Topic: PlayStation Portal -OT-

@LtSarge oh, for sure that has to be the next big upgrade, then. Or at least well in the works, if possible. Probably a few things to work out with how the license functions on the cloud when it's not your console logged in though. Some sort of account based gateway to the servers that stream each individual game that isn't part of the PS Plus Premium service
with only certain accounts let in if they have the license check up to date. The more I think, the more it sounds like a big nuisance to sort out and integrate actually 🙈

It definitely seems like a device that has and will improve over the years too, so props to Sony for going for it. They might accidentally have stumbled on a product that will do everything Xbox wanted to do with their handheld gaming aspirations simply by having it out in the public's hands for a lot longer while other aspects get developed for it, like being able to play your own games. What could Xbox actually add to that medium, other than a few Xbox based games lists/game pass if Sony keep developing the Portal and cloud gaming at this rate.

@Ravix Yeah, the Portal streaming has been really, really great. It’s not perfect, and I do have occasional lag and even have had to log out and then back in a couple times. I think it might have to do with my internet though, which in general is good but must have been having problems the other day because after a few episodes of lag, I switched over from my fiber WiFi to my cell phone Hotspot and the streaming was actually better and more stable. 😅. Which makes no sense because I have like 500 MB download speed on my WiFi. Not sure what my cell phone internet speed is but I’m sure it’s not that! But the good news is, the Portal streaming was pretty flawless on a mobile hotspot! So that means potentially you can play PS5 games via cloud streaming from almost anywhere that you have a decent cell signal. You could be camping at the lake and play Witcher 3 in your tent!

@Ravix To go with your bed of PS5 Pro's you will now have some Portal pillows.

@JohnnyShoulder I hadn't made my mind up yet, but now that you put it like that it does sound comfortable 😛

So, I noticed something and was wondering if you all are seeing the same thing —

When streaming from the cloud onto my Portal, screen captures are being automatically taken of my trophies, even though I have turned off that function on my PS5. Also, the screenshots don’t appear on my PS5, I can’t find them in my media files there; The place I discovered them is on the PS mobile app on my iPhone. There’s that section of the app where you can have all the your PS5 screen captures automatically uploaded to the app for 14 days. Well, I have screencaps there of the trophies I’ve earned while cloud streaming on my Portal over the last 14 days. It looks like games played via direct stream from the PS5 do not auto capture trophy shots.

It’s just a weird glitch/feature, I guess. Sony has said that you can’t capture video or screenshots while cloud streaming to the Portal, but I guess that doesn’t count for these auto-captures. And also it’s obviously on by default and doesn’t sync with your preferences on PS5, since I’ve disabled trophy shots on my system.

Have you all noticed the same thing?

@Th3solution Interesting, I didn't know that screencaps when earning trophies are still taken. It makes sense though that the device doesn't recognise your settings for captures on PS5 considering you don't need a PS5 to use the cloud streaming feature on Portal.

My midnight black portal came on Thursday and my carry case, screen protectors etc came yesterday. Unfortunately I ****ed up both attempts at installing the screen protectors. The first one had a particle of something trapped and the second an air bubble that simply would not escape (even though it was at the perimeter of the screen).

I’ve ordered some more but if I’m still having issues, I’m just gonna go ‘bareback’ 😏 (which, as someone who is incredibly risk-averse, fills me with anxiety)

@graymamba So how is your Portal experience going? Are you becoming a Portal zealot like the rest of us?

I was playing Crisis Core on my Portal just now and remembered that you got one and wanted to see what you think of the device.

I have very few complaints with the design other than the plugs for the USB charger and headphone jack are awkwardly placed. The unit feels great in the hands, and is 90% of the DualSense experience. The streaming quality for me has been good, although there’s occasional lag and it’s by no means perfect, so playing on PS5 is still the best experience most of the time. But as I’ve mentioned before, some games I actually prefer to play on the Portal. What have you tried?

@Th3solution I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t even turned the thing on yet. I am one of those people that will only actually use something when I need to use it and at the moment I’ve been gaming on my ps4 with Uncharted 2 and Darksiders.

