Tag Archives: gaming console

A new Sony PlayStation 5 “Pro” could launch as early as April 2023, possibly with liquid cooling

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It’s hard to digest that the PlayStation 5 has been around for three years now. The world’s best-selling gaming console may not be entirely obsolete just yet, but internal rumblings indicate the launch of a “Gen 2” PS5 that could see the console get its routine upgrades before Sony moves to the PlayStation 6, which the company is definitely working on, according to PS5 designer Mark Cerny. This new PS5 Pro (as it’ll probably be called) is rumored to drop as early as April, with sales beginning in September.

Designer: Latif Ghouali

Sony’s track record of releasing incremental upgrades isn’t new. The company started this trend with the launch of the PS4 Pro, which launched in 2016, three years after the PS4 dropped in 2013. It seems pretty much general consensus that Sony will give the PS5 the same treatment with a Pro model being announced next month. This new unit’s alleged to have water-cooling, and a new CPU and GPU from AMD that could possibly support Sony’s eventual promise of 8K gaming, although that’s probably wishful thinking at this point.

Sony has plans for the 8K market; after all, it advertised TVs that could support the resolution at 120 frames per second. In the PS Blog, they even termed the TVs as “PS5-ready”. A comprehensive part of the Q&A section of the PS5 website also maintains that it’s “8K compatible”, but will only be made possible by a future update. This seems to be the perfect spot for a PS5 Pro, if Sony is truly committed to delivering a console capable of 8K, 120 frames per second, ray-tracing, and more.

The concept we’ve got here is a PS5 redesign from Dubai-based artist Latif Ghouali. It ditches the organic form factor of the existing PS5, taking on a more rugged alien-like form to enforce its “Pro” demeanor. It does have the personality of an Alienware Area-51 gaming desktop, with its upright, angular, edgy design. The glowing LED strips always make everything better, although I’m not sure about how I feel looking at the edgy, angular gaming controller.

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Tiny handheld gaming console concept offers a Game Boy-style 4:3 display with 2GB of RAM

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Unlike a Game Boy, however, the Tingting GO is built with a Unisoc T618 processor and a whopping 2GB of RAM for a competition-crushing gameplay experience.

I honestly don’t know why the handheld gaming market is so stagnated. Never has there been a better time for handheld gaming, but all we really have is the Switch and the Steam Deck – and they’re both commercial successes. Designed as a conceptual competitor to them, the Tingting GO comes with a Game Boy Classic-style vertical-device format but features better hardware, full-fledged controls, and a nifty 4:3 display to let you play all popular games.

Designer: Frederik Berisha

The handheld console’s design feels instantly familiar to most seasoned gamers, with a format that requires no learning curve. The UI feels fairly intuitive too, although one could speculate whether the screen has touch capabilities or not. The controls are fairly comprehensive. You’ve got the D-pad, action buttons, and even shoulder buttons on the top left and right. An Apple Watch Ultra-esque orange button on the bottom lets you power or lock your console. There’s also a front-firing speaker that immerses you in gameplay audio – although the absence of a 3.5mm audio input is really being felt here…

The Tingting Go’s design feels more serious than playful, following the Steam Deck playbook instead of the Nintendo Switch Lite one. It’s predominantly matte black with glossy accents (MKBHD much?), although that does a good job of making the display stand out. There’s a 2500mAh battery on the inside, which is a bit smaller than the one on the Switch, although you’re also working with a tinier screen, which doesn’t guzzle as much juice during gameplay. I don’t see a charging port on the concept, although it would probably be safe to assume that there’s a USB-C port somewhere.

The compact design makes it a perfect alternative to a Nintendo Switch, giving you a familiar mobile-style form factor that people love.

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Sony PlayStation 6 console concept emerges with a more crowd-pleasing sleek, streamlined design

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While Sony has officially indicated that the PlayStation 6 could be expected in 2027 (giving the PS5 another 4 strong years of dominance), a viral fan concept imagines what the console will look like… and more importantly, will its design still be polarizing?

Designed as the next-generation gaming console from Sony, the PlayStation 6 concept is a towering behemoth of the gaming industry. Just like its predecessor, it’s poised to be the most popular gaming console in the world. Its design, however, feels like an about-turn after the PS5’s widely-debated organic ‘alien-tower’ design. The PlayStation 6 takes the same vertical console approach, but instead, has an imposing ‘skyscraper-inspired’ design that looks like it could easily be a part of a futuristic city skyline. Straight lines, incredibly wide curves, and signature blue lighting define the PS6 concept’s design, combining the best of the PS5 and the PS3 into one superlative package.

