Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Category: Modern

Game Inside a Web Browser

Posted on by Viljami

As I first started getting into modern personal computers back in 2000s I first learned HTML. I eventually learned also some CSS. I didn’t learn JavaScript or PHP back then and it seemed like a tough deal for me. I didn’t get into “real” programming in years. It was 2010 when I coded my first tiny applications with Java.

Java is hard to combine with HTML and CSS but learning to code with it helped me to get into JavaScript and also actually PHP later. During my studies I also learned something about MySQL and about databases in general. JavaScript is a versatile language. It can be used in backend (Node.js) or frontend (for example React. You can also use plain JavaScript for frontend).

I actually wasn’t able to combine as effectively as possible my studies and my experiences with HTML and CSS in 2000s. But now it’s 2022 and I can’t help to still be curious about how these things called web browsers handle themselves (or actually, how do they work).

I have been reading a lot about different techniques of how to produce a web application. I don’t have currently a project that I could showcase in job application. I am still learning. I want to learn as much as possible and go through in my mind all this theory that there is. Working with solving different end users problems also helps me to achieve this. It can in best case bring some new knowledge for me. It definitely helps me to develop myself.

But how do things really work inside the browser? Basically you have ways to display shapes that have different colors, texts and images. You can read in the users input from a keyboard or a gamepad. You can ahve commands and buttons that make the user to interact. The possibilities are almost limitless. You can even bring 3D graphics to your web browser.

What can you do, if you find these sorts of things interesting? I would say that building website or two will help you to get started. Don’t set your goal too high. I for example have come up with several different prototypes of games and some of them have been based on JavaScript and HTML and CSS. Start with something small and keep building. It might help if you team up with some talents that can help you with the game, like for example a 3d modeler or a musician.

I would have started to write a paragraph about techniques that you can use when developing a game to be played in a web browser but I think I have already introduced all of them. Having a game inside a browser enables you to play and deliver the game for many platforms. Is there a device, that cannot run a website on it? I think there actually isn’t.

You have so many ways to start building your game that runs on for example Firefox. This might not be your future profession but it sure is a nice hobby. I am saying this because I’ve myself had a ahrd time in trying to be employed as a Full Stack Developer. The competition is tough. But start with HTML, CSS and maybe even JavaScript, and soon you will understand how these things work.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Posted on by Viljami

So there is a new remake of Silent Hill 2 in the makings. I was thinking that in this post I wouldn’t go so deeply into what is coming for us gamers but I thought I should write something I feel about this series of survival horror magnifiency that Silent Hill has delivered and what is my relationship with it.

My first memories are about the first game of this series. I think I never owned the game. I did play a short demo of it. I liked it. Later I have played it but I never completely finished it. The latest connections between me and Silent Hill are made by playing PS3. I own the HD collection and also Silent Hill Homecoming. I had Downpour but I decided some years back to sell it. I also have Silent Hill 3 for PS2.

There is always a comparison between Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Both of them are survival horror games. They do differ a lot. While Resident Evil offers a constant feel of anxiety, Silent Hill does take you deeper into characters and how they feel and how the story keeps forming. I wouldn’t like to say that Silent Hill is in some way better or worse. Instead I would like to think that they are just different games. And they are good series of games all in all.

My history with Resident Evil is a lot closer. I started with Resident Evil 2 on PS1. I have completed also RE 1, RE 3 and RE 5. I almost completed RE Revelations and I am talking about the first in the series of two games. So I have some experience but I am not the master that has completed every game and every game in the whole world. There are lots of games in these series’s.

Silent Hill 2 is definitely a legendary game. Currently we know that it will be released for PS5 and PC. There will be no Xbox or Switch versions. There has been also some conversation about the game’s system requirements. They are going to be high. What is there to be for us? I think the time will show us. I am waiting to see something more out of this game.

