Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: sony

Remembering PS4

Posted on by Viljami

It has been eleven years already since I bought my PS4. I remember hooking it up back in the day and replacing my PS3 in my gaming setup. Back in 2014 I only used one gaming console. So, I had only PS4 connected to my television for several years. I have lots of games for PS4 in my game library. Today I am thinking about getting a PS5t that was released already five years ago. I am also waiting eagerly for PS6 to drop some day.

Lately I have not focused so much on playing video games on my PS4. It is still a very good console. Although it has its limitations. It doesn’t have a SSD and uses HDD hard drive instead. I remember clearly replacing the HDD that was only 500 GB to one that had 2 TB of space. This was an easy way to update the system and the hard disk I bought wasn’t actually pricey at all. I definitely think that extra hard disk space is expensive on newest Xbox consoles (Series S/X). I do have a 1 TB space unit installed on my Xbox Series X. Series X also has 1 TB of internal disk space unlike Series S that has only half of a 1 TB. There are also some newer models available that have different amounts of internal disk space.

I have been thinking, lately, about buying a PS5. It has some good exclusive games that I would like to play. I did buy a new PC two months ago. It was a bit of a disappointment for me. I paid over 1 500 euros for a new Windows 11 desktop computer. When I started playing Silent Hill f the computer was running the game at 30 FPS. I thought that a computer that has such a high price tag would perform way better. But this was the case after all. I think today a desktop PC can cost over 3000 euros and you are still not going to get a good performance. So, why not buy a PS5 for about 500 euros. I do know that it cannot be as powerful as a PC that cost several thousands of euros but it does save a lot of money.

You can also play PS4 games on a PS5. You cannot listen to music from audio CDs on a PS5. The backwards compatibility is a nice thing for me as a gamer because I do have lots of games for PS4. When PS4 was released back in 2013 (I bought it in 2014) it didn’t have a backwards compatibility at all. Also the release of PS4 was the point when a newest PlayStation didn’t support CDs as a format for games or music. PS4 still outsold Xbox One that had also many problems. As a console generation this was somewhat a dull one I think.

I think that the most interesting games that are available only for PS5 as exclusives are Silent Hill 2 Remake, Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart, Astro Bot and Spider-Man 2. Some of these exclusive games are available for other consoles or for PC. Some titles I have already enjoyed very much on PS4. These games are Gran Turismo 7 and God of War – Ragnarök and also Spider-Man Miles Morales. I am hoping to get to play PS4 games God of War and Uncharted 4 and also The Last of Us Part II that I already own but haven’t yet played so much.

If we briefly gather here some thoughts about PS4 in this last paragraph of todays blog post we can conclude that PS4 was a remarkable system that sold very well. There were no delays in deliveries as was the thing with PS5 during pandemia. The first game that I played on PS4 was Tomb Raider. PS4 saw many games that were very good. It also had some exclusive games. There is information moving around and it is rumored that Sony would stop manufacturing PS4s in 2026. PS4 has sold to this day over 115 million units world wide.

The Push for New Hardware

Posted on by Viljami

What is the push for new hardware and where does this kind of thinking fit? What are some options for getting your hands on the latest hardware? Are you playing video games with older hardware? Where does emulating retro video game consoles fit right in this discussion? These are only some of the questions I am trying to answer in this latest blog post. I am happy to have you on board!

I was recently playing some PS2 games on my current PC setup. I started thinking about some modern games and how were they compared to these old PS2 games. There is just some deeper appeal in these so called retro games for me. I have also played lots of Xbox 360 games recently. One of these Xbox 360 games is Dirt 3 and there are many other good games that you can actually play on the latest Xbox, Xbox Series X, through its backwards compatibility.

For me the golden era of video games was, or is, the 2000s. Back in the day we had consoles like PS2, PS3, original Xbox and also Xbox 360 along with GameCube. Sega Dreamcast has to be also mentioned when it comes to the hardware of this golden era of gaming. There are also ways to run these games on emulators. So even after the hardware might be broken, that being the console or the actual game disc, you can still get back to playing games from this era. Today we are getting lots of power out of PCs. It is today possible to emulate Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware with a decently powerful, new, PC.

Why are we getting pushed for new hardware? This is a very good question. The hardware manufacturers have to sell some products. After all there would be no manufacturers if there weren’t new hardware products for them to sell. Also the software is getting sold mainly for same reasons. Without mentioning any specific company we can say that there are some facets that get profit from pushing the new hardware to us consumers that also are the gamers in this world.

