PlayStation Portal | Stream your PS5 games to a handheld system | "A fantastic piece of kit", says Sprouty

jawa_ wrote:I don't get why some folk are getting mad about the Portal.

> If you want to lay back on your sofa and stream your PS5 games to a portable device... the Portal does this.

> If you don't want to lay back on your the sofa and stream your PS5 games to a portable device... you don't need the Portal.

> If you want to lay back on your sofa and stream your PS5 games to a tablet rather than the Portal... you can do so.

> If you would like Sony to make a full, handheld PS5 then contact them to let them know. You don't need to be angry about the Portal.

Who's mad?

Plenty of people here enjoying them, plenty of us laughing at it. Seems like a nice friendly mix.

It's got a very specific, use-case and beyond that it's basically useless. Plus that use-case can be met by any number of other devices that people already have, or can get and they are often much more fully featured.

It's like they saw all the grief the Wii U gamepad got and decided they wanted in on it.

But I'm happy for those who've picked them up. In-home streaming is fantastic when you have the network to support it.

Photek wrote:Can't use it in a public Wifi space as it doesn't have a web browser to see the terms and conditions etc so can't use in starbucks/airports/trains/libraries etc.

Seems like an oversight to me.

It's probably a design choice so you can't use other streaming services like NVidia or Xbox

Christopher wrote:My partner was watching Netflix so I played some EAFC online next to her. Really impressed with this device. The streaming is absolutely spot on.

What’s your WiFi speeds like?

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Who's mad?

Plenty of people here enjoying them, plenty of us laughing at it...

Wasn't meaning us here in GR... just the amount of YouTubers posting stuff about it!

jawa_ wrote:

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Who's mad?

Plenty of people here enjoying them, plenty of us laughing at it...

Wasn't meaning us here in GR... just the amount of YouTubers posting stuff about it!

I did think you were being overly sensitive to the chat. Makes more sense now.

ITSMILNER wrote:

Christopher wrote:My partner was watching Netflix so I played some EAFC online next to her. Really impressed with this device. The streaming is absolutely spot on.

What’s your WiFi speeds like?

I live in a really small village far from civilised broadband, I get at most 52mbps.

Just to say I am still playing this, I actually prefer to play on the portal than the TV as I’m more of a portable gamer anyway.

Christopher wrote:

ITSMILNER wrote:

Christopher wrote:My partner was watching Netflix so I played some EAFC online next to her. Really impressed with this device. The streaming is absolutely spot on.

What’s your WiFi speeds like?

I live in a really small village far from civilised broadband, I get at most 52mbps.

Just to say I am still playing this, I actually prefer to play on the portal than the TV as I’m more of a portable gamer anyway.

And you get no lag or connection issues, at least from what you’ve played so far? I’m tempted by one of these as I like portable gaming too but was concerned about the WiFi.

Your broadband speed as generally measured doesn't really have an impact on this, that's the speed that you connect to the wider internet, what matters for a system like this is how good your internal network is - how quickly the devices within your home can talk to one another

Bought one because my main gaming frustration stems from having limited opportunities in the evening to game - mainly due to having a partner who is not interested at all in gaming, and prefers to either listen to music in the evening or watch tv. So my gaming is limited to weekends and a few hours during the week. Many of the games I like playing tend to be the large, open world games - and when I get into these, I tend to like exploring, doing side quests, getting the collectables which makes the games take a lot longer to complete. Yes, I know, and I can see the eye-rolling from here: not enough time to game, plays big open world titles and spends ages looking for (mostly) pointless collectibles....

I set up the Portal today and all went smoothly. From taking it out the box to booting up a game on it took 15 mins or so, and there were no issues with the Portal finding the PS5 etc. Initially, I was sitting on the sofa, with the TV still on in the distance and I couldn't see any lag in terms of moving around the PS5 menu, booting up Assassins Creed: Valhallla, starting the game and playing it.

The screen is great, certainly very detailed - anyone who has played AC:Valhalla will know the on-screen text/menus are small and there is a lot going on in the menus, but this was all really clear and easy to read. I played the game for a couple of hours and I'd say it took 30 minutes or so for it to feel intuitive - by that I mean getting used to the controls and manipulating a game that I'm used to playing of a 55" 4K TV on a handheld. At first I thought the game was running a little slower, but again as I got used to playing on the portal it was absolutely fine and I didn't feel I was playing an inferior version. I also didn't get any lag, even in a couple of large battles with many different characters on screen.

