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[onQ123]

On one side there is mobile games made for phones & tablets then there is Console & PC games but no longer a focus on making games for handheld devices with buttons.

Of course we have the best of both worlds now being able to play the full-size PC/Console games on the go but it would be nice to have a sub-section on the store fronts dedicated to handheld gaming.

 

[StereoVsn]

On one side there is mobile games made for phones & tablets then there is Console & PC games but no longer a focus on making games for handheld devices with buttons.

Of course we have the best of both worlds now being able to play the full-size PC/Console games on the go but it would be nice to have a sub-section on the store fronts dedicated to handheld gaming.

There are a ton of games that work well in handheld format. From farming sims to turn based RPGs to Visual Novels and Adventure games and more.

On PC side especially, handhelds are great for playing older titles from say 2005 - 2019 (and of course earlier).

 

[kunluncat]

Except Nintendo, handhelds are just accessories to play PC/mobile/emu games.

 

[Kacho]

I don't understand. What makes a handheld game that we could classify them in their own section on the store?

 

[digital_ghost]

We already have dedicated sections for steam deck games on steam.

Great on Deck

Great on Deck

store.steampowered.com

 

[onQ123]

There are a ton of games that work well in handheld format. From farming sims to turn based RPGs to Visual Novels and Adventure games and more.

On PC side especially, handhelds are great for playing older titles from say 2005 - 2019 (and of course earlier).

Yes I know there is lots of games that are made for PC/ home consoles that are great on handhelds especially the older games which is why I think there should be a sub section to make them easy to find & also encourage devs to make games that are good for on the go gaming.

 

[LectureMaster]

Well, because everything is an Xbox.

"This is an Xbox." I wish I'd waited for this Black Friday deal before buying my favorite PC gaming handheld, which Microsoft says is actually an Xbox.

The Lenovo Legion Go is enjoying a huge sale, knocking an impressive $200 off the typical ask. Here's what you need to know about buying it.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[StereoVsn]

Yes I know there is lots of games that are made for PC/ home consoles that are great on handhelds especially the other games which is why I think there should be a sub section to make them easy to find & also encourage devs to make games that are good for on the go gaming.

That’s fair, but check out the “Great on Deck” link above. It has some of that. Not quite 100% correct if you look at the results but a good start.

 

[bender]

On PC side especially, handhelds are great for playing older titles from say 2005 - 2019 (and of course earlier).

The farther back you go, the more wonky gamepad support is going to be.

 

[StereoVsn]

The farther back you go, the more wonky gamepad support is going to be.

Yes, but that’s customized controls and usefulness of trackpads comes in. A lot of older games work just fine with some tinkering with the controls.

Between gyro and trackpad’s customization vast majority of titles will play just fine. Well, with some common sense as playing say RTS aren’t going to be amazing whatever you do, lol.

 

[bender]

Yes, but that’s customized controls and usefulness of trackpads comes in. A lot of older games work just fine with some tinkering with the controls.

Between gyro and trackpad’s customization vast majority of titles will play just fine. Well, with some common sense as playing say RTS aren’t going to be amazing whatever you do, lol.

Custom controls help but if you are playing games without native controller support you can run into issues (like no auto-aim in an FPS) or in the case of the Deck, playing non-Steam games in SteamOS can be cumbersome.

 

[StereoVsn]

Custom controls help but if you are playing games without native controller support you can run into issues (like no auto-aim in an FPS) or in the case of the Deck, playing non-Steam games in SteamOS can be cumbersome.

I mean sure, not everything works 100%, but in general most games I have tried played fine after some tinkering. And for some games there are community control setups already created.

 

[ADiTAR]

Sony develops a lot of those.

EDIT: Sorry, I read that as handhold.

 

[Zannegan]

I don't understand. What makes a handheld game that we could classify them in their own section on the store?

There was a lot of talk around this point in the 3DS/PSVita generation, where people said the Vita was great and all, but it's games didn't feel enough like handheld games. Always seemed a little silly to me, but some people feel there's a clear distinction.

 

[Spukc]

Indie games?

 

[Magic Carpet]

I play games on my iPhone all the time.

