2020s Archives - Intensive Gaming Diary

Hyperkin DuchesS Is a Joy to Use

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Viljami

It has been already almost three weeks since I bought Hyperkin DuchesS. It is a game pad that works on Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One and PC. It is available in three different colors that are black, white and green. The button layout is very familiar to gaming fans that have played video games on original Xbox. IT also has the so called “select” and “start” buttons of a modern Xbox game pad on the left side of the controller. This controller costs currently about 55 euros. So, it isn’t actually a very expensive controller to buy.

The Hyperkin DuchesS is a wired controller. So, you hook it up to your console or computer with a long cable that has a USB-A, as is usual nowadays, connector. I had sligh issues because the cable pressed some of my keyboard buttons accidentally. I don’t think that is a huge matter. The game pad feels light. The button layout feels very nice and the controller works very nicely when you play some original Xbox game on an emulator or with your Xbox Series S/X or Xbox One.

I have had some good gaming moments using this Hyperkin DuchesS with Xemu. It is a piece of software that allows you to play some original Xbox games on your PC. Xemu does have some issues and all the games aren’t playable using it. I was able to play some Forza Motorsport. This game works very nicely. Also Hyperkin DuchesS is a good choice also for modern games. I played Rush Rally 3 for a while. It is a decent rally racing game from this year (2026). I bought it for my Windows PC from Steam a while ago.

The nicest thing about Hyperkin DuchesS is definitely the button layout and also the similar feel to an original Xbox controller. I think this green color was the most appealling at least for me. So, I had the opportunity to buy it. I think this might be the most popular color out of all three of them. The controller really gives you a touch of a real gaming experience with a real original Xbox.

I have recently played original Xbox games mainly through emulation. I emulate Xbox with Batocera or a regular Windows PC. The experience is deeper with my Batocera computer since I have connected it to my television. So, I can play original Xbox games from my couch. It has been several years since I last time had a real working original Xbox connected to my TV. There are a bit over 60 games for original Xbox that actually do work through backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X. Some games are available as digital versions from Xbox store.

I really hope that Xemu keeps getting better. At some earlier times it wasn’t as good of a solution in a way that it currrently is. Some gamers say that it is able to run about 80 percentage of games out of the whole original Xbox game library. Original Xbox has almost one thousand games that were actually released. I think Xemu is a good and solid emulator. It just still has some slight problems and there are some ways it could be improved as an emulator. You can just compare it to PS2 and/or GameCube emulation that works without issues with emulators like PCSX2 and/or Dolphin.

Also you can use Hyperkin DuchesS with Xenia. This is a Xbox 360 emulator. You do need a powerful modern PC to use Xenia. Xbox 360 has 2157 games in its game library. I have played Colin McRae Dirt 2 for some hours with Xenia. You can probably find Xenia and Xemu using your favorite search engine.

Splintered Fate

Posted on July 1, 2026 by Viljami

It has been three days since I wrote about some Turtles stuff and also about Splintered Fate for Nintendo Switch. This game was released already last year and now I finally had some time to really dive deep into it. Splintered Fate is a nice action game with some character development elements. One key part of the game is the run-based system where in order to beat the game you have to complete the run completely. A big part of the game is trying to gather some materials so you can update your character to have stronger attack power and also heavier health points. I managed to beat the final opponent, Shredder, in my last run and it took about 40 minutes. This way of building the plot in the game makes me remember playing Hades some years back.

There are several characters for you to choose from. There are four turtles, of course, and some other characters like Casey. I picked Leonardo and stuck with him for almost to the ending of the game. On my final and also successful run I played with Casey. I was able to finally defeat Shredder. While there is still a lot to play I figured that I at least give a break for playing this game. The total time I did spend was a bit over 15 hours. “How Long To Beat” website tells me that it takes 9 hours to beat Splintered Fate.

If I try to define how good of a game this was for me I think this might be the best Turtles game I have played. At least it is in a long while. I did enjoy “Shredder’s Revenge” that was released some years ago. I also liked to play the Turtles games that were released for SNES and Mega Drive. Names of those titles are “Turtles In Time” and “The Hyperstone Heist”. They are, at least Hyperstone Heist is, very expensive. I have seen these games for sale for some hundred euros. Luckily there is a legit way for you to play these games and that way is obtaining a copy, be it digital or physical, of the “Cowabunga Collection”. But this game that I just finished is a very nice game especially if you are a fan of Turtles.

