Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: xbox series x

PS5 Is Way Ahead of Xbox Series S/X

Posted on by Viljami

Xbox Series S/X has sold since its release only about 28 million units to this day. This means sales all the way from the end of 2020. It has been five years. Do you know how much Xbox Series’s main competitor, PS5, has sold? Sony’s newest gaming console has sold about 84 million units. It was also released in the end of 2020.

What about Nintendo? Nintendo Switch has currently sold about 154 million units. It was released already in 2017. So, it has had some more time to sell than its competitors. These figures describe worldwide sells. I am not so often offering links to any material. I don’t know why. I guess I am not used to it. But, this time, I am making an esception. You can find the figures from THIS Wikipedia article.

There have been many rumours. Some people are referring to times when Sega dropped out of the console markets. That time its main console was Dreamcast that was able to sell only 9 million units during its few years that it was available. To compare the sales to something measurable we can take PS2. It managed to sell 160 million units during the time it was manufactured and available as a new console. This comparison is descriptive since Dreamcast and PS2 belonged in the same console generation.

There were many reasons why PS2 was so successful. First matter that comes to mind is that it featured a DVD player. Many consumers would need to buy a DVD player anyway at that time. So, it was comfortable to buy a PS2 since you got sort of two devices at a one price. PS1 had been a success and PS2 would seem to continue the path that its predecessor started. There were many games released to PS2. “How many, actually?” one might ask. I would make an online search and find that there were almost eleven thousand games released for it worldwide.

We can think for a moment about how gaming is popular as a hobby right now. There are new games and retro games. There are gamers that have been gamers for all of their lives. There are young gamers and there are old and middle aged gamers. Actually, today, there aren’t anyone at any age that wouldn’t be active in playing video games at some level. Even my parents have a relationship with games since they have to hear my speak and maybe even read my words about video games. To say it simply I can only say: “Gaming is now more popular as a hobby than it has been ever”.

Lets return to the beginning of this topic I had in my mind when I started writing this blog post. Why is it that Xbox Series S/X has sold only so little compared to its main competitors? One thing that comes to mind is games. We haven’t seen a lot of Xbox exclusive games in this console generation. PS5 has offered some. It has featured Silent Hill 2, Astrobot and the latest Ratchet & Clank game just to name some of them. Well, we could mention also God of War. So, the lack of exclusive games can be one reason.

Xbox Series S/X is not the lowest selling Microsoft game console to this day since original Xbox sold fewer units during its lifespan. Xbox One sold about 58 million units and Xbox 360, being the most sold Xbox console ever, about 84 million units while the original Xbox sold only 24 million units. So, Xbox Series S/X has sold 4 million units more than the original Xbox did.

Original Xbox has its special place in the history of gaming. It also has a special place in my hearth among some other legendary consoles, like Mega Drive, NES and PS1. The thing I remember from back in the day when Microsoft first got into video game business and released their original Xbox console was that everyone hated Microsoft. It was absolutely amazing factor that seemed to push the sales down. That console just couldn’t, at least not yet, compete with Sony.

We are going to see what will happen with Xbox Series S/X. We are currently waiting for more information about PS6 and some details about when it is going to get released. Sony has stated that there might be PS5 support until as long as 2031 or something that. We might not see a new PlayStation yet in a long while. Right now also gamers have confirmed that our PS4s are still actually very much functional. “Why to release a new console so often?”, one might ask. This might be the question that leaves us pondering some more. So, have a nice rest of the week for all of our dear readers of this blog!

Mafia: The Old Country

Posted on by Viljami

I just finished Mafia – The Old Country. I played it for about 12 hours which is also the length of this game on “How Long To Beat” website. This time it was natural to follow the plot and i is actually a huge part of the whole experience that Mafia – The Old Country offers. I am not going to spoil the plot but it builds on romance and personal story of the main character of this game. I liked this game. It is also the only Mafia game in this series that I have played through.

The gameplay offers fighting (with knives and guns), conversations and a bit of driving around on horses and cars. A car means here something very old since the game takes place in the beginning of 1900s. Knife battles are challenging and you have to time your moves, swinging the knife and trying to dodge your enemy’s attempts to hit you, very well. When it comes to guns I found out that shotgun, preferably the pump-action one, that can have more ammo loaded, was my favorite weapon. You can actually hit your target from a very long distance. It is also a bit easier to hit if compared to the basic rifle that is also available, at least at times. You can also use the rifle if you want to hit even targets that are a bit more far away from you.

The graphics in Mafia – The Old Country are beautiful. The catchy accent of the characters feels just right. I found myself, as awkward it may seem, babbling the dialogue to myself in this italic accent. So, I have to say that the voice acting is in a good form in this game. It is a big budget game after all. I bought the digital copy of this game and played it on my Xbox Series X. I didn’t even have to think about any performance issues which in my opinion is a good thing. The digital copy had a price of about 50 euros.

