Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 90s

Competition Between Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation

Posted on by Viljami

Yesterday I ended up watching a video from YouTube. It dealt with some difficulties that Sega Saturn had and how it could compete against Sony PlayStation back in the 90s. The person that was interviewed was Hideki Sato. The interview took place in 2018. I will place a link to this video at the end of this blog post. So, just keep reading.

There were differences in hardware between these two gaming consoles. PlayStation was able to bring 3D environments to gamers while many Saturn games had 2D graphics that were based on graphics created with sprites. Although Sega tried to bring some developers that had some ability in designing 3D games they weren’t as successful. Sega did have games like Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing that were also popular in arcades.

Sony had an opportunity to utilize hardware that they manufactured by themselves while Sega had to use contractors. Parts that were needed were different kinds of chips, processors and, for example, CD drives. Sega was more of a software and game development company. This was a matter that would be stressed to Sega by Sony several times. This was also the direction that Sega finally took later when also Dreamcast seemed to fail.

Sony also made it easier for other game developers to make games for their new console. We were then living the age of 1990s. Sony PlayStation was released in 1995 and so was also Sega Saturn. Sega relied on assembler code while Sony gave game developers a full SDK (“software development kit”) that they could develop their games with.

If you think that Saturn ended up selling 9 million units in its lifespan while PlayStation sold 102 million units it isn’t hard to figure that there were also much more games sold for PSX than there actually were for Saturn. As usually manufacturers have to sell consoles with a loss and make up with game sells. This was difficult for Sega and they made a strong loss in sales. They took a beating.

In the end of the 1980s when Sega’s last console, Mega Drive, or Genesis in USA, Sega had the most powerful gaming console in the markets. It competed mainly with Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short. This console also sold nicely. It sold 31 million units while NES sold 62 million units. With all this information available Sega wasn’t done with manufacturing their own consoles. After all, still, Sony was unbeatable. Sony has remained a top console manufacturer since it released their first console PlayStation. Microsoft entered the competition when their Xbox was launched in the beginning of the 2000s. Xbox mainly competed with PS2 but also with GameCube and Dreamcast.

When it comes to who won the competition between these two gaming systems Sony PlayStation is a clear winner. Saturn still remains a popular console in minds of serious retro gamers. It has games that are unique and cannot be found on other retro consoles. This topic seems to be very interesting. At least it is that way in my mind.

You can find the video that inspired me to write this blog post here.

Is Diablo III (Switch) Worth Playing in 2023?

Posted on by Viljami

Diablo as an RPG series is definitely something. The story first started back in 1997 when the first game of this series was released. My first experiences playing Diablo were achieved as I played it on my PS1. I remember my brohter playing it more than I did. He really liked the game. There were many limitations compared to Diablo 1 on PC. I can definitely confirm this.

The second Diablo game was so effing awesome that I spend one weekend six hours straight playing it. This happened in 2000 and I was playing it with a PC. Playing this fast-paced game trying to find rare and powerful items and developing you character made me an addict. I ended up finally finishing the game a bit later.

Diablo has brought action to role-playing. It might have created a completely new genre of video games. It was among first real time role playing games. As turn-based games have their supporters moving and making attacks in real time is really something else. It is said to have taken inspiration from this hockey game of Sega Mega Drive called NHL 94 which was released only some years earlier.

Blizzard had really hit the jackpot. There are many other games, like some strategy games, that were released. I am talking of course about Starcraft and Warcraft. Games seemed to be moving forward and starting to form as real time games where quick thinking is definintely a requirement.

Today, we are seeing the rise of Diablo 4. It has been released for latest consoles just couple of months ago. It has received good ratings from many reviews. We are still waiting for it to take its final form as there are many updates and patches also being applied to this game.

Is it still relevant to go back one step and play some Diablo III? After over ten years of being developed, the third game of Diablo series was released, finally, in 2012. It even caused a serious problem in which the internet was heavily used and the connection was finally lost. This happened globally when Diablo III was released. The game required the player to connect after the game was installed.

We are still waiting how Diablo 4 will take its final, or at least stable, form. I found Diablo III to be a bit of a disappointment when it comes to graphics. Well, the game is over ten years old. I am currently playing it with Nintendo Switch. Controls are fine. I am satisfied in what the game actually offers. It can take tens of hours to finish Diablo III one more time.

I really like graphics of Diablo 4. Also, I really like the game pad of my Xbox Series X. It is a bit better than Switch’s Pro Controller. I really think Nintendo should include Pro Controller or a similar to the package in which the console is sold in. It is cheaper than some other consoles although. We are also hearing some rumours about the next Switch console being released next year. We might see, finally, 4K graphics in a Nintendo console.

Some Very Enjoyable First Person Shooters of 90s and Early 2000s

Posted on by Viljami

It was just yesterday as I started to play an old classic FPS game. The game was Quake II. I have to say that there is going to be a remastered version of this game released this year. I am of course very interested in this game. Quake is just so legendary as a PC game.

As I started playing I although noticed some flaws. If you compare this to modern FPS games you are likely to find out that when you shoot an object the impact isn’t so realistic or accurate. There has been lots of improvement in realistic shooting games since this game was released. I also started to wonder if I can come up with some other FPS’s of this era. Quake II was released in 1997. It is released very early in the life of FPS games. We must remember that Half-Life was released in 1998.

I did get my thoughts to some 90s and early 2000s FPS’s. I actually have a copy of Kingpin, Red Faction and also Soldier of Fortune. I have finished Kingpin and Red Faction. I remember that I got stuck with Soldier of Fortune in some level as I played it with my Windows XP PC very many years ago. Today, I have also a retro PC. I should just install Soldier of Fortune some day and give it a one more try.

These games were released way before Call of Duty which transformed this genre to a new era. I first got to play the first Call of Duty back in 2006. I played it with my original Xbox. There are also many newer games like Battlefield and Doom and Doom Eternal. It is a bit sad that we haven’t seen a new Soldier of Fortune game after the third one flopped a bit. In its time Soldier of Fortune was as realistic as a shooter can be. You were even able to shoot your enemy’s leg off. This was a time when realism and brutality combined to form something new and also something a bit terrifying.

As has been stated many times we can say it one more time. Violence in video and computer games doesn’t directly produce violence in real life. I think this has been already proved scientifically. So there’s actually no debate on this matter anymore. There should be limitations of course. It might not be okay for a very young person to witness such a graphical violence. This everything was new to us back in the day. Of course we see this all the time. Graphics are improving and violence seems to still exist.

I can definitely recommend these three games. If you have them you are lucky. If you want to buy them on Steam or some other game store just go ahead. They also can tell you something about how PC gaming has evolved and continued to develop. There might be something else I should write here for you but I think I must stop here and wait for your response. I will keep writing these posts here now and then.