The next generation of portables

I've discussed how portable gaming could be changed radically by turning a major console (PS3) into something as portable as a laptop. Oh, and I mean, Ben Heck made it, but I think that was an inevitability. This is where I see Sony being able to rule in portables; not in traditional handhelds like the PSP. However, there's plenty of room for actual portables, mass produced, to do something amazing too. My ideas are out there, admittedly, but where's the fun in being normal?

Nintendo's DS is getting old enough to be replaced, or at least to release another new model (Think GBA -> SP -> Micro), or possibly both. I think a lot of people are itching to get back to a more traditional Gameboy, and there's also a lot of people who like the more laid back attitude most DS games have. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see the lines split.

The first idea would simply be Game Boy V. This is what I see as being most likely. It would basically the same as a GBA, although of course more powerful. It would probably be made as a PSP killer, destroying the few strengths it has (raw power).

That's boring though. What could be done that would be fresh?



That's right. A portable gamecube. It's not really unpossible, the gamecube is old enough. Of course, there are numerous problems with the above shot-- such as the controller parts going right into the disk, and the controller being square and uncomfortable to use. So what could be done?

Think wavebird. A wireless gamecube controller. A fairly hefty center, but still light enough that it's comfortable to use. Fits well in the hands. Could easily be made to fit in a pocket as well as any other handheld, while still containing all the computing power you need. The screen would be made to slide out the back of the controller, so it can be fairly large and not get in the way. The disk could be inserted on the bottom, a simple flip up disk cover would do. Technically speaking, it's not too amazing or interesting.

However, there is plenty of possibility. It could be done in new colors, to fit better with the Wii. It could be made Bluetooth; and Nintendo could update Wii firmware; to allow it to be used to play Gamecube games on the Wii. And that's really where I see the biggest potential on this, it would bridge the gap between handheld and TV playing in the biggest way since Super Game Boy. (yes, I know there was the Game Boy Player for the Gamecube, but it wasn't the same)

Imagine-- you're going home, have nothing to do, and pull out your gamecube portable. You play a game you didn't think to get the first time around, and are enjoying it. You walk in the door, save your game, pop out the disk, and slide it into your Wii. The controller syncs with the Wii, and the Wii turns the PGC into a Wavebird. It reads from a bit of flash memory on the card, and recognizes it as a memory card (alternatively, they could just add a memory card port on the end of the controller, it's small enough). You've just gone, relatively seamlessly, from playing on a a portable console, to a home console experience. It could also be made to transfer sound and video to a receiver you'd plug in to the TV, which would also be useful for the next thing--

You go to a friend's house. They have some multiplayer game. You decide to play together. Your PGCs sync. His transmits video and sound to yours, yours transmits button presses back. Or, with an added wifi component made to function as a Gamecube network adapter, you pop in separate copies of PSO and play people over the internets. The possibilities for a Portable Gamecube go on and on.



Of course, there's more to portable entertainment than 'mainstream' video games (your Zeldas and Marios). There's also the edutainment and light games categories-- the Brain Age and MyCoachGames, for one, and also the games that are more like stories, like Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban, Phoenix Wright, whatever you want to call it).

The first thing the DS2 needs is to be cheap. Honestly, a DS Lite falling in price as it gets older is pretty much perfect. Heck, for as much power as these games use, they could even make it less powerful than the original DS, as odd as that may seem.

Secondly, a DS focused at casual gamers, instead of trying to make everyone happy, should use the book format. The vertical screens configuration works well for games that use the buttons, but can be uncomfortable to hold when you're using the stylus. The horizontal style is more natural for most people, and resembles a book rather than a laptop. And let's face it, for most 'traditional' games (such as Sonic), split screens can be annoying or confusing (Does the bottom of one screen go directly to the next, and make it hard to look at? Or does it compensate for the white space on the DS, and add a blind spot?)

Third, no buttons. The D-Pad will put a lot of people off, who just think for whatever reason they can't play games. Make all of the controls touch based. Also, take advantage of this to make the screens larger and easier to read, without sacrificing the small size of the DS Lite (heck, you could even make it smaller than the DS lite, PDA or smartphone sized, and it would still have larger screens than it does now). Make games (again, not traditional games; ebooks, visual novels, and quick little Brain Age/Tetris type games) automatically save, and simply have opening and closing the DS be the power. The only hardware control they should need to be is a volume wheel, and even that could be put on the software.



So those are both a little out there. The PGC would be a little bit much, and a DS that pretty much ignores the gamer market (except for the parts that overlap with other users)? But no. That's tame. Let me introduce the proof that I am insane: Virtual Boy 2. Yes. I know.

First of all, the possibilities for 3D LCD goggles have greatly improved in the past decade. They can be made TV quality, and to look huge, be far more comfortable to look at, and so on. The above example isn't representative of how cheap and compact I have seen these, however cost is pretty much irrelevant, as this would be too hideously expensive to ever be popular no matter what you do. Imagine a PS2 quality game. Now imagine that in *real 3D*.

The goggles would be two seperate things (think swimming goggles, but comfy), connected by a bit of the headband that connects the entire console. On the sides would be two large headphone cups; with directional speakers, to make the 3D experience truly immersing. On the back of the band would be the 'brain' of the console, the processor and where you put the game disk and so on. The goggles would be stored inside the headphone cups to protect the screens, and the brain would snap on to the back, so the entire thing could be stored in about the space of a softball.



But no. That's not out there enough. I mean, so you can create very realistic environments, that's nice, but it's only really good for new types of movies, without a way to control it. Now, it would be easy enough to just attach a gamepad to it, be it wired or wireless. But that ruins the ability to fold it up, and seems cheap. You could put buttons on the headphone cups, but then you have people holding their arms up to their ears the entire time they play a game, which would get uncomfortable quickly.

So what do you do? Easy! It's already sitting all around your head. Just control it with brainwaves. Controllers for PC that replace keyboards have already started to hit the market. Just apply it to this. Sure, brain controls might still be very new, but the same could be said of motion controls, and look at how expertly Wii Sports pulls them off.

This would easily be the most incredible virtual reality system created so far-- and it's all things that are already on the market. Hell, I could totally see a university student or someone with too much time on their hands making a system like this with off the shelf parts; although obviously not portable. 3D LCD goggles, 3D headphones, and brain controllers are all on the market; the biggest challenge would be finding someone with a head large enough to keep all that stuff on (I volunteer. I like VR, and my head is epic.). Then you just hook it all up to a computer, set it up, and maybe do a bit of programming to make a game's 3D effects better, and you basically have a demo for what it would be like. I mean, hell, I'd pay $5 to try VR Quake for ten minutes.

That's about the ultimate in portable gaming, and gaming in general, the way I see it. All that can really be done to improve on it would be to make it more powerful, and brain controls more accurate-- at least, until we start talking about beaming sensory experiences right into the brain. And that's just silly.