Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: History of Gaming

A Retro Gaming Book About Nintendo GameCube

Posted on by Viljami

Yesterday I got to add a new retro game book to my collection of books. It is the book about GameCube, “GameCube Anthology”. This book is published by Geeks Line Publishing. I was very content when I found out that this book was available very easily from a well-known Finnish web shop. Now, I am not going to advertise here. Let’s just say that it was easily available. The price was 42 euros with the shipping.

There has been a lot of conversation about GameCube lately. It is a very popular console among collectors. This anthology consists of 360 pages. It is written in English. Through these pages the book tells the reader about technology and how the process of developing the console formed. There are games presented. Actually ALL games that were released, that makes the total of 647 games. It includes games that were exclusively released in Japan, USA or Europe. So, this is all good information for a GameCube collector.

I am not so familiar with Geeks Line Publishing. I did find also a book about Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, and a book about Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES. These both are available from the same web shop. I figured I am most interested currently in GameCube, so I picked this one up. Although a book about NES or SNES would sound interesting to me, also. As I browse through this publishers website I find that they have published similar books about other retro game consoles like PlayStation. All these books seem to be targeted for a collector.

GameCube is a very interesting system. It brings me closer to the feel of 2000s retro games that have this particular combination of game play and 3D graphics. I don’t have so many games currently for this system. I have all in all about maybe 15 or 20 games for GameCube. I have the remake of the first Resident Evil and RE zero, Super Mario Sunshine, Need For Speed Underground and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4, just to name some games. There were several kind of “new” and “wild” ideas concerning the design of GameCube. First of all the controller was something other than those Dual Shock or original Xbox controllers we were used to. It was also something different to have these small 1,4 GB game discs instead of DVD game discs that had 4,7 GB of space for the game. There was no hard disk. You had to use a memory card. There were also four spots for a controller, so, you could play multiplayer on only one screen.

Why Nintendo did these decisions with the design? I think they probably wanted to stand out and create something unique that gaming fans would love. In my thinking this was a success. How otherwise would you still be playing these GameCube’s games after over 20 years since its release. GameCube sold almost 22 million units. It was manufactured between 2001 and 2007. GameCube was facing tough competition from Sony’s PlayStation 2, original Xbox and of course from Sega’s Dreamcast, that sold “only” 9 million units worldwide. PS2 was  the greatest gaming system back then when it comes to sold units. It sold over 150 million units.

I am hoping to read this book soon. I am currently reading some other stuff also. It definitely seems promising. Maybe I even figure some new games that I would like to add to my collection. It’s just that these games prices are a bit high right now. So, it’s not a good idea to spend all your money to GameCube games. Maybe we will get a GameCube mini console, soon, who knows?

I Finished Reading “Ready Player One”

Posted on by Viljami

So, as the title of this blog post tells you, I finished reading my copy of Ready Player One. It was originally published in 2011. My copy of this book is printed in 2018. This is the translation. I read this one in Finnish. I just wish that I would have read the original book in English. The translation isn’t bad. I just think there are so many terms in English “nerd slang” that you cannot directly translate to Finnish. They have done their best. I know this because there is a person mentioned in the first pages of the book. That person is Jyrki J. J. Kasvi. Or at least was because, sadly, he passed away some years ago.

This book offers a story and lots of references to 70s, 80s and 90s video game related content. This includes games, music and movies. When I am reading this material, I feel very much like a real nerd. I can feel the writers, who is, actually, Ernest Cline, passion, so to say, about every movie and game that he mentions in the book. You probably get who this book is targeted for. It is a fun read. All this talk about Atari 2600 makes it also a bit funny. It just shows how much this console mattered to the author of the book.

The book has a bit over 500 pages. On these last pages there is an advertisement about Cline’s new book called Armada. It is said that it will be available in 2018. I didn’t actually buy this paper back book as a new copy. I bought it from flea market. It might have been from recycling center. I don’t remember clearly.

The story takes place in year 2045. People are really into virtual reality gaming. There is a huge video game called OASIS. It was developed by a now deceased game designer James Halliday. He left a quest inside the game. There is a huge reward promised to that person that can solve the mystery. There is also a large company called IOI that is doing its best to get their hands on this award. The book takes you through of how the main character, Wade Watts, deals with this challenge.

This book has been very popular. There is also a movie made out of it. With all this hype around the book I found it to be a nice read. And of course it is related to the subject of my dearest hobby – collecting and playing video and computer games.

Still Waiting for Diablo IV

Posted on by Viljami

I am eager to get my hands on the newest game in Diablo series. I got information on Friday that the game shop has delivered the package and it’s on the way. I know that some people have already got to play this game. I am jealous. As I am still waiting it might be a good time to go through what my relationship with Diablo series currently is.

I wasn’t a big fan of the first game of this action role playing game series. It was the second game, Diablo 2, that got me excited. I also played Diablo 1 with my PlayStation back in the late 90s. Diablo 2 I played with a PC. I think it wasn’t even released to other platforms. And of course there is this one game that I like also. It is, of course, Diablo 3. I enjoyed it also very much.

A friend of mine sold me these Diablo 2 PC big boxes. There is the original Diablo 2 and there is also the expansion, Lord of The Destruction. I am very lucky to have this items. I think they are valuable also when it comes to money. I am not going to sell them. Not any day soon, after all. As you might have figured I have lots of love for PC big box games. I have currently 16 boxes in my collection. I just love the way they look on the self. It makes me feel like a real gaming professional.

I also have played Diablo 1. I have completed it several times. There is this thing that makes Diablo games re-playable. This is the way that you can choose your character class and have a different experience and play the game through with a different character.

What makes Diablo games so spectacular? I think it is the way it combines action, strategy and role playing elements. I have read that Diablo was very much influenced by a Sega Mega Drive hockey game (would you believe it). This game was NHL 94. The first Diablo was released in 1996. The company that first released it was Blizzard. You might find a book called “Stay Awhile and Listen” interesting. It tells you the story of how Diablo came to be. It is written by David L. Craddock.

Diablo has always offered its players a great overall gaming experience. For me it has also brought me a step closer to role playing. While Diablo has many roguelike elements, it isn’t fully a roguelike game. In 100 percentage roguelike, or the oringinal game, Rogue, there are some features that aren’t as rough for the player.  One difference is that when you die you don’t have to restart the whole game with a completely new character. Instead you leave a body to the spot where you died and when re-spawning you have to collect the body to keep all your gear and potions and so on.

I like this series of games very much. I hope to see one great game. I might write another blog post about the game. By the way – I finished Forza Horizon 5 after playing it for almost 20 hours. There could be some other achievements to unlock but I am not that interested in continuing to play that game anymore. After all, the latest and maybe the greatest Diablo game is just around the corner.