I really don’t have the option here to compare this game to some earlier games in the Mafia series. This was the first game of this series that I ever have played. I think we can talk a while about other games in this series. The first game was released already in 2002. The series has also games Mafia II and III. The second  game was released in 2010 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The third game in this series was released in 2016 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. There has also been a game called Mafia – Definitive Edition that was released in 2020. It was a remake. There is also a collection named Mafia – Trilogy. It was released in the same year that the remake was.

What did Mafia – The Old Country have to offer for me as a gamer? The story was immersive. You start as a young mine worker and advance to a mafioso. There is also the love story involved between Isabella and the main character, Enzo. I am not going to reveal the ending. The plot is important in this game. If you enjoy the plot I think you should choose a lower difficulty setting. If you prefer fighting, with knives and guns, you should pick a more challenging difficulty level. You might also want to first finish the game and then increase the difficulty level and play it once more. There are also lots of collectible items that you can try to find as you progress in the game. I found Mafia – The Old Country to be a comfortably enjoyable game that is well worth its 50 euros price. The game is of course available as a physical copy. Its just a matter of which format you prefer. The choice is yours to make.

DmC – Devil May Cry – The Definitive Edition

Posted on by Viljami

Devil May Cry – The Definitive Edition was released already released in 2013 for the console generation that featured Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This game ahs actually been in my game library for all this time until today. I did play it for maybe four hours earlier in my life as a gamer. I played it on my PS4. You can probably figure that I got stuck to this boss fight in “Mission 10 – Bad News”. It was actually a bit silly way to end playing the game but this was actually what happened to me at the first try to trying to beat this game.

If you are stuck on that part of the game I can give you some tips. You have to try to avoid getting hit by the boss’s attacks and try to hit to the ground where there are spots marked. After you hit the floor on the right spot the boss transforms and you get to hit it and you should keep hitting it as long as possible. This way you can eventually progress past the boss and defeat it finally.

I have put in some work playing this game of the Devil May Cry series. There is a more newer game in the series. This game is Devil May Cry 5. The fourth Devil May Cry game is also in my opinion a good game. You can also play the first three games in the series that are available as a bundled collection. While I do have experience in playing games in this series I haven’t finished a single game completely. Some years ago I tried my hand in the first game of the series of Devil May Cry games. I didn’t finish the game but managed to get some experience on the series and how the gameplay works basically. The first game isn’t a bad way to start getting into Devil May Cry games.

Capcom has made very good job in developing this title. There are similarities to other Capcom’s games. You can place Resident Evil 2 next to this game so you can see the detaisl clearly. Devil May Cry was a t first introduced in the era of PlayStation 2. While graphical performance has increased as an overall in the gaming industry the gameplay seems to work pretty much the same way as earlier in the Devil May Cry Series.

Fighting in this game is based on using different melee weapons along with some guns that you can fire from a distance. Guns are not so powerful and while the provide some range, you can shoot flying demons, they don’t make so much damage. You have some attacks that work against enemies that have a shield. Sometimes you have to grab their shields away from them. Actually I am not going to name the enemies in the game so precisely. You can probably find these details from the game itself or from some fans website. I am not going to go so deeply into the plot in this blog post also.

Why did I want to get back to this game? My curiosity against Devil May Cry has increased again. As I saw that this game was available for a decent price (I think it was 20 euros as used copy) I decided, since I had not finished it, yet, to start getting into it again. Also I had played the first game and also spent a lot of time playing the fourth game. So, it was actually very logical decision. I ended up getting the Xbox One version. I think playing with PS4 has experience a somewhat inflation in my setup of gaming consoles. I find it more entertaining to play games with my Xbox Series X. It has been a rare happening for me to fire up and/or launch my PS4. I think this has something to do also with how I have connected all my gaming consoles in my setup. But maybe we don’t get too far with these thoughts now and here. You might think that PS4 is not so nice consoles since it uses such an old technology, like older hard disk, and so on.

I have played Dmc – Devil May Cry – The Definitive Edition for five and a half hours now. I am somewhere a bit over the first half of the game. It is a very good action game that does offer also some character development. You actually gather different kinds of credits that you can use to improve your character. The graphical details are very nice. I am going to try and finish this game and maybe garb another game in this series. I might give Devil May Cry 5 a chance. If you are wondering what happened to me and Silent Hill f I have to say that I did try to play it and actually played it for a while. I am delaying starting to really get into that game to some later time. It seemed like a good game. I had moderate difficulties running it and it seems my new PC isn’t so powerful or so it seems. I am able to play Silent Hill f only with 30 fps. So, lets talk about that more at some other point in the life of this blog.