NPC: Next Portable Console

NPC is a podcast about one of the hottest corners of the gaming world: portable hardware. Every other week, Federico Viticci, John Voorhees, and Brendon Bigley cover portable gaming news and share their experiences with everything from the simplest retro gaming handhelds to cutting-edge handheld PCs.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    New Handhelds, Old Problems: Legion Go 2 and Odin 3 Arrive

    This week, Brendon and John examine the latest handheld announcements Lenovo and AYN that both come with impressive specs and some age-old frustrations. Plus, a new chip is coming to Anbernic’s lineup, and Brendon shares his first impressions of Dbrand’s Nintendo Switch 2 killswitch case. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News Legion Go 2 Early Leaks Reveal Lenovo Legion Go 2 Improvements Legion Go 2 official: Lenovo’s new flagship handheld costs $1,099 — and up Lenovo Concept Laptop Lenovo’s next concept laptop has a rotating screen that works in portrait or landscape Anbernic RG476H Anbernic RG476H Looks to Take on the RP Mini V2 and Pocket ACE AYN Odin 3 AYN Odin 3 gaming handheld features Snapdragon 8 Elite and a 120 Hz OLED display for $299 during crowdfunding ($349 and up retail) dbrand killswitch for Nintendo Switc 2 - Website - Brendon's review Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    49 min
  2. 2 SEPT

    Microsoft's Stepping Stone: Xbox Comes to the Ally X

    Returning from summer break, the NPC crew discusses Microsoft and ASUS’s Xbox handheld announcement at Gamescom. They also cover the upcoming release of Silk Song, Nintendo Direct rumors, and growing concerns about Switch 2’s strategy, particularly the lack of third-party dev kits and exclusive titles. The episode closes with an exploration of wild new handhelds from Abxylute. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News IS This an Xbox? All Your Questions Answered - ROG XBOX ALLY - YouTube Analogue 3D Delayed for a Fourth Time Another Switch 2 Nintendo Direct Is Close And It Could Be The Big One AYANEO KONKR Pocket FIT Elite is an Android handheld game console with premium specs and a starting price under $400 3DS Styled Handheld Announced As Part Of MagicX’s Roadmap MANGMI Air X Lands in September Starting at $79 Abxylute plans to sell a $1699 handheld gaming PC with an 11 inch glasses-free 3D display abxylute 3D One Handheld Abxylute is working on a magnetic snap-on game controller for smartphones 3DS Styled Handheld Announced As Part Of MagicX’s Roadmap Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    48 min
  3. 12 AUG

    Nintendo Faces Tariffs, But Keeps Switch 2 Pricing Steady

    This week, Brendon and John mind the show while Federico is on vacation, covering Nintendo’s pricing changes, the latest on Retroid’s second screen accessory, the TrinketOS Android front end, Manic EMU for iOS, and more. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News Wavelengths 2.0 A Podcast and a Patreon Switch and Switch 2: Tariff’s and Pricing Nintendo’s Switch 2 doubles first-month sales of the original The Verge “Yesterday, the White House announced that a 20 percent tariff on goods from Vietnam — where Nintendo produces its Switch 2 consoles — will begin next week. That’s double the 10 percent baseline tariffintroduced in April that Nintendo used to forecast earnings for the current fiscal year.” Nintendo raises the Switch 1 price from $299 to $339 The Verge Antank has an updated dock Retroid 2nd Screen Retroid Reveals Real-World Photos of Upcoming Dual Screen Add-On - Retro Handhelds Retroid Adjusts Shipping for Dual Screen Accessory, Offers Coupon - Retro Handhelds Android and iOS Emulation TrinketOS is an extremely weird and cool new Android frontend Manic EMU for iOS Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    34 min
  4. 5 AUG

