[blog] Eric's Streaming Diaries, or "how can I make gaming more complicated"

I have occasionally posted on the Discord about me discovering new things when I stream games to my other devices. Recently Dune has said he likes me posting about my adventures, so I decided to make a blog.

Background:
I have a nice gaming PC (and also a PS4 Pro). I also have access to a lot of screens that I might want to game on. But what do I do when the game I want to play isn't connected to screen I want to play it on?

❌Game Pass Cloud and GeForce Now aren't really options for my needs, as there are no tvOS or Android TV apps for Game Pass, and GeForce Now only supports a sliver of my gaming library.

🤔Steam Link works for some of my games, but despite its great controller support for its own games, the apps do not support most Game Pass or games on Epic and other launchers. Adding the game manually only helps some of the time.

✅Which is why I setup my PC to run Sunshine, which will allow me to use the Moonlight app to play games on all my devices. I have come across utilities like Playnite to launch games easily using a controller friendly UI, reWASD to rebind keys, and OpenVPN combined with my router to connect away from home anywhere with a decent internet connection.


Playnite, running in fullscreen mode with a community created Xbox theme.

This diary will allow me to update on how I have been able to improve streaming my games I am playing, as well as a diary for the games themselves that I am streaming. How well do they stream? And general thoughts.

My setup
Hosts
PC: Omen pre-built. Windows 11 Pro. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. RTX 3060 Ti. 16GB RAM. Connected over Ethernet
PS4 Pro: Connected over Ethernet

Clients
Bedroom
Apple TV 4K (1st gen). Connected over Ethernet

Living Room
Apple TV HD: Connected over Wi-Fi.
It is literally 2 feet from the router, but I discovered that the Apple TV only has 100Mbps Ethernet, and supports higher bitrates than Ethernet

Mobile
iPhone 13 mini
iPad Pro 10.5"
iPad mini (1st gen)
Recently in my possession, it can run an old version of Moonlight that still works, Remote Desktop…and not much else. Great for couch play of VNs when the TV is in the background.

Controllers
Xbox with USB-C (for Series X/S)
DS4 x 2: I'm pretty sure the issues I am having with stick drift are limited to Apple TV and interference. See here
Also JoyCons but have had trouble getting them to work with my devices, and the swapping of A/B & X/Y confuses things.

Software
Windows: Sunshine 0.17, Playnite, reWASD, Steam, PS Remote Play, Remote Desktop, OpenSSH Server, Wolow Helper, Playnite Launcher, VSX

iOS: Moonlight, Steam Link, PS Remote Play, OpenVPN, Shelly, Remote Desktop client, Wolow
tvOS: Moonlight, Steam Link

Edit: Setup re-organized and software added

Two updates to start:

Update 1: Horizon Zero Dawn, and how to exponentially increase the latency on your PS4
Been playing PC games almost exclusively the past couple months, but I have been wanting to get back into some of the PS4 games I already purchased, particularly Horizon Zero Dawn.

Horizon Zero Dawn, running on PS Remote Play on my PC, before I make it fullscreen and start playing. The PS4 Pro supports 1080p streaming, but at max settings it can no longer record video, hence the warning

While Android TV somewhat can play PS Remote Play by sideloading the Android app, it is not optimized for a TV screen and will show UI elements made for mobile unless I connect a mouse to my Google TV and move it around. And there is just no Apple TV app available.

When I was setting up Sunshine, I noticed there was an option to switch between emulating an Xbox 360 controller, and a DS4. For the heck of it, I switched to DS4, launched PS Remote Play through Moonlight, and... it started(!!). It is by no means an ideal streaming experience. Those who care about some screen jittering, or needing a high bitrate need not apply. I was able to get the latency lowered and screen run much more smooth by configuring the NVIDIA NVENC Encoder to p3, high quality with constant bitrate and setting Moonlight on the Apple TV to smoothest video.

Horizon Zero Dawn plays with no noticeable lag now, but if I was playing on anything higher than the easiest difficulty (which I already was), I would have trouble due to the low frame rates and jittering.

I did also discover, than when I want to play the game on my PC instead of the living room TV, I can use a tool called VDX to use my Xbox controller or reWASD with my Bluetooth connected DS4 to play. PS Remote Play for PC officially only supports a DS4 connected over USB or Sony's official dongle. When connected to my PC, I can still turn my TV to the PS4 input and it will display on both screens. I find it easier to play on the closer screen.

Have played a couple hours of both main and side quests, and am getting better at finding new mounts to override. I have gotten used to the game again after about a year since last playing it. I just finished the Meridian quest line and only just got the First Customization trophy yesterday, so there are still a lot of basics I am discovering.

Update 2 - Spare Parts: Episode 2. Free time wasted successfully

I recently had 20 minutes free while waiting at Target, so I enabled OpenVPN on my iPhone, opened Moonlight and….of course, I recently used Remote Desktop, so had to restart the Sunshine service. Wait, still no. Ugg, well ok, I'll use Wolow, an app where I can easily wake up or restart my PC. Pressed one button to restart, and a minute later I was ready to play.

Launched my Playnite launcher and…ended up with only 5 minutes to play. That was 15 minutes of troubleshooting. Oh well, started up Spare Parts: Episode 2. Moonlight is great for VNs cause they play fine in high latency and with a virtual controller. Plus most of them let you save at any time, perfect for playing on the go. Though while games made in RenPy generally have controller support, it can be hard to figure out what direction in the menus to go or where the selection currently is. But at least the engine having something included means I can play a lot of these VNs on my TV as well.


Moonlight does not have the best UI, in particular its touch controller.

Spare Parts is a pretty interesting kinetic visual novel that was in the 2022 itch Queer bundle. Lucy needs a job and stumbles upon a mysterious store. She is quickly hired by the quirky "Owen" and on her first day discovers some people living in the basement. It's somewhat funny, cute and queer, with maybe one dark moment. The first part took me about 2 hours, but the 2nd is estimated to take 8-10, according to the dev. Suggested in the first one, this could be more than a 2-parter. But, given how much longer the 2nd is, and the fact there isn't a 3rd part out yet, I am wondering if it will be wrapped up here.

Update 3: Spare iPad, Spare Parts
Discovered Moonlight for iOS has a touch screen mode that works decently for Spare Parts (see Update 2) and likely other Ren’Py VNs. Though hit boxes are somewhat small on my iPad mini and they will be smaller on my iPhone. Been playing this on the couch with the iPad mini. Did this yesterday with the first Ace Attorney as well. Might try that with touch controls as well. Last time when I tried it on Steam Link I did so.



