WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The History of Handheld Gaming Part Two 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.440 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.200 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.360 and love all Things tech. And it is Friday. That 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.600 means it's time for a classic episode. This episode originally 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:29.159 published on March five. It is titled The History of 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.400 Handheld Gaming, Part two. And if part two is throwing 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:35.559 you for a loop, listen to last Friday's classic episode, 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:40.640 because that is surprise, surprise, hard one. So let's listen 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:45.320 in on this classic episode. The two video game systems 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.280 that were about to talk about, because they were essentially 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.519 the same thing but branded under two different names, they 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.440 did not make the same impact on the market that 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.840 the game gear did. They did get some popularity in 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.360 Europe and South America, not in North America as far 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.840 as I can tell. But these two systems, which again 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.360 we're pretty much the same thing, we're branded the Mega 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.600 Duck and Cougar Boy. It does sound like the worst 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:17.360 superheroes ever, Mega Duck and Cougar Boy fighting crimes. It's yeah. Again, 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:21.440 they're they're cartridge based handheld video game systems. Nothing nothing 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.320 particularly notable about the mother than the fact that I 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.440 thought their names were a door. Yeah. Yeah. If if 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.839 you haven't heard of them, um, you're in pretty good company, 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:30.960 especially here in North America. I don't think they ever 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.080 came to this market. They were mostly in um, Europe 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:40.919 and South America. Actually Brazil actually produced some thus Cougar Boy. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.440 But yeah, so Mega Duck apparently very popular in the 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.080 Netherlands and Germany. By the way, if any of you 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.640 own any of the game systems, clearly the more obscure 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.760 ones that we're talking about, I welcome you to share 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.200 a picture of holding the handheld game system and share 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.920 it on our Facebook wall, and we will totally comment 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.440 on those. Yeah, or or if you if you give 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.800 us permission to, we will. We will push it along 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.000 to our to our other yeah, like the tumb twitters 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.160 and things. Yeah, because you know, I I have owned 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.119 a couple of handheld gaming systems back in the day, 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.960 but I never got my hands on a Mega Duck 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.160 or a Cougar Boy. I I never owned a handheld 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.440 huh wow. Learning something new about Lauren here. Actually the 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.799 only one besides the the you know, I mentioned that 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.320 I had a a football or a football to from 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.120 MATEL Electronics. At least I think I did. I know 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.760 I played one. I assumed that I owned it. It 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.120 was back when I was a little kid. Uh, the 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.079 only one that I can remember owning, and it wasn't 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.520 that long ago when I got it. It It was a 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.960 game Boy Advance and we'll talk about that in this episode. 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.480 A little bit later. Moving on, that is when Sega 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.560 released the Nomad, which was a handheld version of the Genesis. Right. So, 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.880 the fact that it could actually play Genesis games meant 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:57.959 that it had a big leg up over the competition 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.880 because it already had an established live are to pull from. 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.280 Oh sure, However, the form factor those game cartridges meant 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.800 that this thing was pretty huge. Yeah, it was really 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.720 really bulky. Not easy for it, Like it was called 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.960 a handheld but sort of in the same way that 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.600 early laptops were called laptop computers, but if you were 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.320 to actually put it on your lap, you might crush 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.400 your legs kind of similar to that. Also, um, from 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.760 why I understand, you could only play for a very 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.200 short while before it drained all the batteries and you 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.960 had to replace them. So in fact, so much so 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.120 that I remember that for some of these devices, including 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.040 this one. One of the peripherals that was that was 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.480 launched shortly after the system debut would be little a 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.760 C adapters for a car, like a car adapter so 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.880 that you could actually play in the car without the 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.880 batteries dying after half an hour. So not terribly popular, 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:53.560 partly also because Sega had this issue about releasing a 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.480 whole bunch of different video game consoles within a relatively 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.880 short amount of time, and those consoles were mostly incompatible 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:02.040 with each other. Yeah, within like seven years they had 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.880 released at least three and and that's yeah, it's a 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.080 lot cutting down on your own market. It's never really 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.840 the best idea. Yeah, I ended up saturating the market 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.240 quite a bit, and so that also hurt them in 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:17.800 the long run. This is an interesting one. It's the 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.520 game dot com with the name of it right by 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.320 Tiger Electronics. And this was a handheld device and remembered 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:29.120 this is that had Internet connectivity, yes, built in specifically 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.480 you could do things like check your email or read 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.560 web pages in text. Yeah, you couldn't play games online. 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.280 The internet functions were more for It was also kind 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.600 of this dual function p D, a sort of thing 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.160 because PDAs were so big in personal digital assistance for 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.880 those who don't remember, right, Yeah, so this is that 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.560 was what we called smartphones before there were phones in them. 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.359 Like many other p d a's of the time, it 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.360 had a monochrome screen, whereas everything else coming out at 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.760 this point had a color screen, So that that injured 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.040 it definitely in the marketplace, definitely, definitely, And you know, 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.400 it's kind of it's still kind of a cool idea. 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.080 But apparently the games were also not very good, or 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:14.080 some people would say incredibly bad. And so it did 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.920 have a touch screen, which which was pretty innovative for 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.160 the time for games anyway. Again, p d as frequently 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.919 had them, but gaming systems did not. So this is 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.080 you know, marking two things that would become popular in 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.320 future game systems, the touch screen and the internet connectivity. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.400 So it was a little ahead of its time. It was. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:37.800 It was an ambitious product. Ultimately was not failure. Yeah, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:43.080 something that was not a failure. One year later, and 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.960 this was this was a decade after their last big one, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.560 Nintendo released the game Boy Color and that was the 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:51.200 first real update to the game Boy. I mean there 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.160 had been that those few others that we talked about 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.880 and the little but the guts of the game Boy 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.480 had remained largely the same since it had debut. There 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.800 had not been a major overhaul apart from some of 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:07.160 the aesthetics of the actual case itself. This is where 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.560 we finally get to a brand new kind of technology, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.880 where we get color screens on game Boys. So no 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.120 more monochromatic tetris unless you're actually playing an old game 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.039 Boy cartridge. Because one the nice things about it was 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.800 that it was backwards compatible, so if you bought a 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.680 game Boy Color, you didn't have to worry about Well, 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:26.760 now I have to tell all these games are useless 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:28.560 and I have to have two devices with me if 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.680 I want to Nope, you can play anything you want. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.680 Nintendo was really good about being backwards compatible with a 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.320 few of its different consoles, not all of them, but 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.760 so much enough so that whenever you had a console 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.440 come out, whether it was handheld or otherwise that was 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.599 not backwards compatible, people got upset because they got used 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.280 to it. So but this one, definitely in that philosophy, 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.320 did not have a backlit screen, just like the original 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.240 game Boy, so again that meant that the battery consumption 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:00.800 was a modest so it wouldn't die within half an hour, 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.279 unlike the Sega Nomad. So uh. And then also that 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.040 same year in n another company called Neo Geo released 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:13.280 the Neo Geo Pocket in Japan, which was a monochromatic 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.040 handheld video game system. It didn't do very well, but 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:20.320 in nineteen nine they released the Neo Geo Pocket Color 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.480 or in GPC, which ended up being a device that 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.680 the company would sell around the world. It wasn't just 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.560 a Japanese product. Yeah, it was a pretty good competitor 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.000 to to the Game Boy Color. Yeah, it was less 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.960 expensive than the Nintendo device is also power efficient just 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.520 like the Game Boy Color was. But ultimately Nintendo's biggest 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.440 advantage was again that amazing library of games. Neo Geo 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.160 had some great games, but Nintendo had a tonnable yeah. Yeah, 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.840 And and Neo Geo's strength and development was certainly in 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.960 the console market at the time. Yeah. So that moves 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.480 us up to that's when a Bandai, which was really 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:04.040 known for those handheld hard coded l c D based games, 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.880 the ones that would be like you know, uh, licensed 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.120 after a particular product or whatever. Uh. It was really 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.360 known for those the ones that weren't any kind of 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.440 cartridge based games. That's when they released the Wonder Swan, 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.720 which was a monochromatic gaming device, and it was designed 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.400 by by Gumpey Yukoi. Yeah, the same guy who designed 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.920 the game Boy, the original game Boy. So this was 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.920 a notable entry in that it was designed by one 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.679 of the most successful, most influential designers of the handheld 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.960 gaming industry. Right, and it was also the exclusive mobile 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.840 platform at the time for the Final Fantasy series, which 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.440 was really huge, I mean mostly in Japan. Yeah. In 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.880 fact that this game console never really got popular anywhere 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.199 other than Japan. It was never sold in the United States, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.319 even after they updated it. They updated a couple of times. 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.800 They had the Wonder Swan color, and then by night 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.240 by two thousand two, rather they came out with the 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:00.440 Swan crystal. I've seen pictures of them. Uh, I don't 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.439 know how you were going to play games on these. 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.320 He's like, there was one that it looked like it 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.760 had two directional pads on the same side of the 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.840 game console. Is another one of those where I had 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:11.360 the screen in the middle and the controls were on 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:16.000 either side, but one side had a directional pad laid 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.199 out on top of another directional pad, or at least 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:19.720 that's what look like to meet. The picture was not 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:21.920 terribly great quality, and I've never seen one of these 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.920 in person. If anyone has has one, send us a picture, yeah, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.640 or send us one. You've got an extra one, you 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.400 can just send us one. That's fine. Send us some 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.880 games too, because otherwise it's just not I mean, I'll 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.240 be pretty good to look at. But yeah, so anyway, 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.679 you can't. You can't program your own cartridge games for 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.040 I don't have that kind of spare time. Want to 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.160 see a game I have programmed, it'll it'll just be 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.200 made entirely of puns. I do not want to see 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.120 that russ festival. The game would be what it would 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.920 be um at any rate. A brief note from the 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.280 year two thousand, that is, we started seeing a lot 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.959 of retro nostalgia for for early games. I think around 0:09:58.000 --> 0:09:59.880 this time that that has been pervasive. I mean, not 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.680 that not that nerds will have never not talked about 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.040 things that they're really excited about from twenty years ago. 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:08.199 But um, but this is the year that Mattel re 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:12.520 released its late seventies games football and baseball, and which 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.600 you know, it makes sense because the the kids who 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.079 got these as toys when they were kids have now 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.680 grown up and are now able to purchase stuff on 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.840 their own. Speaking of that, in the year two thousand 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.320 that that is when Nintendo came out with the Game 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.440 Boy Advance, which was its next big update to the 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.000 Game Boy line. Yeah, they actually launched it in two 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.560 thousand and one. They had been developing it for a while, 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.440 and the this one ended up having a color screen, 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.760 It had had a shoulder buttons as well as the 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.719 regular buttons that you had on the games, so I 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.360 increased the things you could do with it. I owned 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.040 one of these at any rate. Um. It was backwards 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.760 compatible with game Boy and game Boy Color cartridges, so 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.200 that gave it a lot of utility. But you know, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.280 anything