A pair of glasses that puts a 171-inch screen in front of your eyes. An AI that can watch along while you play. And a handheld that looks like it came straight out of the 90s.
Gaming is changing fast. But not everything is moving in the same direction. Some companies are coming up with completely new technology, while others are bringing back the feeling of gaming from years ago.
ASUS ROG XREAL R1
The ASUS ROG XREAL R1 is an XR headset that you can use as a virtual display. It features Micro-OLED displays with a refresh rate of up to 240Hz. ASUS says the virtual screen can feel like a massive 171-inch display.
It's especially interesting when paired with a handheld. You don't need a large monitor or TV. Your handheld runs the game while the glasses put the image right in front of your eyes. So you can play on a small handheld while looking at what feels like a huge screen.
Would I personally want to play with these glasses for hours? I'm not sure. 😅 But I can definitely see the appeal for gaming on the go. Carrying around a large monitor isn't exactly practical.
Razer AVA
Razer is also trying to make AI a bigger part of gaming with Razer AVA. AVA is designed as an AI gaming assistant. You could ask it how to beat a boss, which build to use, or where you should go next.
Razer also wants to make AVA more active. The idea is for the AI to do more than simply answer questions and eventually interact with your game in more ways. That could be pretty useful for RPGs.
Personally, though, I wouldn't use it for every game. Part of the fun is figuring things out yourself. If an AI tells you exactly what to do every time you come across a difficult boss, the game is obviously going to become a lot easier.
Razer Project Motoko
With Project Motoko, Razer is taking things a step further. The idea is a headset with cameras that can see what you see. This could allow an AI to better understand what's happening while you're gaming.
Stuck somewhere? The AI could potentially just look along with you. That sounds useful, but there's also a pretty big downside: privacy. A headset with cameras can see a lot, so it will be important to know what happens to that information. Is it stored? Is it sent to a server? Or does everything happen locally on the device?
I like the idea from a technology point of view, but I'm not sure I'd want a camera sitting next to my head for hours at a time. 😅
Evercade Brings Back Physical Cartridges
While Razer is going all-in on AI, HyperMegaTech is doing pretty much the opposite. The Super Pocket looks like a modern Game Boy. It's a small handheld mainly designed for retro gaming.
The Super Pocket works with Evercade cartridges, so you can simply buy a physical cartridge and put it into the handheld. And that's pretty nice at a time when almost everything is digital. With many modern games, you first have to download dozens of gigabytes, followed by another huge update.
With a cartridge, it's much simpler: insert cartridge, start the game, play. It's also more fun for collectors. You actually have something you can hold and put on a shelf. Evercade continues to release new cartridges and hardware, so retro gaming clearly isn't going anywhere.
Keeping Your Games with GOG
This interest in keeping your games goes beyond cartridges, too. GOG sells DRM-free games, and for supported games you can download the offline installers and keep them yourself. You can store them on a hard drive or USB stick, for example, or even burn them to a CD or DVD if you really want to.
It's obviously not the same as owning a physical game like you did back in the day. You're simply downloading the files yourself and putting them on a disc. Still, I like the idea. You're not completely dependent on a launcher or online service because you have the installation files yourself.
That actually fits quite well with Evercade. The devices are completely different, but the idea is similar: you want to be able to keep your games.
The Future Can Go in Any Direction
When you put all these things next to each other, you get a pretty strange combination. We're getting glasses with huge virtual screens, AI that can do more and more to help while we play, and headsets that can actually see what we're looking at.
At the same time, people are buying small handhelds that look like Game Boys and putting physical cartridges into them. Gamers are also finding ways to keep their digital games themselves.
So maybe the future of gaming doesn't have to be completely futuristic. One gamer wants the latest AI and XR technology. Another just wants a small handheld, a cartridge and a game that starts right away.
And honestly? I quite like that combination.
Maybe the future of gaming is simply an AI next to you, a screen on your face and a cartridge in your pocket.
Webmastahhh is the creator of Mastanet, a gaming and technology website where he shares news, reviews, guides and personal insights about games, hardware, software and the future of digital entertainment.
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