Started the fourth trial in Ace Attorney and it’s quite fun. I have tried to do as much as possible without a guide, which I have only needed twice so far. It was interesting seeing Edgeworth help Phoenix out. In the beginning of the fourth trial, they are starting to humanize him, and I am liking that.

There was some interference on the iPad mini that I am unsure if it is due to interference or if it was something on the PCs end. The PC was just restarted (to get Moonlight working the easy way) and I can’t imagine it requiring much memory or graphics to run a VN, which seems to sometimes affect the stream. Moonlight does require the PC outputting a constant bitrate, from what I read on the Moonlight Discord. As for interference, there are a lot of wires and wireless signals in this house. It is an old house as well that was not made with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in mind. I have had various problems throughout the years I can put down to interference.

Update 3: Spare iPad, Spare Parts
Discovered Moonlight for iOS has a touch screen mode that works decently for Spare Parts (see Update 2) and likely other Ren’Py VNs. Though hit boxes are somewhat small on my iPad mini and they will be smaller on my iPhone. Been playing this on the couch with the iPad mini. Did this yesterday with the first Ace Attorney as well. Might try that with touch controls as well. Last time when I tried it on Steam Link I did so.



Started the fourth trial in Ace Attorney and it’s quite fun. I have tried to do as much as possible without a guide, which I have only needed twice so far. It was interesting seeing Edgeworth help Phoenix out. In the beginning of the fourth trial, they are starting to humanize him, and I am liking that.

There was some interference on the iPad mini that I am unsure if it is due to interference or if it was something on the PCs end. The PC was just restarted (to get Moonlight working the easy way) and I can’t imagine it requiring much memory or graphics to run a VN, which seems to sometimes affect the stream. Moonlight does require the PC outputting a constant bitrate, from what I read on the Moonlight Discord. As for interference, there are a lot of wires and wireless signals in this house. It is an old house as well that was not made with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in mind. I have had various problems throughout the years I can put down to interference.

Every time I see Ace Attorney, I really want to play it again. Freaking miss Wright, Edgeworth, the Fey's and every other member of the cast.

Update 4: Ace Plays Ace Attorney on his non-Ace tablet.
Didn’t game much but today I was playing with a somewhat old somewhat cheap Samsung tablet I needed to charge & update (I try to charge & update my devices at least once every 3 months). Last time, I put LineageOS on it. I thought I could upgrade the device by putting a newer version of LineageOS on it, but after rooting and going through articles I could only get the equivalent of the same version of Android. Anyways, actually played with it this time and put some of the same tools that I put on my iPad mini on it. Moonlight, Wolow (only got the free version on Android, so only can wake, not restart), Remote Desktop and Termux. OpenVPN to come, possibly.

More Ace Attorney, this time with touch controls on Android on the dining room table. How many combinations can there be.

Played some more Ace Attorney and I sort of knew what to present to counter, but I forgot there were two similar items and practically kicked myself when I opened a guide. It was the image the camera took, not the map overview. But I knew I had to prove she couldn’t actually see the two on the boat.

The game played well at 10Mbps 720p for 30 minutes with only 1 warning. It was about the same distance from the router as my iPad was, but in a different room. Twice the bit rate, yet no lag. Is it the device? My iPad has a magnetic cover, so perhaps there could be interference there? Or perhaps the Moonlight app for Android is made better. It does offer more customization. There are options to customize the virtual controller I would like to try out eventually.

Thought I’d show more about my Moonlight/Sunshine setup. In particular, the apps that show up when I open Moonlight on a client.

You create the app list on the Sunshine web app. I started off putting individual games here before I found Playnite. It sorts them alphabetically, so I had to name it _Playnite to give it priority. Ugly, I know. I put Emoji before the tasks at the end to put them last and also act as an icon. I then just have mostly launchers in between them.
The commands to close apps use a batch command, to run a PowerShell command, such as

powershell -command "get-process *steam* | stop-process

I place this in between special code that runs it as administrator. This means that in order to run the command, I have to use a mouse (drag on the touch screen, or use the Apple TV remote touchpad) to actually confirm I want to run it.
This command might not be ideal, as it is not a good idea to just force quit Steam when it might be downloading games or uploading cloud saves.

Looking forward to some more Ace Attorney and perhaps some more Hi-Fi Rush on the living room TV tomorrow.

Hey! Word has an AI generated summary feature now. So here it is unedited...
I got the idea to try PS Remote Play on Ubuntu when Dune shared a video on the discord on how to do it on a Steam Deck. I ended up with a 43 min session where I fast travelled across the map in what would have been 4000+ steps. I unlocked Call Mount+ and it appears I no longer need to override to get a new mount.

Update 5: Need some speed

Today I was playing around with the Samsung Tab again. After fixating with a CLI I discovered for Android for a while, I tried some more Moonlight. I discovered the touch controller on Moonlight for Android is indeed very customizable, just hit the gear once to move, again to resize and once more to confirm.

I started up Need For Speed Unbound and was immediately met with lag. Since I am on the EA Play 10 hour trial, I want to make sure I do not leave the game in the background while figuring things out too much. I turned down the Bitrate to 2.5Mbps, restarted the PC remotely, changed some in-game graphics settings and it was the same.

I went back to the PC, played locally with my Xbox controller and I was getting over 90fps. Though on my way back to the hideout (which I think is the only point where it saves) after winning a race, my controller stopped working and when I tried to pause it on the keyboard, ESC did nothing. I tried a bit with the keyboard but didn’t know what to do, ended up pressing Alt-F4 as I got busted. I wasn’t planning on playing for that long anyway. Was just a test.

Update 6: More Horizon Zero Dawn in zero ways it was meant to be played

I got the idea to try PS Remote Play on Ubuntu when Dune shared a video on the Discord on how to do it on a Steam Deck. I figured Ubuntu would be a clever way to try something similar without buying a Steam Deck. I have had Ubuntu 22.04 dual booted on my PC for a while. Since I could just remain booted into Windows, there is no real reason to do it. But of course, I had to. For science.


Picture taken over Stream Big Picture. It’s really oversaturated. But Aloy rules.

I downloaded Chiaki, got my PSN ID from the Python script. Paired it with my PS4. Easy.

Then I paired my Xbox controller and was surprised that it apperared to work right away. Actually, the controller was just passing arrow keys, and did not do anything else. I then got inspiration from the video and added Chiaki to Steam. Opened Big Picture and a couple tweaks later, I figured out I had to pair the two overlapping windows button Select to “T” which Chiaki used for the touchpad button. Otherwise Horizon Zero Dawn would be pretty hard to play without the in-game menu.

I did have a pretty big issue where when I pressed the Xbox button multiple times, which brought up the Steam Big Picture menu, I suddenly was unable to interact correctly with Chiaki and had to close Steam, Chiaki and re-open it in Big Picture.

