Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Category: Modern

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.

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.

Split Second – A Good Driving Game from 2010

Posted on by Viljami

I recently bought Split Second for my Xbox Series X as a digital copy. It was a cheap game (I bought it for about ten euros). I actually have played this game earlier but the platform was PC. I remembered having a great time with this game so I decided to grab it.

Split Second reminds me of Burnout 3 – Takedown. The gameplay has been adjusted. You don’t actually try to crash other vehicles. Instead you trigger some trap type of obstacles in your opponents way so that they will crash. You get power to trigger these traps by following close at your opponents tail or by drifting while you are driving in a corner.

I have to say that Split Second isn’t a perfect game. It has its flaws. Then again what game today wouldn’t have some disappointing features? The driving can’t be considered a simulation. It is actually very much like playing an arcade game. It is also already a bit outdated with its graphical presentation. This game was originally released for Xbox 360 and PC and surely also for PS3. So, I have played this video game for PC and Xbox 360.

This game reminds me of a somewhat better era for video gamers. Back in 2010 these games were easy to get into and also easier to complete finally. Every game released weren’t as ambitious commercially and in terms of how addicted gamers would become to the game that was in question. I kind of miss those days. We had way more games released. I think that every game can’t be a masterpiece. Every game cannot be a legendary one.

As there are fewer games being released and more money involved in the development process we are getting this clear picture of the state of this industry. Game developers might be aiming too high. At least thats how I feel. Well, maybe we will get some support in this matter from some indie developers.

One thing we can also have a debate about is how Nintendo has managed to get its console, Nintendo Switch, to be such a success. Switch is currently the most sold gaming console ever. It is soon passing PS2. I think its pricing and these good quality games that this platform seems to have have given this gaming device the success that it does currenlty have. Are you waiting for Switch 2? It is rumored that it will have a backwards compatibility with current Switch and also that it might not be such a powerful system when comes to pure technical performance.

As you can imagine I did play Split Second a bit over ten years ago with my PC. I have the game also as a physical copy. I have the frigging DVD disc! It is almost frightening to see these DVD boxes in my video game shelf. They are something that collectors do not wish to have. Do you have a DVD drive still in your PC? I do have, but actually I have disconnected the power supply from it. I did this partly accidentally as I had to change some parts to my desktop PC a while ago. I just haven’t had the time to try to connect the power again to the DVD drive. Actually I have also an external DVD drive that I can connect to my PC through USB. The main point of this paragraph must be that PC has been a digital platform for several years alreaady. What I mean is that if you buy a PC game you propably buy a digital copy of it.

There are plenty of good Xbox 360 and even some original Xbox games available in the digital store of Xbox. I actually bought three games just the other day for 21 euros. If you are into Xbox 360 gaming I highly recommend getting your hands on these games. It is a very good option for buying the physical game from a game store. And of course you might just have an only digital gaming console. Digital gaming seems to be more and more popular as the provess does progress.

Latest New Games That I Added to My Collection

Posted on by Viljami

So, this is a blog post about latest new games that I added to my collection of video games. I got these for cheap prices. I bought Lords of the Fallen and Dying Light 2 for Xbox Series X and Batman – Arkham Knight for PS4. I am not going to go so close to how much these games did cost. I am such a person that values a cheap price. I often find myself thinkinh about a game if its in a very good sale.

As you might see I haven’t yet opened the seal of Dying Light 2 and Batman – Arkham Knight. Sometimes unopened games can have a better selling price if you are selling them to someone after many years. However I am not planning to sell these. I am going to play these two games when I have time.

The game that I have played for about four hours is Lords of the Fallen. It is an action role-playing-game with smooth looking 3D environment. The camera is positioned as a 3rd person view. Gameplay is versatile and I think after playing already four hours I still haven’t managed to get a full grip of all of the controls and features that it offers. This is a very nice game and I hope to be able to play it some more later.

I have recently bought many retro games. It is also nice to buy new games for alternation. I am lucky as my PS4 seems to be working. I wonder if it’s going to break and I think some day it actually will. I hope it would last for many years. I’ve had a bad luck with my original Xbox and PS2 consoles and I found that they are not so durable after all these years. It has to be mentioned that these devices are over twenty years old. I wonder also if they have such a good quality after all. Maybe newer consoles last better in frequent use. At least I hope they do.

