That reminds me of Raspberry PI ... with a twist!

That is what they want to compete with I think. It comes with a few things Pi doesn't by default, like WiFi and Bluetooth, but it lacks wired network, SD slot, and HDMI. But I think those will all be addable as modules, they list a VGA and HDMI module currently.

I've been playing with the Pi 2s lately, I'm considering putting another $49 on the CHIP kickstarter and reserve the handheld case too, those aren't supposed to ship for a year yet though.

I've been meaning to buy Raspberry PI for some time now, but never got around to it.

The new technology they've been releasing lately has a lot of potential. I don't think it'll be long before a few more handheld devices pop up for PC gamers ... and old school emulators as well.

I don't think GOG have Valve-like levels of money to throw at it. Many old school games are not controller friendly either, nor have scaling UI's (on-screen elements are too small on a 7" screen). Instead of a handheld, personally I wouldn't mind seeing a decent modern "netbook", ie, something with a 10-11" screen, full sized upgradable storage, that isn't a locked down Chromebook or "Dumb Cloud Terminal", something you could pair a portable Bluetooth controller like the 8bitdo SN30 to, has a 6-8hr battery life, and that's priced far closer to those "EEEPCs" than the ultra-expensive ultra-portables. We had those 10-15 years ago before they were "replaced" by Android tablets, and modern APU's are way faster than those.

if gog would have tried to do that years ago, then it would turn into sh#t, just look at:

gog galaxy, you know that awesome nonmandatory drm-free client with crossover -> so far just crap, a buggy mess

and cdpr/gog's best game of all time (cp2077) -> turned out pretty crappy too

what makes you still think they would be able to make a decent handheld? cdpr/gog is awesome when it comes to f*ck up customers, shoving money up the as* of share holders and ceo's that lie or screw up, but thats it.

i'd rather buy a kfc handheld with a chicken chamber

GOG has actually done a fantastic job on Galaxy, and it’s an incredibly ambitious piece of software. Granted there are still bugs in the system, but they still have a very capable team of developers. Keep in mind that CD Projekt released three amazing games before Cyber Punk, so let’s not throw everything out the window because of one huge mistake. I’m sure they would make a really great handheld if they put their minds to it. Although I doubt that would ever happen.

Great thinker at that time, but GOG is a few magnitudes smaller compared to Steam in terms of resources. So very high risk and very infeasible. The best case example is probably the GPD Win, a Win10 gaming handheld that first released back in Oct 2016. Even today, it seems fairly niche. I wouldn't be surprised if there were less than 20k units in total from all three iterations. In contrast, Valve sold 110k units in preorders in the first few days.

Or people could just game on a desktop pc like a normal human being.

I don't think it was worth bringing this thread back. GOG often implements extremely bad ideas that they read in the forums here, like, for example, making all delisting announcements become invisible by way of Sticky-ing them, so that almost no one will have any chance to buy any delisted games before they are removed.

Had they tried to implement the very bad idea to make a "GOG handheld," then GOG would quite likely have been bankrupt long before now, or else, very close to it, as a result of the huge investment they would have put into that, and the huge financial loss it would have returned to them due to hardly anyone buying it..

Comparing GOG to Steam is quite ludicrous, since Steam has an infinitely larger market share, and GOG, in contrast, is a very tiny & obscure store that is not even a drop in the bucket compared versus Steam's market share.

I am glad you did, because that Pyra (successor to Open Pandora) piqued my interest.

I am not sure if I'd buy one for gaming, but as a portable Linux machine, basically a small laptop. I like it it has ARM CPU, and apparently needs no active cooling? (=fans)

I didn't see the price yet, though... I am hoping it is a cheap-ish device, like Raspberry Pi4.

The masses of people who have bought e.g. Nintendo Switch disagree.

Anyway, I wouldn't buy that "Pyra" for gaming, apart maybe some old game emulators. I would buy it for a generic laptop, maybe, depending on its price and features. It sounds promising that it has an ARM CPU, that should give it a great battery life.

That keyboard looks weird though, I wonder how it is to use? Anyway, I presume I can use my trusty wireless Logitech keyboard with it, if needed...

Too bad Pyra seems to have a touchscreen. I hope it doesn't raise the price much (at all) because I just don't need a touchscreen on a small laptop. Tablets and phones without a physical keyboard need them.

EDIT: Aaaand... no. Not interested in Pyra anymore:

1. Prices are around 600-700€. You can get pretty good laptops for such prices, with much more RAM, faster (x86) CPU and graphics etc.

2. Apparently it relies on SD cards as mass storage. No thanks. I was hoping and expecting it has some internal SSD, or at least a socket for one.

Just seems to me I'd get too little for too much money. I guess I'll stay with Raspberry Pi products for now for low-cost, power efficient (ARM) computers...

EDIT: And yes I agree it would probably be too risky endeavor for a company like GOG. I am not expecting even the Steam Deck necessarily making it, Valve may well scrap it in a year or two as a failed initiative. It still may be a fully usable product for years to come, even if Valve stopped supporting it.

I can’t see steam deck failing, it’s not a crowded market. I am looking at a gpd win 3, but there is also a couple of competitors (one x player and aya neo). All around the same performance (can run most things). I had (after a lot of loading) breath of the wild on cemu running on gpd win 2 at 10-20fps last night just to test. It really depends on what you want, do you want a handheld which can run most pc things at lower res (720p ish), then these are likely good for you (it’s what I am after, and the switch is ok, but limited and games are pricey, and it can’t do anything else).

I don't get why so many people keep saying that GOG can't afford to make a handheld. There have been dozens of tiny companies that have successfully released handhelds that are much smaller than GOG. You have Retroid Pocket, GPD, Aya Neo, Anbernic, Gameforce, Pocket Go, Dragonbox Pyra, Experimental Pi, Clockwork Pi, Odroid, Powkiddy, and the list goes on.

I would say the vast majority of these companies are much smaller than GOG, and there are even a few handhelds on the list that were released by a single person. I think some of you are wildly overestimating the cost of developing a handheld.

I think Galaxy Handheld could be possible, little step by step, eg. they could start from adding this small feature.