I ended up with a 43 min session where I fast travelled across the map in what would have been 4000+ steps. I did a quest that was kind of Romeo and Juliet inspired. I unlocked Call Mount+ and it appears I no longer need to override to get a new mount if I fast travel or the mount gets killed. Unless I missed something about the skill.

Didn’t end up playing more Ace Attorney or Hi-Fi Rush today. Perhaps tomorrow!

Every time I see Ace Attorney, I really want to play it again. Freaking miss Wright, Edgeworth, the Fey's and every other member of the cast.

Wasn't sure too much of what to expect when I started Ace Attorney, but I can see why you'd say that. The main characters are the best part of the game so far. The Fay's are my favorite.

Update 7:

Played some more Horizon: Zero Dawn last night after realizing I had been hyperfixated on other stuff all day and haven’t given much time to gaming. Only did one side quest. It’s kind of fun to just do the investigations with your visor.

Same thing happened today. I tried playing some more Ace Attorney while I had a short amount of time 30 minutes from home. Connected the Samsung Tab to my iPhone’s Hotspot and connected to my home network via OpenVPN. Couldn’t connect to Moonlight, and checked and Remote Desktop didn’t work either. My PC oddly will sleep at weird times, often immediately after disconnecting remotely, but does not do it while in use. Woke the PC from my router’s web app (can’t do it with Wolow when over VPN for tech reasons, on a different subnet) and was back in business.


“I wasn’t fibbing really.” About me wanting to play more Ace Attorney.

Played 6 mins of Ace Attorney, not much further from my last play 2 days ago. Been ending up picking some guesses and then reloading when Phoenix guesses wrong. This judge really has some patience.

But it was very laggy. Probably a combo of my iPhone likely being on LTE, plus Optimum my home network dropping my upload down to a measly 10Mbps.
When I got home, played some while eating dinner and 30 minutes in total. The experience was much better. Again, very responsive while on the dining room table. Must be much less interference there.

The touch screen works almost perfectly for this game. Though the touch back button on the tablet gets in the way too easily. Wonder how common this is on Android, cause I keep getting booted back to the previous menu in Moonlight accidentally. Luckily, resuming with Moonlight is very easy so long as you don’t press the wrong button.


On a side note, sometimes I get back to my PC and am surprised to see the screen on such as the above photo. Luckily no one else in this house would know what to do with this screen. If I remembered, I could just connect with RDP and I would immediately be logged out of the local session. Locking the screen by moving the mouse in Moonlight takes a couple more steps, but makes it easier to reconnect. Perhaps I could find a script to add to my Moonlight home screen that will lock the screen without having RDP reset everything.

I tend to spend a lot of my weekend just relaxing and watching European football, but I really do want to get into Hi-Fi Rush tomorrow. And perhaps finish this case in Ace Attorney.

Update 8: Had to Rush away, not your fault, Chai

Played a small amount of Hi-Fi Rush this morning but ended up switching to soccer. Not sure how much latency is affecting this rhythm game over the network, but it looks great on the TV, and I rarely stay in rhythm anyways. The music is kind of repetitive and generic though? I do not have streamer mode on so I should be getting the soundtrack on but maybe it's just not my groove. The art is great, though.

Played some more Horizon: Zero Dawn on Chiaki this evening (see update 6). Also added some artwork to the custom Steam page for it. Though, that does nothing for the issues I am having, mainly when I try to exit Chiaki with my keyboard with Steam Big Picture getting stuck in the background. Couldn’t even alt-tab, or press the Windows Super key to bring up a UI where I could then close it. Thankfully, SSH was enabled, and I could SSH and kill Steam


Yup, no time for gaming, but plenty of time for getting SSH working on my Android TV. And then re-pairing my Keyboard in Bluetooth mode even though it’s connected to my MacBook which also supports SSH, cause I love just going out of the way to do what I perceive as the cool way.


I do not like Horizon’s inventory management one bit. Do I really have to keep destroying items for parts as soon as I get to 30 items just to add one piece of meat to it, so I can then make a travel pack which is all I want? And I need resources to make my satchel bigger too!


Couldn’t my visor bring me night vision too?

The side quest I did had me climbing up some rocks to find an idol. When I got there, it turned dark. Night only lasts a couple minutes, but it doesn’t seem like resting at the campfire brings the morning?

Anyways, perhaps some more later tonight when I have access to the couch, though I have been without most screens after 10pm lately and I have been sleeping well! So maybe not.

Update 9:
Played some more Horizon: Zero Dawn yesterday but locally on the PS4 so it doesn’t get an update on this blog, smh. Though I will say I finally got to upgrade my resources bag. Had 30 before. I haven’t done much wildlife kills so far so probably could have gotten this earlier.

Update 9: Persona 3 Portable is the opposite of portable on my TV
Played almost an hour of P3P for the first time in over a week, and damn am I missing the QoL advancements and graphics made in P5R. I didn’t even realize my party didn’t save from the previous time in Tartarus when I went jumped up 39 floors and started fighting alone. Luckily, I save often so I just restored from the beginning.


Did not get a screenshot cause Moonlight makes that hard, but basically this.

Ended up troubleshooting Ubuntu all day between my dual boot and WSL (and made a lot of progress), but less cataloging today. So maybe tomorrow more games? Maybe?

Update 10: Let’s just game

Been trying to use Ubuntu as daily driver. Something I do once every couple of months for a couple of days just partially to see if I can do it and also as a learning experience. So of course, I want to try to stream from it.

Tried Steam Link in the past and the experience was just about the same.


Steam Link not working great on Linux

I was asked to enter a PIN. Since RDP creates a completely separate session, from experience I don’t think I can use RDP to enter a PIN. So I walked upstairs and entered it. It seems to be having the same issues involving screen resolution. Some of these I’ve had with Steam Link on Windows but this takes it to an extreme.

Tried opening Chiaki from Steam Link because of course I need a challenge on top of a challenge. After closing Big Picture to get Chiaki in view, never could get it viewing correctly.

I’ll give Moonlight on Linux a try later (see Update 11), but since I actually wanted to play some more Horizon: Zero Dawn I rebooted into Windows and 30 seconds later I was connected to Moonlight. Opened it on my iPhone to enter a PIN then opened on my Apple TV and I was ready for a 29 minute session.

I completed the next main quest. Was supposed to be an inflation quest, and I gave stealthing a real try, but was caught after passing more than half the enemies. I can imagine on higher difficulties, stealthing is a requirement. Had some trouble with the escape route with the frame rates and choppiness as it was but got out and quick traveled to outside the next quest location for another day.