 

[chakadave]

I’d say it just doesn’t matter much. With things like save states and fast loading you don’t need to design it for a mobile platform.

Run based games that take a few minutes exist but with instant save you just shut the thing off and it resumes right where you are

 

[EDMIX]

Those days are done regarding dedicated devices having that and tbh you already have developer actually dedicated to doing that, they literally do that in the mobile market...

 

[Sorcerer]

edit

 

[Puscifer]

There are a ton of games that work well in handheld format. From farming sims to turn based RPGs to Visual Novels and Adventure games and more.

On PC side especially, handhelds are great for playing older titles from say 2005 - 2019 (and of course earlier).

Seriously. Dead Rising as a series never clicked for me until the Steam Deck and I've tried them all but gave up a few hours into each one.

Sitting at a desk or couch puts you into a different mindset vs casually on the bed or wherever you stop for a moment is such a great experience.

 

[Deerock71]

I'm happy with the Steam Deck, which beautifully straddles being a handheld and gaming laptop. I haven't even dived into the deep end of the mods and shit; I've just been playing it like a Switch with customizable graphics settings.

 

[simpatico]

The hybrid experience reaches a much larger audience. This doesn't make sense unless you're a platform holder. The screens are so big and controls so similar that a hybrid experience is much easier achieve than it used to be. What does a modern handheld game even look like when developed with the power that some of these things have? I think the lines naturally get blurry with the tech evolution. DS games were the way they were out of necessity. You could argue that a lot of indie stuff in handheld focused. New Prince of Persia etc.

 

[Rentahamster]

Nintendo is though

 

[RoboFu]

It's just a stop gap for the transition a real gaming to mobile devices.

 

[EDMIX]

Nintendo is though

errrr....i don't know about all that lol

tbh, most of what I play from them, literally is the same shit you'd play anyway if it was on their home console anyway

Its not like Smash Brothers or Mario Kart have a "handheld" concept, so I don't get this idea of "dedicated" "handheld experiences"

Does OP mean Pokemon Go? What defines this shit anyway? Its a system, you play it on the go....thats it, but you can play any fucking game on a handheld as the only difference is looking at a screen on the device vs your tv, conceptually, a lot of games do not factor your physical location for any of this to make sense as some logical demand

That weird sun game Kojima made for the Gameboy Advance maybe lol

edit, it was called Boktai

 

[existensmaximum]

Yeah I agree OP. Handheld gaming as we used to know it is dead unfortunately.

 

[Fess]

That’s mobile gaming now. Not sure I want more devs dedicated on that.

 

[kevboard]

On one side there is mobile games made for phones & tablets then there is Console & PC games but no longer a focus on making games for handheld devices with buttons.

I disagree with this. basically by accident the indy community absolutely still makes games exactly like that.

rogue-lites are perfect handheld games for example. and there are uncountable rogue-lites... their nature of doing individual runs to unlock new upgrades after each try couldn't be more perfect for mobile gaming.

then there's the onslaught of Vampire Survivor clones. these aren't quite the same as rogue-lites but have a similar concept... minus the random level structures and in an even more segmented progression. but the main thing of doing a "run" and then buying upgrades makes them perfect for handheld gaming.

then there are tons of 2D platformers made by indy studios. also a growing number of really good 3D platformers with short levels that are perfect for handhelds.

handheld specific games were never really a thing outside of a small number of exceptions. handheld games were usually just more compartmentalized versions of stationary console games, that were slightly easier to pick up and play at a whim.

I mean, what was Donkey Kong Land? it was DKC with slightly shorter levels... that's it...
what was Tetris? a port of a game that was originally designed for a computer.
what was Mario Land? smaller Mario... or the first Kirby game? a simple 2D platformer. Link's Awakening? a slightly smaller Link to the Past

and once the GBA was out that thing was basically filled with "console game but slightly adjusted" or just straight up SNES ports.
games like Pokemon that were directly designed around bringing your handheld with you to interact with other handheld owners (trading etc.) were always super rare. the majority of games were just "console game but smaller scope"

and many Indy games fall neatly into that category. their smaller budget almost necessitates that they are simpler, more compact and more gameplay/arcade focused

 

[Imtjnotu]

The handheld market will be crap until solid state batteries come along. Then everything will change

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Yeah, it's the worst timeline, particularly for people like me who have precisely - no - desire to ever play on a handheld, given the choice. For me, this trend is basically all the downsides of portable gaming with none of the positives (ie: games like we used to get on the DS/3DS). I was really excited for the Switch once upon a time, because I thought that's what we were going to get on it. Instead, the focus is squarely on shoehorning the console experience onto inadequate hardware. But now everyone wants to do it.

