Month: September 2020

With the bedroom almost finished. We are very happy with the result. The living room is the next stop. It feels natural wanting to get new furniture before the big upgrade TV-wise.

Other than the living room I want emphasize lamps and lighting in general. Bias lighting behind monitors and TVs, but also lights making the apartment cozier, in corners, on shelves.

Been using Hue bulbs for couple of years, but not for all lights, just in windows and for other miscellaneous lights. It’s time to up the Hue game and the smart home in general. With a proper smart hub I’ll be able to set Day and night modes, something that’s not possible with just the Hue bridge alone.

Living in a smaller apartment, space is a real problem. Especially space for bookshelves. This is why I only have PS4 and Switch games in the apartment. NES, GBA and Genesis are all flashcart, and there will be more of that.

IF get a Xbox Series S that will for obvious reasons be all digital. I will still buy physical games for PS4, Switch and later PS5 which will requires space in our game shelf, yes singular.

I don’t have that many games, but it’s plenty for our limited space. Almost too many, but one thing I know for sure, it’s gonna be more.

Since we moved into this apartment we’ve has a temporary solution for the bedrooms TV placement. The TV was standing on two stools for over a year.

After some planning and hard work we managed to DIY ourselves a nice bookcase/TV bench in the bedroom. We modified three Billy bookcases by lowering them around 30 cm and out an oak board on top of them.

I quite like the end result.

There is a Switch dock setup and ready. There is also a space for an eventual Xbox series S next to the Switch dock. My favorite thing is that it has a dedicated controller shelf in the middle, just below the TV.

I didn’t really care about monitors or TVs as long the game or show was displayed correctly without any glaring issues.

This notion of mine has changed after testing high end monitors / TVs and laptops with nice monitors. I have tested 120 Hz monitors, 144 Hz monitors and even a 300 Hz monitor, OLED and LCD.

I noticed that games are so much more fun when playing on a good monitor. I haven’t bought new monitors in almost 10 years. Next time it’s time for premium monitors for the PC. For the living room it’s most probably gonna be a LG OLED.

Right now, I would probably never buy a monitor without a higher refresh rate and variable refresh rate. That’s why I’m really looking forward to a new TV in before the new console generation. To make gaming fun for real again.

I’m playing Pokémon Emerald a little bit different than usual, which I really enjoy.

I started out with Mudkip but transistioned quickly using Lotad as my main. Other than Lombre, I’m currently using Breloom, Pelipper and Electrike. Mudkip isn’t even in my party.

The idea is to use Pokémon I don’t usually have in my party. Might add Slugma later on. Lombre is proving to be pretty weak early on due to pretty bad moves. Gotta find some good TMs to make Ludicolo into a powerhouse. I’m really liking the Water/Grass type since it cancels out weaknesses.

I recently claimed that I was tired at couch gaming so I would try something om anhandheld system. Yesterday I started playing Pokémon Emerald, but not in GBA as a handheld. I powered on my Gamecube with the Gameboy Player attached, hopped onto the couch and started playing.

I never beat a Gen 3 game other than Alpha Sapphire, but wanted to beat one of the original games aswell. I want to beat at least one game of each duo/trio of games. On the horizon there is Emerald and Diamond. In the future I need HeartGold and the Gen 5 games. After that I have beaten all generations of Pokémon.

The DS games are so expensive used, but I don’t want to play on emulator. I guess I have to open my wallet to fulfill my wish.

After watching the PS5 event I didn’t really feel impressed. It was pretty much what I expected. I like that Spider-Man Miles Morales is pretty much a launch game. Despite the Final Fantasy XVI rumors that has circulated it was kind of a surprise. Looks a lot like FFXV, possibly with a tight-nit group aswell.

The quick tease of God of War: Ragnarök was appreciated. But other than the event was pretty bland.

What is bullshit though is different release dates for different regions. The release date in Sweden is November 19th while in Japan and the US and others gets it a whole week earlier at the 12th… That’s really bullshit, do a worldwide release instead.

