Portable Gaming

Why just buy a gift card for games, if you can buy an actual handheld gaming console which is (roughly) the same shape and size? That's the thinking behind the Raspberry-Pi-packin' GamerCard, which has an interesting pedigree.

Back in the very early days of home computers, onscreen imagery was a bit rubbish so text-based adventure games ruled the gaming roost. The Ink Console is aiming to rekindle this retro vibe by combining an e-reader with a gaming platform.

Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 gaming console looks, um... awfully similar to the original that launched 8 years ago. But we spotted several nifty updates in the teaser video the company released; here's what you can look forward to.

Back in 2015, developer Kevin Bates launched a credit-card-sized open-source 8-bit gaming system on Kickstarter called the Arduboy for folks with keen eyesight to play, create and share free games. Now an even smaller version has landed.

This handheld games console aims to get kids up off the sofa and out into the real world, where they can continue staring at screens and playing video games. It's Pokemon 3D meets the Wii controller – but minus the expensive intellectual property.

Back in February, China's Nubia unleashed a beast of a gaming smartphone called the Redmagic 7. Now the company has turned things up to ludicrous for the Pro version, which comes with a dedicated gaming chip to help ease the main processing load.

Asus impressed us back in March with a gaming smartphone boasting "the sort of screen, specs and features that are way beyond what the average consumer is going to need." Now two more powerful models have been added to the ROG Phone 5 family.

The Nintendo Switch is a nifty concept, but arguably underpowered and lacking in game variety. Valve is now having a crack at it with the Steam Deck, a handheld gaming console that can play your existing Steam library on the go or on a big screen.

Nintendo has the monopoly on hybrid home/portable gaming consoles, but soon you could take your Xbox Series S on the road too. The xScreen is a plug-in accessory currently on Kickstarter that turns Microsoft’s console into a kind of chunky laptop.

After much online chatter, Nintendo has finally announced a new member of its portable handheld gaming family. The Switch (OLED model) boasts a vibrant 7-inch screen, more built-in storage, and comes with a dock sporting a wired LAN port.

As a way of demonstrating advances in energy and where they might lead us, a team of researchers has built a Game Boy that requires no battery, instead powering itself from a combination of solar energy and the user’s interactions with the device.

If you're not aware, Sega has been in business 60 years this week. To celebrate the occasion, the Japanese video game giant is releasing one of its classic consoles in miniature format. Say hello to the Game Gear Micro.