Sacred Symbols+, Episode 351 | Assessing the PlayStation Portal
Added 2023-11-29 17:00:11 +0000 UTCThe PlayStation Portal has finally arrived, and anyone who already listened to the most recent episode of Sacred Symbols proper knows that I (Colin) am a very big fan. But I wanted to spread the field a little bit and generate a more comprehensive conversation about Sony's new handheld. That's what + is for, after all. As such, please welcome writer and entrepreneur Sandeep Rai back to the show, as well as LSM's very own Gene Park of Punching Up. Gene had his Portal before it even came to market; Sandeep and I bought ours from PlayStation Direct and have had it since launch. Not surprisingly, our opinions are as varied as people's experiences with the device seem to be. Does it work? It absolutely does, if your PS5 is wired and your router is high-quality. In fact, I've gone as far as to say it has surpassed my expectations. But the question "who is this thing for?" is a logical one for many others to ask. For homebodies like me who love watching sports, have a significant other with their own TV needs, or simply love handheld gaming on the couch or in bed, Portal is a dream. But if you're looking for a Steam Deck, a Switch, or even a Vita, well, Portal ain't that. Enough description, though. Let's chat.
Comments
Its puzzling to me the fact that Colin doesn’t understand the big problem with Vita was the lack of the trigger buttons, they could have a playstation portal on vita a long time ago with the handheld had trigger buttons, that touch panel for back buttons was a really stupid ideia
Marco Maluf
2023-12-23 13:59:38 +0000 UTCNitpick, I know - but PS5 sync trophies automatically and instanentously. No need to even press the PS button when the trophy pops.
Alastair Abela
2023-12-03 11:49:24 +0000 UTCDid they not mention the potential ability to cloud stream directly to it? Effectively making it a mobile console with WiFi? Maybe I missed them mention it. But some Sony big wigs eluded to it.
Jeremy Wagoner
2023-12-01 03:59:58 +0000 UTCI love my Playstation Portal. But for some odd reason it's not connecting to my PS5 when I'm not home, my job Wifi is really damn good
DarthLemon616
2023-11-30 19:39:51 +0000 UTCI really like it....but I definitely have some lag and stuttering. Playing Crisis Core and Disco Elysium has been pretty great, but FPS games demand too much. God of War Ragnorak is also kind of iffy. So while I won't use it for everything, it is definitely good enough for half my catalog
Ryan Zimm
2023-11-30 17:25:51 +0000 UTCI love trophies, but the Steam Deck blows this thing out the water. Waste of money.
Brandon Soto
2023-11-30 04:29:45 +0000 UTCI’ve heard the third party remote play apps for Xbox and PlayStation work amazing on Steam Deck
Zeke the Plumber
2023-11-30 04:28:28 +0000 UTCThanks for doing this! Patiently waiting for the device to be back in stock.
Doug, just Doug
2023-11-30 04:27:50 +0000 UTCMy Steam Deck OLED preforms better at streaming my PS5 than my Portal does.. the latency is actually quicker and waking my PS5 up is indeed faster.
CitrusBrittleCrisp
2023-11-30 00:29:10 +0000 UTCSo hyped when i heard Colin introduce Gene for this pod
Andrew Christensen
2023-11-29 23:18:42 +0000 UTCOnly wish PS Portal connected directly to PS5 somehow better than remote play. That and a OLED screen I'd pay 300 for something like that.
Issac Woosley
2023-11-29 21:33:54 +0000 UTCMy Backbone has always come with a bunch of errors and connection issues even with the PS5 being hardwired. Can't bring myself to buy a portal, but I'm glad it's working for those who have it!
Mitch Krassin
2023-11-29 19:56:37 +0000 UTCI feel a fun way forward would be to move away from the digital edition ps5 (sort of). Turn the entire idea of the digital edition console into a full functioning handheld console. Sell it with the idea that it may have limited space and power to the home disc version, but give it that full PlayStation experience. If they don’t lock the games and make them fully shareable between handheld and home console. It would give a lot of people reason to want both even at a premium price point. Who knows what the technicalities of putting together and selling this type of product would be, but it would be awesome.
KnivesDCCCVIII
2023-11-29 19:18:50 +0000 UTCI have seen more people talking about the PSP than I expected.
NeO JD
2023-11-29 19:13:17 +0000 UTCNo
Dante B
2023-11-29 19:00:32 +0000 UTCGene bringing up Kojima's obsession with Sony products was funny. There products really are some of the best $ I've spent there TV's and Headphones are fantastic and the PS5 with duelsense has been great. I'm interested interested check out the portal but might wait for an Oled version
Walker Simmons
2023-11-29 18:49:13 +0000 UTCCan you watch Netflix and play the portal from the same PlayStation?
Austin Clemence
2023-11-29 18:17:53 +0000 UTCTo share on this topic. I don’t own a PlayStation portal. Speaking on the technology specifically. I live in Wyoming. However over the summer I went on a family road trip to Virginia. While there we stayed in an AirB&B and my wife had brought her Apple iPad. Thinking ahead, I brought a dual sense controller and had set up remote play on it. Considering I wire my PS5 to the router at home. My connection is pretty decent for a smaller Wyoming city where everything feels 10 years behind the AZ city I grew up in. I remote played the Final Fantasy XVI demo from Virginia on a tablet with hardly any stability issues at all. To further this. I used air play to display the screen on to the airb&b’s television. Why not? Which of course you would see a little more lag. However I still beat the demo. Easily I might add. If you want to be a small masochist. I went ahead and logged into my Final Fantasy XIV: ARR account and played a stormblood dungeon for shits a gigs. Yes there was lag. It was NOT perfect, but I completed that dungeon tanking as Dark Knight and it went well enough to satisfy my performance curiosity. This technology works well for those who want it and see a convenience in their life for it. If I can do this with a tablet and controller. To buy a handheld that likely does it even BETTER. I will gladly shell out a few bones when my budget affords.
KnivesDCCCVIII
2023-11-29 18:02:44 +0000 UTCHope I can get one next year
A Hind D
2023-11-29 17:55:31 +0000 UTCI am really loving mine so far. I've found that I play my PS5 much more now that I can still (kinda) watch the kids and play lol
StewDog
2023-11-29 17:24:21 +0000 UTCLoving my portal, was a little worried prior to its arrival but it has been an amazing dad-device for when the TV is in use
Geoff
2023-11-29 17:19:56 +0000 UTCThat’s the thing, there are definitely more factors than just connection speed. Network setup, signal interference, firewalls, etc
Zeke the Plumber
2023-11-29 17:17:32 +0000 UTCI used the HotStock app. It took 2 hours to land one from Best Buy Stock alerts for it pop up regularly
Zeke the Plumber
2023-11-29 17:15:14 +0000 UTCI would love to get one, but they’re impossible to find rn
king_ryan_james
2023-11-29 17:13:53 +0000 UTCI just can’t get mine to work. I’m on a gig fiber connection, WiFi is always 300-400 down in my house so it’s very strong. But for me, Portal is just constantly changing the resolution and the audio is always hitching. Latency is actually the one thing I had zero issue with. Build quality was very strong too. Ultimately returned it. I know hard wiring the system would help, just not in a position to do that with my setup.
Dante B
2023-11-29 17:13:28 +0000 UTCMore Gene means my jeans come off!
HighSenpai
2023-11-29 17:10:13 +0000 UTCMore Gene is always better
Zeke the Plumber
2023-11-29 17:07:22 +0000 UTC
