something interesting. If you’re interested just make a search with this genre as a search term.

You know back in 1990s we didn’t have 3D modeling in our video and computer games. Instead there were animations that were created using sprite sheets. They were basically some 2D images that were sort of rotated to create a feel of constant graphical flow. We could have a character in our game that had a way to display which way it was currently running. This is one significant limitation. Although you can’t really compare these two ways to create graphical output since they can create very different kinds of results.

You had way less going on while you were playing. Do you know these modern action RPGs? They handle and use a way more data than game consoles did in the 90s. This is one limitation. The last limitation that I am going to mention here is the quality, or maybe the lack of it, when it comes to controllers and game pads. If you are playing on an original system this can be a serious limitation.

There are many ways to play these games of 16-bit era. You can get your hands on an original and physical copy of the game and the console. You can download an emulator, a game file (actually not so “legit”) and connect a USB game pad to your PC. You can also get a collection, like Cowabunga one, for your modern gaming console be it Series S/X, PS4/PS5 or Switch,

What Are Some Reasons to Play Older Games?

Posted on by Viljami

First it has to be said that there are many reasons to play also older, or to use the right term, retro games. In this blog post I am going to explain and give some reasons that I and many others still play so to say old games. While there are many reasons to still play these games there are also reasons to play the newest games instead.

There are many things that have advanced in gaming technology. Happenings are processed more quickly since there is more memory to be used. Also, we have seen larger games. They contain more details. They have more complex scenery. These worlds offer even larger areas to be explored. The artificial intelligence of other characters than the main character has been improving.

This of course has a huge effect on what is actually happening while a player plays a video game. The game processes more data. The input of the player is analyzed more thoroughly. Some old games offer some nice game design solutions and today many game developers can make use of what was already designed in a game maybe even thirty or forty years ago. While technology has advanced also we have to remember some of these good solutions that old games had and still have.

One reason to go back to older games is of course the nostalgic feel that you get while playing a game that you have some memories with. You clearly remember the first time you started playing a game. You get the first reaction that you had and it reminds you of the feel that you had back then. The game hasn’t changed but your situation does have. The last time I had this kind of feeling was while I was playing Sonic Origins Plus. I got caught into nostalgic feel when I started playing the first Sonic The Hedgehog game. It was a huge game and also a huge character for Sega, The year that I first played this game was, I think, 1993. It brings back so many memories.

What about the way that we get to play retro games? It is a huge advantage to older game if it is easy to play it. I am talking of course about the importance of backwards compatibility. I have this way that I organize all my games. I keep these games in these two shelves that I am actually able to play with any console I have. I keep my other games in a storage. I do this because I think it is not so reasonable to keep games visible that I am not even able to play. Sometimes I like to demonstrate a game for someone visiting our home and sometimes a visitor picks up some game that he or she would like to play. And of course I myself can pick any game that I would like to play.

If you want to play retro games you have two different ways to do it. These ways are using original hardware or using an emulator. There has been a lot of conversation about emulation. I am not going to talk about so much of is emulating even legal or anything else like that. Lets just say that it is an option. Some think it is totally illegal and in a way it is. On the other hand preserving older games can be very valuable. After all we have to some way keep in touch with our video game history.

I have many gaming consoles in my setup. One part of my gaming setup has been already for some years these cool mini consoles. There have been mini consoles available for devices like PlayStation 1, NES, SNES and Mega Drive along with systems like C-64. You could of course just download an emulator for your PC and play these games but… Is it legit or legal? After all you are paying for something very interesting and valuable right here. The problem is that there just isn’t a mini console available made from all gaming systems. For example we are currently missing original Xbox and Sega Dreamcast mini console.

We talk on and on about what is the right way to play our retro games. I think the most important issue is that there has to be a connection between the old world of video games and the new world of video games. We have to somehow document our past. There are just so many games that game designers can take influences from. I think that it is a value for a game designer to know a lot about games. Of course if you know good games you can also design good games, right? You know the logic and what appeals to gamers.

Think about John Romero, one of makers of the classic FPS game, Doom. I mean, he started with playing old games in arcades. He played hundreds of hours of Pacman. He also had influences from Dungeons and Dragons, NES, SNES and Mega Drive games. And look what id Software did with Doom. It definitely revolutionized the way that we consume video games even today. Some games of this same era are Diablo and NHL 94.

So, it might not be possible to play every retro game. Do we have what it takes to document our video game history? Who has the power and responsibility to pass on these important lessons to our younger generation that doesn’t recognize all these older games? There can definitely be something to learn form them. While modern systems have the most power they also need the design. That’s where older games come into play.

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