Through this blog, I have talked about a lot of things in gaming, but one that I haven't talked about are handhelds. Yes, I have a Nintendo DSi and a Playstation Portable. I really like both of the handhelds released by Nintendo as well as Sony, both have pluses and minuses that work for and against them, but that is something for a later date. (Probably Tomorrow) While we all like the occasional portable on a nice day, or long car ride, but is the new generation hurting that? With the DS, one of the hardest things is using a touch screen on a bumpy road, and a PSP keeping the battery alive for a long period of time (or remembering to charge it, haha both mine are dead...again) as well as grip it. So now portables are a bit more of smaller consoles to play while watching T.V. I remember in my younger days scavenging batteries for my GameBoy as THE portable unit, while it was so big, it barely fit in a pocket, but there was always one more PokeMon I just had to have. Then the GameGear by Sega that used the same adapter as the remodeled Sega Genesis console, but six double A batteries without and ran through fast. This was portable, not the GameGear, but the GameBoy. I would play that thing so much, I used to play games on it for hours until the batteries were depleted, then pop the game into my Super GameBoy for SNES.
Portable gaming is not the same as it once was. Consoles quit having accessories that allowed cartridges from handhelds to be played on the big screen, like the Super GameBoy and the player for Gamecube. That was portable when you could, but still playable when you couldn't. Now the handhelds have rechargeable batteries and no console support, other than to name at least one, Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd, DLC for PS3 called Dreamy Theater. Handhelds play like they are trying to be consoles, with the new genration PSP, two touch screens on the front and back, how many times have you been out and had sweat on your palms? Its impossible to use a touch screen with your hands when they are sweaty or you can't see the screen and it feels horrid on your hands. Now the 3DS has the ability of motion control... Can you see yourself actually moving it around and still seeing the screen? and what about if you are in a car? It may not be the most popular thing to say, but its my right, I feel that a motion controller is meant for home if even to exist at all. Granted we all love our House of the Dead and Resident Evil remakes for the Wii, but what good is motion in a handheld? I understand and use the Wi-Fi on both the PSP and DSi, but it has little real function, the new PSP it seems they are trying to make it more like the "PET" from Megaman NT Warrior anime than a game console anymore. Notice how I used the word "console", it is because a handheld is no more. The era of a truly portable game device is now over. Now its like a cellular phone, having everything added, including for the PSP, Skype, an internet phone.... Granted technology has made things much better in a sense, but it has also been the demise of one of my favorite past-times, gaming while someone is driving, because now, its a touch screen getting in the way or an annoying little nub of an analog stick scraping my sweaty thumb ridges giving me chills.
Thanks for reading, a bit long, but someone needed to rant on why companies are stapling useless additions to beloved platforms. Funny, this started as a review for WarioWare D.I.Y. haha =^_^=
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