Commentary, News

So Sony is Bringing Back the Wii U Now?

Posted by Hatm0nster on

There were quite a few announcements at the recent PlayStation Summer Games Showcase. Some were awesome like the reveal of Dragon’s Dogma II, and some, like the announcement of Phantom Blade 0 were just kind of there. Then there’s Sony’s “Project Q,” which just seems baffling. At first glance, it looks like Sony’s answer to the Switch and the Steam Deck: something that PlayStation fans would actually be quite excited about. BUT, that’s not what it is. Instead of an independent handheld device, what Sony is making is much more akin to the Wii U: Nintendo’s failed console from 2012. Project Q is not exactly the same thing, but it’s close enough for one to wonder what exactly Sony’s thinking here.

Video from YouTube channel: IGN

At the reveal, Project Q was revealed to be a device meant for streaming PS5 games over WIFI via Remote Play. It’s mobile, but still requires a PS5 to function. Further, one wonders just how far it can go from its host PS5 before gameplay starts suffering due to connectivity issues. PS5 games aren’t exactly simple things, so it stands to reason that they would require a lot of data and a fast connection speed in order to stream properly.

Also, your PS5 has to be on in order to stream via Remote Play, right? Wouldn’t that mean that you’d have to turn the thing on and leave it on in order to use Project Q while you’re out somewhere?

This is all to say that it doesn’t sound like something that’s really meant to be used on the go. At least with the Switch and Steam Deck games can be stored locally so that you don’t have to rely on the internet in order to play. Project Q does not (yet) seem to have any such capability.

As it stands, it looks like a peripheral intended to be used in close proximity to its host PS5. Like you’d probably still be in the house when using it. This begs the question though: if you’re still at home, why wouldn’t you jut play on your PS5 instead? So yeah, I don’t get what the point of this device is. Do you?

What do you think of this? Do you see some sort of utility?

Image from the Project Q reveal video