Steam Deck @sopuli.xyz Fubarberry @sopuli.xyz 8 mo. ago

Handheld gaming is the future - The Verge Podcast

www.theverge.com Handheld gaming is the future — again

The Switch and the Steam Deck are just the beginning of the handheld era.

This is primarily a podcast, but there is a short article with it. Also worth noting, this podcast came out before the Steam Deck OLED was announced, although it's possible the participants knew of its existence considering they had an early review unit.

19 comments

“Handheld gaming is the future!”

Meanwhile Nintendo alone has already sold 132 million Switches in the past. Not to mention every other handheld that’s sold like gangbusters in the past.

What a stupid ass story
- There's always been a big gap between the games playable on portable vs non-portable devices. The switch was a big jump forward to making true current Gen games portable, but outside of Nintendo's offerings it's still rare for new releases to have a comparable switch port.
  
  We're currently in new territory imo where most new games (outside of some really terribly optimized ones) are truly playable on portable devices.
- Not to mention every other handheld that’s sold like gangbusters in the past.
  
  Have they though, other than Nintendo. If the PS Vita was making Sony so much money, why no successor? As far I know, the Steam Deck is the only successful non-Nintendo handheld ever.
  
  PS Vita should have had a successor man, it was such a beast of a hand held for it's time. It's true fault was being against the Nintendo 3DS (and also Sony's dumbass proprietary memory card prices for it). I pulled mine out a few months ago to play Hotline Miami.
  
  There's phones, which have been fairly successful as gaming platforms. Nintendo has ignored that market for now. At least I think so,, I'm not really up to date on the console front.
  
  Uhh yeah.
  
  Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP): Launched in 2004, the PSP was a significant competitor to Nintendo's handheld consoles. It had a strong library of games, multimedia capabilities, and a vibrant community. It sold over 80 million units worldwide and was considered a success for Sony.
  
  Sony PlayStation Vita: Released in 2011 as the successor to the PSP, the Vita boasted impressive hardware and a lineup of quality games. While it didn't achieve the same level of success as its predecessor, it still garnered a dedicated fanbase with its niche titles and innovative features.
  
  Sega Game Gear: Introduced in the early '90s, the Game Gear was Sega's answer to Nintendo's Game Boy. It featured a full-color backlit screen (which was a novelty at the time) and had a decent library of games. Although it didn't surpass the Game Boy in sales, it was a popular handheld console during its time.
  
  Atari Lynx: Released in 1989, the Lynx was one of the first handheld consoles with a color LCD display and featured hardware capabilities that were ahead of its time.
  
  Neo Geo Pocket/Neo Geo Pocket Color: Produced by SNK, these handhelds were known for their excellent build quality and a few standout titles. They had a small but dedicated following, particularly in Japan, before being discontinued due to stiff competition from Nintendo's Game Boy Color.
- It's funny that people are arguing against you when the DS, Switch, and Gameboy/GBC are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th top selling gaming consoles of all time. Like yeah, they're all Nintendo consoles, but if other companies put in the same effort and marketing, they'd likely have similar results.
  
  Yeah, sometime people just want to be contrarian on the internet. Handheld gaming has been a massive success over the years
This is the best summary I could come up with:

A kid shouts angrily because he has to stop playing games so the family can leave on vacation; the car sags, and its tire deflates when his dad shoves a giant CRT TV into the back seat.

“The secret to Nintendo’s success lies in bringing arcade games forward, into the home,” says the jaunty narrator.

After that comes a song I’d rank somewhere in the range of “unaired musical SNL sketch” in which our emcee narrates the Game Boy going to the lake, on a date, a movie theater, a baseball diamond, a plane, and more.

When PlayStation launched the PSP and Nintendo dropped the first DS, almost 20 years ago now, both companies made big promises about the wireless revolution and how it might change gaming.

It’s a story about hardware and the fact that the smartphone revolution has finally made it possible to make a seriously powerful mobile device.

The Switch and Steam Deck are both still excellent devices, but Asus, Ayaneo, Logitech, and others are their own paths as dedicated handheld systems.

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