6 Hottest Portable Gaming Devices of 2013

Within a short time, the future of gaming has shifted from the arcade to the TV then straight into our hands. While devices keep coming from the big names in gaming, many indie developers and designers now have the opportunity to bring their ideas to fruition through crowdfunding.

Razer Switchblade

iPad games may be a hit with casual gamers young and old, however hardcore and professional gamers are spoilt for choice with a wider selection of smaller, lighter yet more powerful devices to play their favorite games on these days. We are going to look at 7 of the latest and greatest portable gaming devices and consoles that 2013 has to offer.

1. NVIDIA SHIELD

The NVIDIA SHIELD is a revolutionary product that redefines how games can be played. The technology enables you to stream games from your PC to the device, over Wi-Fi. Via cloud gaming, users can now play high-performance PC games even though they are not supported on portable devices (yet).

Nvidia Shield

The controller and built-in speakers on the NVIDIA SHIELD give gamers the full gaming experience, and you don’t have to be stuck in front of your PC to experience it. SHIELD also supports Android games as the 720p 5-inch touchscreen acts like a tablet, and just like a tablet, it has 16GB of storage, supports MicroSD cards and can be charged with a Micro USB port. [$299]

2. Razer Edge Pro

Gamers would know about Razer, a gaming peripheral company that has influenced the scene for a long time. They recently started making mobile devices, still keeping hardcore gamers as their target audience. The Razer Edge Pro is a 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet that can support most of today’s high-performance PC games.

Razer Edge Pro

It is powered with an Intel i7 Processor, NVIDIA 640M Graphics, 8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB Solid State Drive. Because of its crazy hardware however, it’s a bit heavy (over 900g or 2lbs), can get quite hot and will set you back about a grand. The gamepad pictured above is also sold separately. [$1299.99 + $249.99]

3. Razer Blade Pro

Not a fan of tablet gaming? Well, opt for the Razer Blade Pro gaming laptop instead. The unique selling point here is the Switchblade interface that replaces the traditional numpad. The Switchblade interface is a fully customizable LCD Track panel which can dislay game info, plus 10 buttons that can be programmed with the gamer’s favorite hotkeys.

Razer Blade Pro

The aluminium body laptop houses a lot of powerful hardware: i7 Quad Core Processor, NVIDIA 765M Graphics, 8GB RAM, 128/256/512GB Solid State Drive, front facing webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth together with a backlit keyboard for gaming in the dark. [$2299 – $2799]

4. GameStick

Here is a successful Kickstarter project that can be plugged into the HDMI port of your TV for a gaming session. The games you’ll find in this USB flash-drive-like device are Android based. A single GameStick can support up to 4 controllers, connected via Bluetooth, giving you a multiplayer experience with your friends.

GameStick

Games are stored in its built-in 8GB storage with the option of adding a 32GB Micro SD card for even more games. It’s also very portable as the HDMI-stick fits into the Bluetooth controller, so you can bring it wherever you go, with ease. [$79.99]

5. Wikipad

Although the Wikipad is a tablet, one thing sets it apart from other tablets. Out of the box, it comes with a controller dock where the 7-inch tablet sits in. Its NVIDIA Tegra 3 mobile processor delivers powerful performance and beautiful graphics.

Wikipad

It also comes with 16GB of storage, a front camera 1280×800 display and Android 4.1. It’s not very pricey for a decent tablet, but if you think about it, you’re really paying for a full-featured controller to play all your Android games on. [$249.99]

6. PISTON Console

It’s mind boggling how this 4-inch console can have a 3.2 GHz AMD Processor, Radeon 7000-series Graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB Solid State Drive. To add to that, the PISTON console can also support up to 3 monitors.

Xi3 Piston

The idea of this box is that it works like a (very) mini-PC that supports operating systems like Windows, Linux and a few others. Its size makes it very portable, allowing you to plug it into a hotel TV for busy people who still want to game on the go. Expect a release at the end of 2013. Controllers not included. [$999]

Make This Happen!

This one is a concept design worth mentioning (because we really, really want to see it happen).

The Razer Switchblade is a hybrid of a laptop and handheld gaming device. Instead of using a traditional keyboard, the Razer Switchblade will have fully customizable buttons which can be programmed by the player. Each button can also show its own icon as it’s a small LCD.

Razer Switchblade

The idea is for gamers to be able to play any PC game without the need of a full-sized keyboard since the keyboard has too many buttons anyways. Here’s hoping that the developers are still working on getting this commercialized.


    

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