Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: video games

About Games That I’ve Played Recently

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I am going through what games I have been playing recently. Every game that I pick up and start to play isn’t one that I would like to write about or take a picture and show here. I do play lots of video games. I usually buy new games from time to time. I like to buy games I like to play or that are somewhat or in some way significant for me as a video game hobbyist and a player.

I have recently played a lot with my new and shiny Nintendo Switch 2. It has a lot to offer as a console. While being an expensive purchase it already has some decent games that you can play. I had to buy a memory card for Switch 2. I ended up with a memory card that has 256 GB of storage space. I had to pay something like 70 euros for the memory card alone. I also bought the controller (the updated Pro Controller 2) and that alone cost 110 euros. The console was also a bit more expensive here in Finland where I live.

I have been talking and writing about how Switch 2 doesn’t yet have so many games available. Considering this there was a tiny relief for gamers that are waiting to see some more games as the new Donkey Kong game came available last week. Earlier I said that it could be a game that I am not so interested in. But you know what? I decided to give it a chance.

Donkey Kong Bananza cost me 75 euros. It is said that it takes about 17 hours to beat this game. I haven’t actually played it yet since I got it last Saturday and I also haven’t yet finished Burnout Paradise Remastered although I have already been playing it for a bit over 10 hours. I am hoping to finish it soon.

When it comes to Donkey Kong Bananza I have read some news about it. I think it offers some nice 3D environment for a player to move around as the main character accomplishing some tasks. I am not a big fan of Donkey Kong games. I have played recently Donkey Kong Country Returns HD that is actually a 2D platformer game. I also like the original Donkey Kong Country that was released for Super Nintendo aka SNES back in the golden 90s.

When it comes to Nintendo I am not as familiar with it as I am with Sega and PlayStation or even Xbox. I never had a NES or SNES as a kid. Instead I was playing with PC, Mega Drive and PS1 as young person growing up. I have later tried to correct this matter by getting first a Nintendo Wii and later a GameCube. This is something that I love – exploring something that these a bit older games still have to offer. I also like to go back to PS2 and original Xbox. I am also still playing a lot of PS3 and Xbox 360 games.

Something that I have also tried to, like, focus on are some handheld consoles and games that are released for them. I have to say that PSP and Nintendo DS seem to be the most fascinating ones when it comes to handhelds. They have lots of cheap games available and have some power to offer also. I do have a Game Boy Color. I also play some Game Boy games on an adapter to SNES. I am curious about Sega Game Gear and also Game Boy Advance games and would like to same day get to know them better.

The first Nintendo Switch might have been the push for me to get closer to Nintendo as a video game enthusiast. I wasn’t among the first ones to buy it when it was first released. I did decide to buy Switch Lite as it was cheaper than the regular version of Switch. Nintendo has so many great consoles. I think Super Mario Bros was a real breakthrough as a video game. Nintendo has been there for so long. We have so much to thank them for. So, I do find Nintendo’s new and also a bit older products (games and consoles) very interesting.

I have also played recently a lot with my Xbox Series X. I played Robocop Rogue City for a while. This game is very nice especially if you like Robocop movies. The game gives you a detailed view of the main character (Murphy) and it features also his partner that was with him in the first movie. It has been a while since I watched it. There is also a completely new Robocop game out there (Unfinished Business) if you find these topics interesting.

Also I have played some retro games. I have played Rayman 2 The Great Escape for some hours. It is s fun three dimensional platformer for PS1. It is a good game and if you are comparing it to the first Rayman, also released for PS1 among many other consoles and PC, it has this 3D environment as the first game is purely 2D.

I have so many consoles attached to my setup currently. Mainly I have been using my Switch 2 that actually required me to attach it directly to the TV instead of a separate HDMI switch. I have used also my Xbox Series X and my Raspberry Pi 5 that has 8 GB of RAM. These are the three devices I have mostly used for a long time already. I play my PS1 games and also some older systems games on Raspberry Pi 5 that runs emulation on Recalbox. This is just the easiest way to play these kinds of games.

As I do have many consoles attached to my television I rarely switch the HDMI connections. I mainly just select a channel from my remote controller of my television and I already have a chance to choose one of these three connected devices. If I would like to use PS3 or PS1 or any other device I would have to search for the correct option from two separate HDMI connectors. So, I have been happy using just these three devices.

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!

Moving On From Just Playing?

Posted on by Viljami

As a child I had my first touches to computer technology by playing video games. This sparked eventually my interest towards information technology. We might call it as well ICT or Information and Communications Technology.

Later in my life I chose ICT as my main subject to study. I learned a whole deal about programming. My dream back then was that I could be someday developing a video game by myself. I dreamed of creating games that would have a deep plot, a nice game-play and good looking graphics.

I actually did complete my studies. My story in trying to get a job as a fresh graduate isn’t very rare at all. I graduated back in 2016 and it was very hard to try to get a job as I also had only little working experience. It seemed like there was misunderstandment about what jobs I actually had the actual skills to be successful in.

I ended up getting a job that required skills in customer interaction. As I had no experience at all I had to start from somewhere. I didn’t get to work as a software developer. This was a bit of a disappointment for me but I just kept growing my working experience. I actually never gave up on my dream completely.

As I was studying I got to develop my skills in writing. In 2020, just before corona virus hit us all, I started to write this blog about video games. I chose to write in English as I hoped to reach more people and get to learn more English, also.

Today I am an IT Support Person. The choices that I made throughout my whole life are getting reflected in this whole blog post. I like sometimes to write also about my personal matters. Also I like to write about games, books that are somehow related and also about music and technology and computers while not forgetting programming.

That’s just how life goes sometimes. We make choices. We make some sacrifices. We lose some part of our lives and we do something that motivates us to go further and get to develop ourselves.

Today, I am also trying to learn something relevant every week if not every day. I haven’t forgotten everything I’ve learned especially from programming, computers but also about communicating with other people sometimes referred to as customers or players or users.

This text, this blog post, is for you here to reflect on where you and where we are going towards to. Are we just playing video games or is this actually a part of a larger picture we are dealing with?