The price was expected, so no surprise there. All in all, decent show, nothing really extraordinary.

I’m a bit burned on couch gaming at the moment. So I’m glad I have options. Switch and 3DS.

One of the candidates is Pokémon Diamond, a game I never finished. Others choices are Yo-Kai Watch 2: Fleshy Souls and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Need to trade some legendary Pokémon that was on the cart when I bought it used. After that I can start playing Diamond. Don’t know when I find the energi for it though.

On the Swedish gaming forum FZ.se there was a topic about motivating why you bought consoles, I thought it was a fun topic. I added regions so it’s easier to differentiate the consoles.

Nintendo

• NES (PAL) #1 — Our childhood consoles we got back in 1993. My parents sold it after getting us a SNES.
• NES (PAL) #2 — Bought from my neighbors along with a bunch of games as a teenager. This was when my interest for older consoles started.
• AV Famicom (NTSC-J) — Bought it RGB-modded from my good friend Fredrik. To be able to speedrun on.
• SNES (PAL) — Childhood console. My siblings and I got it as a Donkey Kong Country bundle.
• SNES (NTSC-U) — I needed a NTSC console for speedruns, since it runs att 59.94 Hz instead of 50 Hz. It is now dead, unfortunately.
• SFC (NTSC-J) — When my American SNES died I needed a replacement, a cheap Super Famicom was my choice.
• SFC Jr. (NTSC-J) — When it comes to SNES consoles, the later models, the better video quality. The SFC Jr. Started production in 1997, so they are always late models.
• N64 (PAL) — Wanted a N64, so I bought it from a friend of my brothers back in 1999.
• N64 (NTSC-J) — Due to My obsession with speedruns I wanted NTSC versions of all older consoles so I bought this one. Never been used by me.
• Gamecube (PAL) — The first console I bought by myself and the first console bought on release.
• Wii (NTSC-U) — Back in 2010 I got a job over the Summer. I bought a Wii since I wanted to go back to console gaming.
• Wii U (PAL) #1 — Bought on release with my roommate. My second Nintendo console on release. My roommate bought me out when we moved apart.
• Wii U (PAL) #2 — The console I bought after moving away from my roommate.
• Switch (PAL) — Bought on release, my third Nintendo console on release.

Sega

• Mega Drive Model 1 (PAL) — Got a region modded console from a friend.
• Genesis Model 2 (NTSC-U) — Got this console from an American friend for a beer. Totalt worth it.

Sony

• PS2 (PAL) — Back in 2007, I wanted to play the PS2 Final Fantasy’s so I got a used console.
• PS3 Phat (NTSC-U) — a friend, Tobbe, wanted an American backwards compatible PS3. He found one in Linköping where I lived. I bought it and brought it to him. A couple of years later I wanted a PS3 to be able to play The Last of Us aning other games. Tobbe who now lived in Linköping was willing to part with his console so I bought it.
• PS3 Slim (PAL) — Due to the Phat consoles frequent failing and it’s hefty weight I wanted a more reliable console. This is why I bought another PS3.
• PS4 Slim (PAL) — Technically not my console. My girlfriend bought it but I’m using it. Best “purchase” ever 😉

Microsoft

• Xbox 360-E (PAL) — Black Friday 2016 I bought this Xbox for almost nothing. I wanted to test out a Microsoft system.
• Xbox One S (PAL) — In April 2017, CDON a Swedish internet shop had a Black Friday-esque sale called Green Friday. The Xbox One S console was super cheap so I bought it to play some of the exclusive titles.

This is very unusual. For the first time in years I have played so much electric bass that my fingertips are sore. It’s a fantastic feeling to be honest.

I was learning the guitar part for the pre-solo section on bass for the song Silent Wars by Arch Enemy. Which was a challenge in itself, to play a guitar part in bass. It was very fun, especially to prove to myself that I could do it. Despite the rust.

The feeling of accomplishment is very satisfying and I hope I’ll keep this up. I really want to play more.