 

[IAmRei]

i think, people still considering it's an extension of PC/Laptop.
not a separately platform

it's not necessary tho...

 

[Rentahamster]

errrr....i don't know about all that lol

tbh, most of what I play from them, literally is the same shit you'd play anyway if it was on their home console anyway

Its not like Smash Brothers or Mario Kart have a "handheld" concept, so I don't get this idea of "dedicated" "handheld experiences"

Does OP mean Pokemon Go? What defines this shit anyway? Its a system, you play it on the go....thats it, but you can play any fucking game on a handheld as the only difference is looking at a screen on the device vs your tv, conceptually, a lot of games do not factor your physical location for any of this to make sense as some logical demand

That weird sun game Kojima made for the Gameboy Advance maybe lol

edit, it was called Boktai

They make games that's literally for a mobile system. That you can also play it in a docked mode on your TV is a bonus. Some people might say they are home console games that can be played on the go. Others might say that they are mobile games that you can also play on your TV. At that point, the definition is dependent on one's personal use case.

 

[Ceadeus]

The different studios working on handheld used to get used to hardware limitations and finding workaround to develop the handheld version. The Pocket version

With gaming handheld PC, we're playing the very same games that play on console and PC. It's no game boy or PSP anymore. They're not dedicated handheld platform.

 

[rofif]

Imo portal is the right idea but should have oled and hdr.
On device like portal you play games in uncompromised quality even downscaled from 4k. On steam deck and such you play on low at 30fps.

Anyone tried steam link capability on deck ?

 

[YCoCg]

There are plenty of games on PC that are suited to handheld style short playing, just gotta dive more into lesser known things. Games like Vampire Survivors or Mullet Mad Jack are perfect 20-30 minute bursts of addictive gameplay on the go.

 

[Portugeezer]

I stopped caring. Being able to put the system into sleep mode is enough for me.

Switch was basically perfect when it came to this, I don't recall any game having an issue after waking from sleep mode.

 

[ArtHands]

The handheld experiences are still here, just not on Playstation platform, because the PS Vita flopped like no tomorrow.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Imo portal is the right idea but should have oled and hdr.
On device like portal you play games in uncompromised quality even downscaled from 4k. On steam deck and such you play on low at 30fps.

Anyone tried steam link capability on deck ?

30 fps on SD is a billion times more responsive than "60 fps" on a fucking streaming device. And even low settings is preferrable to streaming artifacts out the ass, making the game look like a shoddy youtube clip in buffering.

 

[rofif]

30 fps on SD is a billion times more responsive than "60 fps" on a fucking streaming device. And even low settings is preferrable to streaming artifacts out the ass, making the game look like a shoddy youtube clip in buffering.

idk local streaming is pretty quick. I had steam link for years and you could barely feel the delay and that was years ago

 

[Trilobit]

I play games on my iPhone all the time.

We're not talking about Tinder and leading girls on.

 

[Topher]

Only popular handheld that really had a unique experience was the DS line. Everything else tried to be as close to console experience, but in handheld format. Problem was there wasn't tech that could easily scale down because of the exotic nature of console hardware. Now that everything is x86, not as much of a problem. I think that's a good thing.

The handheld experiences are still here, just not on Playstation platform, because the PS Vita flopped like no tomorrow.

PlayStation Portal is a handheld experience.

 

[JimboJones]

Imo portal is the right idea but should have oled and hdr.
On device like portal you play games in uncompromised quality even downscaled from 4k. On steam deck and such you play on low at 30fps.

Anyone tried steam link capability on deck ?

