Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

The Pure Joy of Rally Driving

Posted on by Viljami

We have seen many rally games that you can play on Xbox Series X. Out of three first games in this series of Dirt rally games Dirt 3 is compatible and fully playable on the latest Xbox console. It was released in 2010. So, its been a while.

I have now driven in Dirt 3 for a bit over ten hours. You can see the number of hours from this rally game’s stats that can be accessed directly through the menus of the game. As you might already know you cannot track your time that you have spent while playing an Xbox 360 game title on the Series X. Luckily we still can have stats provided by the game itself.

These aren’t my first touches to this rally game. Actually it’s quite far from it. I first got into Dirt 3 back when the only video game console that I had hooked up to my television back in the day was PlayStation 3. I was eager to play this game. I bought it as soon as it was released. I remember buying it for something like 60 euros. Games really used to cost much less in that moment.

This was also the first game that I played with a wheel and pedals. The game can also be operated with a game pad. The latest sessions I’ve had with this game I have utilized solely the controller. The difficulty level can be adjusted. You can aim for a more realistic and harder style of driving. The options are broad.

I have played Colin McRae Dirt and Colin McRae Dirt 2 also. It is a bit sad that out of these very fine rally games Dirt 3 seems to be the only one that is compatible with Xbox Series X. As I checked if this game would be available digitally from Xbox Store I found that it is not available. The only option, if you want to play it on your Series X, is to get yourself a physical copy. The game doesn’t really take so much space on your hard drive.

It is also today very easy to run also this game in an emulator. So, you don’t have to check every Xbox 360 title to see if they are actually compatible with your Xbox Series X. There is actually a list available online that presents this information. You can find it easily utilizing your favorite search engine (DuckDuckGo?).

Running Xbox 360 games on an emulator requires a heavy PC setup. I for example couldn’t get the Xenia emulator to run on my current PC. I am going to buy a new PC soon. This is because of the forced Windows update from Windows 10 to Windows 11. It can also be an option for you to install Linux. It depends very much of the software you need to run on your PC. Games, today, can be played with a Linux operating system. Even the newest ones. I actually think that most Steam games do run on Linux.

I have lots of music production software that I am not so sure if it can run on Linux. Mac really isn’t an option for me. I need a Windows 11 PC. There is some music software available for Linux and lots of this software is free or “open source”. It is just a hell of a job to set things up in Linux. I am not confident with this. A part of me would like to enjoy the freedom of Linux but something tells me that I need Windows 11. This means that I have to spend lots of money for a new computer since my current PC isn’t compatible with Windows 11.

Anyways, thank you, if you are actually reading this. I hope you enjoy this blog. Dirt 3 is one heck of a rally game. I hope you find it satisfying if you end up acquiring it in any way. You can play Dirt 3 on an emulator, like Xenia, with your own Xbox 360 console or the way I played it (on Xbox Series X).

Super Punch-Out!!

Posted on by Viljami

Super Punch-Out!! is a nice boxing game for Super Nintendo. It is kind of a remake made out of the NES title Punch-Out!!. It includes updated and better graphics and also very unique opponents that have special ways to box. For example the last opponent of The Minor Circuit, Bald Bull, has a punch that knocks you down to the floor no matter how much health your boxer has. Piston Hurricane has a long combo that you must dodge if you wish to win this boxer.

I really like how the game progresses. It is a bit repetitive as any 16-bit eras game can often be. In Super Punch-Out!! you have to box against the same opponents in the same tournament some times to achieve the progressing. I like how the opponents are designed. They look nice. I managed to get through Minor Circuit. There are also two other tournaments that you can compete in after you finish Minor Circuit. There is also one more tournament that is called Special Circuit. So, there are four tournaments in total in Super Punch-Out!!.

It took me some hours just to complete Minor Circuit. The way you actually play the game is simple but can take some time to adjust to. Super Punch-Out!! utilizes the SNES controller that already had several buttons along with directional buttons. This makes playing the game more easier and I think it makes the game also more enjoyable. You could think about some of the limitations of Sega Mega Drive controller that only has three buttons along the directional buttons.

You actually play Super Punch-Out!! with two buttons that you can land a punch with. If you press also forward button your boxer tries to land a punch to the head of the opponent. If you don’t press forward the punch gets directed to stomach area. You can also block and try to dodge your opponents punch. You can dodge to back or to left or right. You can also block a punch directed to your head or stomach area.