Dying Light 2 has had some reviews that have been positive. Everyone just doesn’t consider it to be a good game at all. I have played the first Dying Light game and I didn’t enjoy it so much. I stumbled on this copy of the sequel and since it was sold at half price I thought I could buy it after all.

Batman – Arkham Knight for PS4 was sold at a price of twenty euros. It is a re-release as PlayStation Hits. If a game gets re-released it propably tells you something about how it has managed to get an audience and how well it has sold. I think this one can be also a very good game to play. It is a bit older game (but not a retro game, at least yet).

All-in-all I am content in these new games that I have bought. I like to buy games that I like and am able to play. My collection keeps slowly growing. I like to keep games that I have bought in my collection even if I have already completed them. Some games I store in my gaming shelf and some games I have to put in to separate storage that I have. So I have some consoles and games positioned nicely for the collection to be visible also to some friends that come to visit our home.

Hades

Posted on by Viljami

Hades is an action role-playing-game that was published for Xbox Series X in 2021 after being released also already for Switch and Windows back in 2020. It isn’t currently one of the latest games but since it was priced very nicely (I paid only 19 euros for the physical copy) and there were news in this Finnish gaming magazine, Pelaaja, about the next Hades game, Hades II, to be released soon, I decided to pick this game and start to go through it.

Hades borrows elements from different role-playing-games. You don’t actually gather experience points. You buy upgrades that will help you to finally complete the game. You can have different strategies along your way. I have played Hades for almost thirty hours now and I have reached the final boss of the whole game only once. There is a certain need for luck in your guest. Also you play the game you get to understand how the different enemies take action and you learn how you can defeat them more easily. One of the key matters is your level of health. You have to try to dodge your enemies when they are trying to get you.

While the story is not so deep Hades does offer a lot to play. You do die often but when the game progresses you get longer runs eventually. Hades takes some time to learn to play. so you understand how the enemies take their action and when is the proper moment to try to hit them with your weapon. There are many different weapons to choose from. You first have to unlock them and then you will get to choose which one do you prefer. I ended up using the type that reminds me of a rail gun. It can shoot twelve times, quickly, and then you have to reload. You can also shoot a grenade that makes lots of damage. My main way to try to complete this game has been to try to get a weapon upgrade that triples the damage and also makes you vulnerable to the grenade. There are many other upgrades for weapons available and you can also unlock features that make you get a nice upgrade more likely.

Hades has very nice controls in overall. It is a very nice and fun game to play when you get the hang of it. The graphics are made to remind of some cartoons. Of course I have to say that all of the characters take deep influences from Greek mythology. Many characters that help the main character as the story progresses are actually sort of gods. I just had a conversation about this game with my friend and we talked about if this game is actually a three dimensional one or not. I don’t have a clear answer to this. The graphics look nice and they work very well.

You will also get a code with your physical copy of Hades so you can download the soundtrack of the game. The music in Hades feels nice while not having any deeper relation. I am saying that the music has an effect but it isn’t actually in the center where everything happens in this game. There are just so many other elements in this game that hold your attention. Music is nice but not so appealing. I have to say that for example in games like Burnout 3 Takedown or the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater the music had a very important role and this is just not the case with Hades.

You get to move a lot while you try to dodge the attacks of the enemies. You have to time your attacks well so you can be victorious. You progress through the levels. There is an enemy boss that you have to defeat after every level until you finally get to battle with the main boss of the whole game. It is of course the Hades. So the whole game is about trying to escape from your father’s home. After you finally loose your life you will have to start from the first level, again. The game consists of these runs. I have now had almost one hundred runs that are also attempts to escape.

This is a very good game. If I would have to say something negative I would say that it seems in a way a bit repetitive as a game and it has only a few levels. It does give you a lot to play. After all I do have spent almost thirty hours playing it. The game mechanics and the way that you handle the main character are very good. This all makes Hades a very pleasant game to try to beat and also to play.

Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I completed Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare. This game is actually from 2007. It is the fourth game in the series. It brought the player from WWII to some more recent activity. The weapons are, well, more modern. You get to feel some exciting and thrilling moments as nuclear missiles are about to be launched.

