Portable games console Gamestick set to launch

shadow theory · May 28, 2013

Veho said:
I don't understand this part. Aren't they portable consoles? Are you disputing the "portable" or the "console" part? The technical term is handheld game console, usually shortened down to "handheld" but they're still consoles, if that's the disputable bit. And they're inherently portable in the sense of "easy to carry around with you".

I believe this illustrates my point: if you google "portable console", you get this. Or if you want to rule out handhelds, you can try specific names, "portable Xbox", "portable Wii", "portable PS2", it gives you a ton of case mods and mockups of portable versions, and they all have screens.

I'm not saying the GameStick isn't portable as such, I'm just saying that the word, when talking about consoles, usually implies a screen.

Well, I think that harkens back to what I talk about when we muddy the language, things become more amorphous. If you google "console" handhelds don't appear, if you google "handhelds" consoles don't appear. There is not a person who would understand "console" unqualified to include handhelds or vice versa (at least not in general usage). It's easier to stick with the differentiation that is most commonly understood. If we want to use lesser utilized methods of referring to technology we could refer to consoles as "video game consoles." (Your wiki link does use the term "handheld game console" but the wikipedia article for "video game consoles" says that, "[the term "video game console" is used to distinguish a machine designed for people to buy and use primarily for playing video games on a TV in contrast to arcade machines, handheld game consoles, or home computers." So the video game console, generally shortened to "console" is a moniker intended to differentiate it from other similar devices like handhelds. In short they were shortened to "console" and "handhelds," so the use of the term console is important and distinguishable (at least in common usage).

I entirely agree that there is no real quantifiable difference in the experience and that one could easily be the other, it's just not how the words are generally used.

So once we set up that dichotomy, would it not be more appropriate to say the portable version of a device that is emulating the characteristics of the former (anchoring to TV being the biggest one) is a portable version of the former?

A console you can pop into your pocket, but requires a screen doesn't seem like a handheld--it seems far more like a console...just a portable one.

The implication of the screen is something I can't readily refute and you're exactly right on that. It does generally imply a screen--as seen in many portable versions of consoles--but that is not an exhaustive way of looking at it. There is no "general" view of what the game stick is it does not fit in with the definition of a handheld device.

Since it fits neatly into Wiki's definition of video game console wouldn't it be easier to say a far more portable version of that is a portable console? That way we can continue to use the commonly understood distinction between consoles and handhelds that we've had since we've started using the terms in common parlance.

It is clearer that way to me, anyway.

FAST6191 · May 28, 2013

shadow theory said:
There is not a person who would understand "console" unqualified to include handhelds or vice versa (at least not in general usage).

I will have to raise my hand as a dissenter here -- even with my misgivings about what to call the amiga, C64 and so forth I would have said handhelds are a largely distinct subset of consoles (though that also has other connotations in command line, nuclear launch control console....). "The gameboy is a Nintendo console" does not sound remotely off to me.

Wind in some of sega's efforts, the super game boy, things like pokemon stadium/final fantasy crystal chronicles, possibly the gb player or consider the chips running in each and we get very blurry.

Edit-- my laptop is easily carried and I once had a gamecube carry case that was lighter and smaller in two dimensions.

shadow theory · May 28, 2013

FAST6191 said:
I will have to raise my hand as a dissenter here -- even with my misgivings about what to call the amiga, C64 and so forth I would have said handhelds are a largely distinct subset of consoles (though that also has other connotations in command line, nuclear launch control console....). "The gameboy is a Nintendo console" does not sound remotely off to me.

I still think that it is just not the way they are generally used. Google the term "console wars" how many hits do you get referring to handhelds? How many images refer to handhelds?

Google "best console", "worst console", how many refer to what are traditionally thought of as handhelds? In general usage consoles typically do not refer to handhelds. And if you view them as largely distinct, why mix them? It just seems easier to allow them to remain distinct by the qualification of calling it a handheld.

If Sega announced they were releasing a new console to be shown at E3, do you think more people would generally think it was a traditional television-anchored console, or a handheld? Would the team at Sega marketing, if releasing a handheld, say it was a handheld rather than console? I think a lot more people would be surprised than not to see a handheld when they were told a "console" was arriving.

But I can always concede that I may be entirely wrong. Perhaps my experience is the odd one out. In my childhood if a person asked you what console(s) you had you responded with Nintendo or Mastery System, later Super Nintendo or Genesis. (Or like the poor idiot I was, you could answer "Sega CD") But it was understood that handheld gaming was distinct enough that we had come up with "handheld" as a term to refer to them--so while it certainly came up it was done so as a tangentially related topic.

But as it sounds more people here find it doesn't fit the definition of a portable console, than I can understand and endorse that point of view as well. If I'm worried about nomenclature being "muddied" I'm the only one rocking the boat if everyone is on the same page.

