Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Some Notes About the New Nintendo Switch 2

Posted on by Viljami

Nintendo Switch 2 was released in June 5th this year (2025). There weren’t any huge actual limitations in the availability. I think everyone that made an order in advance also received their console. There were also lots of Switch 2 consoles available in “stone foundation” shops. I had to wait some days because there was a shortage on the Pro Controller 2 that I also ordered. I made my order in 6th of June. That day was Friday and it was 14th of June when I finally actually had the console and could start the deployment of my Switch 2.

There was a better availability of the console that came with Mario Kart World bundled. So, I bought my Switch 2 with this game. There weren’t really, yet, so many options for the first game for Switch 2. There has been already some debate online on social media and also on some video and text reviews about the price being a bit high. The price for the bundled version was, here in Finland, 620 euros while the version without Mario Kart game would cost 570 euros. Here in Finland the importer decided to add a special 100 euros to the price. I haven’t heard any deeper explanations on this. After all I am happy, still, that I can at least buy this console. I am not complaining but lets just say that there was already some conversation about this.

I am aware also that you have to buy many accessories that help you to use your Switch 2. The console has already 256 GB of space for your games. You might need also a memory card. It has to be the right type of a memory card. It can cost some tens of euros. I went and bought also the new Pro Controller 2 that cost me an extra 110 euros. You can still use the old and the first Pro Controller also with Switch 2. You also might need a carrying case that costs also some tens of euros. Also every game you want to play, of course, you have to buy. There has been some discussion and a new game for Switch 2 might cost something around 80 euros. So, as you can see, this isn’t a cheap console at all and you need to invest in it quite a bit.

What’s cool about Switch 2 is that it is almost ( I think it’s like 98 percentage or even more than that) backwards compatible with Switch 1 games. When I first had ran the deployment through with my Switch 2 I started to play Mario Kart World. However the game seemed a bit boring, a bit childish and I also read that it would take only about three and a half hours to finish the game. It is a good game, but I wanted to play something else. So, I inserted the physical Switch 1 game Diablo III and played it for maybe six to seven hours. I even continued playing it the next day. I created a new character and so after these hours of playing I had a wizard in level of 28. Then I started to play some Dragon Quest III 2D HD Remake. I also plan to play some Civilization VII on my Switch 2. I haven’t had time to play it, yet.

I also already bought another game. So, I now have two actual Switch 2 games along with my collection of Switch 1 games. The other Switch 2 game is Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. I bought it just yesterday from a super market here in Vantaa (Finland). It cost me 50 euros. Some other options were and still are, if I really want to buy a third game already for this brand new console, The Legend of Zelda games Breath of The Wild and Tears of The Kingdom that do cost around 80 euros per game. They have some improvements. One game that I thought about buying was the Sonic game (Sonic X Shadow Generations) that is available for about 50 euros also.

The screen resolution is just fine and of a good quality. You really couldn’t ask for more. In handheld mode the screen works in Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). When the console is docked you get a 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution. The handheld screen isn’t an OLED screen but I think that would have risen the consoles price even more and all the reviews that I’ve seen about this are basically saying that the screen is actually a very good one.

So, you probably got a clear picture of what I think about this new console, the Nintendo Switch 2. I told you about the games I am currently playing and what I think about the console in general. I am waiting to get my hands on some nice and new games. If you think a new console like this, take PS4 for example, it did take about a year or even a bit longer that we started to see some more games getting released. We are seeing lots of remakes but I am not going to complain about it. Lets just wait and play the games that are available. You can always play your Switch 1 games. If you are like me you have some games in your backlog that you haven’t had time to finish, yet.

Hogwarts Legacy

Posted on by Viljami

I spent about two weeks playing Hogwarts Legacy for Xbox Series X. This game has received several good, or maybe excellent, reviews. It is not the newest game since it was released in 2023. So, it is about two years old. This also means that you can get it with a cheap price. You definitely don’t have to pay 80 euros for it today.

Hogwarts Legacy is a role-playing-game with lots of action included. The basic gameplay operates on completing quests, finding new areas through map and also fighting against enemies with many spells. You also get some gear from time to time. You get to upgrade your gear and also your skills.

The open-world environment is fun to explore. You face some enemies while you are finding these new places. You can also sort of “unlock” waypoints so you can travel to these locations just by selecting them from a map and clicking the button.

The game gives you full statistics of how much of the game have you completed. There are different areas of these challenges like how much of you have explored, battled and how many quests you have completed.

It took for about 40 hours to finish the game. There are several difficulty levels to choose from. They actually make the battles harder. Hogwarts Legacy offers a lot to play even after you have finished the main quests. You can develop your character and explore even more.

The graphics, or visual, are very nice in Hogwarts Legacy and so is the music. The world is the world of Harry Potter. I have to say also that I am not so familiar, actually not at all, on Harry Potter. This might be the first game that is placed in the world of Harry Potter that I have finished. Nor do I have memories of any books or movies. Still while I was playing it didn’t really bother me so much.

It is nice to see a game where battles are structured to just swinging your wand instead of shooting with a gun or fighting with a melee weapon (like an axe or something. I did enjoy this game. It really isn’t still something that I would like to spend more time on. As I am writing this I have just begun playing the newest Dead Space. I am trying to really play these games and they have been in my game shelf already for a good amount of time.

