GamingGaiden vs PS Playtime

GamingGaiden is a Windows tray application for tracking play time and session history across PC and emulated games. It can automatically track games and new ROMs after an emulator is registered, and supports RetroArch cores. Games launched directly from an emulator’s graphical interface are not tracked; the manual recommends a frontend or command-line shortcuts. The app detects idle time and removes it from session records. Its statistics include lifetime summaries, session counts and lengths, daily, monthly, and yearly play time, most-played games, and games grouped by emulator. A backlog lets users mark games Playing, Finished, On Hold, or Dropped. The project also lists HWiNFO64 integration and Google image search for game icons or box art. GamingGaiden is described as portable and offline, with data stored locally and automatic backups after each session. It can be installed on multiple gaming PCs and share a database while tracking each PC separately. The free project is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Downloads are offered only through its GitHub repository; Windows SmartScreen may show an Unknown Publisher warning because the application lacks a public CA signature.

PS Playtime is a free web tool for checking time played on PlayStation games. It retrieves public data from PlayStation Network for PS4 and PS5 titles. To run a lookup, enter a PlayStation Network online ID or display name; the search is case-sensitive. No registration is required, and PS Playtime says it never asks for a PlayStation password, email, or login credentials. The library view shows each game’s hours played, first played date, and last played date, with sorting by playtime or most recently played. The game library and playtime must be publicly visible for access. Every lookup fetches current information from PlayStation Network, and gaming lookup data is not permanently stored on PS Playtime’s servers. Older PS3-era games and games played offline for long periods may have incomplete data. The terms allow access to be limited or blocked to protect the service from excessive requests or harmful scraping. PS Playtime describes itself as an independent fan-made tool, not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or PlayStation.