RetroPie, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Persona 3 Reload

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

I spent some time yesterday messing with my long neglected RetroPie. I fired up two of my favorite games from the NES, Snow Bros. and Side Pocket. Both have catchy music that instantly trigger nostalgia as soon as I hear it. Simpler times.

Then I jumped back into Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Steam. I originally played through on Playstation when it first release, but with the upcoming release on Xbox next week I’ve been itching to play it again. I left off at chapter 3 the last time I played it on PC apparently, so that’s where I picked it up and knocked out a few side quests. It still looks really good and the combat is super satisfying (even if I’m playing on easy).

Lastly, I just barely got into Persona 3 Reload. I basically got through the intro until I could save, but the style is already impressive and I can’t wait to get back into it. The only other Persona games I’ve played are 4 and 5, and I haven’t finished either, but I’m excited to get through 3 and then maybe I’ll finish 5. I sort of lost interest in 4, but I’ll probably give it another shot some day.

MLB The Show 25 on Switch 2

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

Awhile back I picked up MLB The Show 25 on the Switch on sale to check it out. As you can see in the comparison video I put together, the Switch version is ugly as heck, but at least it runs. Hopefully there will be a Switch 2 version for The Show 26 with upgraded visuals.

If you’re looking for a baseball fix on the go, I guess The Show 25 on the Switch is an option, but I’d only pick it up on sale.

Continuing on with Mass Effect Andromeda and Guild Wars Reforged

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

I spent some time today trying to dial in a new mic and audio mixer setup. I think I finally have it sorted out, but I didn’t realize how quiet it was during my Guild Wars stream.

Guild Wars Reforged: 002

I continued my playthrough in Guild Wars by knocking out a few more early quests, and I think I got through the tutorial section of the game. For awhile the game was feeling pretty linear, but once I got through the intro it finally started to feel like an MMO where I was probably picking up more quests than I’m going to keep track of at once.

I’m still struggling to get used to the targeting system, it feels dated, but I think that’s the point. Reforged isn’t really a remaster or anything, but my understanding is it at least added some quality of life improvements.

Mass Effect Andromeda

I also made some more progress in Mass Effect Andromeda. In true Mass Effect style probably 50% of the stream was spent chatting with companions.

Gumballs Plays Games

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

I haven’t been very good at updating my blog lately, so I’m going to try to revamp it once again. Lately I’ve gotten back into streaming just for fun. I’ve found that streaming or recording myself playing games forces me to focus a bit more. Like most people, I think my attention span has started to decrease, and I’ve found myself skipping through dialogue in games or just trying to rush through things. Streaming has allowed me to slow down and take the game in, even if very few people are watching.

Some of the games I’ve been streaming lately are:

Project Motor Racing

Mass Effect Andromeda

Guild Wars Reforged

I hope to keep up with streaming / getting videos up onto YouTube, and hopefully I’ll see if I can kickstart this blog again as well.

I appreciate you stopping by! Let me know what you’re playing these days, I’m always looking for more games to check out.

Monster Train is out for iOS!

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

I was browsing the app store last night and finally saw something I’ve been waiting ages for, Monster Train is now available on iOS! I’ve played a ton of this game ever since it was added to Xbox Game Pass, and I’ve been dying for a mobile version. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for, however, as I found myself staying up way too late last night playing run after run in bed.

The game plays just like it does elsewhere, however if there’s one complaint I have it’s that for whatever reason on the iPad the right side of the screen gets cut off. You can’t see the health of bosses because they’re partially off the screen, and you also can’t target them with spells. Hopefully this gets fixed soon!

If you’re unfamiliar with Monster Train, here’s a post that an AI generated for me (was curious how it would work, definitely would not pay $50 a month for it!):

Monster Train is a deck building rogue like set on a train. Monster Train is a strategic deck-building card game. The objective is to defend your pyre against invaders by playing cards on one of three floors of the train.

To start, you’ll choose a hero card, which will come into play on the bottom floor of the train. From there, you’ll draw five cards from your deck and choose which ones to play. Each card has a different effect, so you’ll need to carefully consider which will be most effective against the monsters you’re facing.

The game is set up in a series of rounds, with each round becoming more difficult as you progress. You’ll need to carefully consider which cards to add to your deck in order to give you the best chance of success.


If you’re looking for a challenging and strategic card game, look no further than “Monster Train.” The game is out now on iOS and it’s sure to provide hours of entertainment. So what are you waiting for? Download it today and see if you can keep those monsters at bay!

Interesting read on how Google search is useless these days

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

For the last year (probably longer) I’ve become more and more frustrated with my Google searches. I’ll search for something that should have an obvious answer yet most of the results aren’t even related to what I’m searching for. It feels almost impossible to find an answer to anything anymore, even something as simple as “what time does X event start?”. I’ve found that I need to add ‘reddit’ to the end of my searches to even find an answer.

I was browsing Apple News the other day and came across this article in The Atlantic: “The Open Secret of Google Search” which describes my experiences with Google to a T, right down to searching Reddit for anything that requires a simple answer. If you’re as frustrated with Google as I’ve been lately I suggest giving it a read.

The new PlayStation Plus has been frustrating so far

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

As someone who doesn’t currently own a PlayStation console I was excited to try out the new PlayStation Plus service, specifically the Premium tier that allows streaming on PC. I had tried out PlayStation Now before and it worked reasonably well so I figured Plus Premium would be similar.

I was able to play games such as Horizon Zero Dawn without issue, and the streaming quality was pretty good. I’m playing via a 2018 MacBook Air through Boot Camp connected to a Samsung 4K tv. The stream quality was nice, you can barely tell you’re streaming a game (I’ve had similar experiences streaming via Game Pass). There are minor hiccups where the video gets pixelated, but otherwise it looks crisp and the controls are responsive. I have gigabit internet, and average around 700mbps down via ethernet. I’ve also played via WiFi (about 450 down) and haven’t noticed any dip in quality.

The problem I’ve had is that many PS3 games simply won’t launch. When you click ‘Start’ nothing happens. I’ve restarted my computer, reinstalled the app, no luck. Two games I really wanted to play were Everybody’s Golf and Tekken 2, and neither will launch. PS4 games seem to have no issue, but the majority of PS3 games I’ve tried fail to launch.

Last weekend I spent about an hour chatting with PlayStation support and they had me do everything in the book. Reinstall the app, reset my modem and router, restart my computer, try a different internet connection (I tried ethernet, WiFi, and via mobile hotspot). Eventually they finally decided to tell me “oh we know about this, sorry, it should get fixed eventually”. Not encouraging. I asked if they could extend my subscription for the time I haven’t been able to get what I’ve paid for, but their response was that since I could still use PlayStation Plus I was out of luck. Not ideal.

I’ve tried every day for the last week and I still can’t launch most PS3 games. While I’m enjoying Horizon, it’s disappointing that I can’t access the majority of the back catalog being offered. I’ve seen a handful of people on Reddit express that they’re having the same issue, with little help from PlayStation support. I really hope this gets fixed soon, but I’m not holding my breath.