Some Games I Haven’t Had Time to Play

Posted on by Viljami

Here I introduce to you some games that I haven’t had time to play. I have made many purchases just the last year. There are many games that just keep piling on my shelf. And I mean that these are very good games. Some of them are old, but they are definitely gold. You could call them “retro”.

Take for example the first Grand Theft Auto that I have for Playstation 1. It’s a great game even with some retroish graphics on it. The concept was revolutionary. Basically you just run around completing missions, stealing and driving different cars and just getting points for destroying the environment.

I have to tell you something about GTA. It wasn’t at first meant to be the kind of a game it is. I think the developers were at first aiming for a regular driving game. In the midst of the development process someone had an idea and they actually changed the direction of gameplay completely.

That’s enough about GTA for this blog post. I have also some Xbox 360 titles here. I was curious about Condemned as it is a horror and I think it is a survival horror game. And I do like survival horror games. Take Resident Evil for example. I just love it!

Other Xbox 360 games in my list of the games I haven’t got time to play are Colin McRae Dirt 2, that is a solid and high quality rally game, and Rockstar’s legendary game Bully. Did you know that the idea for Bully came originally from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. I think it was the third game, THPS 3, that featured this character that was actually called “Bully”. So, they built a whole new game around this idea.

I of course have some games for latest gaming consoles I have purchased. There is one Swithc game here on my list. It is Crash Bandicoot – It’s About Time that is the fourth game in this series. The first three games of this series were originally released for PS1. Sadly, I haven’t had time to play this one.

We have still four games that we haven’t dealt yet in this post. They are Xbox One or Xbox Series X games. Fallout 4 is definitely something that would demand my attention for tens or even hundreds of hours. I know it’s a fricking good game. Damn, I have to find time for it!

I recently bought Back 4 Blood for Xbox Series X. It got my attention when it was published. I was about to buy it then but another FPS came to my way. That was Call Of Duty Vanguard. I figured that I don’t want to get too games that are similar.

We have two games left. The first one is GTA – The Trilogy that has three GTA games on it. I wrote about how I made the decision to buy this game already in this blog in an earlier post. There also one big game that I haven’t had, once again, time to get into. That is Alien Isolation for Xbox One. It had actually a cheap price and I thought that it had some value for me as a game blogger and a gamer in general.

There you have it. The games I would like to play, the games I have to play. This is something to consider when browsing for new gaming purchases. Keep in mind what you already have and also that you won’t have time for every game.

Playing Xbox One Exclusive from Remedy Entertainment

Posted on by Viljami

I sort of missed Quantum Break when it was originally released back in 2016. I surely didn’t have Xbox One then. I actually had only PS4 connected to my main screen that was Full HD 32 inch television. It also had SCART-connectivity. PS4 was my only gaming console that was connected to my television. It would have been possible for me to purchase this game  from Steam and install it for my PC. So there was a possibility that I didn’t choose to follow for some reason or other.

I am a huge fan of Remedy Entertainment. I have been that way since early games like Death Rally and Max Payne series. I did play Alan Wake and I have also played Control. Being a fan of Remedy can partly be explained with the fact that this game company is based in Finland. Sami Järvi actually was the person that gave Max Payne his face and he is also currently the Creative Director of the company.

If you have followed what I’ve been lately writing about you surely know that I recently got myself Xbox Series X. I actually removed Xbox Series S from my setup and replaced it with Series X. This more expensive model of the latest Xbox has an optical drive and two times more disk space for installing games. I also get to enjoy the backwards compatibility. I get to play Xbox One games also with the latest Xbox model Series X.

There are some really nice games that have been only released for Microsoft’s devices mainly being PC and Xbox. Some titles worth mentioning are Gears of War 4 and 5, Dead Rising 3 and 4, Forza Horizon series and Halo series. As I was ordering WRC10 and Back 4 Blood for Series X I decided to go also with copies of Fallout 4, which was sold for only 4 euros, and this Xbox One exclusive, Quantum Break.

