Sony is working on a new handheld gaming device… sort of. The company’s next handheld won’t be a next-gen PSP or PS Vita, because it’s not really a standalone product at all.
Code-named Project Q, the new device is basically a PS5 companion that will let you interact with your games from anywhere in your home so that you’re not tethered to the big screen. Sony says Project Q will be available later this year (although it’ll probably be called something else by then). 8-23-2023 Update: Sony has announced that the handheld will be called the PlayStation Portal when it launches later this year, and it will sell for $200.Â
In a nutshell, the device squeezes an 8 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel, 60 Hz LCDÂ display between a set of game controllers that has “all the buttons and features of a DualSense wireless controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.”
Designed for using the PlayStation 5’s Remote Play feature, Project Q will let you stream games from your game console to the handheld.
But it doesn’t sound like it supports cloud gaming, which means that you’ll only be able to use it with games that are installed on your PS5, which needs to be powered on and connected to your network. And Project Q is designed for streaming over WiFi only, which means you won’t be able to use it with cellular networks on the go.
Sony hasn’t announced how much Project Q will cost, or why you’d buy one instead of just installing the Remote Play app on an iOS or Android phone or tablet and pairing it with a controller. But the company says more details will be unveiled “in the coming months.”
We first heard about Project Q last month, when Insider Gaming reported that Sony was working on something called “Q Lite,” which was expected to have an 8 inch display and support for streaming games from a PlayStation 5 console. It sounds like that report was pretty accurate.
Update Insider Gaming’s tom Henderson says the Project Q handheld is “currently scheduled to release mid-late November 2023,” although Sony hasn’t confirmed that timeline yet.Â
Well, if you have to turn on your ps5 and connect to it via wifi, and won’t be abla to play games other than that, then what’s the purpose? People buy this sort of things just because they can play games anywhere, and Sony wants us to bring our ps5 and find a wifi just to play games outside? If it stays like that people won’t buy it in my opinion.
Ahhh… if I could use it for GeforceNow, I would be pretty tempted. 8 inches is to me just about the perfect size of this kind of device. But since there is no chance of that happening…
I think it’ll come down to price. Somewhere around 120$, and I’ll pick one up for sure. I see this as Sony’s attempt to compete with the Switch and Steam Deck. But there’s no way they’re going be able to make a portable that shares the PS5 library, and a handheld with its own separate library is too big an investment. Not just for developers, but for users too, as after the Vita I doubt anyone trusts Sony to not give up again.
I can’t imagine it being that cheap, unless the chipset in the controller already has so much processing power that it actually could handle networking and a display driver, if you merely redesigned the board to hook all the pins up instead of just some of them.
Not sure why everyone hates it. Handhelds, including the Switch/Deck, are overwhelming played inside the home.
It’s an old fashion mindset to believe in local computing exclusively. It’s like the people who for years claimed they would only use external HDD’s instead of the cloud.
This is true.
It cannot do what the likes of NSwitch, SteamDeck, or ASUS ROG Ally Pro can do. BUT functionally it is the same. It runs AAA-games for indoor use, and probably does it really well.
What I can’t fathom, is that Sony will be selling these for a premium price. Potentially at USD $300 (or more). Meanwhile you can get the same experience with the Abxylute or Logitech G Cloud for USD $200. But those units will have Google PlayStore access and be much more (Stream from xCloud, Steam Link, Local PC) more (Android Apps, Games, Midtier Emulation) capable.
Or even cheaper if you use an iOS/Android phone, the official PSplay App (or unofficial ones), and the official BackBone Controller (or unofficial ones).
If this functionality was exclusive to the Project-Q device, it could have a selling point. But it looks like a meh device, kind of like the meh-ness of the PS3’s motion controls with the PS Move system.
The only thing remotely compelling about this device is the potential for it to be hacked.
As far as I’m concerned, if it can’t do anything on its own it’s just a game controller and not a handheld.
Sony will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. Burned too many times by the company.