Bigger is Better
IGN's Seth Macy writes:
"I did not think for a second I was going to be impressed by the PlayStation Portal, Sony's small-screen Remote Play solution for the PS5. With Remote Play already working great on tablets and phones, and controller solutions like the Backbone designed specifically for playing console games remotely, the Portal seemed like a solution to a problem no one had. Why spend $200 on a single-purpose device when there are much cheaper solutions already available? And yet, after spending time with the PlayStation Portal, I gotta say… this thing rules. That's not to say I wouldn’t change anything about it. In fact, it has some missing features that make me scratch my head, but my initial skepticism has been replaced by enthusiasm.
8/10 "
After a few months with the PlayStation Portal, Digital Trends Giovanni Colantonio is starting to see how the streaming handheld fits into our gaming lives.
It'll probably help me get through some games. Listen to the tv and play at same time. Also people need to stop hating
I'll stop hating when they go back to being able to connect locally instead of through the internet. Some of us are adults with jobs that take us away from top tier internet service.
Thanks for disagreeing. I doubt you never seen or afford a PS Portal?
I bought it at launch and it's the best decision I ever made. Well done Sony!
I slipped a disc in my back a short while ago and I could barely move for 2 weeks. A spent a near fortnite on my back and the Portal was a god send
I must type fortnite out more often than I actually use the word fortnight because my phone auto corrects to it. Haha
Nah I've been playing Cyberpunk and HellDivers though
I was thinking about getting the Portal but my Logitech G-Cloud remote plays my PS5 games, Series X, retro games fine so will stick with that for now. Good to see the Portal doing well.
IIRC both have 1080p resolution and 60Hz/fps. The Portal has a 1” bigger screen though (8” vs 7”) and is about $100 cheaper if you can find one without having to seek out a reseller.
The Portal is strictly a PlayStation device and has on-par if not worse connectivity than most phones, so a G-Cloud or even a Steam Deck for a bit more money is a better deal for more options.
Completely agree! Playing PS5 remotely, Game Pass, GeForce Now, some emulators as well for older games. The G Cloud is an amazing device for that price!
Sony has said that the PlayStation Portal is meant to be a niche product for a specific audience, but its sales continue to impress.
Replies(1)
The disagrees for this 😂😂😂 for some numbers. Or is it because I dare say the Switch might have a go at the PS2 numbers? Is that forbidden? 😂😂😂 what if I end up being right?
I use mine a lot. Don't get me wrong it's not perfect by any means. It really isn't good for fast paced games but as I love my RPGs it's perfect for those. I've put a good few hours into BG3 and Infinite Wealth on my Portal when the TV is being used. It's so good to use that at times it's easy to forget it's not playing games natively.
I took the time to upgrade my network at home by replacing the router and getting a mesh system throughout the house before I bought the portal. I have absolutely zero latency issues with it and I am using it currently to play Helldivers, The Finals and Star Wars Jedi Survivor.
@mike, a mesh network is not very expensive. I think I paid $200 for mine. It made a huge difference in performance and coverage.
Or IronMike!... hear me out here. I spent money upgrading my home network and now the back rooms with smart tvs and our home office benefit too.
So quick to judge, You should have taken a second to use some common sense first. 🙄
It's perfect for helldivers! I also use mine to play FF7 Rebirth and Granblue fantasy. I'm actually expecting the PS5 Pro to enhance Remote Play by streaming downsampled performance modes.
@ironbike Yeah, it's not like people would like to improve their network for other reasons. What he actually said was, he happened to upgrade his network 'before' he got his portal. Not 'because' of his portal. But I know reading is hard for you ( and writing based on all your comments ).
Edit: I just saw Monkey replied and said pretty much what I said. So that's already two people with more advanced thinking skills than you.
Nice! Tbh my home isn't suited to a mesh network but it could benefit from an upgraded router. We're using a TPLink Archer 2600. It does the job but is definitely showing its age. In honesty we don't get much lag, but in the faster games such as GT7 it does stutter every now and again. Otherwise the connection is strong even on my old TPLink 😂
Right, they should've at least have 2 modes. Remote play via Wi-Fi and a direct connect to the system like how the dual sense is for better latency. Overall that one time I played on phone it was response imo so which leads to me getting a portal one day. Making a native system just for ps4 games doesnt make sense to me when you have this with remote play. No one is gonna play competitive on a handheld to begin with
@monkey602 Same, I upgraded my home network to a mesh one sometime ago and it works wonders for the Portal. TP-Link Archer 3000 Router and a Wifi extender. Pretty much can move wherever I want in the house and never drop a bar.