Steam link remote play is a bit meh.
Setting up moonlight is the way to go if you wanna do local streaming on a handheld PC.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Personally I just want to keep playing the variety of games I already love but in more optional places. Having a pruned down experience doesn't sound all that appealing.

 

[K' Dash]

there will never be handheld experiences like we had from the OG GB to the 3DS. Now the goal is to play whats on consoles and PC.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

On one side there is mobile games made for phones & tablets then there is Console & PC games but no longer a focus on making games for handheld devices with buttons.

Of course we have the best of both worlds now being able to play the full-size PC/Console games on the go but it would be nice to have a sub-section on the store fronts dedicated to handheld gaming.

Handheld PCs are not handhelds, they are PCs. I know that sounds stupid but there really isn't anything about them that is exclusively handheld like there was with GameBoy/DS/3DS/PSP/Vita.

They are simply PCs in a "handheld" form factor (I personally think the form factor is shit on all of the PC handhelds but I know people like them) that play "everything" that a gaming PC can play and therefore you wouldn't develop exclusively for them. You simply develop a PC game that scales down.

Dedicated handhelds are dead. The last bastion of dedicated handhelds was Nintendo and the hybrid system works too well for them and they have successfully merged their home console and handheld devices.

 

[onQ123]

Handheld PCs are not handhelds, they are PCs. I know that sounds stupid but there really isn't anything about them that is exclusively handheld like there was with GameBoy/DS/3DS/PSP/Vita.

They are simply PCs in a "handheld" form factor (I personally think the form factor is shit on all of the PC handhelds but I know people like them) that play "everything" that a gaming PC can play and therefore you wouldn't develop exclusively for them. You simply develop a PC game that scales down.

Dedicated handhelds are dead. The last bastion of dedicated handhelds was Nintendo and the hybrid system works too well for them and they have successfully merged their home console and handheld devices.

I think Vita was the last dedicated handheld & it was criticized for the games being too much like home console games lol . That's pretty ironic now .

 

[Topher]

I think Vita was the last dedicated handheld & it was criticized for the games being too much like home console games lol . That's pretty ironic now .

Vita was criticized for a number of things, but I wouldn't saying being too much like home consoles was one of the big ones. Primarily lack of games in general, followed by ridiculously expensive storage.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I think Vita was the last dedicated handheld & it was criticized for the games being too much like home console games lol . That's pretty ironic now .

I agree with you. The Vita/3DS generation was the last true handheld generation.

You can obviously treat the Switch as a handheld and obviously the Lite is handheld only but it’s not a traditional handheld by any means.

Vita was criticized for a number of things, but I wouldn't saying being too much like home consoles was one of the big ones. Primarily lack of games in general, followed by ridiculously expensive storage.

He’s right though. The Vita definitely got criticism for not being “handheld” enough with its games.

Vita has plenty of games, it just doesn’t have a lot of games that appeal to a western audience.

But you are right, the reasons for its failure go way beyond lack of traditional handheld games. Sony over corrected on the whole PSP piracy situation, and ultimately gave pretty quickly especially in the West.

I love the Vita more then most people (1000s of hours, I used to have a big collection of games both physical and digital, I’ve owned probably 6 different consoles, had multiple 64gb memory cards, etc) but there isn’t much reason for people to own one now as when it comes to “mainstream” games there is really only Uncharted and Killzone left on the system.

Vita Island lives on in my heart though. I sold most of my collection but I still have my favorite games (Persona 4 Golden EN and JP, Gravity Rush, Catherine Full Body, P4 DAN, Steins;gate and 0, Chaos;child, Danganronpa) and the OLED in mint condition I picked up in Japan (my OG got burn in).

 

[Sooner]

I don't understand. What makes a handheld game that we could classify them in their own section on the store?

It needs to be made with severe technical limitations compared to modern home hardware?

Other than that, I don't know.

 

[ArtHands]

Only popular handheld that really had a unique experience was the DS line. Everything else tried to be as close to console experience, but in handheld format. Problem was there wasn't tech that could easily scale down because of the exotic nature of console hardware. Now that everything is x86, not as much of a problem. I think that's a good thing.



PlayStation Portal is a handheld experience.

More like a streaming experience.