Last month’s PlayStation Showcaseappears to have left most people pretty disappointed. I’m still torn on whether that’s warranted or, as has become the case with eachNintendo Direct, people simply expected too much. Either way, when the screen faded to black, I may well have been one of the few people who watched from start to finish that was actually pretty pleased.
I was happy with whatPlayStationshowed off for a few reasons. I’m a mildly obsessiveMarvelfan sothe Spider-Man 2 stuffcould have beenthat same trailer we were shown almost two years agowith a vague release date at the end, and I’d have been happy. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. Like many of you, when that jungle scene was playing out, I wondered where my Spidey content was. Add another look at The Plucky Squire and a chance to play the first threeMetal Gear Solidgames onPS5, a series that has previously evaded me, there was enough there to leave me satisfied.
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However, the part of the Showcase I enjoyed most appears to be the one that has either angered or amused the rest of you.Project Q. A handheld device that will let you play PS5 games over Wi-Fi without having to bring your TV into the equation. I was so excited at the prospect of not needing access to the TV to play PS5 games that I immediately sent that clip of Jim Ryan talking about it to my partner.
Much to my surprise, when I fired up Twitter to see what everyone thought about the Showcase, I discoveredhalf of you hate Project Qwhile the other half were busy making memes about it. From an inability to use it outside the house to its design being likened to something Link might make using ultrahand (okay, that’s funny, I’ll give you that one), no one seemed to be happy about Project Q other than me.
Some of the biggest critiques centered around it not being a viable competitor to theSwitchor theSteam Deck, and bemoaning that it isn’t thePS Vita 2. The Vita was outsold by theWii Uby the way, so those of you waiting for a sequel might want to dial back your expectations. As for competing with the Switch, that isn’t what this is. If PlayStation is ever bold enough to try and do that, I can’t imagine its big reveal will be a short clip wedged betweentrailers for Dragon’s Dogma 2andMarathon.
I’m assuming most of that critique is coming from people who don’t have others to fight against for TV time. Whether that be because you have the luxury of having your TV all to yourself, or the even bigger luxury of multiple TVs and consoles dotted around the house. I have neither of those luxuries. If my partner is playingFortniteor my son is watching Bluey, the TV in my house, along with the PS5, is otherwise occupied.
That leaves me with the Switch. Not a bad thing by any means, but at least half the time, and no offense toNintendobut probably a little more than half actually, I want to play my PS5. Also, not that I’m rushing through games (although have you seen the release slate lately? I probably should be), but I’d have finished games likeGod Of War RagnarokandStar Wars Jedi: Survivora lot faster if I had the opportunity to play them using a handheld device when the TV was being used for something else.
Project Q’s battery life also isn’t a problem for me. Rumored to beas little as three hoursbefore it needs to be charged, if it can’t be used outside the house, I don’t really understand why that’s a sticking point for anyone. Unless you plan on wandering around the house while you play - a little weird, but if that’s how you game, you do you - then even a device that needs to be plugged in when used shouldn’t be a problem. It doesn’t work unless you have Wi-Fi and you’re near your PS5, so why does it need a long battery life?
The hate for how it looks has confused me a little too. Again, if this was PlayStation’s answer to the Switch, splitting a DualSense in half and popping a screen in the middle wouldn’t cut it. It would be cumbersome to travel with and if you were playing it likethe sad guy on the bus in that Tears of the Kingdom adthen yeah, you might look a little strange. Having shared buses with some rather vocal passengers in the past, I can imagine using a Project Q in front of them would just lead to them saying things that make me even sadder.
Since I’ll only be playing it at home, I want Project Q to feel as close to playing an actual PS5 as possible. What better way to replicate that feeling than putting an actual, albeit stretched, DualSense in your hands? It even has all the features that make the DualSense one of the best controllers ever made. I’m actually quite excited to play games likeAstro’s PlayroomandRift Apartagain using it, still the two games to have made the best use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, in my opinion.
Despite Project Q potentially making my life a lot easier, there are a couple of things that may well stop me picking one up right away. Firstly, the price. There have already been complaints about the price which is strange as it hasn’t been revealed yet. That being said, I get it. This is an official PlayStation product that probably cost a lot to make. I’ve convinced myself Project Q will retail at around £200. That’s probably the most I would be willing to pay, and unfortunately, I would be very surprised if it doesn’t cost more than that.
The other potential hang-up I have is a bigger dealbreaker than the price. Whether I can use my Project Q while someone else is using the PS5 and the TV to watch or play something else. If I can’t playSpider-Man 2on Project Q while my son watches Disney Plus on the actual PS5, then that kind of defeats the object of me owning one. However, if you’re able to stream games while the PS5 is being used for something else, and it costs less than £200, I will definitely be picking one up.
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