Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: News

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!

What to Expect From PS6?

Posted on by Viljami

What a nice way to start a day with some coffee and pondering about the release of PS6 on a blog post. It is now September in 2025. PS5 was released in 2020. It faced success but also some very deep problems with availability since we were struggling with corona virus already some years ago. Despite of these problems PS5 has sold to this day already over 80 million consoles. And there is still time to sell some more. PS5 is still very much in the markets and in the production. We are not going see this console going anywhere anytime soon. But still we have to consider that there is going to be a PS6 released maybe, and this is speculation, in two to three years.

What to think about PS6 right now? Is it too soon for a new PlayStation console? When will it be released? Will it have a backwards compatibility? Also, it would be interesting to know if this new console will be a hybrid of a handheld console and the traditional console that has a dock so you can attach it to your television or a screen. As I have kept my ears and eyes open I have heard rumors about Sony very much admiring the success of Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. It would be interesting to see a new console like this. There are also many ways to create a console. So, it is very interesting to see what Sony can figure out and also will it be able to actually compete with its toughest competitors.

I haven’t to this day bought a PS5 console. If I would buy a PS5 I would like to have the version of this console that has the optical disc drive. The console is very much compatible with PS4 games. I do own a PS4. There are some reasons why I haven’t bought a PS5. Early when Xbox Series S/X consoles were released I figured that I want the Xbox. I decided to buy the new Xbox. While there are some exclusive games on both of these systems it was my decision to buy Xbox Series X. I have only recently thought about buying a PS5.

I do have almost ten consoles in my current setup. There just isn’t enough room for one more PlayStation console. This has to be considered also because the latest PlayStation is a big in size. It wouldn’t fit to my setup and I would have to place it to the side of my 55 inch television. It just doesn’t fit there. I already have a retro gaming PC on the left side of my TV and Xbox Series X on the left side of my television. Why would I buy it? There are some good games like Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank and Astro Bot but that’s about it. It doesn’t have a huge library of exclusive games. It is also possible to play these games as they are ported to PC.

Why would I need a PS6? I am assuming that it would have backwards compatibility to at least PS5 games if not even PS4 games. PS4 was for me a somewhat a disappointment. It didn’t renew gaming like PS3 did. It was just a slight update to PS3. PS4 doesn’t have a SSD drive which makes it a bit slow already. PS6 would need to bring some new games along if it gets released. Are we already ready for a new PlayStation? Could the fifth PlayStation still be utilized for new games? It has to be said that we are not seeing as many games released recently because they are more like huge projects than something that talented game developers are constantly innovating on. The gaming scenery is a huge business and not a child’s playfield anymore.

With all this talk about PS6 I am still very excited about it. We do need some good games for it. What will be the price tag of this new console when it gets released? There are so many questions that we will just have to wait and see if we want an answer of some kind. Probably Sony will publish some information. Until then this is all speculation. Rumors are spreading and news posts are getting published. Last but not least we have to consider what are the specs of this new console? Do we have to move from 4K to 8K? Do we need to buy a new television once more or is there some other way to improve? I have already exchanged my television for at least two times since I built my current setup. I actually went from Full HD 32 inch to Full HD 42 inch to my current 4K 55 inch television.

I am leaving you now with these questions. These questions are open and waiting to be answered. I might find the answer. It just isn’t, yet, published. We are experiencing the most significant era of gaming that involves some retro gaming but also some new consoles and also games for them. What a great time to experience something we call video games. We will get back in another blog post another time, soon.

Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival

Posted on by Viljami

Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival is an adventure game inspired very much by Leisure Suit Larry. It is released for C64. You might be surprised about a new game getting released for such an old, or maybe “retro”, type of platform. The game is a new release after all. If you are interested should head to this address for more information and instructions on how to buy the game.

I got interested in this game just last Friday when I got my hands on the new Pelit magazine that is published here in my home country Finland. The magazine is released monthly. Herra 47 is produced by Vector 5 Games. The team consists of just a few people. The game takes strong influences from a comedy show from Finland from late 1980s and early 1990s. This show, called “Pulttibois”, featured this character named Herra 47. It is a character created by actor Pirkka-Pekka Petelius. You can actually find the picture of Herra 47 from this blog posts featured image. The featured image is actually a photo that I took from Pelit magazine just one moment ago.

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius is a funny Finnish and well-known comedian. He played a big role in Finnish television comedy scene and was actually one of the pioneers of Finnish television comedy scene. There was also another actor that played in this comedy series (“Pulttibois”) and his name is Aake Kalliala. Herra 47 – Midsummer Festival takes strong influences from Petelius’s character in this game.

The game is available for a price of about 7 dollars. As the platform is Commodore 64 there weren’t actually no adventure games originally released for C64 back in the day by Sierra. These adventure games that were very popular in the 1980s were based on this particular game creation engine that makes all these Sierra games feel and look like they are developed in this certain and very recognizable way. You can notice this if you have ever played games like Larry, Police Quest, King’s Quest or/and Space Quest. Since all these games used this game engine they all look a bit like each other. There was an update to this engine and it was utilized later to make more advanced adventure games by Sierra.

The idea of a game placed somewhere in fictional Finland (at least I think the game takes place in here) is totally hilarious. My imagination starts running when I think about Petelius’s character, Herra 47, running around during  mid-summer, and trying to get some female company. It is funny because mid-summer is a big happening here and almost everyone has a vacation then. So, there are lots of parties and partying going on. If you don’t head to countryside to your summer cottage you can spend your mid-summer also in the city. It is very quiet here then. It is actually a pretty calm period. Thinking about Herra 47 spending his summer days this way is very very funny.

While the game is a good game there are some considerations. The humor might be a bit rough for today’s audience. Also Pelit magazine mentioned that the storyline and all of the puzzles could have been designed a bit better. There might be a sequel coming some time and fans are of course waiting this to be something wild. I think you can enjoy the game if you like old Sierra games and especially Leisure Suit Larry. Technically the game is a definite master piece. Vector 5 Games has done a good job.

Since I am not so much into Commodore 64 and I don’t have a real C64 console this isn’t although a game that I would actually play. The game is interesting. If you are into C64 you should definitely invest a bit of your money and time to this game. I think it really deserves it. The game received a grade of 6 out of 9 (a funny joke also, knowers will know).