that was a Game Boy Advanced game was way 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.480 more uh insticated. Yeah, and pretty exactly. You could you 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:06.400 could do more stuff. Um, and they had about the 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.360 same amount of firepower, you could say, as one of 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:14.960 their former consoles, right, the SNS, the Supernintendo Entertainment System, 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.600 which had debuted like like a decade earlier. And and 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.920 I find it really impressive that miniaturization had had occurred 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.080 to the point where in only ten years you were 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.120 able to pack this huge bulky s nest handheld to 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.360 the handheld. Yeah, and they would also update this line 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.600 multiple times. So in two thousand three, Nintendo released a 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.679 clamshell version of the game Boy Advanced, and then two 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.600 five they released the game Boy Advanced Micro, which was 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.560 a much smaller version of it. Because yeah, that first 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.720 one they came out was a bit a bit clunky. Uh, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.760 that's the first version, is the one that I have. 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:51.720 By the way, I don't have the Micro or the 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.959 clamshell version. They also would even go on to offer 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.600 a wireless adapter in two thousand four, so instead of 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.920 using cables to connect your Game Boy Advance with someone 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.680 else's machine, if you both had this wireless adapter, you 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:09.000 could play games over wireless um and so yeah, very popular. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.319 I also gave you some connectivity with the Nintendo GameCube. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.440 So if you owned both the GameCube and a game 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.240 Boy Advance, and you own the the compatible titles, you 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:26.480 could have access to additional content on both. Right, Right, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.720 you would hook it up by by a special cable 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:33.760 and and not that many games had this capacity, right, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.480 but you could you could access a little bit of 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.520 simultaneous content. Yeah, you could. You could actually use your 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.840 game Boy Advance as a controller and it would display 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:45.480 extra information inside the game Boy Advances screen. So this 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.800 kind of pre dates and it and it foreshadows the 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.640 Nintendo We You, which wouldn't come out for another decade. Yees. 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:53.240 So the we You, I mean we you know, it's 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.880 got that tablet based controller where you can get extra 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.880 stuff on it that you know. That's obviously not a 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.680 new idea and Nintendo I've been playing that idea for 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:05.280 a while. Also in two thousand one, over in Korea, 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:10.040 there was a company called game Park that released the 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.360 g P thirty two handheld gaming console, full color screen, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.880 typical kind of handheld, but it was a little bit 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.840 different from the previous consoles we had seen. Yeah, this 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.080 one was was really interesting because games were not stored 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.839 on cartridges. They used little flash cards, yeah, smart media 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.880 flash cards, which meant that anyone could develop a game 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:34.600 for this and then store it. As long as you 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.480 knew how to program for this device, you could build 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.040 a game for it or an application for it, and 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.320 store it on a smart media card and use it 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.880 on the system because you know cartridges that's hard to 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:50.080 program for. You're talking about actual physical circuits, you media, right, right, Yeah, 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.640 this is a much more expensive so this was much 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.760 easier to code for. It was a great boon to 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.760 two independent developers who were interested in getting into it. Unfortunately, 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.640 it also made things really easy to pirate, yeah, which 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.160 made a lot of the established game companies say, you know, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.240 we're not going to develop for this because we don't 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.840 want to have our stuff stolen everywhere. It doesn't make 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:11.360 any sense for us to pour a lot of money 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.040 into development, marketing, sales, all that kind of stuff, only 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.360 to see a handful of games go out before they're 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.120 all pirated. So it didn't get a lot of support 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.520 from the industry, but it was one of those things 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.600 that really took off in the independent circle and the 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.080 emulator circle, the people who wanted to create emulators that 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.960 could play games based on other systems, and then you 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.600 would have one handled console that could do practically anything. 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.640 Two thousand three. Here's where we have one of our 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.800 big flops stories. One of my favorites. Actually, I remember 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:49.280 when this came out. Yeah, the Engage. Yeah, so um 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.160 Engage also sometimes called the taco because it was vaguely 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.200 taco shaped. And here's the crazy thing. Did you ever 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.320 see anyone having to make a call on one of 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.480 these things? I never saw anyone use one period. Okay. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.440 So the speaker and the receiver on it. If you 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.120 think of a taco like a taco shell, the fold 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.280 of the taco shell like a hard, crispy taco. Gosh, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.680 I want tacos now. But if you think of the 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.160 fold of the shell, the speaker and the receiver were 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:21.280 on the outside of that fold, so you actually like 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.840 a like a taco out to the side of your face. Yes, 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.280 didn't sit flat against your face. The edge was against 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.160 your face. So the it was enormous. Okay. So this 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.360 was clever in a way, and the concept was clever 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.800 in the in the Nokio was a really dominant force 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.760 in the cell phone business at the time, and they 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:47.440 were trying to make a cell phone that was also 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.960 a handheld gaming system and and hey, we we have 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.240 some things that are kind of like that today. Yeah, 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.360 at the time, that was before the smartphone revolution had 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.880 really taken off. So this was a really brand new 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.280 kind of Oh sure, sure. Unfortunately, it was a terrible 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:07.040 phone and a terrible gaming system. Yeah, it really was 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.600 awful at both things that was supposed to do, and 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.920 so it did not get very far. There was a 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:17.600 sequel to the Engage, which was more about kind of 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.560 a game system, like a game library that you could 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.600 download to Nokia based phones. Yeah. Yeah. A couple of 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:26.840 years later it would it would release an update to 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.400 the Engage that was better than the Engage had been. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.040 It was called the q D Engage qt uh but 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.480 it's still flopped and um and right. And then then 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.080 after that they would they would release this a kind 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.240 of app that was that was sort of an in 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.280 in phone gaming system. It was getting away from that 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:48.000 physical form factor that had burned them so badly. But 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.440 but it would even abandon that and Heather in another 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.880 few years, as as app stores became things, they realized 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.880 that having a specific gaming app wasn't as useful. Yea. 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.440 So two thousand four, this is where we see one 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:04.359 of the big influential players get into the space finally yea, Sony, Yeah, 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.199 with the where have you Been? Sony? Yeah. They had 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.840 been developing the PlayStation Portable or PSP. They launched in 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.040 Japan in December two thousand four, didn't get over into 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.160 the United States and uh in Europe until the next year. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:19.840 Of course, being Sony at the time, it did not 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:23.600 use cartridges or or even flash cards. It went straight 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.720 for optical discs, which you're like, what you know, when 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:29.760 you think about it, it's a real challenge to make 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.800 any kind of portable device that uses optical discs because 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.960 any kind of jost it's gonna it's gonna the laser, 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.320 the laser of course. Yeah. And and these these are 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.399 those those little mini optical discs. They look like a 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:45.800 little yeah, universal media discs. S. Yeah. In this case, 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:47.760 they did a really good job at designing it so 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.639 that you you know, unless you were particularly rough with 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.840 your PSP, or you were you know, maybe going down 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.640 a dirt road, perhaps you're a good old boy, never 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.720 meaning no harm, then you might have some issues, but 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.840 are wise, it's pretty smooth. Uh. It had connectivity to 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:09.080 the internet, you could connect other PSPs, connect to console. Um, 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.000 pretty pretty good machine. I mean, I I remember getting 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:13.840 the chance to play on them. Again, I didn't own 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.879 one of these. Boy, that's just a story of my 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.520 life here. I'm like, I'm actually craving some of these. 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.920 Now I can see why collectors get so passionate about 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.320 this hoblem. Yeah. We we looked at a lot of 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.840 different collections while we were pulling together the information for 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.240 this podcast, and there are a lot of people out 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.760 there who have huge collections of handheld gaming devices. Oh yeah. Yeah. 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.480 Another cool thing about this because you know, because it 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.320 was a Sony property, Um, you could watch Sony films 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.000 on these little mini discs in the correct aspect ratio, yeah, 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.119 sixteen nine aspect ratio, so it wasn't that four three, 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.199 which the old television sets were. And this is that 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.879 wide screen format, so you didn't have the little black 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.200 bars on the top and bottom. It actually would play 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.080 in full view on the screen in the native aspect ratios. 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.200 That was a really, really hard idea and it also 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.520 was kind of again they were predicting how we were 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.959 going to be using mobile devices to consume media. They 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.320 were ahead of the game on this one, and it 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.359 did pretty well. You know, it still wasn't really catching 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.679 up to Nintendo's domination of the market, but they weren't 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.760 hurting either, certainly not. Although it did not help their 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.560 case that two four was the same year that Nintendo 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:29.720 released their DS. Oh yes, another incredibly popular game platform. Now, 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.240 this was where they said, you know that game Boy 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.200 that we've been making, it's taken us a long way, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.680 and I think it's pretty much gone as far as 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.040 it can go. We need to take the next step. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.760 We need to go a big jump beyond what the 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.000 game Boy can do. And that's when they came out 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.560 with the d S and the The innovative thing about 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.119 the DS was something that we talked about from way 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:53.760 back in the eighties on that game and watch series, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:55.960 the multi screen series all right, right, it had it 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.800 had these two screens, and one of them was was 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.439 was touch capable. Yeah, so you could actually have a 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.320 touch capable part on that you're you're playing actively on 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.000 and a second screen that could be displaying whatever else 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:11.199 it needed to. Uh. You could also create games that 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.120 didn't use the touch screen at all, but use both 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.800 screens so that you could move your character between one 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.960 or the other. I mean all kinds of different options. 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:20.800 And some of the games that came out for this 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.000 were so innovative, and I think that that's one of 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.880 the huge selling points of it. It was that independent library, 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.760 or not independent, but just just individual library of games 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.960 that you couldn't get anywhere else. Absolutely, and so, you know, 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.439 the PSP although it was an incredibly powerful device and 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.199 and and if you were to look at the specs, 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:45.440 it outstripped the Nintendo entirely. But Nintendo sold more than PSP. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.160 In fact, it was, according to at least some estimates, 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.800 it was a two to one ratio twice as many 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.359 Nintendo ds has sold as PSPs. It had half the 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:00.400 screen resolution or just about. Yeah. Yeah, and like an 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.160 eighth of the onboard RAM that was expandable via via slot. 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.720 But nonetheless, and uh yeah it did, it did. I'm 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.560 not sure how the PSP connected to the internet, but 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.400 the I I know that the d S had WiFi 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.960 built in, which for two thousand four was was pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.760 WiFi was. Having something that could could connect to WiFi 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:26.120 was a big advantage. Although, uh the WiFi was still 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.040 fairly young in those early days, Like not everyone had 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.760 a WiFi router at that time. A lot of people 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.000 were using you know, wired connections. I know I was 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:36.640 using wired connections for quite some time. Yeah, yeah, pry 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.359 about two thousand seven or so. Well. On top of that, 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.520 Nintendo would end up updating the DS line, which is, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:43.960 you know, kind of similar to what they did with 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:45.520 the Game Boy. They came out with things like the 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:47.680 D S Light in this case it's l I T 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.359 E uh, the D S I which had a larger 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.840 display and front and rear cameras, but