If we inspect some reviews on Metacritic we can clearly see that it has received mixed and average scores. It might not be a contender if we have a debate about the greatest game of the year. But in any ways I can say that I still enjoyed playing it. If there would be something negative I would have to say about it would be that the progression of the main character could be based more on the experience of that gets gathered along the way. I am missing something like Diablo has as a progression system where every battle gathers up experience points. Also I think there is too much to do with pure luck when you fight through your run trying to beat the game.

The game, Splintered Fate, is currently available for PC (Steam), Switch (1 and 2), Xbox One and Series S/X and PS4/PS5. It has also earlier been released on iOS. I am not aware of any release on Android devices. So, the game is also available on iPhone and iPad if you are into playing video games on these mobile devices. I enjoyed playing this game very much.

As Turtles has been a very popular trademark from the early 1990s and as this era since then has been very much involved in playing video games we have already seen over 50 video games that were themed with Turtles. Turtles has been a strong part of several gaming console generations. I think it all began with NES, it progressed with Mega Drive and SNES, and kept going all the way from PS1 to PS2 and all the way to this modern era we are today facing. We cannot say that every Turtles game would be a good one but if you consider these 13 included in Cowabunga Collection I think you are getting the best retro titles that have been made in history of Turtles games.

Waiting for Forza Horizon 6

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Viljami

Forza Horizon 6 will be released 19th of May this year (2026). It will be available at the launch for PC and Xbox Series S/X. There have been some very unofficial discussions about this game getting released also for other mainstream gaming consoles. This just seems to be the viewpoint today. There might be such things as exclusive releases soon as every PlayStation title seems to be getting released for PC and now also for Xbox.

So, what I have been up to lately, one might ask. Mainly I have been working and keeping myself busy in that way. There seems to be less time for video games as I get older. However I have played some games and this blog post deals with that part of my life now. I have played Crash Bandicoot 4, Doom – Dark Ages, Half-Life 2 and also more and lately Dirt 5 which seems to be a nice racing game to start to get ready for Forza Horizon 6.

Dirt 5 was originally released in 2020. It isn’t the newest game that has been developed by Codemasters but it still remains as a part of this legendary series of racing games that might even been started by Colin McRae Rally already back in the end of the 90s. There have been many great games in this series. I especially want to mention Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Colin McRae Dirt 2. Those might be the best games out of this series.

Dirt 5 has a lot to offer. I have already spent a bit over 7 hours playing it. You get to drive with several different vehicles and there are several types of driving you will get involved in during playing. There are many camera options to choose from. You can set the camera to the surface of the road or then set it to display the whole car from the back. I chose to set the camera so that I can see the whole car I am driving. This makes it somewhat easy to play Dirt 5. You do have to control the vehicle precisely. I have played this game with a game controller. I really don’t know how a driving wheel and pedals would make the game seem to feel like.

Dirt 5 is a nice racing game in overall. It is almost unfair to make a comparison between the earlier games in this series because they are just so good as racing games. If we put it into this perspective Dirt 5 is a good game. There might have been some issues early when the game was released but I think that in 2026 this game is still a fun one to play. It has received the “metascore” of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic.

I originally picked up Dirt 5 just some weeks before the upcoming release of Forza Horizon 6. It currently has a price tag of 21 euros on the Xbox store. So, it is a cheap game that can help you to better deal with waiting for Forza Horizon 6. This time I bought a game as a digital copy. Although I decided to order Forza Horizon 6 as a physical copy. There will be a long installation process since the game takes a bit over 130 GB of space from my Xbox Series X. Do remember that there is also a PC version available.

With having already made the purchase I am waiting to get my hands on the new Forza game at next Tuesday. Today I am having a day off and I am currently enjoying it an drinking some coffee while I type this post that you are soon able to read. I really have nothing else to say right now. So, until next time my dear readers.