What is enough when it comes to performance? We could have a device that would be roughly as powerful as a PS4 and that would actually provide all the power needed to run modern video games. One particular gaming console that has made a difference when it comes to performance was the first Nintendo Switch. in the recent years it couldn’t stand up against its greatest competitors.

Do we need new hardware so badly? For me the answer is actually no. You can have a ten year old PC that you would connect to a screen of any type and play the best games from 2000s with a brand new Xbox One controller and enjoy the golden era, according to my viewpoint, with this kind of a setup. We have some hobbyist that actually like to play with and fix old computers. Also many old PC games cannot be run with a modern PC at all. You might need an older operating system and also some old drivers for older hardware like graphics processing unit or an audio device.

I have had some tough luck with my older video game hardware. I have broken two PS2s, one original Xbox and also one Xbox 360 console. The main issue I’ve had was that the console isn’t somehow able to read the game disc anymore. This has everything to do with dust. Also original Xbox has some electrical components, condensers, actually, that are very sensitive to wearing down when time progresses. So, for me it is way more easier to just abandon a broken down console and turn to some emulation on a suitable PC.

These were some thoughts that I had in mind. They were appearing to me as I was playing some PS2 games as I told you in the beginning of this blog post. I ahve to say that I was actually playing Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit 2, but I just couldn’t find the original game to take a photo of. So you are going to have to be content with another great PS2 racing game Burnout 3 – Takedown. I actually do play my PS2 emulator games with this fresh Xbox Series S/X compatible game pad. It is very handy as a controller on a Windows PC.

The Huge Library of PS2 Games

Posted on by Viljami

This blog post is about PS2 games. Sony’s sequel to PlayStation was a huge success in many ways. There are almost 3500 games that have been ever released for this gaming console. In this post I am trying to create a picture of the whole meaning of this huge game library and how things are with games today.

PlayStation as a video game console affected the whole industry very strongly. Playing video games transformed from something you did for two or three hours sometimes to playing tens or even hundreds of hours of any game you chose to play. Before the first PlayStation we saw video games that weren’t so appealing especially for grown ups. Gaming was considered to be a thing only for young people and children.

This way of thinking changed when the first PlayStation was released. PS2 went even further and brought some advancements. PS2 is today the most popular gaming console ever. Even consoles like Switch, that’s still in production while I’m writing this, or Xbox 360 or the newer PS4, haven’t been able to sell as well.

PlayStation had many games that presented us gamers new kinds of worlds in a three-dimensional environment. PS2 games made these worlds even more deeper. As the console was released in the beginning of 2000s we saw many unforgettable and great games. These PS2 games were just some years ago very cheap but the prices have been rising recently as this seems to be the current trend for retro game titles.

As there are many games included in PS2 games I want to give some personal recommendations in case you are a complete PS2 games “beginner”. You can already find these PS2 games from the picture I took. These seem to be the latest PS2 games that I’ve have played or bought recently. I have to say that I have had some bad luck as my PS2s have broken. I have had two PS2 consoles already.

I was going to give you some recommendations of PS2 games. I liked Tenchu – Wrath of Heaven a lot. It can be a difficult game. Also I have to mention maybe the best driving game ever – Gran Turismo 4. It is a PS2 title definitely. We have also in this picture Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3. It is a very good skateboarding game. It might be the best in the series. Ratchet & Clank is a very nice three-dimensional platformer slash action adventure game. The content of this game is suitable for people of every age.

Some other popular and good PS2 games are Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Gods of War 1 and 2, Silent Hill 2 and 3, Resident Evil Code Veronica X, Ecco the Dolphin – Defender of Future, Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Colin McRae 3, 4 and 5, some very good Need For Speed games, Hitman games, The Sims 1 and 2 and some fighting games like Tekken and SoulCalibur and also some roleplaying games like Final Fantasy X. There are some FPS games, like Call of Duty and Black. I have to mention also a game called Bully.

If you are going to try to get into PS2 games these games are just something you can start with. Try to get familiar with a genre you find the most interesting. You might be into strategic games or adventure or action games or you might want to play some roleplaying games. Try and test and find your favorites. There are so many PS2 games out there.

While there are many PS2 games to get into the system has its limitations. These include awkward controllers and that there really isn’t a hard drive in the world of PS2. So, you have to use memory cards. Graphics could be better. You might face some nostalgia if you played PS2 games in the past.

The system has its limitations but all-in-all it is in my opinion something you just have to try. I have well over 50 games already in my personal PS2 games library. There seems to be many good games that PS2 has to offer.