It was about a week ago that I received the order from post. I have played lots of WRC10. I started playing Quantum Break just this morning. I have already completed 11 percentage of the game. It isn’t a long game and that is perfectly fine with me. Based on a fact that I found while browsing the web it takes about ten hours to complete Quantum Break. It is a nice game. It includes nice graphics, as you can see from the screenshot related to this blog post. It also has elements from action and shooting games. It also has already offered me some puzzles to be solved. It reminds a bit about Max Payne but at the same time it is a completely own kind of a game.

This far I have very much enjoyed this game. Remedy has once again done a great job. While it’s not the latest of latest it still offers a solid experience. If I would have played this back in 2016 when this title was released I probably would have enjoyed it maybe even more as it is always exciting to play some game that has just been released and is using the latest so to say tricks. I don’t want to give it a grade. The Metacritic has given it a score of 77 out of 100.

 

WRC Series (8, 9 and 10)

Posted on by Viljami

I don’t remember, at least clearly, why I didn’t get into WRC series earlier. I do remember that one if this game series’s game flopped very badly. This kept me from starting to play a game in this series. It was back in late 2020 when I got my newest PC and I wanted to buy a game for it. So, I read some reviews and soon I was on my way to order a physical copy of WRC 9.

This was my introduction to the series. I am a big fan of Colin McRae Rally games and also racing and rally games in general. Driving games might be my favorite genre of games. I enjoyed WRC 9. It was a good game. Maybe a bit over half of a year after this positive experience I saw WRC 8 for PS4 in my favorite super market that has a section for gaming products. It’s price was about 20 euros. I decided to purchase it. And I wasn’t disappointed.

What about WRC 10? I recently got my Xbox Series X. WRC 10 was actually the second game that I bought for Xbox Series X. I had bought many digital copies of some games but my first and second games were GTA Trilogy and after that WRC 10.

WRC 10 had received some bad reviews. Finnish Gamereactor gave it 5/10. This score made me really consider about my purchase seriously. I find Gamereactor to usually be a realiable source when I think about buying a new game. Some other reviews, I am not right now mentioning these two blogs names, said, actually something like, “this game isn’t perfect but if you are a true rally game fan, you should definitely buy it”.

One other factor that made think about not to buy WRC 10 was that I already know that there is a new game, WRC Generation, going to be released soon. After all I went and bought WRC 10. I thought that since it was available and I would have at least some weeks to play it before starting to plan on playing WRC Generations I made this decision. Also the price was in my opinion right. I only had to pay about 35 euros for this game.

Just yesterday I got my WRC 10 from mail. The installation process was a bit slow, but it is the same with every new game. They seem to take up some space and more than some years earlier. So the process of installing a game today can take a long time. I have played it only for like two or three hours. At this moment it seems to be a good and solid rally game. I have to adjust my driving style for this game since I have played recently a lot of Forza Motorsport 3. I think WRC 10 is more of a simulation game than FM3.

There are some comments on those reviews that I wrote above. The driving seems more comfortable if you have a wheel and pedals. It might be more difficult to play with a game pad. I can say that graphics, being 4K and displayed from a 4K screen, are absolutely amazing. And you must also consider that this game has a license so you are going to experience all real cars, drivers and teams. Also, this license is going next year (2023) to Codemasters so we are also waiting for a rally game from them.

I really have to get more into WRC 10 and soon. As I am an adult and I have responsibilities, I don’t have all day every day, twenty-four-seven three-six-five for gaming, you know? To summarize, I have some experience of latest games in WRC series and I can recommend them. Especially if you are a rally game fan.

Things Are Going Digital

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I got a new gaming console, Xbox Series X, that has an optical disk drive. I was excited about it’s new features. I was thinking already, dreaming actually, about going to our local super market. I thought there would be at least a game or two for my new Xbox. And of course some 4K movies.

I was disappointed as I actually got to the market. I found one game available. I wouldn’t have bought this game but I was thinking that at least I am not going back home empty handed. So I went and bought Grand Theft Auto Trilogy. There were no movies available. Every movie that I saw was DVD or Blu-ray.

