The long-rumoured PlayStation Portal is here and with the official announcement of the product on the PlayStation Blog today, fans finally have their first hands-on look at the thing.
Wouldn't you know it, it's literally a PS5 controller cut in half with a screen sitcking out the middle.
When we first heard about the device we thought that surely, if Sony was going to make a portable device, it would be a successor the PS Vita, or maybe even just an updated Vita with renewed support, a better screen, battery, or updated internals.
What we got instead is a dedicated remote player for your PS5 called the PlayStation Portal. It has an 8-inch LCD screen capable of 1080p resolution at 60fps that streams content from your PS5 over Wi-Fi. The blog post says it is "[The] Perfect device for gamers in households where they might need to share their living room TV or simply want to play PS5 games in another room of the house."
That's quite a niche market. So, we're looking at either kids who can't get the living room TV, parents who want to shirk their duties, or partners who don't mind having a lesser experience on a 1080p screen instead of their 72-inch 4K, HDR enabled OLED screen in the living room.
What's more, games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming, are not supported. You would think that a portable device would be perfect to play older lower poly games on the go in your house, but even that is not available.
The current retail price is USD199.99 or RM929 at the time of writing. A Nintendo Switch Lite is only RM829 now and that actually plays games directly and has a large catalogue of games. Pay a little more and you can even get v2 of the Switch.
According to CNET, outside of its remote capabilities, the... PSP for short (damn you, Sony), does not have any other functionality.
Pulse Elite wireless headset and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds
In the same blog post, Sony also revealed their first foray into wireless audio technology for the PS5. The devices are supposed to offer lossless audio and will connect to your PS5 and Portal wirelessly.
That said, it does not rely on traditional Bluetooth technology like AirPods, instead you connect via the new PlayStation Link technology for more seamless connection and minimal loss of connection.
According to a report by CNET, the devices need to connect to a separate USB dongle that needs to be plugged into your PS5 or PC. One neat thing about these audio devices is that they can connect to multiple devices so you can play a game and answer your phone.
The Elite and Explore retail for USD149 and USD199 respectively.