My State of Mobile Gaming in 2024: Part 5 - The Playstation Portal

I've had the Playstation Portal for a couple of months and have had plenty of time to play games on the device and test it out. I like the device quite a lot and have found several use cases for owning one. With that being said, it isn't perfect and does have some limitations. Let's focus on the positives first.

The hardware is excellent. Not surprisingly, it feels like a larger DualSense controller in your hands. This is a good thing, because the DualSense is an excellent controller. It even features haptic feedback on the trigger buttons. It's a big advantage to be able to play Playstation games remotely using the same controller that you would use if you were playing on the main system. No other remote player could simulate this. The Switch feels clunky (albeit it is quite a bit smaller) in comparison as it is much less ergonomic. A couple of the buttons are in different places on the Portal compared to the DualSense, including the main Playstation button, and at times I've found myself searching for a button while using the DualSense where it is located on the Portal. This is a very minor issue. Also, a lot of games utilize the center touch pad on the DualSense, and the Portal doesn't have this button. Instead, you have to double tap on the screen to simulate the button. Again, this is very minor. Overall, the device itself is very nice.

Despite not having an OLED screen and not playing in 4K (a limitation of Remote Play), the games look really nice on the Portal. When the device is performing well (more on this below), playing games on the Portal feels and looks just like playing games on the Playstation. 

While the hardware looks and feels great, there are a couple of major software limitations that I have beef with. The first is the lack of bluetooth connectivity. It has a mini plug jack to connect headphones with a wire, but there is no way to wirelessly connect headphones unless you use Sony's new Playstation Pulse Elite headphones with proprietary Playstation Link connectivity. Gamers (or game makers) seem to be snobby about Bluetooth connections because of potential latency issues (I think), but it would have been nice to be able to connect my new Sony headphones to the Portal via Bluetooth. When I purchased those headphones last summer, I was debating between those headphones vs gaming headphones. I'm glad I didn't pick gaming headphones, because they would have been completely useless for the Portal. The good news is that the Pulse Elite headphones get pretty good ratings, and in the grand picture of headphones, aren't too expensive.

My other software beef with the Portal is that it does not have a browser, so there is no way to join a network that requires a browser, such as in a hotel. This is a major oversight in my opinion, so much so that if I traveled often I would have had to take this into consideration when picking the Portal over the Steam Deck. There are ways to get around this, such as using your phone as a hotspot as well as more sophisticated ways such as mac address spoofing. I've stayed in a hotel once since owning the Portal, and I did not have success using my iPhone as a hotspot (more to come on this in a later post).

I have to spend some time discussing the performance of the Portal. In my experience, it works really well 90% of the time, OK 5% of the time, and pretty poorly 5% of the time. The challenging and frustrating thing is that for the 10% of the time where it is working just OK or poorly, it is really challenging to figure out why. I have made additional tweaks to my network (more to come on this in a later post as well) which have helped, but I still have occasional periods of time where it isn't working well. This can include dropping out of HD, losing connection with the Playstation, frame rate drops and choppy video, as well as input latency. Typically when any of this happens, it is temporary and will fix itself. I knew that this scenario was possible when I bought the device, and I'm fine being an early adopter and dealing with it from time to time. However, I'm not sure this device is ready for the mainstream because of this.

All things considered, despite some of the aforementioned limitations, the Portal really is a great device. It has a lot of positive qualities, and I think if you are looking for a mobile device exclusively to play Playstation remotely, I'd recommend the Portal as it does a great job of simulating the Playstation experience. I'd give some caution to those who travel frequently, however. In my next post in this series, I'll discuss what types of games I play on the Portal and how it has opened up opportunities to experience new games that otherwise I maybe would not have played.

Trombone Champ

 

When I was trying out instruments for band in the 5th grade, I was interested in the trumpet and saxophone. Those two instruments always seem to get the coolest parts and solos, and thus were more recognizable to me at the time. However, I couldn't get any sound out of the saxophone, and the trumpet was very difficult for me to play. I ended up settling for the trombone. We had a trombone at home because my dad played in high school, so I didn't have to rent or buy a new instrument. Plus I could easily make sound with the instrument. Because of these reasons, it made the most sense for me to play the trombone. I ended up playing the instrument all the way through high school. I never fully appreciated how cool of an instrument it is, however, until I was much older. Its versatile range allows for deep lows and high notes. Obviously the slide allows it to produce unique sounds as well. With my own ties to the instrument in mind, I was instantly interested in the game Trombone Champ. I was able to pick up the game for $10 for the Switch. Hilarity followed.