Every punch you attempt doesn’t necessarily hit. I think there is some randomness about when your punch actually hits. You cannot actually see clearly when to attempt to punch. And every opponents punch also doesn’t land also. This makes the game a bit more entertaining and more funnier to play. Some people might say that this makes the game a bit less realistic. I think this just improves the overall game-play after all.

There is another boxing game for this era of 16-bit gaming that I also like. This game is Greatest Heavyweights and it was released for Sega Mega Drive in 1993. If you like boxing games I think you will like Greatest Heavyweights also. If we compare this game to Super Punch-Out!! we can definitely see how Nintendo has invested in designing the details of the game. The characters are all very unique compared to Greatest Heavyweights and it tries to be more realistic and this might even seem to be a bit ordinary. In any way both of these games are very good products and very solid as video games.

All-in-all there are several good video games released originally for Super Nintendo. I think Nintendo dominated the field after it was released. I think the progression can be seen clearly from NES to Mega Drive and then to SNES and on to Sony PlayStation 1 and onward from there all the way to today’s devices. The technology seems to be developing even further. Sometimes it is definitely nice to play these retro games and try to enjoy these devices and the ways that they utilize the technology of their time.

Too Many Games

Posted on by Viljami

Playing games, being a gamer, can take a lot of time. This comes clear to me as I have just some weeks ago installed two huge and space-taking games to my Xbox Series X. I took me almost two hours just to install these two games. The games are Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy. Some very good titles that have just been sitting on my game shelf for a long time. I would even go and say too long.

I actually did pay a bit lower price for both of these titles. I paid about 20 euros for Cyberpunk 2077 and about 40 euros for Hogwarts Legacy. As you might know the price for a new, just release game, seems to be around 70 euros or something like that. Of course publishers are now aiming to rise prices a bit. We might see games that were just released priced as something near 100 euros in the future. Where does the money go one might ask.

It seems like the industry is making a lot of money by releasing new games. Do we as gamers have the ability to play every single decent game that’s out there and available. I doubt that. Today we are seeing a new Doom game and in the July we are going to see remake collection of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. And, last but not least, we are going to see the release of Nintendo Switch 2.

In the last maybe four years I have been buying lots of games. I like to buy games that are in sale. I also buy lots of older games. They are also cheap. I am talking about games for PS3 and Xbox 360 or anything that is from that era. You know – games that are old but not yet considered widely retro games.

I think, actually, that there are just too many titles out there. I’d like to play every decent game but it seems that you just have to decide and pick what to play. This is sometimes difficult. You have to spend some hours playing the game to see if it fits your idea of a good gaming entertainment. For example I did play almost seven hours of Cyberpunk 2077 but decided to play something else after that.

Games are long. Some games take 30 hours just to play them through. I know that I have spend hundreds of hours playing NBA 2K games. I think this videogame series got me and many others hooked. Somehow they seem to capture players and they keep releasing the game every year with so little improvements or changes in the basic gameplay.

People are spending more money on videogames than ever. There has been discussion and some predictions of how will Nintendo Switch 2 sell in the first year that it is available. We are talking about tens of millions of devices. That something to think about. Gaming seems to be more popular than ever.

Why don’t I have so much time? Well, it seems like my adulthood has already begun several years ago. I am not a student anymore. I have an eight-hour workday from Monday to Friday. So, I have to work. I want to work. I want to be a part of the society. I would like to play more. It just isn’t my top priority anymore. I have less free time now. I do have some more money. It just seems that buying a game seems to be something I have to really consider and think about.

For someone that is playing lots of videogames this seems to be a perfect time. There are lots of games to choose from and you have to choose which ones to buy and play. There are reviews in the gaming media online and even in the printed media. They can give you an idea of what to expect from a game even before you buy it. You can also gather knowledge about games and discuss about them to find new games to actually play.

What I would like to say about all this? Think for a while what you are buying. Sometimes it is good to wait some time after a game is released. The price might go lower. Please think about what companies and what kind of companies you are supporting. Don’t forget independent developers and give them some support. We do have a beautiful moment in time and history. Lets embrace it and keep playing good games!