Last week, Qualcomm unveiled three new handheld gaming platforms aimed at streamers, gamers on a budget who prefer to play locally, and those who desire the best portable gaming experience on the planet.
These gaming platforms will compete with gaming consoles by prioritizing portability over performance while offering a more robust, high-performance gaming experience than what is currently offered by a gaming PC or console.
This week, let’s discuss handheld gaming and the reasons these new devices might be the hottest items this holiday season. The HyperX QuadCast S microphone, which is currently my new favorite, is my Product of the Week for this week.
Getting Serious About Mobile Gaming
It’s not hard to see why: Your smartphone goes everywhere with you, but your gaming console and PC do not. Total revenues for handheld games now exceed the sum of revenues for both consoles and PCs.
We frequently have downtime while waiting or traveling during which we want to amuse ourselves, but using a smartphone for gaming is problematic. Playing games drains the battery of your phone, making it possible that you won’t have enough power to use it when you need it. A call, social media notification, email, or text while you’re playing a game can ruin the experience.
The smartphone was not designed to be a gaming console, to sum up. Because of the variations in physical designs, external controls are frequently too difficult to secure properly and don’t function on all phones. The screen controls are frequently sluggish, your fingers block the screen, and external controls tend to be slow to respond.
More recently, head-mounted displays have made smartphone controls more challenging because they make it difficult to see the phone for proper finger placement on the screen. This has forced developers to create more specialized control solutions where the control buttons are simpler to press correctly when you can’t see the controller.
Goovis head-mounted displays have been my go-to for years. They work well for watching movies but aren’t as effective for playing games due to the controller issue.
These specialized handheld gaming devices aim to provide users with a focused device that does the job better but doesn’t compromise their smartphone, much like we did with consoles to provide a more focused gaming experience over PCs.
The G Series Portfolio of Snapdragon
In its handheld gaming portfolio for the Snapdragon G Series, Qualcomm revealed three tiers:.
The Snapdragon G1 is exclusively for people who want to stream video and games from the cloud using a service like GeForce Now. It is anticipated to cost in the $200 range.
For those who want to play local games and stream media, there is the Snapdragon G2. The G2 is more expensive and has better performance; it probably costs $300 to $400.
The Snapdragon G3 is intended for high-end gamers who require that extra performance in a device that will probably cost more than $400 and who want a console-like gaming experience.
The newest enthusiast-class processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 platform, was featured in a prototype. Its carbon-fiber case gives it a distinctly competitive look and feel as well as a much richer appearance, which explains why its price and performance are higher.
But since OEMs are all vying for the same fourth-quarter holiday spending, it is anticipated that each of them will develop its own designs with unique screen sizes, physical layouts, and price points.
Personally, I’d prefer to see a design that completely did away with the display in favor of a head-mounted display. Your significant other would be less likely to be disturbed while working, sleeping, or reading next to you, which would increase the immersion of the experience. Additionally, it would let you play materials that might be inappropriate for children seated in front of or behind you on a plane.
Gaming on PCs is superior to smartphones
The built-in controllers and separate, powerful GPUs on these gaming-specific devices are not hampered by background apps or phone functions. With built-in controllers, the experience is like using a gaming console with simplified menus that get you to content quickly. The bespoke designs and the potential for custom cases should make others lust after your device when they see it in the open.
While cross-platform games have had problems in the past, part of the goal for this platform is to address better the mobile opportunity and the potential for using the devices for more immersive, on-the-road, multiplayer gamesImagine a time in the future when you could connect a number of these to one another on a bus, airplane, or ship to allow other passengers to play a multiplayer game together.
We’re done now.
This season’s big holiday hit might be one of these new handheld gaming devices, or possibly more. These innovative and reasonably priced gadgets provide a distinctive portable gaming experience. They are among the first gaming platforms to fully integrate head-mounted displays, which many of us believe will pave the way for a move away from conventional, screen-based gaming.
I’ve already seen what handheld gaming will look like in the future, and it’s amazing. Save your money because these products won’t be easy to miss when they launch before the holidays. If you want one of these devices, get one now before supplies run out because I anticipate there will be a shortage almost immediately.
One more thing: This platform will launch at a time when generative AI is just beginning to take off, indicating that some of the upcoming content will be particularly captivating and perhaps even feature AI-driven non-player characters (NPCs), which would be amazing.
The exciting future of personal gaming is quickly approaching.
HyperX QuadCast S microphone
The camera and microphone I use are very important because I conduct numerous interviews and regularly streamed shows.
I recently decided to replace my professional-grade Shure SM7B microphone with the HyperX QuadCast S microphone after experiencing issues with it on Teams (Teams has been getting a bit buggy lately).
I couldn’t have been happier with the choice, especially since the Shure cost $400. The HyperX is a great deal because it costs only about $140 and can connect to my PC without a USB amp.
The HyperX QuadCast S is illuminated and appears cool floating over my desk.
The mic has sound field and gain adjustments so you can customize the sound to your environment, and the sound quality is impressively good. Additionally, the QuadCast S has a single mute button that is located on the microphone’s tip and when pressed also turns the light off so you can tell when it is off.
A headset socket that makes it simple to add a headset to the device, which is frequently a problem for a desktop setup, is another nice feature.
The microphone comes with both a nice, weighted stand (much lighter than the Shure stand), as well as a boom mount, which I chose to use instead. My only complaint is that I’d like to be able to change the microphone’s colors so they match the lights in my piece.
Simply put, the HyperX QuadCast S is my Product of the Week because it is attractive, functional, affordable, and looks great on my desk.