Picking the Perfect Portable Console: A Revolution in Gaming

We’re living in an era where handheld gaming is taking the world by storm. With the rise of consoles like the Switch, Steam Deck, Playdate, and Pocket, gamers are spoiled for choice. But what if you only play one game, and it doesn’t work on most of these consoles? You’re in for a lot of Wi-Fi testing, questions about remote play and cloud streaming, and some complicated buying decisions.

The plethora of portable console options available today

I recently had the chance to discuss this very issue on this episode of The Vergecast, where The Verge’s Sean Hollister and Alex Cranz joined me to help solve this gaming conundrum. We delved into the merits of the Steam Deck, debating its pros and cons, and somehow ended up back on the Steam Deck. Did we really solve anything? Who knows! But we had a lot to discuss.

From there, Victoria Song joined the show to test some microphones. A new crop of headsets and smart glasses promises to be great for everything from phone calls to metaverse gaming, but how do they actually sound? We endured several chaotic pairing situations to try out the Razer Anzu, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, the Meta Quest 3, and the Apple Vision Pro. The end result certainly surprised us.

“Handheld consoles are the future of gaming.” - A gaming enthusiast

Finally, we answered a question from the Vergecast Hotline about the North Focals, and whether a startup might have nailed the future of smart glasses five years ago. Next time you visit the eye doctor, should you get smart glasses instead? We have thoughts.

The rise of smart glasses as a gaming accessory

If you want to know more about everything we discussed in this episode, here are some relevant links to get you started. From consoles to smart glasses, we’ve got you covered.

Consoles:

• Handheld consoles are the future of gaming
• Steam Deck OLED review: better, not faster
• The Asus ROG Ally X is official — and I took a peek inside
• Nintendo Switch OLED review: screentime

Smart Glasses:

• Razer’s new Anzu smart glasses break from the pack with truly wireless audio
• Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
• Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses: a turning point
• Meta Quest 3 review: a great VR headset but not quite a mixed reality winner

North Focals:

• North Focals glasses review: a $600 smartwatch for your face
• Employees warned North that its Focals AR glasses were overpriced and too male-focused
• Google buys AR glasses company North