The most innovative gaming tech of 2022 – Digital Trends
A year like 2022 would usually be considered an off year for gaming tech. We’re two years past the latest console launch, a time that tends to be dominated by peripherals and add-ons. So it’s a surprise that this year ended up being a landmark one for video gaming tech. That’s because companies began rolling out new approaches to gaming technology that targeted both accessibility and portability. From devices built around cloud gaming to portables that changed the way PC gaming fundamentally works, the history books may look back at 2022 as the start of a revolution. Here’s what technology dared in order to push the industry forward, even if it meant taking an experimental risk to do so.
Want to see the rest? Check out our full list of the particular most innovative tech products of 2022!
Winner: Steam Deck
For some gamers, PC is the only way to play. Unlike a console, PCs offer much more flexibility when it comes in order to customizing a good individual game to one’s liking. However , PCs can be restrictive, requiring you to be tethered to a desk to use an expensive rig. If you want in order to take your games on the go, a person likely have to invest even more money in the good gaming laptop. In the era of the Nintendo Switch and cloud gaming, that lack associated with portability left the PERSONAL COMPUTER feeling less appealing as a gaming platform.
Valve solved that will problem with the Vapor Deck . Its own spin on the Change, the supersized device is essentially a PC in a traditional portable form factor. It lets players access their entire Steam library on the go, and its Linux browser allows this to work as an emulation box too. What’s especially notable, though, is that the Steam Deck still offers the customization that makes playing on COMPUTER so appealing. It isn’t a static device like the Nintendo Switch, but rather one that could be tinkered with via a variety of settings.
The Vapor Deck has plenty of problems that’ll likely have to be fixed in a second iteration. Its giant form factor leaves much to be desired and it has a fair amount of tech issues that can make play sessions frustrating. Growing pains like that are to be expected from a piece of experimental tech, although. For all its quirks, the Steam Deck offers fundamentally transformed the way in which I play PC games — something that no piece of video gaming tech provides done since the Switch launched five years ago.
Runner up: Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld
Although it has a very niche use case, there’s no denying that the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld is an innovative device. Crafted by Logitech and Tencent Games, it’s a handheld built specifically for impair and mobile gaming. Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now have native apps for the particular system, while others like Steam Link ensure that will it fits anyone’s cloud gaming needs.
It’s built like a Nintendo Switch, but doesn’t need to grapple with the power constraints of that handheld. It sports a battery life of nearly 12 hours, which is incredibly impressive for the handheld gaming device. The Logitech Gary the gadget guy Cloud Video gaming Handheld will be the first device of its kind, yet more are to come. As fog up gaming grows in popularity, this might just be the particular progenitor of the new type of gaming device.
Honorable mention: Playdate
I’m not sure that I’ve ever used a video game system as creative since the Playdate . The particular banana yellow oddity is usually the very definition associated with niche along with its odd crank control and subscription-based game model, but its willingness to go weird is what makes this so special. Playdate developers are forced to think small, creating GameBoy-style games that have in order to rethink the fundamentals of manage. The limited visuals plus crank control create a restriction that will leads to some true innovation.
Some of my favorite video games released this year are Playdate titles. Hyper Meteor is definitely a fantastic spin on Asteroids , Pick Pack Pup can be one associated with the year’s best pure puzzle games, and Flipper Lifter uses the system’s crank to create an ingenious elevator game. Even the Playdate’s weakest titles are still the blast to play, making it feel like the world’s best indie game jam housed within a playful device that fights back against the gambling industry’s desire to go bigger.
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