Not surprised. My Portal has been a life changer with two kids in the house. I use it almost every day and the comfort factor and build quality is amazing. Of course playing on a big TV with Pulse Elite headphones is superior, but the Portal is such a damn good handheld experience that you get lost in it. Can't remote play any other way now.
‘They’ as well as the rest of the paid media also claimed this for PSVR2…. It’s about time people realised published sales figures mean nothing and can be slanted to any direction to suit the chosen narrative… they’re fake..
This is a far different story to the psvr2 this will support every game until the end of the generation. So to the end user it's just numbers on a spreadsheet and low numbers won't negatively impact their experience.
The psvr2 is a year In and there's no word on what's next in terms of first party with only two first party games being launched to date. Low sales of the psvr2 mean us psvr2 owners can kiss long term support goodbye Sony's already opening the headset up to PC comparability which is nice but also says hey we tried but we got nothing go play your fancy headset on steam VR
I say this as a psvr2 owner who genuinely loves the hardware and the games I've played so far but I still feel ripped off it's got the same feeling like when I had the 32x and Sega CD in the 90s.
But maybe I'm just a sucker
I'm with you. It feels like they had bigger plans and then changed their mind. I also felt their decision to not build in compatibility with our purchased PSVR 1 games was a business decision, not a technical one.
I was moving from a Rift S though, where Facebook/Meta screwed us pretty hard so I'm still relatively happy with the move. There's a decent amount of games to play and the headset is really good. But I am disappointed in Sony as I think it could be much better
By paid media you mean all the people who said it would fail before it launched and did everything they could to tell people not to buy it, right?
This isn't paid media this is NPD, Circana saying it's selling well btw.
Everyone of my friends on psn about 200 ppl who I know owns a ps5 nor one of them have bought one it it's bullshit
"Sell through" is difficult to report, so yeah sometimes stores aren't selling their stock.
But this is different. Try to find one to buy at list price... Not easy in the US. These aren't sitting in store shelves.
Totally I remember all the sales articles saying psvr2 selling out now articles saying massive stockpile no one buying them I don't believe this selling great no browser latency issues I calling this bs as well
We know at launch the story was 100k per week.
Of course that will drop off, it will for anything that's new. (A few exceptions prove the rule.) PC support is rumored to be incoming. But those "stopped production" stories all quote Bloomberg. And they have it as a rumor.
The thing is, this isn't even sales figures. It's the best selling accessory in terms of dollar amount. It costs multiple times what the average accessory costs though. I'm not saying it's a failure or anything, but you can't really extrapolate any sales data from this.
You forget Sony never expect both to sells like Hot cakes. Its there for ones who wants it.
Project lead Hiromi Wakai explains Sony's goals and why the Portal isn't a Vita 2.
Portal is a great little piece of kit. I use it and the G-Cloud for my console streaming needs.
I was able to find one at gamestop this past weekend, but you need to be a pro member smh. I paid the $25 to get it
As a dad of two this is the best gadget I could have ever bought for the price. In a week I've finished Valhalla and dived well into Tales of Arise, which previously would have taken me a month or more. It helps that it's so comfortable and amazing to play on, the design is far better than pictures would suggest. As someone who used to remote play on my phone with a backbone, only an insane person would say the experience is comparable. You just can't underestimate the appeal of playing on an 8 inch screen with DualSense controls, of playing in bed, or while the kids are watching or being able to hide what you're playing from the little ones because 90% of your games aren't child friendly. Loving my Portal.
This works better than I thought. A quick tip, for best results, wire your PS5 and make sure you are connected to 5gz on the Portal.
Game I would like to play on the Portal include: Star Ocean: Second Story R, Baldur's Gate 3, Humanity, and even classics like Wild Arms and the PSP games. This is gonna be great for RPGs
I'm very glad that Sony made the switch to treat physical and digital games as the same. Meaning you no longer have to uninstall one to install the other. And many of my games that I had installed via disc are now on PS+ in digital form so I have been activating the already installed data into digital mode so now I can play without the disc.
this is going to make playing through my backlog soooo much better.
Sounds super cool but I honestly can’t see myself using it enough to justify buying one.
Chiaki on the steam deck and Ally stream from the PS5 with excellent quality and these are much more versatile devices all around.
A glorified remote play device at $200 is a scam. At $100-$150 there is a much more attractive value prop
349$ Steam Deck can hurt PlayStation Portal sales... but you never have enough screens at home. Better to have both.