Have you ever wondered why we never saw more sliding handheld technology after the Sony Xperia Play? If you weren't in the handheld or mobile business, then you probably didn't know that Sony filed a patent for the gaming handheld with a slide-up screen back in 2010, a year before the Xperia Play released.
It went live on June 21st, 2011, for a 14-year period. Sony essentially monopolised a niche in the market that we fell in love with 15 years ago and prevented any other companies from tapping into the style. Now I know what you're thinking, and no, burning your PS5 in protest is probably a little extreme, but I'm angry about it too.
It's important to note that the patent was specifically for its slide-up gamepads on mobile devices as the image below shows. They certainly knew what they were doing when they filed it, though I really wish we had seen more from them using this patent over the years!
So, is it a coincidence that ANBERNIC released the RG Slide during the month that Sony's patent finally ran out? I hardly think so, do you? Still, the Chinese-based company is hitting the ground running with a design that has long been missed and tapping into our strong sense of nostalgia and yearning for retro tech. And by heck, it's worked.
We've been saying for a long time now that ANBERNIC needed to mix things up a little bit, to come up with something new rather than just rehashing old ideas. Ok, I know that they've essentially rehashed a style from the early '10s, but at least this is a new design and not one that's been stolen from Powkiddy for a change.
So, now Sony's patent has run out, what does it mean for the retro gaming community? Well, if you've been following our coverage of the main retro handheld makers such as AYANEO, Powkiddy, GKD etc, then you'll know that they're more competitive than four mates with Wavebird controllers sitting around a CRT. Now that ANBERNIC have released the RG Slide, AYANEO will come out with a thinner variant, GKD a minuscule version, and Powkiddy an affordable version with thumbsticks that will undoubtedly be placed in a random area.
The patent running out couldn't have come at a better time, however. In all honesty, I think we've exhausted the concept of the flip handheld now, what with Powkiddy and ANBERNIC essentially creating clones of the same handheld and AYANEO announcing the Flip 1S DS which will probably cost more than my Grandma paid for her first house. Folding phones haven't really taken off because they only have a certain number of folds before the technology becomes void, so it's high time we looked to the past for inspiration and got back into the spirit of the slide.
That's sliding phones, not the Cha Cha Slide, for anyone who was getting hopeful.
The RG Slide is pretty chunky, it has to be said, and it could definitely be refined. I'm thinking back to the days of the LG Chocolate phone and how sleek that was - could we see AYANEO bringing out an affordable sliding handheld in a similar style?
But what if we went one further - what if Sony actually created a modern PSP-Go with a touchscreen that we could use to play both retro and modern titles on? Can you imagine pulling out a slide-up phone from your pocket to play Jak & Daxter or God of War on? Could Nintendo look to make sliding versions of their Game & Watch handhelds, creating space-saving consoles for a hit of nostalgia anytime, anywhere?
This new design choice would render accessories like the Backbone mobile controller or the MCON completely irrelevant - we'd have the full article in our hands without having to cart around extra controllers or stashing remotes in our pockets. It would mean the return of the multimedia gaming device, and I, for one, would be excited to see it.
Here's something you might not have thought of, and a final thing to consider before I sign off - what if Nokia got on board and gave us the N-Gage 2?
Can you imagine - a new era of sliding handheld consoles with a phone attached, utilising everything that we've learned about FPGA emulation over the years. They could team up with the likes of Evercade to bring classics like Glover and Tomb Raider to the palms of our hands on devices we could still use to text our partners or mothers about how to use the airfryer or which the best route to take to the seaside is at rush hour. Or, ModRetro could come up with the M-Gage and continue to support the Game Boy community with a cool mobile platform to play their games on.
All in all, the return of the sliding gaming handheld is something that has really got me excited, and I'm looking forward to seeing how companies utilise this nostalgic design over the coming months. Let me know what you would like to see happen in the comments below, and if you've got any ideas of what device we might get next!
