What is the future of handheld gaming systems in your eyes?

[Veho]

I would probably draw a line somewhere between being unable to see what is going on around you, definitely if there is big movement involved. Chucking up say a virtual chess board to a set of glasses that shines a light in your eye I can't see as being all that different to my playing chess on my GBA, and more "classical" sci fi versions of augmented reality would also be there. Of course someone would then turn around and do full bore immersion but with a real world map and that would get hard.

For what I imagine the initial forays to be though then if I can't turn my head and look at you then probably not. I would however not have any objection to someone sitting on a bus unable to see what is going on around them.

I imagine most future VR headsets will be of the transparent variety, to be more versatile, offer AR and VR.

The portable/"handheld" mode, when not used for AR, would show the game in a frame on the glasses, probably in the lower part of the glasses while leaving the rest transparent, so you could peer over it at people like you're wearing those old school bifocals. If the headset has headtracking it could "hang" the game frame as an object in space and it would hang there when you look away (Hololens-style).

For full immersion you would just stick a sleep mask on the whole thing.

 

[Deleted User]

Speaking of which, I just googled Smach Z which I've been very loosely following and it seems such system may finally be coming to fruition sooner than we think although it's $699 retail price is rather steep.

I only play handheld consoles and despise mobile phones.
VITA has still a lot of advantages over the Switch due to its size and homebrews, but in the end, Nintendo will dominate.

What I'm really interested in is the SmachZ. I had the "chance" to back it for 300€ instead of buying a Switch day one, well, I'm still waiting for it. The today's price of 700€ is hard to swallow, but don't forget two points:
- adptative SoC, for long term compatibility
- Full Steam library !

Do the math.
Every "big" game on switch is 50~60€, so if you own less than 6 of them, yes, the Switch is cheaper, otherwise the 700€ of the SmachZ is more affordable.
Nothing can beat the Steam sales, so in (not so) long term, Smach wins, by far.

Furthermore, on the official forum, a lighter and cheaper version is seriously discussed by devs (I would LOVE that, Smach size is comparable to the Switch's, which is too much for me)
I my biased opinion, SmachZ is the future of handheld: powerful and evolutive, no subscruptions, no streaming and steam controller.

Starcraft 2, Red Alert 3, Tomb Raider Castlevania LoS, Ragnarok battle offline on the go baby. Yeah, I'm confident in the future !
GPD seems really good though, but the controls look clunky, I prefer a steam controler over a mini keyboard with two sticks.

 

[Taleweaver]

Starcraft 2, Red Alert 3, Tomb Raider Castlevania LoS, Ragnarok battle offline on the go baby. Yeah, I'm confident in the future !
GPD seems really good though, but the controls look clunky, I prefer a steam controler over a mini keyboard with two sticks.

Out of curiosity: have you ever tried the steam controller?

I've read many of articles claiming that it should be better than the standard controllers for mouse-oriented games. From what I personally tried, I can only attest that with a very large "BUT..."

Namely: "...but the improvement is so small it's negligible."
Sorry, but for starcraft and red alert, it won't be this sorts of technology that makes them mobile.


The GPD is pretty decent. I'm playing guacamelee 2 on my original GPD win right now (that keyboard is a pain to use, though). Then again: I'm a sucker for a decent D-pad.

 

[Deleted User]

Out of curiosity: have you ever tried the steam controller?
Sorry, but for starcraft and red alert, it won't be this sorts of technology that makes them mobile.

Sure, it won't be easy, but aren't you curious ?
Besides, motivation always does half the job

No I never used a Steam controller, from what I know it's the best we can get, deisgned as a KB ersatz.
With practice you can handle mouse with the joystick, but the haptic technology (put 8 or 6 buttons on the right grey pad thingy) will really help through for key mapping (starcraft on SWITCH is really playable as long as you camera shortcuts and attack move !).

RA3 runs with very few inputs, micromanagement is more accessible than SC, so I have my hopes that skirmishes will be enjoyable.
The best would be to get the 360/PS3 controls ported to PC, they were really precise and clever !

On the other hand, Halo Wars was crafted for standard controller and this game alone makes Smach my future RTS console

 

[Iamapirate]

I think dedicated handhelds are on the way out. I believe we'll see more stuff like the Switch/Stadia integrating home consoles with handhelds, so you can stream console-quality games on your tablet, phone, etc. We are still ways away from this being the norm obviously, but it seems like the logical progression.

 

[Deleted User]

I think dedicated handhelds are on the way out. I believe we'll see more stuff like the Switch/Stadia integrating home consoles with handhelds, so you can stream console-quality games on your tablet, phone, etc. We are still ways away from this being the norm obviously, but it seems like the logical progression.

Cheap contraptions is the key (the creed of the great Gunpei Yokoi), if it is unhackable, cause empty shell, it is a plus.
The real question is the submissivness of the audience:
- Full digital PSPGo was a big NO in 2009 -> Today, more accepted (half games on NS cartridges, many digital only)
- Full streaming in 2019 ? -> ???