Trombone Champ is similar to Guitar Hero in principal. While a song plays, "notes" scroll across the screen and you use the joy stick to move the "slide" out or in to match the notes on screen. That's where the similarity ends, however. While Guitar Hero strives for perfection, Trombone Champ leans more towards the side of fun. What results is a game that generates a lot of laughs but is really quite challenging. Using practice, timing, and talent, you can get really good at Guitar Hero. I can't imagine anyone is all that good at Trombone Champ. The notes come fast and the controls aren't all that accurate. The game is more goofy than serious. With that being said, I enjoyed playing it...for a bit. It's probably worth the $10, but I wouldn't pay much more for it. I played through all of the songs once (and there are quite a bit of songs) and that was enough to experience the game and get a few laughs.

Echo (TV Series)

 

I've reached the point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) where I am picking and choosing which shows/movies I watch. No longer am I consuming the content simply because it is a part of the MCU. With that being said, I almost skipped this show because I don't have any attachment to the Echo character. However, once I learned that Daredevil and Wilson Fisk were going to be in the series, I decided to watch. I really like Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk. Sadly, Daredevil was only in one scene in the entire series. Fisk, on the other hand, played a big role as the main villain in the series.

I found this show to be OK but generally not all that necessary. It was only 5 episodes long, which played a part in my decision to watch as well (i.e. it was a small time commitment). Echo's father is killed, a scene we previously saw in the Hawkeye series, and she learns that Fisk was behind his death. She shoots him in the face and flees New York to her homeland of Oklahoma, assuming he is dead but of course he survives the assault. Echo had been working for Fisk in New York, and her family is supporting Fisk through a shipping operation in Oklahoma. Echo seeks revenge, and gets it by planting a bomb on a train in Oklahoma that detonates once it arrives at a Fisk facility in NYC. Echo returning to Oklahoma brings all kinds of drama to her family in the small Oklahoma town because Fisk's goons are searching for her and her family doesn't want any trouble. This begs the question - Why return to Oklahoma to plant a bomb intended for a facility in NYC when you're already in NYC? It seems as if she goes way out of her way to achieve this revenge, while endangering her family. This is never fully explained and is somewhat bothersome, considering it is the main plot of the miniseries. 

Throughout the show, Echo experiences a series of flashbacks through the eyes of her ancestors. At the end of the mini-series, we learn that Echo's family is part of a mythical Native American tribe who can summon their ancestors to help them fight, possibly among other things. Summoning her ancestors allows them to collectively defeat Fisk and rid him from the Oklahoma town. This is the grand finale, but again, it isn't clear why they're there in the first place. Maybe this series is just a vehicle to explain Echo's powers which will be displayed in a later MCU project?

Echo communicates through sign language. I don't know anything about sign language, but I thought the communication with her family looked authentic. This was ruined, however, by Wilson Fisk's augmented reality sign language arms in the final episode. He communicated just fine with her earlier in the series using a translator. The addition of the augmented reality arms was just goofy. 

This is another MCU series that was just confusing to me. It wasn't bad, per se. The acting was good and I appreciated the exposure to sign language. A large portion of the plot seemed unnecessary and there was no character progression or development. I would've been fine with Fisk winning the battle as I still feel detached from Echo's character.

Ted (TV Series)

 

I enjoyed both Ted movies so was interested when this TV mini-series was anounced on Peacock. Both Ted and Family Guy are from Seth MacFarlane, and Ted is basically a live-action Family Guy. The only difference is that it features a talking teddy bear instead of a talking dog. It's incredibly immature bathroom humor that I generally find amusing. Ted helps his owner John through typical teenage struggles. They are part of a stereotypical Massachusetts family, which is amusing and provides the motivation for most of the plots. Their cousin Blaire lives with them while going to college, and provides a necessary counterbalance to the family's ridiculousness. The mini-series was only 7 episodes long, and I enjoyed all but one of the episodes. This show is basically just like the movies but in shorter duration, so I think anyone who enjoyed the movies will like the show as well.

iPhone 15 Pro Max

 

Despite my interest in technology and consumer electronics, I've never been too excited about getting a new phone. I think the modern smartphone is one of the coolest inventions ever. They are so powerful in their ability to affect personal and professional workflows that they have literally changed the way we live. Once the original iPhone was released, we've seen incremental improvements with periodic large jumps in performance throughout the years. As the capability of phones has increased, so has the required processing power, and thus cost. Mostly because of cost, I don't typically get too excited about getting a new phone until either my battery life becomes an issue or my phone is no longer supported with updates. I feel like most of the time an upgrade isn't needed until my current phone becomes several years old.

I bring all of this up because I recently got a new phone - the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wasn't really in the market for a new phone as my previous phone was still being supported and the battery life was still pretty good. However, the company I work for currently uses human scribes to help us with documentation. We are switching to AI scribes later this year which uses a phone app, and I wanted to make sure I had a phone powerful enough and with a good enough battery to last all day long. I had been using an iPhone X, which had become a bit long in the tooth. The X was released in 2017, which is ancient in tech time, so obviously a lot of advancements have occurred in the past 6+ years. 

