Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Tag: hill

Not Enough Time For Every Good Game

Posted on by Viljami

Some months ago I bought Silent Hill 4 The Room for original Xbox. I haven’t had time to play it and really get into it. There are also some other good games in this featured image. On the top is Dungeon Siege for PC. This is a good Diablo clone that was developed by Microsoft. I have played it but I haven’t completed it. It’s a shame since it is definitely a nice role playing game.

There is also a game called Black. This is a first person shooter for Xbox. I played it for some hours last year. It is very good but also a difficult game. I just got stuck because and found myself going through the same situation over and over again. It was a struggle and I couldn’t beat the game or even proceed from the point I was stuck in.

Not all these games in this picture have received marvelous reviews. I know that Goldeneye – Rogue Agent and Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer aren’t so appreciated by game reviewers or even by common gamer people. I wanted to pick these games up. One reason was that they were so cheaply available. The other reason was that they are compatible with Xbox 360. I currently don’t have an original Xbox. I do have Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2. M;aybe some day I decide to move one of the other gaming consoles to side and add once again original Xbox to my forever evolving game console setup.

I remove, sometimes, a gaming console from my setup. Many times I also find some gaming device that can bring me multiple systems for one HDMI connection. I use mainly HDMI. PlayStation 2 is currently the only SCART connected device I have in my setup. Recently I bought a HDMI adapter for my GameCube. It cost me almost 80 euros but it enables connecting my console to a regular HDMI channel. I have thought about getting also a similar adapter for PS2. I found one for only 15 euros. I don’t know if its a one with good quality.

I also received some bonus credits from one game dealer. It was nice. I received 25 euros for buying ten times a purchase of 35 euros or over. I have been ordering already for years from this dealer. I used this sum of euros to buy six games. Four of them were for Xbox and the two other were for Xbox 360. It did cost me 50 euros after I used the 25 euros of bonus credits.

So I got these games for original Xbox: Batman Begins, Dead to Rights, Oddworld – Munch Oddysee and The Thing and these two games for Xbox 360: Devil May Cry 4 and Supreme Commander 2. I really enjoyed playing the first Devil May Cry although I didn’t complete it. I also played the fifth Devil May Cry but found it to be not so interesting. I think it has too many cut scenes in the beginning of the game and it seems to be too easy when it comes to playing the actual game. So I didn’t like it. I hope that the fourth game in the series would be better. I actually didn’t read a lot of reviews about this game.

You can figure that I buy a lot of games and usually I buy them for a cheap price. I have noticed that the price of some games is rising. You can take some GameCube games for example. I think that there’s always these high priced games that I won’t even look when I am skimming through gaming web stores.

I am going to have a holiday this year. It is yet too soon to talk about when it’s going to be and exactly how long will my vacation going to be. I might go to a trip. I will definitely play some games that I currently own. I hope I can spend some good times with games and writing this blog also. I do have the book project. I just haven’t once again had time to get deeply into writing more of it. Today I also designed a game with my pal that is currently doing some heavy programming with the second and even the first game that are under updating and also under development right now.

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.

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

 

Some Nostalgia from The Dawn of 3D Modeling

Posted on by Viljami

Sometimes I find myself going back to where it all began. It was my beginning inside gaming. Somebody else might feel different about this. For me the 90s was an inspiring period of time. We saw the rise of 3D modeling and textures. The development of technology enabled players to enjoy more and more realistic graphics. First came Doom. It brought a realistic environment that you could move in. Soon games like Tomb Raider and Quake were released.

One of my favorite games of this time was, and still is, Kingpin – Life of Crime. This articles featured image is from that game. There are some reasons for me to like this game. A rap, or hiphop, posse Cypress Hill was very deeply involved in this games development. They appeared as voice actors and also produced the music that was in this game. What is the game about? It takes place in some ghetto somewhere. The player takes a role of a gangster. Basically this game is a first person shooter.

3D modeling has come a long way from these days. It was 1999 when Kingpin was released. I think about this as I just a while ago have played a really nice rally game – WRC 9 that was released recently. I think about how much the job of a 3D artist has changed. Back in the days you could see the models edges. Now you don’t see such edgy graphics. I also think about how much it affected gaming that there suddenly were graphics processing units that could reliably convert 3D graphics for players to enjoy.

3D acceleration in home computers brought computers that had more performance. Earlier it was thought that processor in computer was the component that made it faster and stronger. There was more to it. Some time ago we saw also some other components that can bring your PCs performance stronger. I’m talking about solid state drives or SSDs.

I strongly believe in the development of technology. We are going to see many advancements that are also somewhat related to gaming. Be it virtual reality or the development of sharper screens this is bringing us as human beings more advanced games. Technology has many qualities. Bringing games for players to play is just one side of it.

If you are interested in Kingpin – Life of Crime go check this website : https://www.kingpin.info/

History of survival horror games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I am going to tell you my experinces about survival horror games. I first started getting in to this genre by playing Resident Evil. I haven’t palyed so many of any earlier games. I know there must be some games that are somehow related but we are concentrating on more modern ones here.

Alone In The Dark influenced very much Resident Evil which then again inspired some elements to Silent Hill. Resident Evil and Silent Hill series were more popular ones inside this genre. We have also games as Forbidden Siren and Clock Tower.

Resident Evil, released 1996, brought anxiety to gamers with camera angels, too low amount of ammo and ability to save rarely. These effects are not so common inside horror games today. So you might find it interesting to try to play some of these older RE games of this series. My favourites are parts one and two.

Silent Hill challenged RE at the end of 90s. In this series there were lots of games released and many of them were released as PS2 games. It’s sad that we haven’t seen new SH games after, I think, Downpour. I recommend first, second and third but you may find some other games also to be very interesting.

PlayStation 2 had a lots of good survival horror games that had all their own different flavours. Some modern survival horror games include Resident Evil 7, remakes of 2 and 3, released soon, Evil Within (of which I have no experience) and Until Dawn. The Last Of Us has to be mentioned also. I myself have a PS4 version of this great game.

If you are looking to find more games of this genre and discover the roots of this survival horror gaming you might find some more earlier games that I haven’t covered here. I focused on games released after Alone In The Dark. Please leave a comment if you will and you can also share some links if you wish. Thank you for your time and we will return for more reading in next blog post!

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