What I understood about my trip to the market was that there actually were lots of gift cards available to both PS and Xbox stores. And when I think about it, I actually saw some PS5 games being sold as physichal copies. Of course you might have a credit card and so you don’t have to necesssarily buy gift cards. There are also web stores that sell  gift card codes and it is easy to order them.

It seems that there are plenty of downloadable games available today. There are also subscription services that let you play a huge library of games and you have to pay montlhy fee to keep playing them. This way you actually don’t own these games. There are these kinds of subscriptions for movies as well as you might already know.

There are different possibilities. Some like to buy their movies and games and actually own them. It is possible to own a digital movie. In Xbox store for example you can pay to be able to watch a movie for two weeks or you can pay a bit more to actually keep the movie in your service and watch it as many times as you want.

Going towards digital subscription services when it comes to modern entertainment seems to be the trend today. I have tried to get my hands on to some 4K movies from some online stores, but it seems that there are only few movies available and those that are available aren’t as interesting as they could be. But it helps me a bit that I now have a gaming console that can play also Xbox One games which are widely available as used copies.

I am Keeping my Xbox 360 (and here are the reasons)

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I got myself a Xbox Series X. I finally managed to purchase one. It wasn’t easy. The availability of this new Xbox console was poor and it was so for over a year until this week as I noticed that it was actually finally possible for me to actually just buy it.

Xbox Series X is a great console. It can play a lot of these older or so to say retro titles. So it can play games of original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. But all of them aren’t playable. You can probably just check this from your favorite search engine. If you type in the search field something like “original xbox games compatible with xbox series x” you will get a list that can tell you actually which of original Xbox’s or Xbox 360’s games can you play with the latest Xbox.

So we now have this information. It turns out that only 63 of all original Xbox’s and 632 out of all Xbox 360 titles are playable on Xbox Series X. I have also this older gaming console that is Xbox 360. It, of course, can play all of Xbox 360’s games. Also, it can handle 464 out of all almost 1000 officially released original Xbox games.

Of course, if you have original Xbox, you don’t have this issue of owning some games that you just cannot play on any device. Since my original Xbox broke down about two years ago I am going to have to rely on my Xbox 360 and I am still not able to play all these games I own. Actually, also my PlayStation 2 broke down about the same time. I don’t think I have so much trouble playing it’s about 60 games that I own since I have reliable emulators available on my computer. Xbox however doesn’t have so solid emulation on a PC.

I actually removed from my own game shelf all of the titles that I currently am not able to play today. There were several games I liked involved. Sadly I only have a limited amount of space in my gaming setup. So, I could have bought a new used original Xbox that would have fixed my issue. But  decided not to. Also what might disappoint a real game collector and game hobbyist is that I at least currently lack the skill to repair my original Xbox. If you actually want to try to repair your game console there are instructions for you in internet.

I had to give up on some of these Xbox titles. But at least there are tens of games in y game library that can be played with my Xbox 360. And that’s one reason for me to keep it and try my best to maintain it’s condition. Xbox 360 was first released back in 2005. So it is an old gaming console. The original Xbox was released in 2001.

Some of my favorite games of original Xbox that I can still play utilizing my Xbox 360’s backward compatibility include Forza Motorsport, Halo 1 and 2, Colin McRae Rally 04, Black and Shadow the Hedgehog. Titles like Second Sight and Silent Hill 3 and also Colin McRae Rally 3 aren’t playable on Xbox 360.

As there are lots of popular titles in all of the released title library of all Xbox consoles that may not be playable on these more recent devices I wouldn’t be so much surprised if there would some day be some kind of Xbox mini classic console released for all of these retro gamers and fans of classic Xbox titles. There is also an ongoing and huge effort on bringing PC emulation for Xbox to be the reality.