My two hours included getting collectibles, going off on side quests and finishing the last three quests of the campaign arc I was on. Would I want to play a whole game like this (or God of War Ragnarok, or Spider-Man 2) in handheld mode? No, probably not; but, as I said at the start, that wasn't the aim for me, but I'll be really happy with the purchase if it continues to run as well as it has done initially, and if I'm spending a few hours (or more) a week on it, using that time to help break the back of some of these big games. I also want to try some of the indie games and PS4 games that are on my backlog, either through purchases or my PS+ sub, where the smaller playing time and slighty less opulent graphics will perhaps lend themselves to playing in handheld mode.

So it's admittedly a brief snapshot of what is a niche system, but at first glance it is going to achieve exactly what I want it to - the ability to play my PS5 at home more than I am currently able to, in such good quality that I'm not sitting there thinking 'I'm playing something inferior here...'

PlayStation Portal already sold out as scalpers take advantage

Stock expected end of the month.

Sony launched its new PlayStation Portal peripheral on Wednesday this week, but already it's sold out.

Scalpers have since got their hands on the remote player, with some listings on eBay costing over £300.

On the PlayStation Direct store in the UK, the Portal costs £199.99 but is currently unavailable.

"Not in stock?" reads the store page. "We're working hard to make more stock available. Please check back on Wednesday 22nd November."

The US version of the same page, meanwhile, suggests to check back in "early December" for details on stock availability.

It's unclear at this point if the peripheral has proven more popular than Sony expected, if it didn't provide enough hardware, or if this is the work of scalpers.

Either way, there are a huge number of sellers on eBay selling PlayStation Portals at inflated prices. Many are being sold around £220 - £290, but there are plenty of options well over £300.

https://www.eurogamer.net/playstation-p ... -advantage

ITSMILNER wrote:

Christopher wrote:

ITSMILNER wrote:

Christopher wrote:My partner was watching Netflix so I played some EAFC online next to her. Really impressed with this device. The streaming is absolutely spot on.

What’s your WiFi speeds like?

I live in a really small village far from civilised broadband, I get at most 52mbps.

Just to say I am still playing this, I actually prefer to play on the portal than the TV as I’m more of a portable gamer anyway.

And you get no lag or connection issues, at least from what you’ve played so far? I’m tempted by one of these as I like portable gaming too but was concerned about the WiFi.

As others have said speed isn’t the issue, it’s WiFi. My PS5 is connected to my router by Ethernet and my WiFi is 5g so it makes a difference to my experience compared to someone who has PS5 on WiFi. Make sure you’re not downloading over WiFi whilst playing but streaming at the same time seems to have no effect on the Portal performance for me at least.

How is everyone finding the haptics? During action scenes on Spider Man 2, the motors on mine get so loud, they are almost squealing.

TonyDA wrote:...a brief snapshot of what is a niche system, but at first glance it is going to achieve exactly what I want it to - the ability to play my PS5 at home more than I am currently able to, in such good quality that I'm not sitting there thinking 'I'm playing something inferior here...'

I enjoyed reading about your experience of using the device, Tony, and it sounds exactly like I was hoping it'd be. I don't plan to get a Portal in the near future but I'd love to at some point.

I've decided I want a Portal. I just need to find a shop which has it in stock...

Sprouty wrote:I've decided I want a Portal. I just need to find a shop which has it in stock...

I believe Sony will be restocking by the end of the month, don’t pay scalpers.

ITSMILNER wrote:

Sprouty wrote:I've decided I want a Portal. I just need to find a shop which has it in stock...

I believe Sony will be restocking by the end of the month, don’t pay scalpers.

Oh god, I never have and never will pay a scalper!

I'm on lengthy paternity leave from January, so I think this could hold real value for me. Certainly, sitting at my desk playing on the PS5 would be far from ideal!

I hope you’ll cherish the time you spend with your new arrival.

Sprouty wrote:

ITSMILNER wrote:

Sprouty wrote:I've decided I want a Portal. I just need to find a shop which has it in stock...

I believe Sony will be restocking by the end of the month, don’t pay scalpers.

Oh god, I never have and never will pay a scalper!

I'm on lengthy paternity leave from January, so I think this could hold real value for me. Certainly, sitting at my desk playing on the PS5 would be far from ideal!

Don't count on it

People are aware you can remote play with a phone/tablet right?

I don't understand who this is for other than people who have too much money