Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 2010s

My Personal Relationship with PS4

Posted on by Viljami

I hadn’t thought about PlayStation 4 yet when a friend asked me a question – Do you know when is the new console actually getting released? That was probably back in 2013. Before that comment entered my mind I had been steadily working through titles available for PS3. I had played almost endless series of driving games like Need For Speed series and Dirt 1 and 3.

I had time and energy to play video games. Back then I wasn’t so interested, as you can figure, about retro games. They were only a slight curiosity I casually worked with using emulators on a PC. So I thought it would be nice to finally buy the latest PlayStation.

I actually made the purchase after I had just turned 30 years old in 2014. My budget was, back then, low, but I managed to save money to buy the device. I bought also my first PS4 game at the same time. It was Tomb Raider that was released back in 2013.

At first I had an ambitious idea of completing every game I got for PS4. It worked out only until I got like my fifth game or so. I managed to get through Tomb Raider and Call of Duty Ghosts. Games for PS4 were pricey at that time and there was only small selection. Many games were releases of old games released as HD remakes. So I had a new gaming console but there were only a handful of games.

Was it really worth it? I started to think about this. When I am writing this I think that this device had some really nice games. Some of my favorite games are NBA 2K14 and Dirt Rally. These two really stand out in the list of my favorite games for PS4. I just think there were many titles that I didn’t really get into so much. I guess it has also something to do about that I was back then already a bit over 30 years old.

It is said that when you are young you get more inspired by the music of that time. I think this goes also for video games. One year can be very significant for a nineteen-year-old but one year for a forty-year-old is not so big deal. So I was a bit older and had already got through experiences of the first PlayStation. I just think that PS4 never conquered my hearth like PS1 once did. This personal relationship made me think that it would be not a good idea to buy a new gaming console. So tot this day I haven’t found a reason to get a new console. I have a fresh PC that I can play also some new games.

After all there is an infinite amount of games that you can play. I think the games I am going to play don’t necessarily have to be the newest anymore and PS4 kind of ended my habit of playing the newest games released. PS4 is now not the newest gaming console anymore. It isn’t retro either. It is somewhere in between of retro and new. I think it’s time now for me to take some distance to this console and try to find some other games that I can enjoy. If you did enjoy PS4 or are still enjoying it that’s fine. I just think it lacked a personality and that’s why I have not played it or enjoyed playing it as much as I did PS3 and some older devices.

My Story

Posted on by Viljami

Oh. Where do I begin. I was born in 1984. Two years later my little brother was born. As any parent my parents noticed how clever I was. Or so they thought about it. They thought I was special. We lived in Helsinki for the first four years of my life. We moved to Vantaa in 1988 as my father got a job in high-tech electronics factory. He ended up having a thirty-year career in that company. Later I got to solder some components together but that’s another story.

So it was about 1987 when my father bought our family our first personal computer. I was very interested in it. I started to figure out some characters from the keyboard and I even wrote something with a keyboard before I learned to read. Our family didn’t teach me or my brother to read until we went to school and we learned to read and write actually there.

I was about nine years old when I got my Sega Mega Drive. I really liked Sonic The Hedgehog, Streets of Rage II and NHL 94. I had already played some Sierras games, some casual games, like Space Commander and many others. Space Quest, Larry, King’s Quest, Indiana Jones, Operation Wolf, Bubble Bobble, Sim City and so on.

This was only an introduction to the world I said Hello to as I got a PlayStation. Playing Mega Drive was fun. But the cartridges didn’t bring so much content. You can think about it. A Mega Drive game is about 1 MB. There is about 650 MB on a CD-ROM. So you can figure out how the games would be more longer and they also had more to offer as more and more people and even adults became aware of this situation.

PlayStation really sparked things for me. I played. I enjoyed. Other things in my life were playing basketball and going to junior high as I was studying here in Finland. I really enjoyed life. I even got myself a skateboard and actually also a snowboard. We hang around in Helsinki or Vantaa at parks and had really fun time. It was a fun period in my life.

