Fellow gamers, on November 15 of this year, Sony is releasing its new handheld - the PlayStation Portal. While curiosity certainly has its place, I’m also cautious about what to expect from this latest addition to the gaming world. Let’s dive into why the PlayStation Portal has piqued my interest and why, like many of you, I’m keen to see how it will fare, especially in comparison to its predecessors like the PlayStation Portable or the PlayStation Vita. One mildly successful and the other known by most as a flop.
If you don't know, the new Portal is a handheld device designed to just stream your PlayStation 5. No cloud game streaming, no local gaming.
I've always loved the idea of remote play, but my experiences haven't always been smooth sailing. Over the years, I've experimented with various devices. A laptop. A smart phone. A GPD XP +. Honestly every device I've purchased since Remote Play was introduced on the PS3 i've tried to play on. They always have quirks, and while promising, none delivered a truly seamless remote play experience.
That is where my hope for the portal comes in. Of course time will tell, but a device designed by Sony to specifically and only do remote play, at least in theory, HAS to do better than all of the other previous solutions.
Recently, I've even tried Valve's Steam Deck. I mean in theory, for just $100 more, the Steam Deck can offer similar functionality plus its own onboard local gaming. No streaming needed. In that respect it's fantastic.The experience for remote play however wasn't great. Configuring settings, navigating through a third-party app, and the lack of an official solution made it less straightforward. Plus, from a security standpoint, getting Remote Play working on the deck you just use a wonky workaround that feel less-than-cyber-safe.
If your primary goal is to have a versatile gaming device with the power to play locally and an expansive game library, the Steam Deck is a worthy contender. It packs a serious punch and offers a vast selection of games from the Steam library, including some Sony gems like Marvel's "Spider-Man"... But if you're like me and those elusive PlayStation trophies are important, only attainable by playing games on a Sony device, the deck simply doesn't work. When faced with multi-platform game choices, I'm more likely to opt for the PS5 over my steam library.
**The Bluetooth Conundrum:**
Now, here's a significant hurdle - the PlayStation Portal lacks Audio Bluetooth capability. This means it won't play nice with regular Bluetooth headphones, a puzzling choice in a wireless audio-dominated world. Even though the Portal has a 3mm headphone jack, it's a move reminiscent of the days when the PlayStation Vita employed pricey proprietary memory cards.
My personal hope is they can update it to work via software. It seems like it should be an easy fix… but as we have seen in the past Sony is unlikely to fix it because they want to try and push their own standards…
I AM still leaning towards buying Sony's new PlayStation Buds, mainly because of my loyalty to the brand and excitement for their features, but I acknowledge this limitation might deter potential buyers who've already embraced wireless audio. I bet there are plenty of people out there who don't even own wired headphones anymore.
As the PlayStation Portal's release date approaches, my curiosity is a blend of anticipation and reservation. It's an intriguing device, no doubt, but whether it succeeds in addressing the shortcomings of previous remote play iterations remains to be seen. The jury's still out, and I'm keen to see how it will fare.
If you’re curious like me, you can preorder your PlayStation Portal now.
Now we just count down to November 15, a date that promises to shed light on whether Sony’s latest endeavor is a curiosity worth exploring.