Update 11: Don’t use Linux if you don’t like troubleshooting
Okay, maybe you can get by on Linux for everyday tasks without too much troubleshooting if you don’t install as many different, complex things as I do. But try to run games on your PS4 over an Apple TV? Gets complicated.

<Technical talk>
I got Sunshine running after some fooling around and eventually finding the GitHub documentation.

Installed the .deb, ran from bash thought I could copy my config files from the Windows version. When I tried finding the files, used whereis sunshine and they were in /usr/bin and /usr/share. But as I later found out, these aren’t where the used config files are located. I think I checked the ~/.config directory but I guess it doesn’t get populated until I run the web app once.

Since I did some damage, I reinstalled the app a couple of times and finally found the config files, removed, reset again and I was able to connect over Moonlight from my Apple TV.

I then tried to connect to my PS4 via Chiaki because why not start from the deep end. Started fine with some help of the Siri Remote’s trackpad, but one big problem: unable to press the Select button, which would turn into the trackpad button allowing me to show the in-game menu in Horizon. Without this, playing Horizon remotely is a deal breaker. Tried with a DS4 inste ad of an Xbox controller and same issue occurred. So for now, I gave up on finding some controller emulators for Linux and decided I wanted to play some more Ace Attorney.

Ace Attorney played well on the Apple TV. But then I wanted to move to the dining room, so switched to the iPad Pro. Turned off the local display while making sure it worked, and wow, game looks great:

(The game does not look great). Not shown: when some text showed up it was cropped off.

I then turned on the display and things went back to normal. So I guess Linux handles headless displays differently. Windows is fooled by my old TV being connected, Linux not as much.

Normal as in video though, as I connected my AirPods while still in the bedroom and I heard some keystrokes. Apparently, Sunshine was sending my mic to the Moonlight’s speakers. Very weird. Ignored it for a bit and went downstairs and Ace Attorney was without sound. Changed the speaker manually from the Gnome extension I had on my menu bar and I got sound.
</Technical Talk>
Finished Chapter 3 Day 2 trial and started my much more favorite parts of the game, the investigation. Got Maya out of jail and just hit the shack before saving for tomorrow. I noticed if I don’t examine before I talk, I might not get to after talking to them, as they use the chat as an excuse to leave me, so I will try to examine first now.

I probably will play around some more with Sunshine on Linux, as this blog does have “How to make gaming more complicated” in its title.

Update 12: In which I cheat on my Apple TV to play some Switch in the living room

In January over 90% of my gaming was on PC. This month so far, it’s down to under 50%. A lot of that was because of Horizon on my PS4 which I was able to stream on my PC. But about 15% of this month was spent on my Switch. Don’t know of any way to Steam my Switch, unfortunately. Maybe it is possible with a jailbroken Switch or a capture card, but I ended up just bringing the dock to the living room and connecting the HDMI cable to it.

Played some Katamari Damacy REROLL and tried motion control, which I was terrible at, and switched back to standard controls to complete the cancer level.

Then played Kirby's Dream Land and there’s something about playing a black and white Game Boy game on a 48” HDTV. I played the first 2 levels on the TV then when Champions League was on TV I switched to handheld mode and completed the final 3 levels.

Short game, but I imagine playing it back in the day without save states as a kid I would die a lot, learn and finally in one session (as there would have been no way to save) complete the game.

Update 12: More Horizon and some poor rhythm skills in Hi-Fi Rush
Did some side quests in Horizon: Zero Dawn yesterday while streaming over PS Remote Play > Moonlight. Hopped on a tall neck and killed a tough enemy.

This morning was excited to play some Hi-Fi Rush so before I went downstairs I woke, turned the display on, unlocked and turned the display back off on the PC. Therefore all I had to do when I got to the living room was to remove and re-pair my controller, which you have to do a lot if you use a Bluetooth controller on multiple devices. Was playing right away.



Still having fun but I am way out of sync, and I doubt much of it has to do with the lag. Sometimes I am unsure where in the beat I have to press the button and end up having to re-try a lot. The bots you have to parry to the beat have almost killed me a couple times now. Take me at least 5 tries to figure out when and how much I am supposed to press the parry button.

Not sure how much more I will play today but I feel like that 50% of PC gaming will be even lower by the end of the month.

Update 13: Streaming to completion.

I might never have completed Horizon Zero Dawn if I was stuck on the device my PS4 is connected to.

According to PSNProfiles, there’s been a lot of time since I started this game.

To the bottom right: The antennas of the router that helped this happened, really.
I simply complete more games when I am in a comfortable position. My desk chair could use an upgrade and my bedroom TV is closest to the bed, which I don’t want to usually sit down and game on because I will end up sleeping instead.

I always play longer sessions when I am further from the end than I think am. Spent 6 hours completing KH3 like this. I actually started this 3.5-hour session in front of my PC screen, brought the Xbox controller downstairs and finished on the TV just in time for lunch.

Great game. Aloy’s personality was the best part. I like how she did not have any children at the end to pass down the story to and that was just okay.

I was wondering how to access The Frozen Wilds since the menu has an icon, but I was reading it is a quest that opens up when you complete the main story and they don’t tell you about it. I will be giving myself a break as I have added too much to my playing tab, including Katamari Damacy REROLL for the Switch.

They appears to have setup the sequel in the after-credits sequence. I have added Forbidden West to my backlog but will be most likely willing to wait for a PC release.

Looking forward to shortening my playing tab even further if I can get myself to play some more Road 96. This morning, I played some for the first time in over a week. I met Zoe at the border and sacrificed myself, so I am interested to see how that affects my fifth character. I hope to play some more tomorrow.

Note this entire post contains spoilers for the VN series Spare Parts, but it is a big part of the post and not entirely unexpected if you play through the first game, so I have left it mostly untouched

It also contains similar spoilers for the EA game, Spare Parts 2, which you'll see why if you continue to read.