Designers: Junwoo Kim, Hyeon Jeong Ra, Eun Kyung Shin, Kim Jiwoong, Gaeun Kang, LFD Official

The upper profile sports a boat-shaped design, which works incredibly well in creating the illusion of slimness. You’ve got wedges on both the front and back, mimicking a MacBook Air-ish approach to sleekness, while also pretty much showing you where the air would flow in and out of. Where the similarities with the PS5 tie in are in the presence of distinct panels on the left and right, and the color scheme (especially the blue lighting). Just like with the PS5, the panels cover the electricals, and provide distinct vents for air intake and exhaust, helping keep the console cool. LED lights hidden within the panels create an internal glow that makes the PlayStation 6 look like it’s alive. The designers even propose a smartphone app to be able to change the lighting as a gamer-friendly RGB custom feature.

The skyscraper-inspired design gives the PS6 its majestic appeal. This one’s definitely not as polarizing either.

Other details on the design front include the iconography running along the central rim of the console. This fun detail gives the PS6 a slight sense of whimsy, bringing a little element of playfulness to an otherwise serious and intimidating-looking piece of hardware.

Move over to the back and that same rim houses the PlayStation 6’s ports. Although controversial to begin with, this console concept doesn’t have any of the traditional ports, like the HDMI and Ethernet inputs. Instead, the PS6 has 3 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports that support power, data, and video at 40Gbps bandwidth. I guess you’ll need to keep one of Satechi’s multiport dongles handy if you want to hook in traditional displays, projectors, or connect your PS6 directly to the internet. There’s also a noticeable lack of a disc input, suggesting at a digital-only device.

The conceptual console also comes in color variants (so you don’t need dbrand plates to turn your PS matte black). The next-gen console comes in pure silver and satin grey, along with a smartphone app that lets you play around with the built-in RGB lighting. Although entirely conceptual, this design exercise is a fun way of imagining what the next console will look like. Will Sony lean into the weird organic design? Will they circulate incredibly ugly dev-kit prototype images just to throw us off course? I guess we’ve got another 4 years to speculate!

A look at the interface shows a few tweaks to the experience.

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My Arcade x Atari Gamestation Plus – modern avatar of the timeless Atari VCS console

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Let’s be honest, all the previous attempts to resurrect the retro Atari console and all of its nostalgic game libraries have not hit the right notes. Even Atari themselves attempted to do it with their $300 Ataribox (later renamed Atari VCS) but landed in a soup of issues that never let it go over 10,000 sales in total.

Now MyArcade in collaboration with Atari, well known for its budget gaming machines has released its own take on the classic Atari console that sparked the gaming industry in 70s.

Designer: MyArcade and Atari

Dubbed the My Arcade x Atari Gamestation Plus, this retro gaming console comes with a suite of classic gaming titles from the Atari 2600, Atari 7800 and Atari consoles. Unlike previous attempts to create such a console, this one sticks to a very modern aesthetic design while retaining some of the nostalgic elements. There are a couple of battery-powered RBG-lit joysticks with Bluetooth and USB-C compatibility. The RGB lighting follows down to the console at the front, and comes with Aeration holes. That all-red D-pad and the Atari stripes virtually traverse you to a different era.

The attention-grabbing console was present at CES 2023 too but was behind the glass walls, keeping any chances of a hands-on at bay. It was officially announced by Atari and My Arcade on their respective Twitter accounts with information kept to the bare bones minimum. Whether the console has an integrated spinner controller on the joystick is also not certain at this point in time.

There are no pricing or availability details about the Gamestation Plus right now. The only thing that’s come through is an imminent pre-order date that’ll be announced soon. More features are expected to be revealed about the Gamestation Plus at that time. One thing’s for sure, by the looks of it, the classic console will fare better than any of the previous releases of the modernized versions of the Atari VCS that’s lived in the gaming fraternity’s consciousness in all its glory.

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Wireless charging dock for your game controller uses LED lights to tell you when you spend too much time gaming

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Sort of like your “Screen Time” on the iPhone or “Digital Wellbeing” on Android, but for your gaming console.

Meet Oasis, a controller and charging cradle that collectively make sure you don’t end up spending your entire day playing Minecraft. The way they work is simple, decide how many hours you want to play and add that to the Oasis cradle. Lights on the cradle gradually change time as you play, turning red as soon as you’ve crossed your gaming limit. Once the lights turn red, you know you’ve spent enough time gaming and it acts as a neat visual reminder to do something else like go outside or eat a meal because you probably forgot to! Let’s be honest, we’ve all done that.

Designer: Xiao Wu

The OASIS was designed as a response to the Chinese government’s crackdown on gaming. While the government has strict mandates about how long children and teenagers can play computer/mobile games for, the OASIS uses visual cues to help curb addictive gaming tendencies. Games can be rather immersive, especially MMORPGs, causing you to lose track of how long you’ve been playing it for, which is why the OASIS controller proactively lets you set deadlines and helps you enforce them through visual cues.

