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TO Bloomberg report this week suggests that Sony is working on a new portable PlayStation device. As someone who still has a PlayStation Vita languishing in my desk drawer because I can’t bear to put it in the attic, this is an exciting prospect. It’s been almost 13 years since Sony released the Vita, its latest portable console, and it’s a marvel, with its big, clear screen and tiny sticks. I wish more people had made games for it: paper crafting adventure Tearaway and twisty puzzle-platformer Gravity Rush remain underrated.
In reality, apart from the lovely and extremely niche Playdate, no one has bothered to release a dedicated handheld gaming console in over a decade. Both Nintendo Switch and Valve’s Steam Deck are hybrids that can be played on handheld devices and connected to a large screen.
There’s a reason for this: First of all, smartphones have taken over almost the entire portable gaming market, offering endless free or cheap games on a device that everyone already has. And second: have a laptop and The home consoles that were once on the market would split development resources. Only Nintendo was successful enough in selling handheld devices to withstand several generations of splitting its talents between creating games for the DS and Wii, or 3DS and Wii U, which has led to Switch being a contender for commercial decision. smartest in its history. .
Meanwhile, Sony always struggled to create enough games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) or Vita alongside its home PlayStations to make those portable computers an irresistible purchase. The PSP, which sold 75 million, was a profitable console despite competing directly with the Nintendo DS, which sold 150 million (partly thanks to Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, which sold more than 12 million copies on the PSP before to make the jump to rival platforms). But when the Vita launched in 2011, it was deep into the smartphone world and only sold about 15 million.
The difference this time is that the machine Sony is working on would supposedly play existing PlayStation 5 games. It seems that the idea would be to have portable and home versions of the same console, which can play the same games. Bloomberg suggests that Microsoft has also been working on portable console prototypes, although none of these things may ever come to market.
Another difference now is that cloud gaming exists. I know a lot of people who primarily used the Vita as a not-very-legal emulator for a lot of retro games, because the console was tragically easy to crack. But now, with PlayStation Plus subscriptions offering perfectly legal access to the treasure trove of Sony back catalogue, how many people would happily pay for a portable console that could play most of PlayStation history without having to buy the games? ? I bet it’s a lot.
Sony has done it some experimentation with portable hardware since the Vita was discontinued. Late last year, it launched a strange little device called the PlayStation Portal – essentially a screen slapped into the middle of a PlayStation 5 controller – that lets you stream games from your PS5 to play in your hands. This has limited usefulness but it is something interesting and I love it. Sony’s hardware design, so I really hope we see a new PlayStation portable in the next few years, even if it won’t have the kind of small, custom games that older laptops used to enjoy.
However, as Steam Deck has proven, handhelds can be a game-changer for busy people, even if they don’t have exclusive games, because they simply give you more time and opportunities to play. For example, the only way I managed to finish Persona 4 was by playing it on my vita on the train. With the upcoming PlayStation Portable, maybe you’ll finally be able to handle those last 10 hours of Persona 5.
what to play
Thinking about the ancient history of the portable PlayStation reminds me of several games. there is Locomotiverocka game about singing blobs, which was revived for an extra level in this year’s Astro Bot. And I spent more than 100 hours with my index finger curled awkwardly over the PSP’s directional buttons, my hand forming a shape known as the Monster Hunter claw.
and there is tearMedia Molecule’s intimate and brilliant Vita platformer set in a world made of paper. This is the easiest to try, as there is a slightly less shiny PS4 version called Tearway deployed available on PlayStation Store. It’s included with PlayStation Plus and I just downloaded it to play with the kids this afternoon.
Available in: PS4/5
Estimated playing time: 8 hours
what to read
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Continuing with the news from Sony, it is the PlayStation 30th anniversary next month. To celebrate, Sony has launched lots of game soundtracks, a timeline, a quiz, and of course some things you can buy.
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Shuhei YoshidaFormer head of PlayStation Studios and current head of the company’s independent developer initiative, he will leave the company in January after 31 years. I last interviewed him last year; remains one of the friendliest faces in the entire games industry and one of its most accomplished advocates.
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And Sony apparently intends to buy kadokawa, the parent company of FromSoftwarecreators of Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Armored Core. Is this how we’ll finally get a new Bloodborne?
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Microsoft’s new version of flight simulator has released in a bit of condition. If you have been considering purchasing it, it may be best to wait a few months.
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Question Block
Reader Benjamin asks this week’s question:
“In his latest Pushing Buttons he mentions that his money is in The shadow of the Erdtree for the ‘game of the award of the year, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts in its inclusion in the first place, being a downloadable expansion and not a game in itself. Doesn’t it set a strange precedent if something that can’t be played independently can be the best game of the year?
Gaming awards categories are struggling to keep pace with the rapid evolution of video games, whether it’s the Baftas, the Game Awards or the Golden Joysticks. A few years ago, most of them introduced some version of an “in-progress game” category to account for games like Fortnite, No Man’s Sky, and Minecraft, games that run for years and change frequently. But now that has become difficult in itself: how much Does a game have to change in a given year to qualify? What about something like Cyberpunk 2077, which is not a multiplayer game with continuous new content, but which did Change and improve greatly after release? What about remasters? Should downloadable expansions count? And where should games that could fit into two or more genres be placed? Every year, there are many releases that challenge category definitions.
You could spend forever criticizing these things. My feeling is that anything released in a given year should be eligible for an award if it’s good enough, whether it’s an add-on or expansion to a previous game or not. Shadow of the Erdtree is over 30 hours long and could easily have been a standalone sequel – it’s 10 times longer than some of the indie games nominated in other categories. Personally, I would find it difficult to justify disqualifying it on a technicality, although I would obviously judge it on its own merits and not those of the base game.
If you have a question for the ask block, or anything else to say about the newsletter, hit reply or email us at pushbuttons@theguardian.com.