SMACH Z [Official Site], the gaming handheld that will give you the option of running either Linux or Windows (Windows costs extra) is heading to E3 this year. Hopefully they will have a few fully-working and complete units to show.
Details right now are quite light, as they haven't sent any special press info out that I am aware of. Their own newsroom on their website hasn't been updated since September last year and their Twitter is also rather quiet. However, they did slip out this video below today:
Direct Link
I genuinely hope this is a properly real device that's actually going to work out, as it could help push a few more to make comparable devices. Imagine a small revolution of gaming handhelds that let you just boot up whatever you have on Steam—that idea is why I want SMACH Z to actually succeed.
Quite expensive though, the top-end model costs more (without the current pre-order discount) than the full Valve Index kit and I know which one I would prefer…
Quoting: ArehandoroQuoting: BeamboomThe market for small dedicated handheld gaming devices. That market died right after the PSP.
20 million of Nintendo Switch owners don't agree with that statement.
Haha - excellent point. But really, Nintendo exist in a dimension of their own. There's no other company on the face of this earth who can operate like Nintendo with their insanely strong IPs. No other console maker could launch an as dramatically underpowered console as the Wii and get away with it, or sell that much. and no other handheld gaming machine from any company other than Nintendo has survived the last decade.
This here is no Nintendo console.
Quoting: Beamboom[...] But really, Nintendo exist in a dimension of their own. There's no other company on the face of this earth who can operate like Nintendo with their insanely strong IPs. No other console maker could launch an as dramatically underpowered console as the Wii and get away with it, or sell that much. [...]I don't think the "underpowered" aspect was really all that important, though I agree that the IPs are. It isn't about the IP itself though, but rather the casual and family-friendly reputation, which in turn makes the specs arms-race less relevant to Nintendo. With the Wii, the focus was on pioneering or refining input methods, that make the platform relevant outside for people who otherwise wouldn't be interested in consoles at all. With the Switch, that tradition is continued, but adding the "handheld hybrid" capabilities.
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