Please just port it already...

I have an old 4:3 LCD TV with VGA, component, S-Video, composite, and coaxial inputs that's been great for Dreamcast-and-older consoles, but it started randomly cranking-up the volume. I took it apart to see if anything looked off with the volume button or the circuit board, but nope; no way to easily check the contact under the button either... So I ended-up disconnecting the board altogether and it's remote-control-only from here on :)

My Ryzen 5600X started to slightly overheat - cleaning-out dustbunnies and re-seating the HSF got things back under control, but I should probably replace the thermal compound.

Halo Infinite started-out really well; the first level was badass, the second was intriguing, but then it kinda felt like Far Cry... And then when I encountered my first "propaganda tower" it sorta lost me a bit.

Ripple Dot Zero works well enough on Ruffle, which is fantastic; the bonus levels are kinda broken, but everything else is pretty great and it's still one of the best 2D platformers ever.

Got Astro Bot, Princess Peach: Showtime!, and a PlayStation Portal as gifts... Not sure what I'm gonna do with the Portal yet.

The math got more complicated, Atari...

Got a Stone Age Gamer Mega EverDrive X3 (Jungle? Electricity?) Deluxe Edition for $60, and I have now played Doom CD32X Fusion on actual hardware, and I cannot elucidate the feelings that I'm feeling for 30-years-ago me. Also got me excited for Phantom Gear, if they ever finish it.

Ploughed through Halo 5, and it's fine; not as bad as I'd heard, but nothing incredible... Unless you consider how incomprehensible the opening of Halo 5 is you haven't played Spartan Ops, but then you also try to figure-out why the rest of the game seems to abandon so much of what was set-up in Spartan Ops; that's incredible. So many major plot-points feel so unceremonious here.

Honestly, I had to go back and refresh my memory on the previous games because:

• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Iconic visual design, epic story with engrossing lore, excited for more
• Halo 2
• Basically DOOM 2 - more of the same, but with more Earth
• Halo 3
• I remembered nothing except for "Floodgate" and the ending
• Halo 3: ODST
• Loved it when it was first released, probably because of the cast; couldn't tell you what happened
• Halo: Reach
• Origins! Really only remembered that final bit
• Halo 4
• Older origins! I remembered there was a lot of talking...
• Didn't play Spartan Ops until this year, and it was really disappointing to see so much crucial plot relegated to what is effectively multiplayer DLC

Finally bought Halo: Infinite, and the opening was kinda great albeit somewhat confusing. Let's see how it shapes-up.

Anyway, I forgot just how annoying Windows 10's HDR implementation is, and so Windows 11 23H2 seems like the way forward... Just need to make sure I can reliably block the 24H2 upgrade; it hasn't been great on my Surface Book, either. Proton has me thinking my next main desktop is just gonna run Arch; only holding-off on my current hardware because of the WMR headset.

They may not die, but they do go on-sale.

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die went on-sale for $3.74, down  from $14.99 - so I grabbed that and all 18 free DLC packs. Also found a sealed copy of Rare Replay locally for $10. Very impressed with the platform now that I'm spending more quality time with it; the continuity across generations is handled well, being able to set the old 1080p, non-HDR Xbox One to 10-bit RGB for my monitor is kinda neat, and there're enough exclusives on here to justify the sub-$50 prices I've been seeing for these units - add-in that you can upgrade to a Series X for ~$400 (only getting cheaper, too), and I'd say there's a pretty good argument over PS5/PC. I still need a controller though, and ~$63 for an Electric Volt Xbox Core controller seems to be the best deal right now.

Been meaning to wipe my Windows 11 23H2 desktop for a clean installation of 24H2 for a little while now, but the automatic Feature Update notification finally came through so I figured why not go with that in the meantime. It really does completely disable Windows Mixed Reality though... I figured it'd still work in some capacity, but nope; turns my headset into a brick. Went back to Windows 10 22H2 for now; HDR experience is a little worse, but I guess I've got a year to figure-out what I wanna do.

Advice

Listened to myself and tracked-down an Xbox One with a Kinect - it also came with download codes for Dance Central Spotlight and Ryse: Son of Rome, an official XBOX One Chat Headset, a Turtle Beach Recon headset, and an Xbox 360 composite cable for some reason... No controller, but the whole thing was $80 CDN and just down the street from me. The S is better in just about every single way, but that dang Kinect...

I plan to track-down physical copies of Disneyland Adventures, Fantasia: Music Evolved, Fighter Within, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure. Also waiting for D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die to go on-sale again.

Really wanted to try FRU, got really disappointed when I found it had been de-listed, and now I'm eternally grateful that the developer sent me a code after I donated to a local charity! Fantastic game, reminiscent of LostWinds so far. With FRU and Dance Central Spotlight, I've now got two de-listed Xbox One Kinect games!

Buying Guide

Xbox:

• Great exclusive games
• Get component cables and a display that can use them, or an HDMI adapter

Xbox 360

• Great exclusive games
• Avoid the pre-2007 Pro/Premium and Core models
• Get a Kinect
• Limited backward-compatibility

Xbox One:

• The only exclusive games are for Kinect; S and X models are not compatible
• S and X models support resolutions over 1080p, HDR, and Ultra HD Blu-ray movies
• Limited backward-compatibility

Xbox Series:

• Essentially a cheap PC
• Perfect backward-compatibility with Xbox One library (except Kinect)
• Best way to play (all 11) non-Kinect Xbox One 'exclusive' games

----------

PlayStation:

• No need to buy one; just get a PlayStation 3
• SCPH-7501, 9001, or 101 if you do though

PlayStation 2:

• No need to buy one; just get a PlayStation 3
• SCPH-3x0xx is a nice-to-have if you do, but really can't go wrong otherwise

PlayStation 3:

• Great exclusive games
• CECHAxx or bust!
• Seriously though, they're all good; get CECHA/B/C/Exx if you want PlayStation 2 support

PlayStation 4:

• They're all good, but just buy any PlayStation 5 with a disc drive instead

PlayStation 5:

• Get a disc drive for PlayStation 4 games
• Pro only if you're rich
• I'd avoid non-'slim' Digital Editions

----------

No need to get into which Nintendo/Sega/Atari/whatever - just buy a Switch, a Wii U, and a Dreamcast; then play everything else on an FPGA or an emulator with a good CRT filter.

----------

2025 Gaming PC Minimum System Requirements Bonus Round:

• RTX 2060 SUPER/RX 6600
• Ryzen 5 3600/Core i5 10400F
• 16GB of RAM
• SATA SSD