Got access to The New Bing yesterday and my 24 hour cooldown ended, I decided to see if an AI could write an entire blog post for me, with some rather interesting results. I asked:

write me a post for my blog about my adventures in video gaming. today I played "Spare Parts 2" and we just found out the main character is trans. also, I played the game on my iPad using Moonlight and it was a great touch screen experience

Got this as an answer:

Hello, fellow gamers! Today I want to share with you my experience playing “Spare Parts 2”, a platform game developed by EA Bright Light and published by Electronic Arts12. I played it on my iPad using Moonlight, a software that lets you stream games from your PC to your mobile device. It was a great touch screen experience and I enjoyed the graphics and gameplay.
But what really caught my attention was the story of the game. It follows the adventures of two robots, Mar-T and Chip, who are dumped on a strange planet and have to repair an abandoned space ship before an evil lord destroys them3. Along the way, they meet new friends and enemies, unlock new abilities and discover secrets about themselves and their origin.
One of these secrets is that Mar-T, the main character, is trans4. Yes, you heard me right. A robot who identifies as a different gender than their assigned one at birth. This was revealed in a very emotional scene where Mar-T confides in Chip about their struggle with their identity and how they always felt different from other robots. Chip accepts Mar-T for who they are and supports them throughout their journey.
I think this is a very important representation of trans people in video games. Trans characters are often stereotyped, vilified or erased in media5, so seeing one as a protagonist of a major game is refreshing and empowering. It also shows that trans people can be heroes, friends and partners in any genre or setting.
I applaud EA Bright Light for creating such a diverse and inclusive game that celebrates trans identity. I hope more games will follow their example and feature more trans characters with respect and dignity.
What do you think of “Spare Parts 2” and its trans representation? Have you played any other games with trans characters? Let me know in the comments below!

So, it is interesting there is another game with the same name where there is a trans character. I'm guessing the one I played got inspiration from the other.

Here is the final, edited post:

Hey, gamers! Today I want to tell you about a game that I am playing and am really enjoyed. It’s called “Spare Parts: Episode 2” by Sophie Rose, an indie developer who creates charming and diverse visual novels.

“Spare Parts: Episode 2” is a kinetic visual novel that follows Lucy, a young woman who works at a shop run by Unit 01, a mysterious woman who sells strange and unique items. The game is part of a series that explores themes of identity, friendship and romance.

In this episode, Lucy has to deal with some challenges and surprises in her new job and her personal life. I just got to the part where she has to face her own insecurities about being trans and went clothes shopping with Unit 03, who is having trouble with her own identity as well.

The game has nice visuals and music that create a cozy and relaxing atmosphere. The characters are likable and relatable, especially Lucy, who is a sweet and funny protagonist. The story is engaging and touching, without giving away too much.

I really appreciated how the game portrayed Lucy’s trans identity in a respectful and realistic way. It showed her struggles with dysphoria, acceptance and self-love without being too dark or depressing. It also showed her support system of friends who care for her and respect her pronouns.

I think this game is a great example of trans representation in indie games. Trans characters are often underrepresented or misrepresented in mainstream media, so seeing one as the main character of a visual novel is refreshing and empowering. It also shows that trans people can have normal lives, hobbies and relationships in any genre or setting.

I played this game on my iPad using Moonlight, which allows you to stream PC games to your mobile device. It was great with the touch screen interface and it felt like playing on a tablet native app. If you have an iPad or an iPhone, you can try it out too!

I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes visual novels with cute art, quirky humor and heartfelt stories. You can get it on Steam or Itch.io for only $5 , or even less if you catch it on sale .

Not sure if I want to continue using AI for this, but seeing how it created a much better written article that actually describes how I feel about the game, and since I am not using this for a writing class, may try it in the future.

Paste of the entire conversation with Bing...

February 2023 Review


Game time by storefront in February

I wonder if there is a way I can keep track of my gaming done on streaming. I will say a majority of the 26% on Xbox, 36% on PS Store and 11% on Steam were streamed, and a majority of the 8% on itch.io (which was just Spare Parts), while none of the Nintendo was.

This month was much more of a console month, thanks to some curiosity with the new NSO offerings, and even more so, figuring out how to get PS Remote Play on my Apple TV. Ended up with just under 50% of playtime on PC, compared to 92% in January.

Games by original platform in 2023 so far

Also, I completed P5R last month, and P3P hasn’t filled that hole as much. I probably should have put some time between the two games, but I was excited that I completed P5R almost in time for the launch of the P3P port and wanted to head right into the it.
This, in part, lead to significant less time gaming in February: 1.5 hours per day, compared to 5.5 hours in January.

+41 hours played
3 completions, though only +1 added as I removed two games from the tab, after initially removing 7 or 8
-115 games in backlog (due to creating a new "On Hold" custom tab that has 121 games in it)
+4 games in Retired

Update..i’ve been bad at marking update numbers, so 16 I guess: Back in the console game?

Was not expecting to be buying a next gen console this year, but Verizon had a sale for their customers at $150 for a Series S (half off). I was initially hesitant, but then when I saw videos showings I could stream old versions of Windows and other emulators without homebrewing the console, it became very tempting. It should be coming tomorrow.

In preparation, I tried to see if I could get Windows 98 running in DOSBox Pure in RetroArch. Had some issues figuring out the partitioning, which DOSBox kept freezing when making a disk image (I just needed to be patient). Also took a couple of times to figure out how to actually install the thing and I am not sure what in the end did it, but Windows 98 SE was installed with no driver issues!

Part of this setup was done locally, part on Moonlight on the Apple TV. RetroArch oddly was running at 15fps when I got to the Apple TV, but some changes to the display fixed it. I also had to change input settings to allow my controller to act as a mouse, which worked better as expected when I loaded SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month and Dune for a quick test. Dune is a DOS game, and it works well with RetroArch’s mouse layout, with the left analog acting as arrow keys, I think, moving things easily.

Now that's how to run Windows 98, but I think running it on an Xbox will be even cooler.

I also updated my Game Pass to Ultimate in preparation and tried out MLB The Show 22 through the cloud to Moonlight. I played it in the cloud last time I got an offer for Ultimate, and had a good experience for the most part. I forgot what I used to play it on my TV at the time, but this time Moonlight worked well. Had Playnite set to open the Xbox app, and I then went to Cloud Gaming tab. I had to find the game using the Siri Remote, because using a controller in the Xbox app itself has always been finicky.

The game loaded as if it was new and perfectly with my Xbox controller, but after I setup my control preferences (there are a lot of different ways to play a baseball simulator), and played through one 3 inning game, I was able to verify my March to October save was in place. There was almost no noticeable lag from last time I played. Sometimes even got the pitch timed well and my batting quickly jumped up the automatic difficulties.

Looking forward to MLB The Show 23 coming later this month. Curious how it will implement some of the rule changes in the real game.


Here is the eclectic collection of games I want to play on the Xbox (not counting being so curious about the UI, video apps and running Moonlight client on the Xbox, and streaming to the Xbox app for Windows > Moonlight). Looking forward to tomorrow!

Update 17: A new era of gaming for me, wait…gotta check out the UI and watch some TV first
Got the Xbox Series S yesterday morning and spent most of the day setting up, downloading games and apps, and getting RetroArch to work in Dev Mode.


Setup Time!