I’m booking a long weekend away at a spa resort for the missus upcoming birthday, so that will be the first real test for the portal. I’ll probably get it all up and running the night before and then take it with me to hotel. We’re lucky that we have this place on our basically doorstep. It’s a top-tier 5 star resort and only around 15 miles away. It’ll be great if I’m able to get on and game while the missus is busy with whatever it actually is that women do at these places 😅

@graymamba I look forward to reading your impressions. I do think you should give it a test run, at least the day before since there a little set up involved. It’s not very difficult, but there should be a firmware update for the Portal you’ll need to do upon launch, which will take a little time, as well as the syncing to your PS5. I don’t anticipate that you’ll have any problems but it’s definitely not something you’ll have time to do last minute as Mrs. Mamba is trying to get you out the door.

You’ll also have to figure out your charging situation, since they don’t include a plug. I think it comes with a USB to USB-C cable just like the PS5 comes with, but it doesn’t have a brick that plugs into the wall, unless it’s different over in the UK. I’m able to use the same plug that I charge my DualSense and Pulse Headset with, but if you use a charging station or your PS5 itself then you’ll need to find a outlet adapter compatible with it, which the Apple iPhone ones for some reason are not, at least not in my experience.

And you’ll of course need to download any potential games you want to try onto your PS5, put in the disc for any game you may want to play, leave the console in rest mode, etc… Unless you have PS+ Premium and plan to just cloud stream. But for PS5 streaming, I find the experience is quite a bit better with the console hardwired to the router. There’s other tips online about router settings if you find it’s laggy, but I discovered the main fix for me was to hardwire an Ethernet connection; my set up at home has been WiFi connection traditionally, just because of the physical location of the router and PS5 being so far apart. But I bought a long Ethernet cable and can connect that way when I need to. This has worked for me but I know others have suggested the wall outlet conversion devices, if that’s an obstacle.

Sounds like a nice place too! I assume a 5-star resort will have decent WiFi for you and it will make for a relaxing getaway for both you and the wife.

@Th3solution yeah I was quite surprised that it didn’t come with a plug but I did order one that can plug the charging cable into… I also ordered a charging dock to but that would be more for in the house than while travelling.

I’m still umming-and-ahhing over what I’ll install specifically for portal use. I’m thinking it could be the perfect opportunity to finally make a start on Vampire Survivors as that would probably suit the portable aspect. I was also gonna install Deliver me the Moon and … Mars as they could be quite a relaxed experience to get used to the smaller screen etc.

The thing is though… none of them are in my schedule! 😅 So I was having a look at which games are scheduled and how I think they’d be impacted by the screen and any potential lag and I though that PGA 2K23 might be a good shout… though it would probably make more sense to play one of the actual golf courses at the resort if I’m honest 🫠

@graymamba It sounds like you’re well prepared.
All of those options would be good Portal games, although I’ve never played a PGA game. I played Vampire Survivors on the mobile phone and it fit nicely there, so I assume it would be good on the Portal. (As an aside, I think the platinum is a beast on that game if I recall correctly) I played 80% of Deliver Us the Moon on Portal and it worked great.

This is a rehash of what I had mentioned before, but I did play a little of Spider-Man 2 on Portal and it was perfectly serviceable, so you don’t necessarily have to limit yourself from action-heavy games. The games are going to run at 60 fps if applicable, so unless you get lag, it feels smooth enough. Spidey wasn’t a problem because it wasn’t a very difficult game and there’s a flow-state to the combat where I could still be successful even if I happened to get a laggy hiccup during combat, but for a Souls-like or difficult action game where a millisecond is the difference between life and death, it’s not ideal. Also, the really beautiful 4K showpiece games are still going to be better with a big screen, just because of the spectacle of it all. I really love Balatro on it. And Crisis Core has been really great too, as well as Gris which I just finished.

As we were discussing schedules earlier, I have taken the Portal into consideration when I created my schedule, so that I have a good Portal game also going at any given time in parallel to another console game. And in the case of some of the larger time-sinks, I’d planned to split game time between the two devices, depending.

