Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Some Notes About Grid 2 for PS3

Posted on by Viljami

I have spent most of this day right today with a racing game that I thought would be nice to get into again and after some time. It has been originally released in 2013 for PS3. It has been developed  by Codemasters. They are of course very well known from their efforts in bringing some high quality rally racing games to video gamers. So this is something that differs a bit from what we are used to see from them. So, this is a game that brings you racing on different kinds of asphalt roads.

I remember how it was with me, games and game consoles back in 2013. While I was a student back then it wouldn’t have been possible for me to buy this game in 2013. I remember that it cost about 60 euros back then. I even remember thinking very long about buying this some months after the release for 40 euros. I just didn’t have the money. I know it would have been a very nice game for me to play with my PS3.

Time went by and I found this very nice racing game available for a decent price. It eventually cost me 20 euros to finally get this game after some years of its release. It has been several years since I first gave this game a serious try. I tried continuing to play from where I left off. It didn’t work. I couldn’t immediately jump in and continue playing. I started playing this game right from the beginning.

Grid 2 has some differences if you compare it to games like Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport. It also cannot be described as a very realistic game like Dirt Rally for example. What it is that makes it a bit different? It is simply put the controlling of the car or how it feels to drive. You have this way to drift your vehicle. You have to also break and slow down your cars speed but also there is this drift type of element which makes the driving a bit special (in a good way after all).

I don’t clearly recall how long did I spend playing this game today. It might have been something like 5 hours. I did manage to get a grip to this game. The website that I use for checking how long a game lasts says that it takes 17 and a half hours to complete Grid 2. Completing Racedriver Grid, the first game of this series, takes, according to the website, 20 hours. I think they might have shortened this sequal a bit. I think I can complete this game if I just spend enough time playing it.

I have also played some Diablo IV and lots of NBA2K23. It is just that NBA2K takes months to finish meaning mainly that you win the championship with your team and get to maximize your stats. So it is not even possible to complete it in a month. At least not for me. I decided to play Grid 2 because I wanted a change for a while. I also keep thinking about different games that I already own and if I will have some day time to play them or even complete them. That is why I sometimes change a game. It might sound irrational. That is just the way it is. Grid 2 is also available for PC and Xbox 360.

Should Retro Games Be Declared as Public Domain?

Posted on by Viljami

How popular are old NES or SNES games? Just think about how popular were NES Classic Mini and also the one that had tens of SNES games on it. I remember that I was working in a game shop as we had hundreds of customers that had ordered a NES mini. They had to wait moths to get one. This same happened with SNES mini. Although customers started to understand and not order a device that couldn’t even be delivered in a reasonable time.

This is exactly the matter when we are talking about the popularity of retro games. These games were released 30 or 40 years ago. They aren’t properly available to us gamers. Nintendo has made them available on their web service. That alone doesn’t make me want to pay for the subscription. You can get a console, maybe original NES or some other type of console, that you can play original games with. This however is expensive. You might have to pay 40 euros for a game. Some games are sold for hundreds or even thousands of euros.

Publishers seem to be holding on to these game titles. How does this make sense? If someone buys a used game from a game shop that is a private entrepreneur how does this give any more profit to the publisher of the game? There have been many sore comments on Facebook ads of this certain web shop that offers money for used retro titles. They pay you about fifty percentage or maybe even less than that for your rare games of the price they are actually selling it. This makes producing and downloading so called pirated copies of these games popular and tempting.

I just today read a story that was dealing with the ability to play old games that were released in 2010 or earlier. This is actually very hard. The writer was very concerned about older games just disappearing somewhere. These games are valuable in a certain way. Future game designers can learn a lot from old games. Someone might be willing to play these games. And many are having this certain appeal to these games now and also in the future.

What would be the solution? I think that certain games should be made a public domain. You could download them and share and even maybe modify them freely. We should have devices available that could convert the game cartridge to a rom file and they should be easily available. There could be devices dedicated to this in libraries or maybe in some other places. I have to tell you that we are already seeing all sorts of video games available in libraries already today.

So, to conclude, we should, in my opinion, share these old games and make them as widely available as possible. We already have these most important video game systems emulators available. Someone might support legalizing some mild drug. I am right now stating that I support the freeing of retro games. This is even today illegal. Who is this statute working for one might ask. I am not supporting or saying that you should break law. That is not the case. I am saying that we should change the law since it seems that old games are getting hard to play and to enjoy.

A Neat Find from a Local Flea Market

Posted on by Viljami

You don’t have to necessarily guess what I found from a local flea market. While looking to the image right above this blog post you can see that it is an original CD-ROM of the legendary FPS game Quake. What you can guess is how much did I pay for it? It cost me two euros. Yes. That is right. Two euros. I am a bit tempted to sell this forward for maybe ten or fifteen euros but I decided that I would like to keep it.

I already figured when I decided to buy this that this game isn’t going to work on my modern Windows 10 PC. Fortunately I have a dedicated PC that runs Windows XP. I am going to play it on this old PC. I also understand that there are versions of this game available for Switch, PS4 and Xbox Series X. I think I made the right choice when I decided to buy this game. While re-use centers don’t necessarily always have the right ways to analyze the stuff they are selling I am willing to support them with buying a game for two euros.

There is one cool feature with this CD. It does play the games official sound track if you insert it to a CD player. I think this was why they had it in the audio CD section of this re-use center that I bought it from. I was actually a bit surprised that this disc didn’t have even more value. I have seen some CD-ROM PC games that were for sale for maybe 30 euros. This is of course a price of a game shop and those prices are always a bit high. This is due to some expenses that these special stores have like rent for example. I am very content in this latest purchase that I made. It is definitely a good purchase. Two euros. Wow!

I actually have a holiday at the moment. I have spent it sleeping, reading and playing. I have been just relaxing. I did spend some time in a hotel. And we are going to our family’s summer cottage next week. My wife has her holidays at the same time. We have spent some time together, of course. So, I have had a lot time for these activities I described a bit earlier. Today I had time to go to three different flea markets at Myyrmäki, Vantaa.

Quake has gained lots of attention lately. So I guess that here’s some more hype for the game. I am also waiting to get to listen once again the soundtrack of this game. The soundtrack was produced by Nine Inch Nails. If you like old school first person shooters then why not give Quake a try. Back in 1996 it was something different. It is a good game and a legendary game also.