unfortunately at that 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.200 point there was no more Game Boy advanced compatibility built 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.200 into the device. Then eventually the d S I x Cell, 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.479 which had the largest screens of that line ever, and 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:08.800 so um, you know, that's an interesting development here we 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:12.879 once again see Nintendo really having a stranglehold on the 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.119 dominance of the handheld market. But Sony is doing a 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.000 great job, and you know that's their first foray into 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:24.560 the handheld gaming. Hey guys, Joathan from one Now, technically 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:28.720 when I record this, man, time is time is hard, right, 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.520 I'm going to take a quick break, uh and listen 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:33.320 to a couple of ads while I I sussed this 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:44.960 out come with me. Alright, So now, Lauren, we talked 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.240 about we talked about the Engage and how that was 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:52.680 a massive flop. Surely there are no more high profile 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.360 massive flops and the handheld gaming history, are there? Well, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.199 you referring to one right before the ad breaks, So 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:00.639 I think, I think it's pretty likely. But yes, the 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:05.720 Tiger Telematics released the Gizmondo two thousand five, and I 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:07.680 can't believe that something with that cool of a name 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.080 could possibly flop. Yeah, I know, with the world with 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:14.520 a name like Gizmondo, the sky is the limit. Gizmondo 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.240 originally was called the Game Track, but that's not nearly 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:23.160 guess cool as Gizmondo Mondo. So I think that's coming 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:28.000 out like the Nondo Mondo. So yeah. They showed off 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:30.760 a prototype of this device back at c E S 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:34.600 two thousand four, And this one is an interesting game 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:38.960 system to me, partly because of the operating system it used. Yeah, 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:42.000 it was. It was Windows based, Windows CE four point 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.520 two to be specific, right, and so I mean it 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:47.600 was the first handheld gaming device to actually use the 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.879 Windows platform as its native operating system. And and and and 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:53.159 partially due to that, it was also kind of hopping 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:55.320 on to the to the very tail end of of 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:58.399 that sort of p d A trend or maybe that 0:23:58.480 --> 0:24:00.520 was over, but but just people were thinking a lot 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.600 more about combining different features into devices at this juncture. 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:08.000 And uh so it also had a camera and GPS 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:12.439 and texting capabilities, SMS and UH and Bluetooth Bluetooth, right, 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:15.000 all of those things, and so you think, wow, this 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:19.240 thing is packed. Why didn't it sell incredibly well? Part 0:24:19.280 --> 0:24:21.680 of that reason was because, uh, well, there were two 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:25.840 different flavors of gizmutton Do that you could purchase. The 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:28.400 first one that came out was four hundred dollars. Yes, 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:31.160 that was unsubsidized four hundred dollars. And when you when 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:33.920 I say unsubsidized, you may say, what do you mean, 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:36.800 what was the subsidized version. It's because when the that 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:39.560 that first one didn't sell basically at all, they came 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:42.320 out with an ad supported version, Yeah, for two y 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.440 nine dollars. Still didn't do well, and in fact, within 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:51.400 eleven months of the product launching, the company goes bankrupt. Yeah, 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:53.199 and it was one of one of those devices that 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:55.800 initially got a lot of people excited, but the longer 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:59.760 the saga went, the more skepticism was involved. And by 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:01.680 the time it launched, I think a lot of people 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:05.040 felt exactly the opposite of how they had when you know, 0:25:05.080 --> 0:25:07.880 it was just an idea and non an actual product. 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:13.600 So both the Gizmondo and the aforementioned Engage are frequently 0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:18.600 found on worst console lists ever, like worst console ever, 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.119 not just worst handhelds, not like yeah, no, like this 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:24.760 is going up against you know, those video game consoles 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:26.600 that would come out and have three games and then 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:29.879 disappear forever. These were way up there, and part of 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:33.800 it is because they were really expensive. They ended up 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:37.320 costing companies. You know, in this case, it cost a 0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:41.280 company its existence. So it's it's tough, you know. It's 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:43.119 one of those things you don't want to see it happened. 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:45.480 There's some schaden freuda there, I'm sure, but you don't 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:47.720 want to see that ever happen to anybody. Oh sure, 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:51.719 although okay, so so Strangely enough, the next entry on 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:54.600 our on our list, which would turn into a huge um. 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:56.720 I hate the word disruptor. I think it's overused, but 0:25:56.760 --> 0:26:00.679 disruptor in the market um was was another multi use device, 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:04.280 and I'm talking about the iPhone, introduced by Apple in 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:06.760 two thousand seven. Yes, so when it first came out, 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:10.240 it just looked like an amazing device. I don't think 0:26:10.280 --> 0:26:13.880 any of us had uh, the inkling of how disruptive 0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:17.440 it was going to be until the app development really 0:26:17.440 --> 0:26:19.880 started to open up and people began to make games 0:26:20.000 --> 0:26:23.480 specifically for the iPhone. Sure, sure, I mean, of course, 0:26:23.600 --> 0:26:26.920 the iPhone is not a handheld gaming device except for 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:28.760 the part where you can use it like one, Yeah, 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:31.440 you can have you. It's a handheld device that can 0:26:31.440 --> 0:26:34.399 play games, so it's really a multi use device. But 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:38.040 the point here is that it had and it continues 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:41.760 to have a really big influence on the handheld gaming 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:44.800 industry as a whole, because you've got some consumers out 0:26:44.800 --> 0:26:48.160 there who say, well, I could buy this single use 0:26:48.280 --> 0:26:50.840 device even if it can play multiple games, it's still 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:53.640 just a game device. Or I can buy this thing 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:57.280 that's also a phone and an interactive map and lets 0:26:57.280 --> 0:27:00.720 me connect to the internet and etcetera, etcetera. So it's 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:03.000 one of those that has really started to take a 0:27:03.040 --> 0:27:06.360 big bite out of the mobile gaming world. Now there 0:27:06.400 --> 0:27:09.080 are different markets, and some of those markets are more 0:27:09.119 --> 0:27:12.800 attuned to those gaming devices than to the smartphone world. 0:27:13.040 --> 0:27:16.200 So it's not the handheld gaming devices are now irrelevant. 0:27:16.600 --> 0:27:18.720 You know, it's not like they're they're going obsolete, but 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:22.439 they're having a tougher time. Come on here and we 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:24.840 will we will talk more about that um in in 0:27:24.960 --> 0:27:27.320 the the very end of our podcast as we get 0:27:27.320 --> 0:27:30.920 into the current years. But but for now, let's let's 0:27:30.920 --> 0:27:33.000 talk about that. This is a really interesting one to me. 0:27:33.560 --> 0:27:35.280 This came out in two thousand nine and it was 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:38.960 the game pack GP two x Whiz. Yeah, the GP 0:27:39.040 --> 0:27:42.520 two x Whiz is one of those open source handheld 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:45.840 gaming systems. It was actually made so that people could 0:27:46.000 --> 0:27:48.919 fiddle around with all the different programming for it and 0:27:48.920 --> 0:27:53.760 create all sorts of applications and games. Again kind of godly. Yeah, 0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:57.760 it's designed for independent developers and and emulators even right right, 0:27:57.800 --> 0:27:59.720 This is going back to that same one we talked 0:27:59.720 --> 0:28:02.720 about the Korean game system we talked about earlier. This 0:28:02.800 --> 0:28:05.200 is kind of similar to that. It had a thirty 0:28:05.200 --> 0:28:07.760 three Mega Hurts processors, so it was, you know, packing 0:28:07.800 --> 0:28:10.480 a bit of a wallet for an open source system, 0:28:11.080 --> 0:28:15.320 and uh yeah, it was also had really awesome packaging. 