Somehow all this talk about warfare and it being modern is a bit tasteless. It just feels more comfortable, at least for me, to play in the scenery and weapons of the second worldwar instead of playing a game like Call of Duty 4. It isn’t a bad game. That’s not the case. I just prefer older warfare.

I played this game with my Xbox Series X. It is originally released for Xbox 360 (among other platforms). This is a great example how you can take an old game, that”s not yet type of a retro game, but still somewhat legendary, and utilize Xbox’s backwards compatibility. The game doesn’t cost a lot at the moment. Of course you can try to find a cheap used copy from your favorite flee market (just like I did when I bought this game).

The game doesn’t really stand out. It is of good quality just like you would expect a CoD game to be like. There is a Call of Duty game released almost every year. It’s kind of amazing that this has been going on for so long. The graphics have come a long way since 2007. Otherwise I don’t find a reason to complain.

HowLongToBeat tells that it takes seven hours to complete Call of Duty 4. That seems accurate. I think that is exactly how long it took for me to play through the campaing in “Regular” difficulty level. I have played a lot of Call of Duty. So, selecting “Casual” as my difficulty level was really not a question. There is actually a short test at the beginning of the game that gives you an advice if you are wondering about the matter of difficulty level.

Call of Duty games can be exeperienced with a keyboard and a mouse or with a game pad. Of course the first mentioned method of play is only an option if you have this game for PC. Of course you have to own a PC to experience the game like this. I didn’t consider a whole lot. I chose game pad and Xbox Series X just because it feels, today, more comfortable to me. It has been a while since I played a first person shooter with a mouse and a keyboard.

I might write, in the next blog post, about John Romero’s book, Doom Guy, that I have almost finished. The book has been very interesting to read. As Romero goes about his life you get to read also some tips and ideas of what was game development like back in 1990s and even later.

As you might have figured I like to play these Xbox 360 games with my Xbox Series X. It a bit sad that the backwards comaptibility is actually supported on so few titles. We are talking about 633 games out of all 2 155 games that were released. Also the support for original Xbox covers only 63 titles out of 998 released games. You can probably find some of these games also as digital copies.

I actually had some sort of an idea to buy PS5 since I heard that it was sold for only 500 euros. The version of PS5 that you can play only digital copies of games was sold for 400 euros. Since I already have the latest Xbox console along with the latest, at this moment, latest, Nintendo console, I figured that getting also PS5 would be somewhat pointless. And you have to remember that Switch 2, or whatever name the device will finally have, propably gets released during 2025.

What I Have Been Doing Lately?

Posted on by Viljami

It has been a while already since my latest blog post. So, I decided to write something here about some things I have been spending some time with. First of all it has been already some weeks since I bought the latest Paper Mario game for Nintendo Switch. The games title is Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door. I have played it for about 20 hours.

I finished reading a book by Rick Rubin about creativity. I read the book in Finnish but the book is available also in English. I can definitely recommend this book for you to read. It was an easy and a quick read although it was over 400 pages long.

Another book, that is more closely related to gaming and that I have also been reading is John Romero’s Doom Guy. It is an interesting story of life of John Romero. I have read maybe 100 pages now. The book is interesting and it goes through the life of Romero. It brings to my mind another book that tells about creators of the FPS game Doom. This book is titled Masters of Doom.

I am also going to get into System Shock. I bought this game for Xbox Series X at the same time that I ordered Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door. I figured that I could play this game after I have completed the Paper Mario game. It can take a while. I checked online and discovered that it takes about 31 hours to complete. So, there is a lot of playing to do.

I kind of like how Nintendo Switch’s feels like to play right now. While it isn’t the most powerful gaming console on this generation of gaming devices it definitely has its edge. There are many nice games and these games are available only for Switch. The way that you can switch the Switch’s mode from playing it on a television screen to playing it as a handheld device feels just nice. There has been some conversation about the next Nintendo’s gaming console. It might not be as powerful as some other new consoles.  Nintendos Switch was released in 2017. I also have a Nintendo Switch Lite but I prefer playing with this regular Switch type of console.

