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Possible new PlayStation Portal model pays homage to the Vita's OLED

While much of the focus on PlayStation's next steps is the PS6 and PS6 Portable , the two-year old PlayStation Portal could be getting a revamp according to those pesky internet rumours.  Update : Hints at pricing are around £/$250-299 for the new model, but everything remains deeply in rumours territory. Presumably the goal is to hit the 10% (currently 7%-ish) adoption rate among PS5 owners, something that would make it a bone fide hit gadget.   The recent February  PlayStation State of Play  saw no announcement. But, PlayStation needs to make Portal more a core member of the PS5 family, rather than the distant cousin that most of its appearances suggest.  As the improvement in connectivity and streaming tech, proven by many gamers enjoying their PS5 or PlayStation Plus streamed content from around the world, an updated Portal Pro could be on the cards.  Possibly featuring a 120Hz display and an OLED screen in honour of the mighty Vita, that'd be coo...

Starlight EU beta codes heading out the docking bay

Since the Vita will never enjoy the blistering scenes of Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen, its time to see if the money invested in Starlight Inception from Escape Hatch is worth it. The EU beta codes are being sent out now to those who backed the $150,000 project (one of whom is me).



I'll post some impressions, but there are plenty floating about from the US beta (see video). I'm not getting overly carried away given its tiny budget and team compared to its rivals and the fact its still a beta. Just a fun space shooter will do me fine thanks!

UPDATE: My beta feedback

Unless there's a major visual upgrade on the way, ditch the briefing meeting scenes. It looks ugly, does nothing to advance the plot that can't be done from the cockpit and doesn't paint a good first impression.

In flight dialogue: Like it! Just sci-fi-corny enough to get away with it.

Fighter controls: Nice and lose, fun to fly, a bit juddery near the captial ships but manageable.

Targeting: Touchscreen control to pick from multiple on-screen targets please.

Explosions: Add a check so if a small ship explodes close to you there's only a tiny (or the first part of the) explosion effect, a full-screen near explosion for a dinky fighter seems rather excessive and seemed to kill the frame rate if really close.

Music and game effects: Like the meaty weapon fire and thrust sounds, music suitably atmospheric. Some nice hull-on-hull clangs would help.

Landing: While I liked landing the first time, tell me there's an auto-land option so you don't have to do that at the end of each mission?

Radar and missile sub-displays: Are they really needed? Is there an option to turn them off? Didn't find myself noticing them at all, especially with duplicate information elsewhere on the screen.

Options wheel: Activate by holding the rear touch panel?

On the plus side, no crashes, no getting stuck of mission breaking that I can find.

Other than that, based on the shortness of the demo, that's all I have to offer. There's a few quirks, its nice to know I can blow the turrets off my own mothership without reprimand among others, but I'd happily play this if the full story is fast-paced and engaging enough. Oh, and no damn escort missions please!

Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


Any news or interview requests, please contact psp2roundup@gmail.com Please note, As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.