Every time I get a new phone I'm surprised at how fast they are (or how slow my old phone had become), and this time was no exception. This is the first time I've purchased Apple's flagship phone. In the past I've saved a few hundred dollars and picked the model with the slightly smaller screen and/or slightly slower processor. Since I rely on my phone so heavily for work functions these days I thought the time was right to spend the extra money and get the top of the line model. Several lifestyle upgrades came with upgrading my phone from the X to the 15 Pro, many of which I did not expect. Many of these upgrades aren't specific to the 15, and are available on the 14 as well. Regardless, they are upgrades for me since I came from the iPhone X.

• The biggest upgrade is Stand By Mode (see picture above). I've used my phone for an alarm clock for years because of the ability to save multiple alarms. I wake up at different times each day of the week and so it is nice to have scheduled alarms for each day and not have to set them daily. Previously I used wireless charging for my iPhone X but still had an alarm clock on my night stand so that I could see the time without picking up the phone. With Stand By Mode, it allows my phone to more naturally act as an alarm clock. I bought a MagSafe charger in order to do this. When the phone is placed sideways on the charger, it automatically goes into Stand By Mode.
• I've enjoyed the "Always On Display" as well. I put it in quotes because it is more like a "mostly on display". I'm not sure if it works on sound or motion, but if you don't touch the phone for quite a while the display will turn off. Sometimes when I'm coming down the stairs, I can see the display turn back on as I'm coming down. Regardless, most of the time the display is on, which allows you to check the time or see notifications without picking up the phone. This is a feature that I would have shrugged my shoulders at on paper, but in reality is really quite nice.
• I almost never use my Canon camera anymore and instead rely heavily on my phone for taking pictures. With that being said I do appreciate the upgrades to the camera that come with a new phone. The iPhone 15 comes with a 5X optical zoom, which allows for zooming without pixelation. I believe this is the first iPhone that has an optical zoom, which is a really nice feature to improve picture quality. I haven't had a great chance to test it out yet, but come this summer when we start taking trips I look forward to seeing the quality of pictures I can capture with zoom.

Lego BD-1

 

The recent Star Wars games featuring Cal Kestis have been a couple of my favorite video games, and Cal's side-kick BD-1 has become one of my favorite Star Wars droids. I was excited when I saw a Lego version of BD-1 was released to build. Priced at $100 and right at 1,000 pieces, it is a medium sized set that was relatively easy to build. Anytime you are building something with legs, there is an element of redundancy. Since BD-1 only has two legs, however, it wasn't too bad with this set. I really like BD-1's droid head, and I feel like Lego did a great job recreating the look and shape of his head, especially with the two camera lens eyes. 

BD-1 is Cal's buddy, always riding on his shoulder and ready to help by splicing some wires to open a door or to create a shortcut. The Lego set is a great recreation of the helpful droid, and is a great display of video game nerdom in my basement, right next to the Tallneck from Horizon.

My State of Mobile Gaming in 2024: Part 4 - And The Winner Is...

 

I wrestled hard with this decision in my mind for 2-3 weeks. There were clear advantages and disadvantages for selecting one over the other, and I likely would have been happy with either. In the end I decided on the Playstation Portal. The Steam Deck has one big advantage over the Playstation Portal in that it can play games directly on the device from the Steam library. That is a massive advantage if you are interested in playing Steam games. Steam has a great library, but I have access to almost any game I would want to play on Steam already, either on the Playstation or Switch. Because of this, the Portal had many advantages over the Steam Deck. It is markedly cheaper at $200. Compare this to the $400-$600 cost of the Steam Deck depending on which model you choose. Based on some articles I read and YouTube videos I watched, the Chiaki app seemed quite capable on the Steam Deck. However, it required some setup and there is always the fear that the app would stop working for some reason. The Portal is ready to go out of the box for Remote Play and is not going to quit functioning since Sony makes the device. There is something to be said about Portal's use of the DualSense controller as well. The DualSense is a fantastic controller, and playing Playstation games remotely on the same controller you are used to using for the games, complete with the haptic and rumble feedback, is a bonus. Considering my main objective was to play and have access to my Playstation remotely, the Portal made the most sense for me in the end.

Interestingly, the Nintendo Switch helped with my decision for two reasons. The first is that since the Switch is portable, I already have an option for portable gaming where wi-fi isn't available. This is a major draw-back to the Portal. While major 3rd party games on the Switch are oftentimes a disappointment, the first party Nintendo games are fantastic and there are a number of simpler games that are fun that run just fine on the Switch (see Dave the Diver). The second reason is because of the Switch 2. Rumor was the Switch 2 would be released in late 2024. Now the rumor is that it will be released in the first quarter of 2025. Regardless, Nintendo's next generation system will be released in the near future, and there is a large chance that I will purchase it. With that being said, I was hesitant to spend $400+ for a Steam Deck when I will likely be spending that money for Nintendo's next system. 

I've had the Portal for a few weeks as of the date of this post, and have plenty of experience using it. In Part 5, I will discuss my experience with Sony's remote player thus far.