I also have a Xbox Series S in my storage. It might be worth trading but I think I would only get maybe 150 euros for it if I would trade it. And I would have to spend that amount of money for buying some games. I have been a bit lazy with getting rid of old gaming hardware. Also I am a bit more careful about this because I have made some decisions on selling my old consoles that I have had to regret.

I have laid my eyes now also on PS5. I am looking at the digital version. It currently costs 400 euros. I just don’t have any more room for my setup. So, it seems that I am not going to buy this device. But I have to tell you that this was what I was first saying about Xbox Series S just some weeks before I actually bought it. The Series S was a bit cheaper. It cost back then around 310 euros.

Some Good Xbox 360 Games That Can Be Played on Xbox Series X

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I introduce to you some Xbox 360 games that can be played on a Xbox Series X. As you might have noticed there are plenty of used Xbox 360 games available. This might be a good time to buy some of these games. They don’t cost so much.

Now, every Xbox 360 game is not compatible with the latest Xbox which of course is at least at the moment Xbox Series X. There are many games available as a digital copy. They also don’t cost too much. So, if you prefer digital just go ahead and get maybe some of these five titles that I have in this featured image of this blog post.

I don’t like to buy games that I can’t play. That is why I have removed some Xboc 360 games that aren’t compatible with Xbox Series X from my gaming shelf. How do you know which games are supported? I use this list that is featured on Wikipedia. Just make a search with your favorite search engine with the words: “xbox 360 games compatible with xbox series x” or something similar and you will find the list. It holds currently 633 games out of every 2155 games that were ever released for Xbox 360.

So, when I am browsing a list of some game shops Xbox 360 titles available on-line I go and check every time I come across an interesting game. I check if the game is compatible or not. Since this list is ordered alphabetically it is very easy to check if the game is actually compatible.

These games don’t cost so much. Xbox 360 was released back in 2005 so these games are not the newest ones out there. They actually aren’t retro games also. They seem to be these very good games that are beginning to get old and might be forgotten somewhere in the near future. So, it must be important to just remember how good games they actually were. Who is there to stop you from playing them?

Another fact about these games is that they don’t take a whole lot of disk space. You can install a game and it takes only about 10 GB of space from your gaming console. There are hundreds of games like these available. So, what games should you choose?

Here in this picture I have five games that have been very popular. These aren’t hard to find. There are plenty of copies available that you can buy from a gaming shop that you like to buy games from. Here in this image I have Gears of War, Alan Wake, Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare, Red Dead Redemption and Bully – Scholarship Edition.

Now I can remember that I didn’t pay above 15 euros of any of these games. These are all popular and very good games. I encourage you to check the prices from your local game shop or maybe from some online game store. I once bought maybe ten or fifteen games as a bunch since there was a nice discount for original Xbox and Xbox 360 games. And you must remember also that some original Xbox games are also comaptible with Xbox Series X.

So, there you have it. This small set of games might just be what you could be palying next on your Xbox Series X or maybe also on Xbox Series S as a digital copy. These games are cheap. They are not remakes. They are not new games. They are just something that you might want to own in a near future.

Every Gaming System Is Unique

Posted on by Viljami

I have a gaming setup in my living room (or maybe “gaming room”) currently that has total of 8 gaming consoles. Some of these devices are old and some of them are more recent. I have a Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X that represent a more recent of a gaming system. I do have retro consoles also.

These are Sega Mega Drive Mini, PSOne and Retro Trio Plus. The last-mentioned is capable to support Mega Drive, NES and SNES games. I have also some adpaters that enable a gaming system like Master System or Game Boy to be played. I have also PS3 and a PS4 in my current setup. I almost forgot my Nintendo GameCube.

Here we are getting some kind of an idea of my gaming setup. The idea was to ponder on how every gaming system is unique. This comes in mind when you are thinking about game controllers. Every system has its own kind of a controlling device. NES has a very edgy controller while PSOne functions with a DualShock 2 controller that is originally a PS2 game pad. It is nice to have this kind of a compatibility between PS1 and PS2.

Some devices have backwards compatibility with games or some accessories. Nintendo Wii is a very special gaming console. It has this sort of a “magic wand” that you operate and control your games with. Wii is also backwards compatible with a legendary gaming system – GameCube. I liked the last-mentioned better and even went as far as replacing my Wii with GameCube in my setup of gaming consoles.