I discovered that:

a. I could stream my Xbox Series S to my PC and iPhone via the Xbox app. Though when I left the house, I forgot that I enabled Standby mode while in Dev Mode, and those settings didn’t carry over when I switched back to live mode, so I instead played Persona 3 Portable via Xbox Cloud when I was in my car, which is not as cool.

b. I can stream from my Xbox to my PC, to my Apple TV via Moonlight. Though since tvOS takes over the guide button, I must use the trackpad to move to the virtual guide button in order to use it while on the Apple TV.

c. Doesn’t appear that you can stream while in Dev Mode.

d.I can stream my PC to my Xbox using the Moonlight UWP app. Now I can play almost everything on my Xbox, which I must say is refreshing coming from the PS4 Pro. The Xbox console would not qualify as an open system, but Microsoft approving some UWP apps on the Microsoft Store like Moonlight or a Phillips Hue controller, that I don’t think Sony would care for and opening up Dev Mode (even though it has a $20 paywall, though thankfully not subscription based) makes me happy.

I wonder if I run the Xbox version of Moonlight while on the Apple TV connected to the Xbox, will I get some remote connection inception?


Sacrilege (Super Smash Bros. Melee running on RetroArch/Dolphin in Dev Mode)

I did play a section in Road 96 for 10 minutes and played some other games for < 5 mins each while testing things. In between European football this morning and American soccer tonight, I hope to get some actual gaming in this afternoon.

Update 18: Everything coming up Milhouse!

After setting up the Xbox in the living room as a temporary setup while the family was away, I since replaced my Apple TV HD with the 4K and put the Xbox where the Apple TV 4K was. I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but I haven’t had issues with interference since. I have heard issues with DS4s, Apple TV’s and non-shielded HDMI cables causing interference, but I didn’t think it extended to items beyond it.


Playing FIFA on the couch at 20Mbps 1080p while the TV was used to watch the Champions League pre-match on CBS.

I connected the HDMI cable that came with the Xbox to the Apple TV 4K and, the next time I checked, my iPhone can get 50Mbps 1080p on Moonlight with practically no issues.

I started at 20Mbps for a 15-minute match in FIFA 23, then bumping it up to 60Mbps in the new Need for Speed: Unbound with some lag, where I eventually settled at 50Mbps. For reference, 2.5Mbps used to be mostly unplayable when the iPhone was across the room from the Apple TV HD.


Need for Speed Unbound at 60Mbps in Moonlight, soon moved down to 50.

I am curious how my iPads will fair since I feel they were acting worse.

Earlier in the day, I connected my Apple TV 4K to Moonlight, and because it had a 1Gbps Ethernet jack, unlike the 4K, I had it at 50Mbps 1080p with no issues, playing
Kawaii Deathsu Desu and Nippon Marathon, both via Steam.

In Kawaii Deathsu Desu, you play as an idol and kill overzealous fans that are coming from the left and the right. You have to choose between hitting the enemies to the left or to the right of you. I love the visuals, but the game got repetitive quickly. Even worse, the first 2 levels were super easy, and once you get to China it became impossible for me on the easier mode. A quick retirement.

Nippon Marathon is as silly as it looks. The character I played as is an aspiring marine biologist and narwhal aficionado who wants to open an aquatic sanctuary. The racing is absurd, and I love it. Your run, jump and avoid Shibu inu, cars, bikes and crowds, pickup Mario Kart like items and try to make it first to the next part of the race. Fail, you lose a star, win you gain one. I am not sure if you must win the race overall to win, as you gain points from being the smelliest, or gaining popularity. The game seems a bit racist, with characters purposely talking in “Engrish”, though it seems to be voiced by native Japanese speakers, so does that make things better? I’m not sure I’m the one to answer that.

Unfortunately, no screenshots from these 2 games as it appears tvOS does not give apps like Moonlight access to the sharing button on the Xbox controllers. I might be able to bind a key to take a screenshot using reWASD though.

But here, for your amusement, are the achievements I earned:

Update 19: What’s the Catch?
My streaming experience has been so good lately that I have been wondering when a big hiccup will come. I have been streaming from the Xbox to the PC, and often then from the PC to the Apple TV, playing:

Hi-Fi Rush, which I did retire, because I have no rhythm and any elements that require you to be precise, I had to repeat a lot and just wasn’t having fun. The music felt repetitive. Will miss the beautiful visuals and the characters, though.

NHL 23 and NHL ’94 Rewind. Been nice to be able to play hockey games. I had NHL ’17 on my PS4, which has gotten completely out of date, as sports games do. I stopped watching hockey because I found it to be too violent with the NHL doing little to nothing about hits to the head and fighting. But the video games can be fun. The problem with playing on the Xbox, though, is if I don’t play on a close screen, I have no idea what is happening. So, I play on my PC using Xbox Remote Play and play on my PC screen. I went from zero goals and few shots on goal in my first couple games on the TV, to getting a couple of goals and winning a game. The new NHL 23 is with EA Play trial, which I doubt I will go over by the time it becomes part of the standard service, and NHL ’94 Rewind, included with EA Play.

Pleasantly surprised to be able to play as a women’s team in NHL 23. Image from videogamer.com

Golden Eye 007, which I was glad I got to experience, but did retire as it got super hard on the 2nd level, and I would have had to restart the level if I wanted to continue. I think it would have been a frustrating play if I had access to the save states, which I assume were on the NSO version, because of the health system. I did enjoy the music and gadget system, for the little I got to play with it.

Also played from the PC to the Xbox when I wanted a big screen experience. Since I removed the Apple TV from my TV setup, as I moved the Apple TV 4K to the living room, I thank the community-created version of Moonlight for the Xbox One and Series X|S so I could continue playing PC games on the big screen. With Moonlight on the Xbox, I can even use it as a second screen (I do need the HDMI cable from my other-second screen to do it, though) to have a 2nd screen on my PC or for playing movies on Hoopla, where AirPlay to Tizen (Samsung TV) does not work, and no app for either Xbox or Tizen. smh

I used this setup to play Sable, which at first had some significant screen tearing, but after fiddling with some settings in NVIDIA Control Panel (Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Sable.exe > Vertical Sync > On), the game just looks gorgeous. I did end up playing a bit locally and I noticed the color balance was better there, but still beautiful on the TV. Was initially against the BotW copied stamina system, which I have already spent in-game days on in BotW and Genshin Impact, but am enjoying the exploration aspects.

Wish I could find an easy way to take screenshots on the Apple TV or Xbox, here is an image from ladbible.com

Been a week since my last post, but in terms of streaming there have been no major issues. There was an update to Moonlight for tvOS which might have helped, and I do think there is something with the interference from the Apple TV HD and/or the HDMI cable I used with it.
Looking forward to more Sable, and I just started Pentiment as well.