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:18.000 I mean I looked at the packaging. It looks like this, 0:28:18.000 --> 0:28:21.040 this kind of leather bound sort of box that says 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:24.000 the Whiz on it, and I thought, I want I 0:28:24.080 --> 0:28:25.800 kind of just want the box at this point. It 0:28:25.880 --> 0:28:28.640 was it was really sleek and um and I think 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:31.000 that two thousand nine was was one of those peaks 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:33.560 of emulator use that that we've that we've you know, 0:28:33.600 --> 0:28:36.800 it's it's it's a it's an undulating wave of people 0:28:36.840 --> 0:28:39.920 who don't really mind kind of pirrating games. Well, in 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:42.720 some cases it's people who want to have access to 0:28:42.880 --> 0:28:45.520 old titles that are no longer supported. Oh sure, and 0:28:45.600 --> 0:28:49.000 and especially at this particular time point before a lot 0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:52.800 of studios had begun creating legal ports of their games 0:28:52.840 --> 0:28:55.280 for for app stores, because app stores were not in 0:28:55.360 --> 0:28:58.960 two thousand nine what they are today at all. Um So, 0:28:58.960 --> 0:29:01.520 so that was it was it was filling a piece 0:29:01.560 --> 0:29:04.600 of the market that Yeah, it was really quite clever. 0:29:04.880 --> 0:29:07.160 It was going unserved at that point. Yeah, for example 0:29:07.200 --> 0:29:10.480 that then now you can get ports of classic Arcade 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:13.400 games delivered to like an iPad, you know, you can 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:15.520 get their apps just for that. But at the time 0:29:15.600 --> 0:29:18.800 that really wasn't that wasn't something you would find. So 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:24.000 Nintendo and not content to sit back upon its haunches 0:29:24.600 --> 0:29:29.160 and cackle maniacally releases the three D S which I 0:29:29.200 --> 0:29:30.880 was at the E three where the three D S 0:29:30.920 --> 0:29:34.880 D Yeah, uh, it was you know, the win a debut. 0:29:35.000 --> 0:29:37.440 It definitely got a lot of attention because people thought, 0:29:37.480 --> 0:29:40.000 this is it's a brand new handheld from Nintendo, which 0:29:40.040 --> 0:29:43.080 automatically made it really interesting. It also had this three 0:29:43.160 --> 0:29:47.640 D capability. The three D capability was was nifty, but 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:49.600 also one of those things that people were skeptical about 0:29:49.640 --> 0:29:53.320 because three D has traditionally been a yeah, it's been 0:29:53.360 --> 0:29:55.840 hard to get into the consumer market, right sure, sure, 0:29:55.920 --> 0:29:58.640 although you know glasses free three D is there's always 0:29:58.680 --> 0:30:02.000 more um dynamic I think, to to the consumer market 0:30:02.160 --> 0:30:04.560 then then glasses Yeah, you know when you don't have 0:30:04.640 --> 0:30:06.640 to Yeah, you don't have to keep track of yet 0:30:06.680 --> 0:30:09.680 another piece of equipment, right right, Although of course you 0:30:09.680 --> 0:30:11.880 could also play games in two D, you can have 0:30:11.920 --> 0:30:13.640 to play them in three D. Had a special camera 0:30:13.640 --> 0:30:15.480 where you could take three D pictures, but you can 0:30:15.520 --> 0:30:18.520 only view them on the three D s obviously. Uh. 0:30:18.680 --> 0:30:22.120 It was neat and also had some augmented reality features 0:30:22.120 --> 0:30:23.520 to it. I didn't put that in the notes, but 0:30:23.600 --> 0:30:25.240 I remember getting to play with that where you you 0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:28.120 got like a little card and it had a symbol 0:30:28.160 --> 0:30:30.080 from Mario like it might have one of the question 0:30:30.120 --> 0:30:32.320 mark blocks, and you put it down on a table 0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:34.280 and you hold the camera to it. And you activate 0:30:34.320 --> 0:30:36.120 the correct app on the three D S because it 0:30:36.160 --> 0:30:39.040 wasn't just you know, magically recognizing it, but with the 0:30:39.120 --> 0:30:41.200 right app, it would then have a little virtual character 0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:44.920 pop up on the picture of the whatever card was 0:30:45.000 --> 0:30:47.360 that you had put down on the screen. Right. Yeah, 0:30:47.400 --> 0:30:49.240 so on the screen it looks like there's an actual 0:30:49.280 --> 0:30:52.360 physical character walking around on your table. If you were 0:30:52.360 --> 0:30:54.480 to actually look without using the three D S, you 0:30:54.480 --> 0:30:57.280 would think the person was crazy. But, um, but it 0:30:57.320 --> 0:31:00.320 was really kind of a cool little gimmick. Uh. They'd 0:31:00.320 --> 0:31:02.920 also update this in two thousand twelve as the three 0:31:03.000 --> 0:31:07.920 D S XL. I bet you can guess what that means. Um, 0:31:08.200 --> 0:31:10.640 it didn't perform nearly as well as the company was 0:31:10.720 --> 0:31:13.120 kind of anticipating at first, and they would they would 0:31:13.160 --> 0:31:15.840 splash the price after it had only been on the 0:31:15.840 --> 0:31:17.560 market for a couple of months. Yeah. It was actually 0:31:18.560 --> 0:31:20.920 when I heard that, I thought at first it had 0:31:20.960 --> 0:31:23.960 to be a mistake because Nintendo is not known for 0:31:24.080 --> 0:31:26.360 doing that. Yeah. Yeah, they usually are very aware of 0:31:26.400 --> 0:31:28.400 what they want a price to be and are very 0:31:28.440 --> 0:31:31.640 savvy about what what the market will handle. Um. But 0:31:31.640 --> 0:31:35.240 but sales did start to pick up over time, and 0:31:35.240 --> 0:31:39.280 and eventually it would it would do really pretty well, um, 0:31:39.320 --> 0:31:42.480 certainly much better than the WEIU, which would launch the 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:44.800 following year. Yeah. So again this is one of those 0:31:44.840 --> 0:31:47.720 long tail kind of approaches and uh and part of 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:50.240 that I think was the fact that the games for 0:31:50.280 --> 0:31:51.800 the three D s started to get more and more 0:31:51.840 --> 0:31:55.800 sophisticated and that helped a lot. Also that same year, 0:31:55.840 --> 0:31:58.120 in two thousand eleven, Sony comes out with a couple 0:31:58.160 --> 0:32:00.960 of things that were big news. One was Experience play 0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:03.760 I remember that at the three as well. People were 0:32:03.760 --> 0:32:08.440 calling it originally the PlayStation phone. Yeah. Yeah, because this 0:32:08.520 --> 0:32:12.480 was another like like the failed Engage uh phone plus 0:32:12.840 --> 0:32:16.800 handheld gaming system. Yeah. It used Android OS originally two well, 0:32:17.360 --> 0:32:21.120 originally two point three, which is gingerbread. It was supposed 0:32:21.240 --> 0:32:23.680 to get an upgrade to ice Cream Sandwich, which is 0:32:23.720 --> 0:32:27.200 Android four point oh. However, Sony did some tests on 0:32:27.240 --> 0:32:29.640 the phone. So Sony Ericsson really I should say, because 0:32:29.640 --> 0:32:32.920 that's the company that actually made the phone. The sub 0:32:32.920 --> 0:32:37.640 company under Sony Sony Ericson made the phone, tested it 0:32:37.840 --> 0:32:40.960 under Android four point oh ice Cream Sandwich and found 0:32:41.000 --> 0:32:43.640 out that it was not very stable, so they ultimately 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:46.720 decided to keep it at two point three, which disappointed 0:32:46.840 --> 0:32:51.720 some consumers. The same year, Sony also launched the PlayStation Vita, 0:32:51.960 --> 0:32:56.160 which is much more successful than the experien play uh yeah, 0:32:56.240 --> 0:33:00.000 flagship handheld device. It's essentially the replacement for the PlayStation 0:33:00.040 --> 0:33:03.400 and portable to PSP. So Vita has an arm based 0:33:03.440 --> 0:33:06.760 to Giga Hurts processors. Let's got some serious firepower under 0:33:06.800 --> 0:33:09.560 the hood compared to other handheld devices. I know, if 0:33:09.600 --> 0:33:14.160 you're you know, talking about your mega awesome gaming PC 0:33:14.360 --> 0:33:17.200 at home, two giga hurt sounds like nothing, but for 0:33:17.240 --> 0:33:20.680 a handheld device at this time, it was really pretty powerful. 0:33:21.040 --> 0:33:23.880 And it was also one of the big features that 0:33:23.960 --> 0:33:27.600 they touted when they launched the Vita was how it 0:33:27.640 --> 0:33:32.280 could interact with PlayStation home consoles. It had two thumbsticks 0:33:32.320 --> 0:33:35.000 for control, had a lot of buttons, had directional pad 0:33:35.040 --> 0:33:38.240 as well, had WiFi and Bluetooth capability, and you could 0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:42.200 also get a more expensive one that had three G capability. 