Too Many Games

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!

Latest Isn’t Always the Greatest in Gaming

I’ve been verry active in gaming lately. I’ve played a lot of Xbox 360 games. They are a bit old but actually I have found many good games that are still very much enjoyable. The hardware is old. Xbox 360 was released in the middle of the 2000s. I think it was released in 2005. Its already about twenty years old console. Still there is a steep appeal for me at least.

All this talk about Nintendo releasing a new console soon is getting me a bit confused. We are talking about Switch 2 that is going to be released later this year. We are going to get some more information about this matter from Nintendo soon. At least that’s what I’ve heard or read. There is a new console coming and it is said to be only as powerful when it comes to pure performance as a PlayStation 4. Sony released this console almost 12 years ago.

We are we headed? Sony and Microsoft are releasing powerful new consoles and we are seeing as we are used to a new console maybe every seven years or so. While the performance is increasing we are seeing less and less exciting new games that we had earlier with some earlier consoles. Prices of consoles have been on a rise. PS5 Pro has still a price of 850 euros. I bought my Xbox Series X for about 510 euros couple of years ago.

Where is Nintendo going? You can get a Switch for 300 euros today. The price might go even lower as many gamers are already waiting for the new Nintendo console. Originally Switch was a console for gaming that was released in 2017. How about some games then? Switch has several good quality games that are exclusive to Nintendo Switch. I am talking about games like Super Mario Bros Wonder, The Legend of Zelda – Tears of the Kingdom and Luigi’s Mansion series. There are also many remakes like Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door and Donkey Kong Returns HD and these two are also exclusives just like the first three games that were mentioned.

Backwards compatibility can make things a bit easier. You can play many Xbox 360 games on Xbox Series X. You don’t have to own a functioning Xbox 360 console just to enjoy some of these a bit older but also very good video games. However every game of an old console isn’t compatible. This is where we should also consider about emulation. While gaming consoles can break down you can take any personal computer, install an operating system like Recalbox or RetroPie and start enjoying your just a bit older video games. You just have to have a powerful enough PC.

Many video games today are getting also released as remakes for newer consoles. There are game developers like Capcom that are bringing games like Resident Evil series to new and younger audiences in a from of a remake. These games seem not to be just some old or retro games getting an update and instead they are kind of spin-offs that have also some new content. We have seen this also in the form of games like Dead Space. Some games are actually just games getting released again only with new and improved graphics and game play. This is when you should consider turning back to the old release. Slightly improved graphics can give you only so little. You can think for a moment about a game like the first Red DEad Redemption.

PS5 is fully backwards compatible with PS4. Xbox Series X is fully backwards compatible with Xbox One. All the time we are seeing less and less new games. All the time we are seeing games that are hugely ambitious in getting players to play these games. We are seeing more and more ambition in selling these new games. Every new game wants to be a popular and in every way successful. How long do we keep improving when it comes to pure performance? Should we appreciate game design more?

I Read a Lot

I have to make it clear – I like reading and I read a lot. This hobby that I have might not be so popular at this moment in our history and in our society right now. I have read tens of books during the last years. I actually don’t have any statistics to back this up. I only have this pile of books that is showed in the featured image of this blog post. I have read all of them.

I have this habit of putting a book that I have read to a pile. I have many piles like this. I also have a pile of books in my home that I haven’t yet started to read. I read one book at a time. Sometimes I abandon the book I am reading but this is not so usual as I can find many topics interesting  to me. These kind of rules help me to grasp on this hobby. At times I feel a bit amazed of how large these piles are.

“Why do I enjoy reading?”, one might ask. I have always been an introvert. This was apparent all the way through my childhood. I liked drawing. I stayed home for hours drawing. When I was seven years old I learned to read. I was nine years old when I started learning English in school. At first I read books written in Finnish. Lately I have picked up some books that were written in English. I have thought about also reading a book written in French or Swedish since I have studied both of them.

I haven’t really counted how many books I have read. I can make some conclusions. During my four week vacation I read four books. That makes one book per week. I don’t normally read at a pace this fast. The time I do spend reading is depending very much on what else I have to do. This includes working, cleaning the house and things like that. Also, my other freetime hobbies take up some time.

Some topics I am interested in when it comes to books are technology, future, science, physics, space, video games (of course), programming, computers, philosophy and phychology. I do read also fictive books (like that book written by Dan Brown that you can find form the image featured on this blog post).

I just wanted to impress this side of my life also. I read a lot. Currently I am reading a book about Linux and its creator Linus Torvalds. The book is titled “Kapinakoodi” that means “Rebel Code”. The book is a bit old but the topic is fascinating.