Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: switch

Nintendo Switch Games Do Not Take A Lot of Shelf Space

Posted on by Viljami

I have 23 games, exactly, for my Nintendo Switch console. Well, actually I have also some games that came only as a “code-in-the-box”. So, they didn’t have a cartridge at all. You can also buy games for Switch digitally so you don’t need even the box of the game at all.

Today I got for myself three more games for Switch. These games were Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, G-Darius HD and Signalis. I also bought a new game cartridge case that gives me space for 24 more games. It also has space for some memory cards. A case like this cost me about 18 euros. I find it comfortable to store my games in a case like this. And it is official licensed as a Nintendo Switch product.

Switch is also in all ways very comfortable gaming system because you don’t need a whole lot of space for it. You can even use it in portable mode if your screen or television is used by some other member of your family or your room mate or someone else. You can even buy Switch Lite which is cheaper model of Nintendo Switch that however doesn’t provide a possibiltity to connect to an external screen. I think Switch Lite costs today about 200 euros while you can get the regular Switch for a bit undeer 300 euros.

What makes my mind inspired is the thing how little of my shelf space is used by these tiny game cartridges. Nintendo has always been original, so to say, in it’s decisions with the design of it’s gaming consoles. This has been the way for a long time already. I am kind of glad that they have this courage to try out different ways to provide players this unique experience.

There have already been some rumors around that there would be a new Switch console to be released soon. Actually I heard it was coming next year (2024). I am not going deeply to the details but it was said that it would be capable to producing 4K graphics quality. We are living in exciting times!

Nintendo Switch 2 would then be the newest gaming console that would be in the markets. There are of course many questions waiting to be answered. It might not be such a surprise if you would find some content even in this blog you are currently reading. I have touched this topic earlier. You can have a look in our archives if you are interested in what I have written previously about this subject. I have added some new elements to the user interface of this blog or website that should make it even a bit easier to find content here. Please use these means if you feel that you want to read more posts in this blog. Fell also free to drop a message to my guestbook.

It is truly amazing to find out that you can fit over 20 games to such a small space on your gaming book shelf. I have on the same shelf also some GameCube games and they take up way more space. This also is a feature that makes your NES games look like fools. They take so much space on the shelf while being also very small in tehcnical ways. Maybe the best way to store games would be to have an external SSD that would contain everything you have in your game collection. Maybe we are heading towards that, who knows?

Playing Some Spyro The Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)

Posted on by Viljami

During this weekend I had an opportunity to play Spyro The Dragon with my PS4. In this blog post I am going to introduce to you this awesome 3D platform game that made a serious impact on how we play video games today. It was first released for PS1 in 1998.

There is a great difference between a 2D platform game, like Super Mario Bros 3 or Sonic The Hedgehog, and a 3D platform game like Spyro The Dragon. The first thing that comes to my mind is how do you position the camera inside the game. In Spyro The Dragon you move your character and rotate the camera at the same time. In 2D games you don’t have to worry about moving your camera all the time. In Spyro the jumping feels also a bit like floating which emphasizes the sensitive and complex three dimensional positioning used in the game.

There are many things that Spyro can do. You can jump, float or fall after jumping, blow some flame out of your throat and run and rush against enemies. There are various enemies that our main character encounters. Some can be defeated by rushing on them while some are defeated by blowing out a flame. Some enemies need also something extra if you want to defeat them.

The main goal in Spyro The Dragon is to progress. You achieve this by freeing dragons and collecting gems, or as they are called in this game, treasures. Some gems are more valuable than others. They can have a value of one, two, five or even greater than that. Defeating enemies also gives you gems. If you have defeated an enemy earlier in the game you get a point. If you get enough points you get an extra life. There are also particular extra lives that can be collected.

The game play feels very nice in overall. There are lots of puzzles to be solved including how do you get to some area that has a dragon to be saved or some gems to be collected. I don’t even understand how this game was originally released for PlayStation 1 in such an early moment in video gaming.