Maybe these were all the reasons for me to stick to my Xbox 360. I am currently playing Forza Motorsport 3. After I have completed it I am planning on starting to play Colin McRae Dirt 2 which is a very good game in this Colin McRae Rally series of rally games that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play a lot. I am hoping to complete it also. You can find today a Xbox 360 game console from any gaming store online and it doesn’t cost you a lot. You can probably get one for around 100 euros.

The Xbox Experience

Posted on by Viljami

I have a history with Microsoft’s game console, Xbox. Sony had already entered the field back when they released their first console, PlayStation. Back then I remember some of us, players, felt that Microsoft was only after big profits. They had already shown their somewhat greediness in operating system business. Why do they have to enter the gaming field?

PlayStation 2 was released before original Xbox. In next years it sold a lot and  it sold over 100 million units as Xbox sold “only” about 30 million units. This figures aren’t as accurate as could be but I think they give a tip about how the markets were formed. As Sega retreated their efforts to bring new gaming to markets, Sony and Microsoft kept competing against each other. And of course there was also Nintendo.

Today we can compare the most powerful home gaming consoles and we can talk about PlayStation 5 versus Xbox Series X. Actually, I just got my Series X yesterday. I have been using Xbox Series S for over one and a half years. I do have PS4 but I don’t really have any experience from PS5 be it digital or a device with an optical drive in it. Of course I have experience from latest games of Nintendo Switch and PC also. But it seems to me that I could compare PS5 and Xbox Series X, since they are, in my opinion, really close to each other.

I have very good experiences of Xbox. The thing that I have liked the most is the Android app that I can use to share my screenshots, see the time that I have spent on a Series S/X game and also to see what trophies I have achieved. It has been really easy to work with my account. It was really easy to move all my data, like saved games, to a new gaming console as I made the transition from Series S to Series S. I can also see how my player points look like. The account and the app also can show how many points I have gathered playing Xbox 360 games. I currently have 76 percentage of all of the trophies of Forza Motorsport 3.

My experiences with PS4 aren’t as convincing. I got my PS4 back in 2014. So I have used it for several years. Today, I find that if we compare this experience in overall to the new generations experiences that I’ve had I would like to tell you that…I actually like Xbox Series consoles more. PS4 has some kind of Android application also. But, for sharing a screenshot, you have to plug in a USB stick. That’s a bit wack. Also I didn’t like the overall feel of most games. I think they went after eSports players and made many games too difficult for an average gamer. In my opinion these games also lacked some playability.

Don’t get me wrong. I think PS4 is a great console. Although when compared to Series X/S it cannot compete. There are many really good games on PS4. I especially have enjoyed NBA 2K14, Dirt Rally (1 and 2.0), Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and many others that I really don’t recall as I am writing this.

What I mainly wanted to say in this blog post is that I have enjoyed Xbox Series S/X very much. I don’t know if you should think that Series X is better than PS5. I think you should make up your own mind and maybe have a conversation with a friend about this. Xbox is nice but I have some very meaningful history with PlayStation. And of course – don’t forget Nintendo and if you are a bit of a retro type don’t forget Sega…and maybe even Atari.

SteamOS – An Alternative to Windows

Posted on by Viljami

For a long period of time Windows has dominated the scene of playing games with a PC. There is always an alternative and that is Linux. If you have played video games on your personal computer you have most likely stumbled on Steam. It is Valve’s, yes, the company that brought Half-Life to us, brilliant piece of software turned as a game shop application for buying and installing and also maintaining your library of PC games.

There are of course other ways to get your favorite games delivered to you. I have to mention Good Old Games or GOG.com. Some of you might still be buying physical copies of games. You know, those optical discs. They might be CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays or even 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. That is if you even have some sort of an optical drive in your personal computer.

Windows was my choice when I bought my desktop computer almost two years ago. I thought that for the way I use my PC it would be perfect. I have to mention that if you don’t get Windows on the system you are buying you are going to have to pay a lot to get it. I just checked the price of just the operating system Windows 11 and it was 145 euros. That all is just for the operating system.