I am also waiting to get my hands on the Nintendo Switch 2. So, I really don’t have many reasons to go and play some Xbox Series X titles. I am already waiting for some new Switch 2 titles to play. I bought the version of Switch 2 that has Mario Kart World bundled. I would have liked to buy some other game for the first game of the console but this is now the game I have to start my journey with Switch 2. The console seems already really promising.

I also read that there is a new handheld Xbox console coming. It is interesting to see how huge game console companies are moving towards handheld gaming. It hasn’t been a long time since we were first introduced to Steam Deck. There might be something new coming from Valve, also. And of course we have all our Windows 11 handheld PCs already in the markets and selling very nicely.

Do we see something new in a form of an operating system from Valve in the near future? We will have to wait and see. I am very interested in seeing how Linux can operate with some applications that are usually utilized with a Windows PC. We have already seen how PC games bought through Steam can already function on a Linux operating system. They seem to work fine.

The Highlights of Xbox Series X

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I am going to go through how I actually feel and think about some experiences of Xbox Series X. We are going to take a look at this console while its lifespan has lasted right now almost five years. There are new consoles going to get released, some this year, some later, and it is a good time to take a look back on what this console, Xbox Series X, had to offer. Soon it will not anymore be the newest console.

I remember back in 2020 that I was thinking about how my PS4 would not be the newest console anymore. In the fall of 2020 we saw PS5 and Xbox Series S/X released. Being the newest gaming console can be a sort of a responsibility. We are used to seeing new consoles getting released every about seven years or so. While PS4 hasn’t been the newest console in years I, and many other gamers, have been playing on their PS4s during these years. I am very glad, since I haven’t to this day bought a PS5, that the newest games for PlayStation were also available for PS4. Some of these games are Gran Turismo 7, Spider-Man (the first and Miles Morales) and God of War (the first game and Ragnarök).

Back in 2021 (I wasn’t the first one to absorb this time) I first bought Xbox Series S. We were well in the pandemia which begun already in 2020. There was a huge shortage concerning about PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. There were lots of consumers that would had liked to buy a console but couldn’t. I would have bought an Xbox Series X at first but it just wasn’t available. I finally got my Xbox Series X maybe a year later or something like that. Nintendo, in the mean time, was selling lots of Switch consoles as the shortage didn’t affect it so much.

I ended up buying also Xbox Series X because I already had a 4K capable television and I liked the thing that Series X had more space for installing games and it provided the means to watch actual 4K movies through optical 4K discs. I also ended up buying the official disk space upgrade. I always thought it was very expensive. I did buy the option that included 1 TB of extra space. Xbox Series X also provided a better screen resolution and was more powerful in running the games.

Besides playing games Xbox Series X provides the ability that actually lacks in PS4 of playing music CDs. It is also capable to watch DVDs, Blurays and 4K movies that are sold as optical discs. You can also enjoy games and movies in digital format. I have had a smart television so I haven’t actually used my Xbox Series X as a media center. I do watch video content on my TV and I don’t actually use my Xbox console in that way.

I would like to mention and give some thanks to the Xbox app that I installed on my Android smart phone soon after I had installed my Series X. It is very nice. The way you can share and save your actual screenshots is very nice. I have to say that PS4 performs poorly in this manner. Using PS4 you have to have a USB memory stick to move your screenshots to your PC where you can then transfer them to some social media whenever you have a need like this. Nintendo also doesn’t perform so swiftly in this field. The Xbox app is very functional and many of these Series X screenshots I have shared at Instagram or in this blog have been processed using the app. You can also see from the app how long have you been playing a game and also track your overall Xbox gaming score.

What about the games? Lets first talk about the backwards compatibility. Series X i compatible with 63 out of 989 original Xbox games, 632 out of 2155 Xbox 360 games and all of Xbox One games. This makes the game library very strong. The console already has almost 3000 games that you are able to play. There is an idea also that if you like to play more Xbox 360 and/or original Xbox games you would actually like to have a dedicated and original console also. There are options to emulate the hardware also. But when it comes to Xbox Series X is does provide a nice, although not complete, support for older Xbox games.

Some good older games that can be played on a Series X are old Call of Duty series’s games, original Alan Wake, first three Bio Shock titles, some Silent Hill games, Max Payne series (first three games), Quake I and II, Split Second, Skyrim, Halo series and the Master Chief Collection, just to share some of my favorites. Some best new games, in my own opinion, include titles like Forza Horizon 5, Forza Motorsport, Resident Evil 8, Alan Wake II, Diablo II Resurrected and Control.

All in all I have enjoyed Xbox Series X. Would I have done without it? In have to say maybe. I could have utilized an old Xbox 360. I could have bought only a new 4K movie player. There were only so few actual new games that got released. Right now my thoughts are into the soon to be released Nintendo Switch 2. It is getting its release 5th of June. It is very soon. Switch 2 then becomes the first game console in this new generation of consoles. I think Xbox Series X did well.

Today and also yesterday I have spent some time playing Hogwarts Legacy with my Series X. I finally found some time to do this. Also I am not going to  buy a new game for Series X for a while. I am going to wait for Switch 2 to get released. If I am a fortunate one I will buy Nintendo Switch 2. But that means that it is very much available soon after the launch. Happy Sunday to you my dear blog reader!