I played so many games. I had about forty titles and I was eager to loan any games that my friends had. I didn’t get to modding then. I played Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Oddworld, Colin McRae Rally, Medievil, Fear Effect, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill and Diablo.

I finally sold my PlayStation for so little money. I don’t recall the actual sum but it was about 120 euros. Damn. For all those 40 games, memory cards, two controllers, cables and everything else included. I would have liked to save them for me to use later. But I didn’t think about it then.

I went to Finnish Army in 2003. I had just graduated from high school and I had a place to study in a university. So things were looking up to me. I was not home playing games. I was shooting targets in the woods. So there were some years that I was, lets say, “lost in the woods” with my plans and my life. I believe this is not uncommon at all. I was then 20 years old.

Then in 2006 my mother found an original Xbox in sale. She bought it for me. The first game was Need For Speed Most Wanted. I was back in the game. Later I got to know my wife. She had a PS3. So I bought Final Fantasy XIII to it. I started really getting into gaming again. I started a school in programming. It was a school of applied university from which I graduated in 2016 at last.

So this brought me to my roots again. I started collecting retro in 2017 when I got a PS2 for me. Today I have a bit tens of devices and hundreds of games for them. I enjoy playing. It is my work, hobby and the thing I get most out of.

What is your story? I would like to hear something from you, my readers. Please leave a comment here or contact me some other way.

NBA 2K21 Played With Switch Lite

Posted on by Viljami

It’s been a while. I first stumbled on NBA 2K as I was playing 2K14 on PS4. I later bought 2K18. I liked the first mentioned more. But now it’s early 2021 and it’s time for me to tell you about what I have been doing during the week or so. I can tell you already that I have been thinking about writing my next post for maybe two days already. I’ve had some ideas for the post but for me it is the most natural to talk, or write, about stuff I do or what are my hobbies or activities. So, keep reading.

Nintendo Switch Lite is a handheld, and only handheld, gaming console that you can play Nintendo Switch games with, if they are playable in the portable mode. It is attracting because it costs “only” 210 to 230 euros when the regular model of Switch is about 330 euros. I finally decided to buy one. I haven’t owned, ever, a handheld console. So I never had PSP or PS Vita or even Game Boy, which is probably the most popular handheld in here where I live. I had some doubts about how would the controls feel, would the screen be big enough (it’s 5,5 inches) and what games would be available. I really didn’t need a device that would be hooked to a television.

I had some reasons against and some reasons for getting this product and I made my decision. It was a bit hard to think about what games to buy. I had to have a game or two. You might already know that I’m not a Nintendo type of guy. I know Sega and PlayStation much better with not underestimating how playing PC has effected me while I have grown up to be an adult that is still playing video games and knows his retro stuff like his own house.

I decided to skip Mario and Zelda as the first games. I didn’t want to take a risk. I decided to buy 2K21. I was already in way or another going to buy it so why wouldn’t I buy it for Switch Lite. I wanted some more games so I decided to also buy a cartridge (is that what you call these things that look like over sized memory cards, maybe it is) that included Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII remake. I haven’t played FFVIII so much so there was something new for me also. I have completed FFVII once as a kid as I played it with my old PlayStation.

But let’s talk about the latest basketball and NBA game a bit. I think I have only scratched it’s surface as I have spent some hours playing it. It is the NBA game that it has been for already years. It stands out as a great sports game and there are many modes you can play in. I just started MyCareer mode and created a new player. Controls are fine. I can do whatever I have to to compete against the computer. The game might be a bit harder than the earlier ones I have played. But it’s a great game all in all.

I have also some critique about Switch Lite. The screen is far from Full HD. The resolution seems to be 1280×720. Switch was released in 2017 so the hardware isn’t the most newest. The screen is although touch screen which makes it easier to use. The battery lasts for 4 hours. This has been alright for me. But after all when considering what handheld consoles there are available right now in the markets this is a very good and also very cheap opportunity for a player like me that wants to get into handhelds and also Nintendos games a bit more. So I can definitely recommend this for a gamer to buy.