Some games can be expensive. While it seems to be a good idea to run some sort of an emulation gaming system there is one particular question that comes to mind: What controller should you use? There are two approaches to this matter. You can change your controller to support any gaming system or you can go with the latest and best controller for any gaming system that you are emulating.

You can think about a gaming system and consider how powerful it is. Every device cannot be as powerful as some newer device. If you want the most powerful system you should get yourself a PC. There are however many other matters that take count when you consider about which gaming system you prefer to play your favorite games with.

How is Switch able to compete with Series X and/or PS5? The gaming library can be one matter. Nintendo has games that feature characters like Super Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Kirby. Of course these games aren’t going to be released for these competing consoles. What Switch lacks in power it makes up in originality, design and content of its games.

Some factors that make game consoles unique have to do with their part in the history of video games. Technology is always improving. We are moving on all the time. We hear every day gaming people talk about what would be the newest console to appear in the markets. We have already heard about Switch 2 and PS6. What does the future hold for us gamers? We can only wait and see.

We have dealt with different gaming consoles. Some of these facts that make a system unique can be summarized are the design of the controller, library of games that are available, performance and raw power and backwards, or any other, compatibility between other gaming consoles.

I collect and play old and new games. It is a very tempting thought and I have already considered to just install an operating system like Lakka OS (or some other OS) to a device like Raspberry Pi 5 or maybe on an old desktop PC that I do have laying around in my home. In this way it would be possible to play many games from many devices. Physical copies can be pricy at times.

Game consoles are usually sold for cheap price. Companies like Sony manufactor these devices and sell them with a loss just to increase the console base world wide. Then they release games for the system. Games are where these companies get most of their profit from. This makes it a definitive fact that games do in a way make the gaming system to be also kind of unique. What do you think?

NBA 2K24 Is a Disappointment

Posted on by Viljami

I bought NBA 2K24 as it was in discount. I paid 22 euros for the Switch edition. I already knew that the Switch version has some limitations. So, the graphics could be better. There were also some other issues. I know that it also takes some time to develop your player so that it is comfortable to play with the character you have just created.

NBA 2K24 is the latest in the series of good quality basketball games. There is lots of expectations. I think this game is very much a disappointment. The main reason I am actually saying this is that it just doesn’t feel like a fun and enjoyable game to play. It pretty much offers the same as earlier games in this series. I really think that the developers of this game should have made a better game.

I really don’t know if the game offers something more in a long run. I mean that I spend a bit over five hours playing this. What I experienced was not satisfying. My player is awkward. He doesn’t know how to score. He takes some rebounds but that’s all he does well. How many hours of this miserable playing do I have to go through to really at some point enjoy this game?

So, my player is weird. His shot release is awful. He feels a bit clunky. The movement is slow. I don’t even want to talk about trying to make the freethrows not to mention three-point-shots. I know that you can enjoy and keep playing this game, or a quite similar one from the past, for several hundreds of hours. But…this isn’t a game that I am willing to play for such a long time.

So, I think I am going to quit playing this game. I think I paid too much for this one. I don’t know if there is going to be some sort of an update or not. I am very glad that I didn’t pay any more of this kind of junk.

I also got another game from discount with this same delivery. This game is Assassins Creed Mirage for Xbox Series X. I paid 25 euros for this game. I hope I find it more enjoyable than NBA 2K24. Assassins Creed Mirage has received better reviews than NBA 2K24. Somehow my hopes aren’t that high.

I have also some games that I haven’t had time to get into. I just have to find some more time for these. The games are Dead Space (Remake), Hogwarts Legacy and Sonic Frontiers. I also haven’t touched Alan Wake II yet. I am waiting also for the new System Shock. These games that I have mentioned here in this paragraph are all Xbox Series X games.

So, some games can be sort of a disappointment and this sadly is the case for NBA 2K24. Some of these big releases seem to fail at times. That is of course natural. I can imagine how much money is envolved. This surely is a disappointment financially also. We are looking forward for more gaming experiences. I hope we get to see some more good quality games this year and also int he near future. Stay tuned…

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