If it isn't a handheld, then would you call this a console? I know we at least all agree it is one--but does it's small size not play a part in how we categorize it? Perhaps a pocket console?

nl255 · May 29, 2013

pwsincd said:
Whatever it consists of it can be easily carried ergo its portable. It could be mis-interpreted to infer it may be playable whilst being portable, but that bit isn't within the dictionary def of the word portable, it's more a gamer's perception of a portable console.

With that thought in mind I recall a wii u thread concerning the playing of a wii u on a train or in a car. It has got a portable screen but isn't classed as portable because it needs a power outlet or big heavy batteries. But it has got a screen? .. its all in the misinterpretation of words I guess.

Well like I said, the Sega Nomad has a portable screen and was classified as portable despite the fact that you still need a power outlet (either home or car) or big heavy batteries which you actually had to make yourself (from rechargable D cells, a battery box from Radio Shack, and the right connector) as it only works for an hour on the standard 6 AA batteries you are supposed to use with it.

cdoty · May 29, 2013

Forstride said:
...and people are saying it has better hardware as well.

Where did you hear this? I've always heard the Tegra hardware is more powerful than the Rockchip hardware.

narutofan777 · May 29, 2013

umm...I wouldn't buy this.

kehkou · May 29, 2013

Veho said:
The term "portable" usually makes people expect a screen.
And even the GameStick creators are aware of the confusion so they're calling it a "portable TV console" to clear it up.

Portable, as in it plugs into a port?

dragonblood9999 · May 29, 2013

I am sorry but IMO this is not a portable. I mean you need a tv to use this, to me the definition of a portable handheld/console is the ability to play anywhere on the bus, on a train, hell taking a s**t. So how is this a portable console? The Wii U is more of portable than this, with its tablet like controller.

Haloman800 · May 29, 2013

LightyKD said:
DON'T ever get a JXD. Matter of fact, to put it frankly, "Fuck JXD"! I have their s6600 tablet and highly considered getting the s7300 for the Wii U like design and buttons but the tab I have now, has so many damn hiccups, that I considered banging the shit out of it with my sledgehammer. I got my tab a week before Christmas last year and here we are, five months later and the damn thing resets on me almost every five hours, is very sluggish and can barely surf the web. Don't even get me started on the "disappearing apps" problem and the crappy, barely two hour battery life and that's with the screen at it's lowest bright setting. I've emailed JXD about the situation considering my tab is still well within the one year warranty and I received NO reply. The only company who was willing to help was Dino Direct (the store I received the tablet from) but their solution was not feasible in my city. Once again, anyone here considering a JXD should steer clear AWAY from them!

Thanks for the warning, I'll avoid them.

LightyKD · May 29, 2013

Haloman800 said:
Thanks for the warning, I'll avoid them.

You're welcome. I really wanted the s7300 but after all the BS I have gone through, I'm just done with them. Their tablets sound amazing on paper but their programming sucks balls. Even worse, they dont have an official forum so that people can commune and talk about and fix the issues so you're basically stuck with trial and error. At least the woPad guys actually had an official forum. The only reason I left woPad for JXD was because woPad has a tendency of making two iterations of the same tablet and leaving the old iteration to die off (due to one minor part change) in favor of firmware updated for the new one.

Pleng · May 29, 2013

Veho said:
I don't understand this part. Aren't they portable consoles? Are you disputing the "portable" or the "console" part? The technical term is handheld game console, usually shortened down to "handheld" but they're still consoles, if that's the disputable bit. And they're inherently portable in the sense of "easy to carry around with you".

Yes the technical term is a handheld console. But we're not talking about technical definitions, we're talking about what these systems are generally classified as. Of course they are also 'portable' but in classifications 'handeld' is a subset of 'portable'. Of course 'handheld' also means that one can hold it in one's hand, so it falls under both *technical* definitions.

I'm not saying the GameStick isn't portable as such, I'm just saying that the word, when talking about consoles, usually implies a screen.

Ok. You find me a web store where 3DS, PSP etc are listed under 'portable' as opposed to 'handheld'. As somebody else said in this thread... portable means you can easily move it from one place to another.

nl255 said:
Does it have at least 1GB RAM and a CPU good enough to run most PS1 games? I am pretty sure it is limited to 512MB RAM which means no Android 4.x

512Mb is just fine for Android 4

Veho · May 29, 2013

Pleng said:
Ok. You find me a web store where 3DS, PSP etc are listed under 'portable' as opposed to 'handheld'. As somebody else said in this thread... portable means you can easily move it from one place to another.

Why "as opposed to"? They are both.

Here you go: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/portable-video-game-consoles?

And I know what "portable" means, I'm just saying that in this context, in people's minds, it connotes a screen, and there's no denying it.

Pleng · May 29, 2013

Veho said:
And I know what "portable" means, I'm just saying that in this context, in people's minds, it connotes a screen, and there's no denying it.

Except for the fact that nobody agrees with you...

Veho · May 29, 2013

Pleng said:
Except for the fact that nobody agrees with you...

Google does.

Man18 · May 30, 2013

I saw a preorder ad for this today at gamestop fuckin 80$

Portable games console Gamestick set to launch

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