I think you’ll find a niche for the device in your schedule. Something that’s not too narratively intense like Vampire Survivors should be a good one that you can sit with the missus on the couch and play while she watches one of her TV shows that you don’t have much interest in and just want to be hanging out with her. PGA would probably be another good one for those situations. Story-heavy games or games that require a large amount of your attention and concentration will be harder to be there in the moment while trying to pretend to pay attention to whatever it is she is watching. 😅

Did you also get the Pulse Explore Earbuds by any chance? I don’t have them and so I just plug in some old fashioned earbuds with a jack. It’s less elegant, for sure, but I haven’t wanted to cough up the $200 for the proprietary wireless connecting tech. The device is not compatible with Bluetooth headphones, as you probably are aware. The device’s speaker is perfectly passable if you are by yourself though.

@Th3solution yeah I think dedicating a schedule-slot to a portal-specific game per month (or two) could be a good idea actually. Might mean that I’ll have to retool my current schedule… but wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to do that 😅.

I didn’t get the Pulse Earbuds as I couldn’t really justify the expense… well I could’ve I suppose but I just felt a pair or wired buds were so cheap in comparison that I’d take the wire trade-off if you get me.

I’m definitely looking forward to giving it a go but I do think I’m gonna save my first foray for our trip (I say trip but it’s just down the road 😄)… but I will take your advice and get it all up and running a night or two before to iron-out any issues. Cheers for the pointers sol, much appreciated 🫡

@breakneck I’m not sure, but in my experience the initial connection should be while the PS5 is fully on (white light), and I do think it may need to be on the same WiFi. I’m not sure about that though. But each time I’ve synced with my PS5, I’ve had it fully on, then the TV will show a little message saying “Connected via Remote Play” and the DualSense will shut off and the Portal will be controlling the PS5 at that point. After that, when the PS5 is put into rest mode (Orange light), the Portal is able to wake the PS5 up from rest mode whenever and be immediately connected. I don’t know if it’s possible to have the initial connection be on a different WiFi at a different location.

I did run into this issue, as I think my home WiFi must have had automatic refresh or update or something in the last several days because last night, despite my PS5 in the other room being in rest mode and connected to the same internet, my Portal couldn’t connect. It still showed as “paired” to my PS5’s ID, but it wouldn’t connect and wake my PS5. So I had to get out of bed walk into the other room and manually turn on my PS5 and establish a connection to my Portal again (which it did right away without issue) and then it’s been working fine again. What that suggests to me is the connective sync of the two needs to be done with the machine on and presumably on the same WiFi, and that periodically syncing may have to be re-established (?) if the router has had a reboot or update or something.

As this happened to me last night I thought about how annoyed I would be if I went for a trip and when I got there I couldn’t wake up my console remotely and connect. Fortunately, I don’t travel much.

As an aside, the cloud streaming was working fine even when I couldn’t connect to my PS5.

So the big portal unveiling for me tomorrow… still haven’t even plugged the thing in yet but the missus and I are away for her birthday this weekend and I’ll be setting everything up tomorrow morning. Although I was initially thinking about a Portal-specific game to launch my portable-experience… I’m just gonna crack on with Lords of the Fallen as I’m into that rn. Looking forward to trying it out!

@graymamba
Happy birthday to your good lady, have a splendid weekend away and don’t take your Portal out when you go out for dinner as she won’t want to see you glancing down every few seconds and you twiddling your thumbs under the table.

@graymamba wow, you’re going to give it the full stress test with a Soulslike! I hope to hear good news about your Portal experience! (And your vacation) 😄

@CaptD @Th3solution cutting it a bit fine as we’re leaving in 1hr 20mins and just got the portal out of its box 🤣

@graymamba don't forget to leave the console in rest mode 🙈

(Sol went into detail, never mind)

@CaptD @Th3solution @Ravix all done… had a real issue actually connecting to my ps5 but after rebooting my router it eventually connected.

While I’m pretty intent on carrying on with Lords of the Fallen, if there are any latency issues etc., I’ve installed a fair few less demanding games on my ps5 as a back up plan.

Have a great weekend guys 🍻