Update 20: Mobile gaming gets a new life.

Was on the Discord where there is a lot of talk about Steam Decks and I was thinking about how if I were to get one, I would be playing a lot of Moonlight, Chiaki and other streaming options, but the $500+ for the only viable option (256GB way too small for the internal SSD for my uses and I don’t like opening small things), but then I remembered, my iPhone can run Moonlight, Steam Link, OpenVPN for playing away from home, PS Remote Play and Xbox Remote Play, but I needed a way to play it mobile, so I found a pretty good controller, the Backbone One.

The Backbone One is licensed for Xbox, though doesn’t look like an Xbox controller the same way their other product that is marketed for PlayStation looks like the DualSense, but it gets the job done. It has an app, with some features requiring a subscription (sigh) and some free. I can open Xbox games via Xbox Cloud within the app, which is weird as I thought Apple was not happy for Microsoft doing the same thing.

I’ve got the whole wide world, in my hands. (MS Flight Simulator 2020 running on Xbox Cloud on my iPhone)

Here’s my experience with each app/service:

Xbox: Having an issue where intermittently my Xbox will not turn on via Remote Play. This happens on both PC and mobile, and the only way to fix it seems to be to turn on the Xbox locally or wait a bit for it to sort itself out.

I did buy an Xbox 360 game and was worried when I got an error trying to play it on mobile. But, Moonlight comes to the rescue as the PC app lets me play it!
I can’t simply open Xbox cloud games from the Xbox UI, must switch to the web for that. I’m not sure if this particularly is a technical limitation or an App Store rule, as you cannot open the MS Store either.

When the mobile app lets me open a game, it works perfectly, though. Played a bunch of P3P both on the console and on Xbox Cloud and as originally a PSP game it is perfect for mobile.



Top: Opening Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara on Xbox app for iOS.
Bottom: Opening the same but putting Moonlight in the middle.

Also, whether it’s Xbox Cloud or the app, I cannot get rid of the home bar UI, which makes it hard to see how much time is left in NHL 23, among other issues.

Moonlight:
Works perfectly for Ace Attorney on Steam and Sable on Epic Games. Sable looks gorgeous and I feel VNs will be great on this, if the text isn’t too small. Emulation works great too, though I do wish I could get it working offline, and I am trying to sideload the app via Xcode compilation as I type this
PlayStation: Was worried PS Remote Play wouldn’t open because it’s an Xbox licensed product, but the controls work perfectly. I only tried 5 minutes of a demo of PaRappa the Rapper: Remastered. I am looking forward to giving Danganronpa another try, when I am done with my current VNs. I put it on hold awhile ago and want to give it another try.

Apple Arcade: Not pertaining to the title of this blog, but of course it works perfectly for Apple Arcade. But it does heat up my phone when playing NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition, much more than streaming games, which makes sense, you’re using your phone as a thin client when you are streaming, not using much of the processor, using a lot of networking and the screen.

Looking forward to using this a lot more, and maybe get out of the house more to use it too...maybe?

Update 21: Backbone: the spine for SpongeBob on your phone.

Completed SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month, via DOSBox-Pure on RetroArch because I was looking for some Windows 9x games to play when I discovered I could run Windows 98 on my Xbox in Dev Mode. I played chapter 1 there, then moved to my PC, where I played chapter 2, then played via my PC to Moonlight, with chapter 3 on the iPhone and chapter 4 on my Mac. Fun, super easy & quick point ‘n click, that I made complicated by playing it all over the place.

Playing on my iPhone using the Backbone for a mouse. Fun Cutscenes

This week I also took a step back on streaming by getting RetroArch compiled and working on my iPhone, as I mentioned I would try to do in my previous update. Now I can play games from older systems on my iPhone directly, though I couldn’t get DOSBox-Pure working, hence streaming SpongeBob over Moonlight. I got Dolphin running, but as soon as I opened a GameCube game I found out that due to Apple restrictions I would have had to put a server on my PC just to play them, so why not just use Moonlight for that anyways?

I did stream some other games when I went out this week. Playing Ace Attorney over Moonlight and MLB The Show 22 played perfectly from Xbox Cloud.

Also had some issues playing FIFA 23 on the Xbox via Moonlight (if I didn’t already buy it on the EA App, I would have just played the console trial) when I wanted to play as my local NWSL club, which just got added in an update. There was massive lag, which went away after restarting my PC. The Xbox version of Moonlight is a community version that does have its issues though, but I am glad for it being made.


Liverpool FC vs NJ/NY Gotham FC at Anfield. How can we make this real?

Not adding a new game to my Playing tab after completing SpongeBob, as I already added a short game, Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars. I got the series on Steam, after becoming interested while listening to the audiobook, Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. The Steam version is DRM-free once downloaded, and can be run from DOSBox either pre-packaged or manually. I initially started the game on my Bare Metal DOS setup and then moved the save files to my iPhone, where DOSBox-Core on RetroArch for iOS ran to a crawl. Moved to my PC and tried the pre-packaged version and was unable to get controls working how I liked them on my Xbox controller, before moving again to DOSBox on RetroArch via Moonlight. Worked well on my iPhone thanks to streaming.

The game is fun, for a DOS-era platformer. And definitely had a lot of the elements described in the book, like all the Pepsi and pizza they consumed while making the game, and with the enemies not simply disappearing when they died, plus childlike pogo stick and designs. Thankfully, you can save after each level. However, after reaching the 6th or 7th level, I now am on my last life and must load every time I lose one life. Already past the Main Story time on HLTB, which is typical for me with platformers. Not sure if I will complete it, but I have been dropping games when finding them more frustrating than fun as of late.

In Ace Attorney, I already reached the credits, but there is a 5th case that was originally DLC. I am enjoying solving the case with the new girl who is helping you, who is just as fun as Maya.. Looking forward to completing the first Ace Attorney game, hopefully sooner than later.

March 2023 Review

Completed 10 games in March, with a boost thanks to getting my Series S and Backbone

Moved some games that were on PC on my spreadsheet to a new Xbox Play Anywhere platform, so only 20% of my gaming this month was on PC, while 62% was on Xbox Play Anywhere. The Xbox Play Anywhere section includes games I played partially on PC and partially on either Xbox Cloud, Xbox Series S or all three. Sometimes this month I would even use Moonlight to play Xbox games on my Apple TV, even for games I had installed on my PC. Some of this was out of curiosity, some because they performed better on my console without having to release a lot of memory on my PC.