Linux on the other side is free. It is also open source. What this means is that anyone can participate in making Linux better. I find this kind of comparison between Linux and Windows to be very interesting. In my current job I have had the pleasure to work a bit with PowerShell. This is a deep topic and I am going to just scratch its surface a bit. But let’s say that Linux is open and Windows is closed for what it comes to modifying the code that lies beneath the surface of the operating system.

But what about SteamOS? I can tell you that it is a Linux based operating system. It is free. And it has Steam installed on it. But what is that? I can already hear you talking about how Windows games aren’t compatible with Linux? Well, actually, now they are. Do you know what is “wine”? Let me, again, explain this a bit  further.

Wine is a tool that basically let’s you run software applications that were meant to be launched and run on Windows on Linux. This involves a lot of fiddling with settings and probably some deeper understanding about how software is commonly run on any platform or operating system. But the main point is that it indeed is possible to work with a game or application this way.

Now, when I made my decision of what is going to be my personal computers operating system, I thought a bit how am I going to use the computer. I wanted a machine that could be able to produce some documents so having office tools was important. I also wanted to be able to program on it. This actually works fine in both Linux and Windows. I am also a hobbyist musician as you may recall so it was important that my DAW would work and also that all my VST instruments and effects would be available. And last but not least, as I had a powerful device already, I wanted to be able to play latest PC games on this computer.

What was my choice? It was Windows. If I would have had to install and buy my operating system separately this would have meant that I would have had to buy a Windows license for 145 euros. The alternative would have been to install some Linux distro. Since SteamOS is currently free why not download it? It supports all of the games right?

Valve has had some success as it has brought a working market place and also a place for your gaming library for you the gamer. If you think about also Steam Deck you can clearly understand what is going on right here. Steam Deck is a very good and practical handheld gaming device. And it supports also Steam. I have been using Steam since I got my PC and that was about two years ago.

But would I go and trade my current and working system to SteamOS? I have to say that I am not right now yet ready for it. I am too concerned that I won’t have an opportunity to use my computer to other matters that aren’t about playing games. But I can say it is tempting. I have thought about testing SteamOS and maybe I will install it on some older PC someday.

Silent Hill Remake

Posted on by Viljami

Yesterday I heard, or exactly read, some very interesting information. There is going to be a remake of the first Silent Hill game that was released for the PS1 back in the end of the 90s. This wouln’t be a simple remake. This would be a remake done with Unreal Engine 5.

Unreal Engine 5 is especially designed to bring you the latest and most realistic three dimensional visual experience. I remember being a bit sad when I got myself a Silent Hill HD Collection for PS3. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a HD version of the first game in this series.

For many the first game of Silent Hill series isn’t necessarily the best one. For me this was very important game. As you probably have figured I have a liking in PlayStation 1 gaming and games. PS1 was and still is very important for me. So all in all I am very glad that this is actually going to happen.

I first got into Silent Hill as I played the first game. I was later very interested in Silent Hill games. I have played two and three a lot. As I got to know Homecoming and The Room I liked them also. The game that got my attention off of this series was Downpour. Was it like the fifth game of the series? Something like that. There has been many Silent Hill games.

What was it about Downpour then? The first thing that got me thinking about getting rid of this game was that it got bad reviews. I decided that I should try the game still. I remember also getting it for maybe 20 euros from discount or something like that. So I inserted the disc to my PS3 and started playing. OK. I am playing the game. All of a sudden, I can’t believe I remember this so clearly after all these years, I got a knife in my hand. I am in a shower room. I see a big person there. And guess what…I am going to have to kill this poor beeing to proceed. That was not for me and I decided to turn the PS3 off at that point.

I think that’s actually the point when there wasn’t anymore new Silent Hill games getting released. There were some rumours but that was actually all there ever was. Resident Evil series has continued. So maybe it is time for us to see some more Silent Hill games again.

I am definitely waiting for this remake to appear. I’ll leave a link for the YouTube video for you to watch. It looks very nice and you should go check it. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/9Pmz2DkgtIc

 

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