0:33:42.200 --> 0:33:43.840 Of course, you have to get a contract with that. 0:33:45.040 --> 0:33:46.560 All right, guys, we've got a little bit more to 0:33:46.600 --> 0:33:49.000 say about the history of handheld gaming. But first let's 0:33:49.000 --> 0:34:00.400 take another quick break. You can't plug in a PSP 0:34:00.560 --> 0:34:02.520 game and play it. It's not compatible in that sense, 0:34:02.800 --> 0:34:05.720 but you could download PSP games, yes, so you could 0:34:05.720 --> 0:34:08.319 purchase PSP games for download and play them on the 0:34:08.400 --> 0:34:11.160 Vita that way, So it's a digital download as opposed 0:34:11.200 --> 0:34:13.799 to reading the optical discs. The u m D from 0:34:13.800 --> 0:34:17.360 the old PSPs and the launch price was two fifty dollars, 0:34:17.360 --> 0:34:20.319 although it has since dropped in price, so you can 0:34:20.440 --> 0:34:22.920 you can buy one for less than that. Now, that 0:34:23.080 --> 0:34:27.319 is when we started getting into um gaming tablets. Yeah, 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:29.680 which you know again like you could look at something 0:34:29.680 --> 0:34:32.759 like the iPad and you can play games on the iPad, right, 0:34:32.880 --> 0:34:35.279 but it was a more devoted device. Yes, couple of 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:38.880 these were more devoted. Yes, definitely marketed as gaming devices 0:34:38.920 --> 0:34:41.040 as opposed to this is a general purpose tablet that 0:34:41.080 --> 0:34:44.319 can also play games. So yeah, the Arcos game Pad 0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:47.600 is one of those, another Android based game and also 0:34:47.680 --> 0:34:50.399 open source. So this one, if you were to look 0:34:50.440 --> 0:34:52.360 at one, it looks like a tablet that's had to 0:34:52.640 --> 0:34:56.719 controller like handle things fused on the side. We'll be 0:34:56.760 --> 0:34:58.920 talking about another one in a second, but it's the 0:34:59.320 --> 0:35:01.239 razor edge, but that was a little different. I'll get 0:35:01.239 --> 0:35:02.920 to that in a minute. So these look like it's 0:35:02.960 --> 0:35:07.319 actually part of the case itself. Um. And they had thumbsticks, 0:35:07.400 --> 0:35:11.800 directional pad buttons on those little the little game controllers 0:35:11.800 --> 0:35:14.800 that are fused onto it um And uh yeah, it 0:35:14.960 --> 0:35:17.319 was a pretty powerful device. And the fact that it's 0:35:17.360 --> 0:35:19.920 open source is another one of those things that developers 0:35:19.960 --> 0:35:22.600 really love because they have the chance to make stuff 0:35:22.600 --> 0:35:24.759 without having to jump through any hoops. Um. You know, 0:35:24.800 --> 0:35:27.840 like some of the other companies like Nintendo for example, 0:35:28.960 --> 0:35:31.640 obviously they want to have a good control on quality 0:35:32.120 --> 0:35:34.640 because they learned that valuable lesson from way back in 0:35:35.440 --> 0:35:37.800 three with the video game Crash that you don't control quality, 0:35:38.160 --> 0:35:40.880 you flood the market with crappy stuff and then you 0:35:40.920 --> 0:35:44.160 suffer for it. Well, um, you know. The the downside 0:35:44.200 --> 0:35:46.480 to that is that if you're a little independent developer, 0:35:46.719 --> 0:35:48.600 you may not have the resources that you would need 0:35:48.640 --> 0:35:50.480 to make a game for the kind of platform. So 0:35:50.600 --> 0:35:53.800 this is a very attractive alternative, oh sure. And also 0:35:53.880 --> 0:35:57.719 at the time, game development for mobile platforms was was 0:35:57.920 --> 0:36:00.640 in a crazy boom. Um. In fact, the according to 0:36:00.760 --> 0:36:05.399 digital market analysis company app Annie Global iOS, app store 0:36:05.400 --> 0:36:11.160 game expenditures overtook in handhold console game expenditures overall, So 0:36:11.160 --> 0:36:15.040 so the amount of money being spent on on iOS 0:36:15.160 --> 0:36:18.239 Games was way more, or maybe not way more, but 0:36:18.239 --> 0:36:19.960 but it was. It was. It was edging out the 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:23.320 handheld game system. That's that's big news. And again another 0:36:23.400 --> 0:36:25.879 one of those things where the handheld game industry has 0:36:25.920 --> 0:36:29.480 to take notice and say, we have to acknowledge that 0:36:29.560 --> 0:36:34.040 this is sure, especially after Google Play expenditures would do 0:36:34.080 --> 0:36:39.279 the same thing in early Yeah, and that's as as 0:36:39.320 --> 0:36:43.359 pretty eye opening. Also that's when Razor released the Razor Edge, 0:36:43.360 --> 0:36:46.480 another gaming tablet that I have to s Yes, this 0:36:46.520 --> 0:36:49.759 one run on Windows eight, so runs I guess it 0:36:49.800 --> 0:36:52.320 currently still exists, Yes, it does. It does still exist 0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:54.799 Windows eight, so it's a Windows eight machine. Um. And 0:36:54.840 --> 0:36:56.839 you know, again another one of those that that kind 0:36:56.840 --> 0:36:59.600 of splits off from the crowd. It's not Android or 0:37:00.160 --> 0:37:04.120 its own proprietary system and has an Intel processor. Depending 0:37:04.160 --> 0:37:05.480 upon which one you get, it might be an I 0:37:05.600 --> 0:37:08.560 five or an Ice seven, and uh, you know, is 0:37:08.880 --> 0:37:14.280 high resolution, high performance gaming tablet. It also had a 0:37:14.320 --> 0:37:17.440 snap on kind of case, and the snap on case 0:37:17.520 --> 0:37:21.400 had handles on either side that had additional controls to it, 0:37:21.480 --> 0:37:23.680 so it kind of looks like you're holding a steering 0:37:23.719 --> 0:37:26.000 wheel that's missing the top and bottom and the center 0:37:26.000 --> 0:37:27.520 of the steering wheel instead of it being the horn 0:37:27.960 --> 0:37:30.080 is the screen of the tablet, right, So you could 0:37:30.080 --> 0:37:32.600 actually use this and have a game that uses the 0:37:32.640 --> 0:37:36.360 orientation of the tablet as a control like a driving game, 0:37:36.480 --> 0:37:38.880 and then you steer with the two control sticks that 0:37:38.920 --> 0:37:41.279 you have or the control sticks also had you know, 0:37:41.360 --> 0:37:46.080 thumb sticks, button, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Um. Yeah, I got 0:37:46.120 --> 0:37:47.799 to play with one of these at ce S. It 0:37:47.840 --> 0:37:50.520 was actually as funny because it was, as I recall, 0:37:51.280 --> 0:37:56.399 razor originally would just have a representative holding the razor 0:37:56.560 --> 0:37:58.400 edge and showing it off, or it was inside a 0:37:58.400 --> 0:38:01.480 case and so that as as close as you could get. 0:38:01.880 --> 0:38:03.880 But the longer you stayed at c E S, the 0:38:03.960 --> 0:38:06.680 less they seem to care. So if you happen to 0:38:06.719 --> 0:38:08.440 walk up on the last day and say can I 0:38:08.560 --> 0:38:10.240 can I take the closer look at that, they would 0:38:10.239 --> 0:38:13.360 hand it to you and you're like, wow, this is 0:38:13.400 --> 0:38:15.959 pretty awesome. I need to remember to book my stay 0:38:16.000 --> 0:38:17.839 to come at the end of CS and not the 0:38:17.880 --> 0:38:21.720 beginning of c E S. Yeah, so it was neat. Again, 0:38:21.800 --> 0:38:25.120 it's pretty high. It's like a high price uh item. 0:38:25.160 --> 0:38:27.719 It's not one of those that I don't think that 0:38:27.840 --> 0:38:31.080 it's necessarily done a huge amount of business. Yeah, and 0:38:31.280 --> 0:38:33.719 it's gotten some flak for being gimmicky for what it is. 0:38:33.840 --> 0:38:35.839 I mean, you know, for for being as expensive as 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:39.399 it is having a relatively low capacity for what it does. 0:38:39.960 --> 0:38:42.239 Right and and again, like you were saying, I think 0:38:42.280 --> 0:38:46.160 around this time, we're talking about mobile games just taking off. 0:38:46.320 --> 0:38:49.439 Oh yeah, yeah, the the amounts of money that people 0:38:49.480 --> 0:38:52.680 were spending on mobile games had been doubling or even 0:38:52.840 --> 0:38:57.040 quadrupling year over year. Handheld gaming was was also still 0:38:57.080 --> 0:38:59.839 climbing in sales, but by less than ten percent year 0:38:59.840 --> 0:39:03.160 of a year. Um And And by by this point 0:39:03.600 --> 0:39:08.480 I mentioned that that in iOS game expenditures had had 0:39:08.600 --> 0:39:13.240 edged out handheld they were far and away doing the best. 0:39:13.320 --> 0:39:16.719 By this point, the dust in absolutely in the dust. 0:39:16.920 --> 0:39:20.400 Um And one of the advantages I think for for 0:39:20.480 --> 0:39:22.279 mobile games here is that they seem to be way 0:39:22.360 --> 0:39:25.440 less seasonal, way less like a treat or a special 0:39:25.440 --> 0:39:29.479 occasion kind of purchase than handheld games tend to be. Yeah, 0:39:29.560 --> 0:39:31.719 I mean, I can I can imagine like it being 0:39:31.760 --> 0:39:35.640 a real impulse by for one thing, the entire experience 0:39:35.840 --> 0:39:39.920 is digital. You're not buying a physical but are like 0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:42.239 a cartridge. You never have to think about walking into 0:39:42.239 --> 0:39:44.719 a store, going to Amazon or whatever. And granted, a 0:39:44.719 --> 0:39:46.799 lot of the handheld devices these days work on that 0:39:46.880 --> 0:39:50.560 same principle, but but the smartphones just had an advantage 0:39:50.560 --> 0:39:53.759 because that's how they always had done it. So also 0:39:53.840 --> 0:39:56.800 in two thousand thirteen, that's when in Video released The Shield, 0:39:57.000 --> 0:39:59.160 another one of those devices I got to see it's 0:39:59.160 --> 0:40:01.239 the s and another when I got to hold after 0:40:01.560 --> 0:40:04.600 sticking around long enough. Um, this one looks a lot 0:40:04.680 --> 0:40:07.960 like an Xbox controller that has a clamshell screen kind 0:40:07.960 --> 0:40:10.600 of welded onto it, although you know you can't open 0:40:10.640 --> 0:40:13.240 and close the screen. It's not like it's stuck in place. 0:40:13.960 --> 0:40:16.320 A touch screen by the way, Yeah, it's touch screen 0:40:16.520 --> 0:40:19.080 and it can run Android games. So if you ever 0:40:19.200 --> 0:40:22.480 wanted to play an Android game using a actual Xbox controller, 0:40:22.520 --> 0:40:25.160 you could totally do that. Uh and I shouldn't say 0:40:25.200 --> 0:40:27.960 it's an Xbox controller, it just looks like one. But 0:40:28.120 --> 0:40:31.719 it also it also could run streaming games that you're 0:40:31.719 --> 0:40:34.959 streaming from a PC, right right, So yeah, you run 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:36.920 like a PC game, but you want to be able 0:40:36.960 --> 0:40:39.200 to play it in the living room or you want 0:40:39.200 --> 0:40:41.000 to lay down in bed and play this game. You 0:40:41.040 --> 0:40:42.600 don't want to and you don't want to take your 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:46.239 alien wear enormous desktop computer to bed with you because 0:40:46.239 --> 0:40:48.319 it would set the sheets on fire. So you have 0:40:48.360 --> 0:40:51.080 the Nvidios shield instead and just stream the content directly 0:40:51.120 --> 0:40:54.560 to your game, to your your device. And so, yeah, 0:40:54.719 --> 0:40:57.160 it was. It was pretty cool. The launch price was 0:40:57.239 --> 0:40:59.719 three dollars, which a lot of people kind of you know, 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:04.360 ball that it is now down to two, so it 0:41:04.880 --> 0:41:07.799 they have cut the price on it again. One of 0:41:07.840 --> 0:41:11.200 those devices that I think has its devoted followers, but 0:41:11.320 --> 0:41:15.879 it's a niche market. Sure was was a good year 0:41:15.920 --> 0:41:19.239 for downgrading. Really. Nintendo released the two DS the year, 0:41:19.480 --> 0:41:21.520 which is a scaled down version of three D S. 0:41:21.640 --> 0:41:26.160 Yeah it's one D list. Yeah, also doesn't. When I 0:41:26.200 --> 0:41:27.880 first heard of the two D S, I just imagined 0:41:27.920 --> 0:41:29.160 that it was a three D S that had the 0:41:29.239 --> 0:41:31.840 three D stuff removed. But in fact the foreign factor 0:41:31.880 --> 0:41:34.360 itself is a little different. Instead of being a clamshell, 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:37.640 it looks it looks like a tablet that has two screens, 0:41:38.160 --> 0:41:40.520 one screen mounted on top of another with a divider 0:41:40.560 --> 0:41:43.200 in between. And it was marketed to a younger audience. 