When Sony announced a new handheld device in the Playstation lineup, I was extremely excited. I owned a Playstation Portable many years ago and spent countless hours playing with it. Then I had a Vita, a bit of a disappointment but still a very exciting portable console that had innovative features. Despite the failures of Vita, I had high expectations if Sony ever decided to go back into the handheld console business. This was not what I was expecting.
First of all, the new Playstation Portal is not a console on its own. It is more of a streaming device for the Playstation 5. It lets you stream the games using wi-fi connection to play anywhere. Anywhere that has a good enough internet connection. The issue with this is that the internet connection is not always guaranteed to be stable everywhere. For example, using it over your home wi-fi you will find that it works nicely, but once you try to connect it to your mobile phone hotspot, you will definitely notice the stutters. This means that when you take it outside, you will have a hard time finding good enough internet connection to be able to play.
The feel of the device is very similar to the newer DualSense controllers for the Playstation 5. Some buttons are smaller compared to the controllers, but they are still easily usable. Especially compared to the Vita, the buttons and the overall feeling is great. I remember having the second stick on Vita was like a blessing after years of gaming on Playstation Portable with one stick, but the buttons were annoyingly small and felt very bad. This is luckily not the case with the Portal, the device has the same haptic feedback of the DualSense controllers as well, so you do not lose any aspect of the gameplay experience of your favourite games. In terms of hardware, the most surprising aspect for me was the choice to not use OLED technology for the screen. It still looks great and provides very detailed visuals but I believe it could have been better.
Is the new device worth buying was the biggest question I had after learning that it was just a streaming device for the Playstation 5. I think the answer is a big no. It seems to me that Sony still does not have an idea how to make use of a handheld device in their Playstation lineup. This was the case with Vita, it came out in a time where mobile phones were almost as powerful as it was and provided a bigger arsenal of games. At least it had its own unique games and its own characteristics, just like the Playstation Portable. You could also use your Vita to stream games from your Playstation 4 as well. The issue with the new Portal is that it limits your gaming experience to the quality of your internet connection. Most of the time I just chose to use it to play some games in another room instead of playing games on the bus for example. I think the mobility is an essential element for a handheld gaming device and the Portal fails to provide that. It is good to have a second screen and being able to give up the big television to your family or just being able to lie down on your bed while playing games but this is not something only the Portal can do. Even streaming your Playstation 5 games outside your house is not unique to the Portal, you can still use the Remote Play to do basically the same. The only thing you would be missing is the haptic feedback of the DualSense on your mobile device.
Overall, the new Portal ends up being a glorified and updated controller for the Playstation 5 instead of being a device on its own. If you are in a situation where you cannot access the television your Playstation is connected to all the time, it might be an option for you. Other than that, unfortunately, the new Portal is a big disappointment for me. I hope that the future of handheld gaming won’t follow the misguided steps of Playstation Portal.
Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony
Platforms: PlayStation 5
Release Date: November 2023
Type: Streaming Device
Picture: Sony Interactive Playstation Portal Page, https://www.playstation.com/en-us/accessories/playstation-portal-remote-player/
Passionate about video games with strong narrative, competitive and exciting games and racing games in general. Basically, a literature, music and video game nerd combined into a person.
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