    Brendon's Bad Fur Day

    This week, Brendon KONKRs AYANEO’s two-day announcement-fest and is joined by John and Federico for diversions into 3DS repairs, the GPD Win 5, Gamescom, and more. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News US Tariff Exemptions are Ending All of your international packages are about to get more expensive The Verge GPD Win 5 GPD WIN 5, the world’s first Ryzen AI MAX 395+ Strix Halo handheld, to debut on August 1 GPD’s monster Strix Halo handheld requires a battery ‘backpack’ or a 180W charger Gamescom and Silksong Xbox will let you play Silksong at Gamescom in August Xbox handheld consoles ROG Ally and Ally X preorders open during Gamescom, report says It’s AYANEO All the Way Down AYANEO Announces World’s First Android-Based Flip Dualscreen Handheld Retroid and ANBERNIC should be scared of this budget sub-brand AYANEO Launches Konkr A New Lineup of “Budget” Handhelds AYANEO is working on a gaming phone, mini-laptop, and a whole lot more AYANEO Announce Three Android Devices (And A Controller) Lego Game Boy A New Game Boy is Coming and it’s…LEGO! Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    30 min
  5. 29 JUL

    The Multitool of Handhelds

    This week, Brendon and John cover the ONEXSUGAR Sugar 1 dual-screen handheld, Sony’s power-saving and controller updates, and the latest ES-DE update for Android. Then John reports back on the MagicX Zero 40 homework that Brendon gave him last week. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News ONEXSUGAR Sugar 1 goes up for preorder OneXSugar Playing with the first dual-screen transforming handheld ONEXSUGAR Sugar 1 handheld game console hits Indiegogo for $599 (Dual-screen Android handheld game console with a convertible design) The Kickstarter for this weird little transforming handheld just went live OneXSugar Officially Launches, and It Sure is Something Crazy New Take on Dual-Screen Gaming Sony’s beta controller update - power settings and multi-pairing controllers Sony’s new PS5 Power Saver mode sounds ideal for a PlayStation handheld The Verge New PS5 system update beta previews DualSense wireless controller pairing across multiple devices – PlayStation.Blog Sony DualSense Edge ES-DE Launches Version 3.3 and Adds New Fucntionality Also mentioned: Forgotten City The MagicX Zero 40 Magic X Zero 40 website Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. This week, Brendon and John revisit a two handhelds from the past year. Brendon explains why he loves the Ayn Odin 2 Mini even more than ever and John rediscovers the AYANEO Pocket Micro in all of its overpowered glory. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    44 min
  6. 22 JUL

    Hello from 1998: Revisiting Past Handhelds

    This week, John kicks off NPC with a return to 1998, before the crew digs into 8BitDo’s new Pro 3 controller, Thunderbolt 5 eGPU enclosures and docks, TrimUI’s ponderous Smart Pro Mini, and Federico and John’s first impressions of the MagicX Zero 40. Then, Brendon, John, and Federico bring a handheld they haven’t used in a while back to the show, and as you might expect, Federico’s choice was a bit of a surprise. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes John’s Game Boy Streaming Setup Game Boy Camera cartridge Epilogue GB Operator OBS Studio using window capture, cropped Zoom set to the OBS virtual camera Follow-Up JSAUX 12-in-One Dock The Latest Portable Gaming News 8BitDo Pro 3 Pro 3 Bluetooth Gamepad The Pro 3 is 8BitDo’s first controller with swappable buttons Amazon pre-orders Thunderbolt 5 news Razer Introduces Next-Generation Connectivity and Performance with New Thunderbolt™ 5 Dock and Core X V2 - Razer Newsroom Razer Core X V2 - Thunderbolt™ 5 eGPU Razer United States Razer Thunderbolt™ 5 Dock Chroma Razer United States The TrimUI Smart Pro Mini Patent Leaks - [TrimUI Smart Pro Mini Patent Leaks Could This Be the Next Big Thing - Retro Handhelds](https://retrohandhelds.gg/trimui-smart-pro-mini-patent-leaks-could-this-be-the-next-big-thing/)     Revisiting Past Handhelds John - New Nintendo 3DS XL 3DS LCD Screens TN vs IPS IPS vs TN, should you hunt one or not (Very long post, possibly very boring too) r3DS Brendon - Anbernic RG28XX Anbernic RG28XX Tip: Currently about $28 if you buy direct whereas Amazon charges close to $55. Federico - Game Boy Macro Game Boy Macro Examples on Etsy Four-button model with light bar Aluminum, two-button model Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    46 min
  7. 14 JUL