Not often was I directly on my Xbox, and I did play some console exclusives like NHL 23 and MLB The Show 22 and 23, either on the Apple TV on the new Backbone for my iPhone. The Backbone led to my most mobile gaming in a while, but only 3 hours of actual mobile games, the rest being Xbox Remote Play, Moonlight, or emulators that I sideloaded to my iPhone. I even sideloaded a couple of DOS and Windows 3.1 games to my iPad via iDOS, though did not play much there.


2023 by Storefront. Very Game Pass heavy, with the new console, as expected.


New chart! 2023 by Platform per month. Cut off so PC doesn’t get too high but notice the jump in Xbox Series X|S and older platforms like Nintendo DS and GameCube, which were played a lot on the iPhone and Xbox respectively.

+ 75 hours played
+11 completions (though haven’t completely committed to Ace Attorney being completed due to still playing the bonus case
+21 retired
+ 53 backlog (added all the Xbox games I didn’t know I owned, including 24 games from Midway Arcade Origins for Xbox 360)

Update 22: It’s been…
Been a bit since my last post but I assure you, I have been still game streaming. Between playing MLB The Show over Xbox Remote Play in the car, to FIFA from my PC to the Xbox (yeah, lots of sports sims lately).

I have obtained my mom’s old work laptop. Was super disappointed to find it had a Celeron and 128GB of storage. I was not expecting gaming specs, but as this PC was intended by my mom’s employer as a thin client with RDP, I figured it’d be great for my own RDP and Moonlight usage. Tried the UWP version of Moonlight first, but it is in alpha and designed first for Xbox consoles. Installed the desktop Moonlight client and it was great

I completed The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog on it. Did not work great on the Xbox with a controller as this was designed for a mouse or trackpad, and the trackpad worked great on the laptop. This game might be one that could actually run on these specs, but I did not even think of trying and it probably wouldn’t have handled the mini game aspect well if it could run it. Great combination of a fun VN mystery plus some platforming, and I am glad for the assist settings, or I would never have finished the platforming sections.


Always check the trash bin. Also, the name 3aw2…I just pressed some buttons on the controller while playing on the Xbox via Moonlight, but…I kind of like it?

Also started Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds via PS Remote Play. Kind of hard to play on the iPhone screen with the Backbone. Unlike when I played with Moonlight, I have to tap on the screen to bring up the virtual trackpad to bring up the menu, and then deal with the UI overlay for a couple of seconds.

I loaded my save and started the expansion content. Reached a fire breathing enemy and almost died with 1 move. It turns out the difficulty was turned all the way up. Turned it back down and got to the first campfire.

Still chugging along with Persona 3 Portable, which works well with the laptops keyboard, except when you need to corner an enemy in Tartarus. Game looked beautiful over Moonlight despite this screen not being the best, and got back into the school year and am excited to see what will happen with Aigis in school.

Update 23: 🙏to Open Source

Things have been going great streaming wise lately…too great actually. So when I opened up PS Remote Play for the first time on the Apple TV via Moonlight to start Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, I was just expecting it to work. But there was an update to both PS System Software and Remote Play that seems to have made it much harder to remotely connect a DS4 or a virtual DS4.

I initially discovered a workaround using reWASD that requires you to connect a physical USB 2.0 hub to your PC to I assume emulate Sony’s old dongle. I tried a USB 3.X hub first and did not work. Luckily I had an old 7 port USB 2.0 hub, but it required a huge AC adapter.

It worked, but having to keep this connected to my PC and my surge protector all the time was not at all ideal. That’s when it came to me. Chiaki, which many are using to get their Steam Deck connected to their PS4/5s, when I tried it on Linux worked decently. I wondered if it had a Windows version, and it did! There were some issues initially, like no access to the trackpad or PS buttons, which are important especially when a game like Horizon uses the trackpad to bring up the menu. I then tried using Steam input, which I haven’t needed in awhile, and I could use the Xbox controllers view button to control both the trackpad and PS button. I also found a newer fork that let me make the app full screen easier and had haptics support.



I actually started the Frozen Wilds on the Backbone, and found it hard to concentrate. But finished the first quest and side quest on the PC or Apple TV via Chiaki and had a lot of fun. Aloy is as fun to play as as ever, though I hear it’s much worse in the 2nd game which makes me sad but also even more willing to wait for a PC release, as long as Sony doesn’t make another bad port.

Recently I also completed the 5th case (and originally DLC) for the first Ace Attorney with a combination of Backbone and Moonlight on the Celeron. So glad I didn’t skip this case just to mark down a completion. It felt essential to the story and really hit hard on themes of criminal justice and many lawyers just wanting to get a conviction over actually getting real justice.

Looking forward to more Frozen Wilds, continuing Pentiment and P3P and I am glad I have less on my plate: got myself down from 7 to 4 games.

April 2023 Review

Completed 5 games in April, including:

A replay of The Simpsons Arcade Game which I just happened to have started and completed on a real modern arcade cabinet while visiting my uncle’s house.

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, played on the Xbox app via Moonlight on my iPhone. Would have used the Xbox app on iOS, but they won't let you for 360 games.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, mostly on Moonlight on a Celeron laptop I got from my mom.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: I put it down as completed last month but completed case 5 this month, which I considered to be an integral part of the game, so I moved the completion date.

Super Tilt Bro. which is a demake of Smash Bros. and I completed the arcade mode.

I got myself down from 7 to 5 games in my playing tab, retiring Commander Keen 1 and Sable, which I had on my playing tabs for a while and couldn’t get myself to continue despite both being fun, but got in some stuck moments and was kind of dreading a return, as well as both versions of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, the Fools Choice game.

For awhile I have had my playing tab filled with games that took different levels of time to beat, but I thought I would mix things up by trying to keep it to 4 or 5 with no mandatory VN, but usually a console game and/or an older game (Original Xbox/PS2/GameCube or earlier).


Jet Set Radio Future, emulated with Xemu, running via Moonlight on my Xbox Series S

I am enjoying having less on my plate and have been playing a lot of Persona 3 Portable and some Pentiment, Coffee Talk, Horizon: Frozen Wilds and Jet Set Radio Future. The latter I played via Xemu, which I played on the Series S via Moonlight. I would have loved to have bought it via Xbox backwards compatibility, but for licensing™️. Decided as I was writing this to buy some music from the artist of the soundtrack, HIDEKI NAGANUMA on Bandcamp to support the artists who aren’t getting paid anymore because licensing™️
.

2023 by Storefront. It seems I filtered out itch.io in March, so Game Pass was only 56% last month, moving down 1% to 55%


2023 by Platform per month. Cut off so PC doesn’t get too high.
+ 57 hours played
+ 5 completions (including Ace Attorney moved from March)
+ 5 retired
+ 3 backlogs (Some games were moved to On Hold, but am surprised at how small this increase is)