I think you can sell any kind of s*** and brand it as handheld gaming as long as "players" aren't demanding (ie with taste), the mobile market is the stinking example.
Quality handhelds will stay niche and by quality I mean, somethnig else than a f*****g empty shell, or "snail console".

 

[wownmnpare]

I hope stream gaming won't be a thing cuz living in the 3rd world country is a pain.

 

[Deleted User]

**** streaming, I want my steam backlog and Gamecube/Xbox emulation.
Finally, the smachZ looked fine at E3:



Of course, people whine cause it won't run latest trendy stuff at 4K/60Hz.
Well, I don't blame them, it's the one and only stadia good argument.
But as a old gamer, the Smach already runs everything I want.

Again, 700€ is a big investment, but if you consider steam backlog, it's more affordable than the Switch on the medium/long term, as long as the hardware is reliable.

 

[Veho]

What I'm really interested in is the SmachZ. I had the "chance" to back it for 300€ instead of buying a Switch day one, well, I'm still waiting for it. The today's price of 700€ is hard to swallow, but don't forget two points:
- adptative SoC, for long term compatibility
- Full Steam library !

From what I understand the $700 model comes with "Smach OS" only and Windows cost an additional $100 to add on? This limits the cheapest model to the Linux library.
64GB of the base model is also not a lot when modern AAA titles are around 30-40GB (and up). It's expandable with microSD cards but I'm skeptical about the performance.


It's understandable that a portable device won't be able to run the latest games, but I don't see many people willing to pay $1000+ for such a device. There are cheaper portable solutions that can run the Steam backlog.

I'm curious to see the smaller and cheaper version they are talking about.


I would like to think such devices are the future of handheld PC gaming: a cheap little Windows machine that doesn't try to run the most recent big budget stuff, but has the giant library of older games to choose from, but as I scroll the low-spec titles I notice most of them have been ported to / released on Android as well(and to a lesser extent iOS), so this device would be pretty pointless to most and would be limited to a niche audience (which seeing the sales of the GPD Win and similar devices might be more of an alcove, but still comparatively small).

 

[Deleted User]

From what I understand the $700 model comes with "Smach OS" only and Windows cost an additional $100 to add on? This limits the cheapest model to the Linux library.
64GB of the base model is also not a lot when modern AAA titles are around 30-40GB (and up). It's expandable with microSD cards but I'm skeptical about the performance.


It's understandable that a portable device won't be able to run the latest games, but I don't see many people willing to pay $1000+ for such a device. There are cheaper portable solutions that can run the Steam backlog.

I'm curious to see the smaller and cheaper version they are talking about.


I would like to think such devices are the future of handheld PC gaming: a cheap little Windows machine that doesn't try to run the most recent big budget stuff, but has the giant library of older games to choose from, but as I scroll the low-spec titles I notice most of them have been ported to / released on Android as well(and to a lesser extent iOS), so this device would be pretty pointless to most and would be limited to a niche audience (which seeing the sales of the GPD Win and similar devices might be more of an alcove, but still comparatively small).

Regarding the performance of microSD, it does the job on Switch, so I don't mind. Putting games on SSD is sheer delicacy

Since Steam-Proton, the frontier between Linux and Windows gaming has never been thinner, I play all my library on Ubuntu. Of course, W10 will make things easier.

You're right, the audience is very niche. Its insane considering everybody, their mom and their dog play on the go with their toyphone.

What could make the difference for SmachZ, would be Valve support, which they are expecting but not assured for the moment. They already won E3 critic award so, I'm not upset for their recognition https://nintendoeverything.com/game-critics-awards-best-of-e3-2019-nominees-announced/

Then again, you're right, there are far cheaper contraptions to run android stuff. I enjoyed my jxd some time, but the controls, stability and build quality are god tier garbage,
I'll never buy this again.

 

[Veho]

Then again, you're right, there are far cheaper contraptions to run android stuff. I enjoyed my jxd some time, but the controls, stability and build quality are god tier garbage,
I'll never buy this again.

I didn't mean Android device, I meant a portable Windows (or at east Linux) device.
The GPD Win is very popular, GPD keeps churning out models, new rivals like One-Netbook and Chuwi have a range of their own models in this size / form factor, and there are more and more Windows tablets that can run low-spec games in a pinch.

And then there's the Atomic Pi at $35 and it can run a game or two. This and a few other components and you can knock out a handheld thingy for $100.
I know $35 is not the real price of that board because it's someone getting rid of old stock for less than the actual price, but there are other x86 boards out there that can be used. Odroid H2 runs games and that board is $111 retail.

So all in all there's a lot of potential for portable Windows gaming on the cheap.

 

[Deleted User]

on the cheap.

Well, interesting.
So, for roughly 100$ you can have a naked board equivalent to a 2010 PC, fair enough.
But it now needs screen, good controls, audio, battery, hard drive, air vent, case and, of course, to be correctly assembled...No that cheap in the end.

Built quality is of the essence, especially for this kind of stuff, it's part of the Smach price (they are experienced hardware engineers).
Time will tell.