Gaming The death of the Nintendo DS and PSP is here

[ProtoKun7]

For me, for something to be handheld, it has to be usable while walking. I can't see playing that while walking.

Why would you be playing anything while walking and not paying attention to your surroundings?

This in itself seems like a nice idea and may even be a nice piece of hardware if there were some changes, but I get the feeling it will slip past.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

I admit, some gamers will think a lack of online kills the deal.

Especially for all those games that have no worth solo like WoW.

But not all of us play JUST the latest cutting edge graphics demanding must be online PC titles.

Gary Grigsby's War in the East is a new wargame for me. It likely requires more computer muscle than any computer game you can think of in the non graphics realm.
It barely runs on my PC which has a perfectly fine 2 gigs of ram, and a dual core 2.53 Intel processor with a perfectly fine video card.
This is because the game demands a massive sum of processor muscle in resolving sheetloads of actions of a non graphics nature.
Because complexity is not always about the video image.

Thus I wouldn't be playing that game on the go even though it has zero need for being online.
The current muscle in mobile devices just isn't up to the needs of that program.

But most of my other games (quite a lot actually), would run just fine on an under powered machine, and have NO need of being online to be played.

The O in MMO is of course only vital to games that are after all MMOs.

Not all games are MMOs.

Granted, not all gamers will give a damn about my schlock either

So it comes down to who is the target audience of the device?

 

[Lodis]

The Pandora is something else entirely, and after actually using one I can safely say that it is *not* worth your time or money. (I actually had one on pre-order). The support is bad, the hardware is buggy (seriously, nubs and keyboard don't work properly). Not to mention the first batch isn't even fully out yet - 3 years after it was announced.

Ontopic, it is true that laptops are awful for gaming, as I have already mentioned there are extreme limitations presented by the form factor. Graphics processing is generally inferior, as a dedicated card cannot be fit, processors are weaker than their desktop counterparts (though often more efficient) and most importantly, the cooling usually sucks.

I don't really think there is much more to be said here, it's a cool concept - but like all concepts the final product will be different.

Correction! Standard laptops are terrible for gaming but Sager / Clevo laptops specially for gaming are not. All of your points are only valid when you do not know what you are looking for. There are excellent chassis design, good cooling and very powerful GPU's and CPU's available if you know what you are doing. A laptop equipped with Sandybridge technology and the Nvidia GTX 485M can play today's games on the highest settings at 1920 resolution with good temperatures and good battery life for other tasks.

The cost will always be higher but that is a given.

 

[_Chaz_]

This thread is bad and you should feel bad.

 

[Terminator02]

read the first page, read misconceptions, sorry if they've already been pointed out

this thing IS a concept, but razer is working hard to make it a real product, it is likely that it will come to market, but I doubt it will catch on (razer is a keyboard and mouse manufacturer)

The LCD buttons are NOT LCD buttons, there is another big LCD screen underneath all of the keys lie on the top, and there are prisms which refract the light to optimum viewing angles for a keyboard.
The Keys themselves are real keys and feel very good (heard this from someone who actually used it)

The keys can transform into anything, letters, numbers, spells, direction arrows, yes/no buttons, special attacks, w/e, it was shown off at CES playing WoW and the right side of the keyboard was all spells

Edit: also, they said they are working to get a deal with a wireless company (like google did with their prototype laptop (CR-whatever) and verizon) to get 3G into this thing (maybe 4g?)

 

[BORTZ]

This idea looks like another system that will fail. Kinda like the Pandora. Or whatever that dinosaur was.
The DS is going strong. The 3DS isnt even out yet and the general public its eating up the DS/DSi like candy.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

Just as the 3ds will only sell to someone that actually values small screened 3d games, the Razor Switchblade likely would only interest a WoW gamer thinking getting in a game on the go is cool.

I've seen places where it would be handy. I recently had need to travel with some friends. I was hitching a ride to a computer store. It meant sitting in a game store for 3 hours while they played the card game Legend of the 5 Rings. I took my laptop along and played some Civ V. I could just as easily been a WoW gamer sitting there playing WoW while waiting.

3 hours staring at a 3ds screen likely would have wrecked my vision for an hour afterwards.

By the time I can actually afford a Razor Switchblade, they will likely have one on sale. But then, it will likely have the item my local friend mentioned to compete with as well.
The competing item running Windows 7 mobile and featuring slightly different functions might even be more use to me.

I'm still waiting for the ideal colour pdf reader to enter my life. I don't need ALL the muscle of my laptop at my role games, I just need to be able to read some game books for the most part. I'd rather the laptop sit off to the side not in use waiting for that maybe moment when I require use of the Character Builder for my 4th edition D&D game.

Paying 800 bucks for an iPad is even if I could afford it, a dumb option. It's a purchase only meant for Appletards and people that need something to make their short dick feel longer.

 

[Delta517]

Can that thing play Crysis?

 

[ProtoKun7]

Can that thing play Crysis?

I knew I'd forgotten to ask something.

 

[Jamstruth]

So you want my to switch between using my fingers on the screen to aim and a keyboard to move? Oh no, for games where I'd need to do that a mouse appears at the side, because THAT'S portable gaming (sitting over a laptop at a desk)

Love the keyboard though

 

[aiRWaLKRe]

So they say it uses intel atom processors if I recall those are around 1.5 or 1.6 GHz? ugh crappy
Won't be very good unless they make faster atom processors if this concept idea takes off, which I doubt.

And how is that little thing gonna stay cool? If its going to play games its going to need a decent GPU and that means heat...

 

[Originality]

What you don't realize is that it'll use an innovative technique to pass all the heat through the keyboard into your fingers. You will be the heatsink for the device. Note that this will not be practical for non-interactive applications like multimedia players.

In any case, the next generation of CULV CPUs are supposed to be around 50% more powerful and be slightly more power efficient (meaning less energy/heat). Whether this'll be true or not... just wait until the next line of laptops and netbooks are produced. On the other hand, I've heard ARM CPUs are going to overtake Intel in the CULV market this year, and with AMD focussing on the CULV market this year... the competition will be interesting.

 

[yuyuyup]

fuck this piece of shit, also why the PSP hate, why the 3DS hate, why why why

 

[Rydian]

So they say it uses intel atom processors if I recall those are around 1.5 or 1.6 GHz? ugh crappyActually ghz is not a measurement of power, despite what most people believe.

Atoms themselves are "crappy" processors if you only consider processing power, they're a good chunk worse than a standard laptop processor at the same clock rate... however they don't use up nearly as much energy or put out as much heat, which is a big factor in handhelds.

QUOTE(yuyuyup @ Jan 16 2011, 12:17 PM) also why the PSP hate, why the 3DS hate, why why why

Pretty much anything that tries to push something big out of it's spot is going to advertise itself as the (that thing) killer.

 

[boktor666]

Bah, this is no handheld, this is called a "smaller netbook" Lol. How can this be easy to play, when you have to control a keyboard, that adapts. It ruins the controls you are used to, making you look more at the keyboard then at the actual screen. This i bound to fail.

 

[VashTS]

i agree its not really "handheld" and thats why its not as good as the psp or ds. you will need a table and a chair to play whereas i can be in the car, standing up, walking around, doing anything while playing ds or psp. thats what handheld is. this is a little pc.

 

[zizer]

this is a little laptop