0:41:43.239 --> 0:41:46.439 I mean, it was definitely its own separate product. Yeah, yeah, 0:41:46.520 --> 0:41:50.280 I know that there are people who question Nintendo's strategy 0:41:50.320 --> 0:41:52.319 with that, but I mean it was really when you 0:41:52.360 --> 0:41:55.080 look at how the Nintendo three DS initially performed, you 0:41:55.080 --> 0:41:58.799 could understand the impetus behind the Sword of Decisions. Sure, 0:41:58.880 --> 0:42:01.719 and Nintendo was also struggling pretty hard. And in this 0:42:01.840 --> 0:42:05.200 general time, they you know that the WEIU was basically 0:42:05.200 --> 0:42:08.520 a flop, and uh they they merged their console and 0:42:08.640 --> 0:42:12.120 handheld teams that year in order to just give anyone 0:42:12.160 --> 0:42:15.640 a boost, or they were pretty desperate, yep, yep. And 0:42:15.800 --> 0:42:19.480 also this most recently three was when we started seeing 0:42:19.520 --> 0:42:23.960 companies like Microsoft and Sony show off the interoperability between 0:42:24.040 --> 0:42:27.319 tablets and their their new consoles, the Xbox One in 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:30.080 the PlayStation four. The idea being that you could use 0:42:30.200 --> 0:42:33.359 a tablet to play a play along with a game 0:42:33.400 --> 0:42:36.040 that's already in the going on in some other format, 0:42:36.239 --> 0:42:38.840 ye to have a second screen for mini games or 0:42:38.920 --> 0:42:42.480 side information, or you have just a totally different, um, 0:42:42.520 --> 0:42:45.239 a totally different function to fulfill in the team. Right. 0:42:45.280 --> 0:42:47.400 So the one that I kept on seeing over and 0:42:47.440 --> 0:42:50.399 over again was let's say it's a squad based kind 0:42:50.440 --> 0:42:53.240 of game where you've got four or five people playing 0:42:53.400 --> 0:42:56.560 on an Xbox on their Xbox one with their controllers 0:42:56.560 --> 0:42:59.160 and everything, and then you have another member who's using 0:42:59.200 --> 0:43:03.560 the tablet as a tactical uh kind of interface, so 0:43:03.600 --> 0:43:07.600 they're coordinating. They're saying, okay, uh, you know, Uni, bravo, 0:43:07.680 --> 0:43:10.160 you need to advance two feet and then turn left, 0:43:10.200 --> 0:43:12.640 you know. So they could actually kind of be extra 0:43:12.719 --> 0:43:15.600 set of eyes, which I thought was a really cool idea. 0:43:16.080 --> 0:43:19.520 I have yet to see that in action in a 0:43:19.560 --> 0:43:21.800 way that really has grabbed me, but I love that. 0:43:22.000 --> 0:43:25.520 I love the concept. Yeah, justin it's a really good application. 0:43:25.560 --> 0:43:28.719 That killer app. It's got to have that killer app. 0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:31.520 So yeah, this is kind of bringing us up to today. 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:34.560 We talked about how Nintendo has been really kind of struggling. 0:43:34.560 --> 0:43:38.120 There's been rumors about them getting into some form of 0:43:38.640 --> 0:43:43.200 partnerships with phones. Yeah, they're so so they've been operating 0:43:43.200 --> 0:43:45.160 at a loss for a solid two years in a 0:43:45.239 --> 0:43:47.880 row as of as of when we're recording this podcast 0:43:47.880 --> 0:43:52.919 in I'm late February to be specific. Um, and it's 0:43:52.960 --> 0:43:58.000 it's sounding like they're they're considering developing like device hardware 0:43:58.040 --> 0:44:01.200 that will help link their handheld and sold markets and 0:44:01.360 --> 0:44:05.480 focusing on that rather than trying to port their games 0:44:05.560 --> 0:44:11.319 and characters to existing smartphone experiences. And Nintendo has a 0:44:11.560 --> 0:44:15.799 reputation for really wanting to control everything about the experience, 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:18.680 so I can understand why they would be reluctant to say, 0:44:18.760 --> 0:44:21.719 license their characters or to port their games over to 0:44:21.920 --> 0:44:24.680 a platform they don't have control over, which is what 0:44:24.760 --> 0:44:28.040 would happen if they created You know, Super Mario for 0:44:28.200 --> 0:44:31.520 iOS doesn't stop people from trying to create clone games 0:44:31.560 --> 0:44:34.320 of it, but certainly not and and emulators do exist. Yeah, 0:44:34.400 --> 0:44:36.960 but you can understand why Nintendo says, no, we want 0:44:37.000 --> 0:44:39.560 to be able to make sure that our players have 0:44:39.719 --> 0:44:42.200 the best experience possible. Now you can debate on whether 0:44:42.280 --> 0:44:44.359 or not, you know, how successful they are in their 0:44:44.360 --> 0:44:47.279 own right on doing that, but there's no debate on 0:44:47.320 --> 0:44:49.320 the fact that if you don't have control the platform, 0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:53.000 you can't make that guarantee at all. So that's their idea. 0:44:53.040 --> 0:44:55.400 And then also finally kind of wrapping this up, and 0:44:55.440 --> 0:44:57.799 those some of the most recent news you have this 0:44:57.880 --> 0:45:01.960 about a a Samsung device right right, it's called the 0:45:02.000 --> 0:45:03.759 game pad right right now, I think it's only in 0:45:03.800 --> 0:45:06.640 Germany and Korea, but they're planning on rolling it out worldwide. 0:45:06.680 --> 0:45:10.560 I believe it's a It's a Bluetooth smartphone accessory, which 0:45:10.600 --> 0:45:13.319 I think is really interesting because because again going back 0:45:13.320 --> 0:45:16.040 to the fact that mobile apps are really overtaking other 0:45:16.120 --> 0:45:18.560 forms of handheld gaming, and it lets you it lets 0:45:18.560 --> 0:45:22.120 you dock your device in in this controller plus screen 0:45:22.160 --> 0:45:26.680 holder thing. You're you're not literally docking, You're not connecting, 0:45:26.680 --> 0:45:30.560 You're not connecting the device to this stuff only via Bluetooth. 0:45:30.560 --> 0:45:33.120 Only via Bluetooth, right, um and and it turns your 0:45:33.160 --> 0:45:37.040 phone into a handheld Android based gaming system. You can 0:45:37.120 --> 0:45:41.320 use any Android based phone or many Android based phones anyway, 0:45:41.360 --> 0:45:43.799 as long as they have appropriate Bluetooth connectivity. They don't 0:45:43.800 --> 0:45:46.759 just have to be Samsung's um and and and there 0:45:46.760 --> 0:45:49.319 are plenty of other products on the market that have 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:51.640 done similar stuff. I know that, like Logitech has one 0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:56.400 for for iOS SUM or iPhones. Specifically, it would have 0:45:56.440 --> 0:46:01.040 to be much larger to accommodate uh iPad um. But 0:46:01.640 --> 0:46:04.239 I just thought it was interesting that it was being 0:46:04.320 --> 0:46:08.400 offered by a device company and and therefore kind of 0:46:08.440 --> 0:46:11.840 being this entry into the market that's like, hey, uh yeah, 0:46:12.160 --> 0:46:15.960 maybe ignore those handheld gaming devices over there and really 0:46:16.040 --> 0:46:19.840 just turn turn your phone into your new gaming device. Yeah, 0:46:20.000 --> 0:46:21.759 especially if that means they can get in on the 0:46:21.760 --> 0:46:25.839 peripheral side and not have the burden of producing a 0:46:25.880 --> 0:46:29.560 full handheld system that could totally tank in the marketplace. 0:46:29.600 --> 0:46:31.480 Oh sure, exactly. I mean, and it's only I think 0:46:31.480 --> 0:46:34.160 it's only like ninety bucks or thereabouts and in the 0:46:34.200 --> 0:46:39.160 equivalent euro got gotcha. So we might see that expand beyond. 0:46:39.200 --> 0:46:42.400 And uh, they'll be interesting to see how handheld gaming 0:46:42.400 --> 0:46:44.239 progresses from here. There are a lot of people who 0:46:44.280 --> 0:46:48.600 still predict that smartphones will essentially obliterate handheld gaming, and 0:46:48.640 --> 0:46:51.000 the only the only people that will are the only 0:46:51.000 --> 0:46:53.600 companies that remain will be the open source ones that 0:46:53.640 --> 0:46:56.399 are cattering to a very specific niche audience. So they're 0:46:56.400 --> 0:46:58.640 doing it on a much more modest basis. They're not 0:46:58.680 --> 0:47:01.920 they're not producing millions and millions of units. They might 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:05.600 be producing maybe a hundred thousand. But we'll have to see, 0:47:05.719 --> 0:47:07.839 because yeah, I could I don't know, I could see 0:47:07.840 --> 0:47:09.759 some systems kind of kind of going away. But I 0:47:09.800 --> 0:47:13.440 would be really personally sad if Nintendo didn't have an 0:47:13.600 --> 0:47:17.040 active handheld on the market. Yeah, well, especially seeing as 0:47:17.040 --> 0:47:20.000 how they've struggled so much with the the home with 0:47:20.040 --> 0:47:23.920 the consoles. Consoles, yeah recently so in anyway, that is 0:47:24.000 --> 0:47:27.799 the history of the handheld electronic gaming device. Like we said, 0:47:27.880 --> 0:47:30.960 we didn't mention in everything that's out there, certainly not 0:47:31.160 --> 0:47:33.239 if we missed one of your favorites. Here's what you 0:47:33.239 --> 0:47:34.839 can do. You can send us a message and say, hey, 0:47:34.920 --> 0:47:36.560 Lauren and Jonathan, I know you didn't have time to 0:47:36.640 --> 0:47:39.759 mention x handheld gaming console, but it's really cool and 0:47:39.800 --> 0:47:42.480 here's why. And here's a picture of me with my 0:47:42.719 --> 0:47:45.600 ex gaming console and here's a list of my favorite 0:47:45.600 --> 0:47:48.600 games for EX gaming console. That's the way to do it. 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.480 Don't say you guys are stupid because you didn't mention 0:47:51.600 --> 0:47:55.000 the blah blah blah, because that's that's the email equivalent 0:47:55.120 --> 0:47:57.960 of unplugging someone's controller when they're in the middle of 0:47:58.000 --> 0:48:01.080 a really good a bout of I like like punch out. 0:48:01.960 --> 0:48:04.640 And that wraps up that classic episode of tech stuff. 0:48:04.640 --> 0:48:07.759 Hope you guys enjoyed it. I do hope that I 0:48:07.840 --> 0:48:12.640 can go back and revisit this, maybe do another intrigue 0:48:12.680 --> 0:48:15.560 into the series, or you know, I tend to do 0:48:15.600 --> 0:48:17.600 things a little differently now than I did a few 0:48:17.680 --> 0:48:20.759 years ago. So maybe I'll even like take a much 0:48:20.960 --> 0:48:24.920 deeper dive into handheld gaming. Who knows. If you guys 0:48:24.960 --> 0:48:27.320 have interest in that, or if there's some other topic 0:48:27.360 --> 0:48:29.120 you would love for me to cover on tech Stuff, 0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:31.759 reach out and let me know. The best way to 0:48:31.800 --> 0:48:34.840 do that is over on Twitter, where we use to 0:48:34.880 --> 0:48:37.640 handle tech stuff hs W and I'll talk to you 0:48:37.680 --> 0:48:46.520 again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 0:48:46.760 --> 0:48:49.600 For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 0:48:49.680 --> 0:48:52.920 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:48:52.960 --> 0:48:53.880 your favorite shows.