The cradle isn’t just a wireless dock for the OASIS controller, it’s also a console in its own regard. Working entirely off the cloud, the OASIS fits the console in a much smaller form factor, making it roughly 80-85% smaller than even the Xbox Series X and about a third the size of the Series S. The console/cradle also comes with a concave upper surface that intuitively guides you to rest the controller on it, while a built-in wireless charger helps charge the controller between gaming sessions. It’s a nifty idea (and I wonder why Microsoft or Sony haven’t built wireless-charging into any of their controllers), although the only plausible caveat here is that you can only wirelessly charge one controller at a time. A USB-C port on the controller means you can plug a second unit directly into the cradle to charge it via cable.

While I’m not really a fan of governments deciding how long youngsters can game, the OASIS is a clever way to visually indicate your gaming duration. It works entirely based off of your own sense of autonomy, given that you pre-determine how many hours you want to play for, and have the console let you know when you’ve approached your own self-enforced limits. In practice, it’s really no different from the screen time features on smartphones and tablets, that help you curb screen addiction.

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Move over, Nintendo Switch – this gaming console concept comes with joy-cons AND a folding display

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While the demand for a folding phone seems to be incredibly niche (and localized to just Asia), this conceptual gadget named Tam Tam makes a pretty compelling case for folding phones by turning them into the most versatile gaming devices. The Tam Tam can be used as a phone, a handheld controller, a mini console, or even a nifty multiplayer gaming system for two or more people. The secret? Folding displays and detachable Nintendo Switch-style joy-cons.

Designer: Jinseon Lee

The Tam Tam is a portable folding console with a Huawei Mate X-style outward folding design. The phone exists independently, but pairs rather well with a set of interchangeable joy-cons that snap onto either side, turning it into a makeshift Switch-style console. The joy-cons can be used separately too, allowing you to explore various gaming arrangements – my personal favorite being Tam Tam’s multiplayer mode.

The multiplayer mode sees the phone set up in an A-shaped format with two halves of the screen facing each of the players (sort of like a game of battlefield). Players can even set the phones up in a 4-player format (image below) and play a variety of competitive games. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, however, Tam Tam offers a whole range of controller types, spanning D-pads, knobs, broad joysticks (or joy-discs), etc.

The controllers can be attached or detached on demand

Multiple controller formats enable different gaming experiences

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a folding console, though. A foldable Nintendo Switch 2 concept surfaced last year, which sported the same versatile gaming format, albeit with a larger tablet-sized foldable display. Earlier this year, redditor MikeDubbz hacked together a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip to let you mount Switch Joy-Cons on each side. The Z Flip ran an emulator, turning the popular foldable phone into a faux Gameboy of sorts!

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PlayStation 5 handheld could be the rightful offspring of the PSP

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There were days when Sony dominated the scene with the PSP and PS Vita, be it gaming or multimedia entertainment. Fast forward to the current time, and only a few good options are left on the market, noticeable ones being, the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck.

While Sony has said it’s going to refrain from going down the same road, handheld gaming is here to stay. Even though gaming phones have taken a big chunk of the share when it comes to casual or beginner e-sports fun, handheld consoles have a lot of room to reclaim lost glory.

Designer: Devin Sidell

This handheld gadget is yet another concept that gives eager gamers another reason to long for a Sony handheld after a lull of so many years. Devin calls it the PlayStation 5 handheld gaming console, and for obvious reasons. The PS5 resemblance shouts out loud in the design resemblance, and the color theme. While the designer supplies no information about the function of the PS 5 handheld console, it leaves me doing all the imagination. This one is a bit different than the PlayStation handheld I came across earlier, still, both of these concepts will have their likers on each side of the camp.

The button configuration is a stark mirror image of the original PSP (or for that matter all the Sony gaming controllers all these years) which speaks a lot about the handheld’s substance. The ergonomic silhouette of the Sony handheld is a worthy addition since gamers go for extended sessions no matter what they are using to go bonkers playing their favorite title. The placement of the D-Pad, analog sticks and buttons look optimum, but I would have wished for a slightly bigger size for them all.

PlayStation 5 handheld docks into a cool charging station between breaks, and in this tethered position the whole unit looks like an extension of the PS5 gaming console. Just imagine owning both these consoles for a connected gaming experience, whether you’re home, or on the subway for your daily grind!