Is Spyro a bit childish game? Maybe so, but I think that it offers problem solving and deep thought and challenge while also being a game that the whole family can enjoy and play. The trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, consists of three first games of this series. I am currently playing it with my PS4. It is also available for PC and the latest Xbox and also for Nintendo Switch. It was released already in 2018.

So, the original Spyro The Dragon was released in 1998 by Insomniac Games for Sony PlayStation. It is considered a very strong and well-known piece of gaming. It definitely stands out being a platform game designed to be played in a 3D environment. If you haven’t played Spyro The Dragon games earlier this trilogy release might be a good point to start your experimenting. It also isn’t a pricey choice as a game. I bought it some weeks ago for 20 euros as a used copy for PS4. There are also many Spyro games released for many consoles in the history of gaming. This trilogy introduces three first games of the series.

Diablo III – The Battle With Diablo

Posted on by Viljami

Last time I posted I was telling you that I am currently playing Diablo III once again. I have now managed to complete Act IV. I just defeated Diablo. The battle took some time but as I had a strong character it wasn’t a hard one. I made it with the first try. This can be explained through my dedication to develop intensively my character. Well, I had to concentrate for a while. Let me proceed and tell you how the battle went.

I have now, after this battle, a character that is on level 59. There is this kind of a logic of how your character develops in Diablo III. Basically you will unlock skills which are bringing your characters actions, like attacks, and so on, stronger. Of course you will also pick up some items that give you armor and more power to your attack, for example.

Some say that Diablo III is a wack video game. For me it hasn’t lost its appeal. You don’t have to drag health potions from town as was the case with Diablo II. This was actually my case when I played it with a Paladin character. I have always enjoyed playing with a character that has a strong attack and low skill level on magic. Someone might say that Diablo III is too easy or light on the player. I have to say that when you compare these games you are definitely in a tough company. I think all Diablo games that have been released to this day are worth getting into.

Let’s talk about my character a bit. It is a Crusader. There are seven character classes in Diablo III Eternal Collection. These character classes are Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, Witch Doctor and Wizard. I must once again confess to you that I have only played as a Barbarian and a Crusader. I like to use strong melee attacks and have a good sense when it comes to having a powerful armor. So, I am not going to explain so deeply about how these characters differ from each other. By the way, you can get your hands on some strategy guides either on the internet or in a form of a traditional published book. Since this is not a commercial I won’t provide a direct link this time.

There is point in adjusting your difficulty level. Bringing your difficulty higher you can achieve more experience points and level up more fluently. This was somewhat a strategy for me as I started playing Diablo III all over again with a new character. The difficulty level can be adjusted to very high values. I started as normal and then proceeded to Hard and then to Expert. I even played with Master difficulty for a while but changed soon to Expert. There are many other ways of how changing difficulty level will affect on how you are experiencing the game. For example monsters will have more durability and so on. Blizzard has utilized their software engineers and other professionals very fluently in this matter. I am talking about this game’s programmatic algorithms.

The battle with Diablo took me some tens of minutes. It was an easy battle since my character was so powerful. I have read that the character can be developed in this game to the level of 70. Then the development stops. We could discuss more deeply how algorithms of this game work. I am however not going to that. As I have earlier stated you should find information about that matter quite easily by using your favorite search engine.

There isn’t much more for me to tell you about this now a bit over ten years old action role playing game. I had my first touches with Diablo III as I played it with a PC back in the days. I soon also got a version for my PS4. This is actually my third console (Switch) with this game. I have played it a lot. This can probably exlpain why I am considering if it is a good idea to play this some more. Today, it feels easy to play Diablo III. There is however lots of deeper knowledge for a video game player like me still to be explored. This can be in form of different strategies and explaining to myself how these algorithms actually work.

How has this game actually been developed? This was released, as you must already know, by Blizzard. They have hundreds or maybe even thousands of people working with a game like this. So, its not only programming and developing algorithms. There are graphical designers, designers of discussion, dialogue and story, level designers, 3D artists and some people probably working also with the audio side of things.

This is basically everything I have to say about the fight with Diablo in Diablo III at the end of the Act IV. I am continuing to Act V soon. I will attach some more screenshots to my Instagram page of this blog. You can find them there. Please follow if you like the content. Peace!