    Joy-Lock™: Dbrand Trademarks Its Do-Over

    This week on NPC, lots of follow up about microSD Express cards, the Switch 2 Dock, XR glasses and the dbrand Killswitch, plus Retroid’s second screen accessory, Windows handhelds, a new eGPU, and more. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News Follow Up Follow up on microSD Express cards 1TB microSD Express from Lexar briefly showed up on Amazon for $184 but sold out now - much less than we expected. Meanwhile SanDisk’s 512GB card is showing August shipping dates on Amazon Switch 2 Dock Follow up Nintendo Switch 2 Travel Dock by CAD_is_my_Bane Download free STL model Printables.com I tested every 3rd party Nintendo Switch 2 dock so you don’t have to - Mono Confirmed Nintendo’s Switch 2 can work with existing docks and webcams after replacing their firmware The Verge XR Glasses and the Switch 2 Hagibis 8K 60Hz USB-C to HDMI 2.1 Cable PeakDo 4K HDMI To USB-C Adapter dbrand Killswitch followup dbrand has fixed their Switch 2 Joy-Con grips Do you have this yet Brendon? Retroid 2nd Screen Accessory Retroid Shows Off 3DS Emulation with Dual Screen Add-On Retroid Dual Screen Add-on Demo - YouTube Handheld News Miyoo Mini Flip Announced MSI Claw A8 with Ryzen Z2 Extreme tested performance rival for Lunar Lake - VideoCardz.com Xbox ASUS ROG Ally / Ally X Prices Leaked - $700 / $1050 Thunderbolt 5 eGPU [ONEXGPU Lite eGPU with Thunderbolt 5 is on the way](https://lilipu ting.com/onexgpu-lite-thunderbolt–5-egpu-is-on-the-way/) An Epilogue Update RetroAchievements and SNES later this year From the epilogue community on Reddit Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    45 min
  8. 5 JUL

    Switch 2 Dock Mysteries

    This week, Federico, John, and Brendon cover REDMAGIC’s Android tablet, rumors of an Ayn Odin 3, and other news before digging into the mysteries surrounding Nintendo’s Switch 2 dock. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News Here’s a 1TB MicroSD Express card for Switch 2 REDMAGIC Astra Gaming Tablet has a 165 Hz OLED display, Snapdragon 8 Elite, and up to 24GB RAM Also, This Tablet is Secretly a Powerful Gaming Console! AYN Odin 2 Goes Out of Stock; Is the Odin 3 Around the Corner? Netflix is letting go of some of its best indie games The Verge A GameCube dock for Switch 2 Nintendo’s Mysterious Switch 2 Dock How Nintendo locked down the Switch 2’s USB-C port and broke third-party docking  ANTANK S3 MAX TV Dock Station forNintendo Switch 2, aka the SIWIQU for Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Station  Antank teardown on Reddit  We confirmed Nintendo’s Switch 2 TV dock supports VRR — so why doesn’t it work with Switch 2 The Verge  Switch 2 Dock Supports HDMI 2.1  Viture Pro XR glasses  - Viture Pro Mobile Dock Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the “regular” NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

    45 min

About

NPC is a podcast about one of the hottest corners of the gaming world: portable hardware. Every other week, Federico Viticci, John Voorhees, and Brendon Bigley cover portable gaming news and share their experiences with everything from the simplest retro gaming handhelds to cutting-edge handheld PCs.

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