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The ‘World’s Smallest Game Boy’ is tiny enough to fit on your keychain, and it actually plays games

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Smaller than the display on your Apple Watch, the Thumby holds the title of the smallest gaming console to be publicly available to consumers. It’s a little over an inch in length, and 0.7 inches in width, and weighs a paltry 4.8 grams, or about as much as an individual AirPod. Armed with a 72×40 Monochrome OLED display and 2MB of onboard storage, the Thumby comes with 5 games pre-loaded and allows you to add more using a MicroUSB cable. And in case you’re wondering, yes it runs Doom… or a version of it.

Designer: Tiny Circuits

Click Here to Buy Now

First started as a crowdfunding project, Thumby went on to get successfully backed into existence. It’s roughly the same size and shape as a Chiclet and even comes with a lanyard hole that lets you string the gaming console to your keychain, making it the world’s first gaming console that also doubles as EDC.

For a device this small, it’s honestly surprising that it actually does function as a gaming console. The Thumby comes with a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 under its hood, which powers the ridiculously tiny 72X40 black and white OLED display and accepts input from a 4-way D-Pad and 2 action buttons. The Thumby sports a hilarious 2MB of storage and runs on a 40mAh battery which provides 2 hours of gameplay.

The thumbnail-sized console comes in 4 colors (including a transparent variant) and ships with 5 pre-loaded games, and users can add more using the MicroUSB port below (which also charges the device). It’s hilarious how large the port seems in relation to the actual device itself, and I can’t help but wonder if the product could somehow be smaller if they did away with the port and used Bluetooth instead! The port also allows you to connect two consoles together for multiplayer gaming! You can download a wide variety of games created by the rather massive Thumby community, or even code your own games and experiences using the company’s in-browser code editor.

Click Here to Buy Now

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Gaming Box gives a whole new interpretation to portable gaming

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Inspired by the Nintendo Switch’s success, there has been a rise in devices with somewhat similar designs running different gaming platforms. There’s Valve’s Steam Deck for PCs, of course, but there are also gaming handhelds running Android instead. Even computer accessory maker Logitech is getting its game on with a cloud-centric collaboration with gaming giant Tencent. Despite varying designs and sizes, the basic format of these portable gaming devices is the same. There’s a large screen in the middle flanked by the two halves of a typical gaming controller. That, however, isn’t the only way to design a portable gaming device, and this concept design tries to think outside the box to put gaming back inside the box in a slightly different way.

Designer: Eli Lan

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There’s definitely a good reason why these portable gaming devices are designed this way. Gamepad controls are easier to use without the support of a desk or any surface, unlike keyboards and mice, and they offer better haptics and tactile feedback compared to just a touch screen. That’s not to say it’s the perfect design or that there are no other possible forms a portable gaming computer can take.

At its simplest, the Gaming Box design concept is pretty much a mini PC with a screen on top. Mini computers, which include the likes of the Apple Mac Mini, have become more ubiquitous these past years. They come in a variety of designs, and some are portable, not just in form but also in operation. The one thing they all have in common is that they need to be connected to a monitor, at the very least, to actually be usable.

This gaming twist on that design puts an end to that problem and puts a screen on the top, or rather the front, of the box. Unlike typical mini PCs that lie on their larger face, the Gaming Box is designed to stand on one of its thinner edges. It’s a more precarious position, admittedly, but it’s the only way you’ll be able to view the screen anyway.

There are also other and probably bigger issues with this design. The display seems large enough, at least when compared to other objects around it, but its square aspect ratio doesn’t really conform to any of the conventions used in gaming and even in videos. There are no controls to speak of, either, so it’s presumed to be using a touch screen. You can attach or connect controllers, of course, but that won’t make it convenient for playing on the go, which isn’t its primary use case anyway.

In truth, the Gaming Box is probably better as a Media Box, allowing owners to enjoy videos or maybe even social media anywhere inside the house. It is more like a home console or gaming PC that you can move around inside the same space rather than something you’d use outside, so it complements rather than replaces designs like the Steam Deck.

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Massive 2,200+ Video Game Console Collection on eBay for Almost $1 Million

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A French eBayer is selling his personal collection of over 2,200 video game consoles for the almost too-good-to-be-true price of €984,000 (basically the same in US dollars with current conversion rates). That comes out to about $450 per console. Some of them probably aren’t worth that. And others are probably worth much more than that. That’s just the way averages work.

You can check out the eBay listing for a full list of all the consoles included, including color variations and special editions of various gaming systems. Wow, could you imagine owning all those consoles? I’d never leave the house! I mean, I already don’t ever leave the house, but then I definitely wouldn’t.

Unfortunately, the listing doesn’t include any games unless they were packaged with the consoles, so expect to spend another cool million on actually being able to play these consoles instead of just admiring them on the shelf. Thank God we’re rich, right? Or about to be rich anyways. Now, put these pantyhose over your head and let me do the talking.

[via TechEBlog]