Portable Gaming Becoming Less So

[Judicant]

Lately the pair of AA batteries I carry around in my laptop case has been bothering me, and it's finally dawned on me that they've sat in there, unused, for a couple years now. I look at them and I am reminded of a day that seems to have passed me by, and I'm not really pleased to see it go.

I remember the days where if I was going in a trip and wanted to keep myself entertained on the way there, all I needed was my GameBoy Color and a brick of AA's. You could guarantee entertainment for days with no trace of civilization so long as you had a healthy supply of batteries and a handheld console, instead of relying on a electrical plug for a console meant for home use. This was genius, this was the savior of all bored children on roadtrips!

But despite taking many steps forward in gaming, we seem to have stepped backwards on this front. These batteries in my bag are a reminders that nothing I use seems to need them anymore. Instead, gamers on the go are shackled electrical outlets, and if you go too long without one you are left with a paper weight. The convenience of carrying around your own little reserve of power cells is gone, it seems.

I can understand why we've moved this way, I'm just sad to see the old way go. We traded our batteries away for things like backlit screens, 3D environments, higher quality audio, and other performance enhancements, but we've given away some of the freedom that a handheld console used to give us.

So I guess it's goodbye to the era of expendable batteries. You've done a great job over the years saving me from the slow bits of life, but the world seems to be moving on.

[FishNChips]

Yeah, I miss using a pair of batteries for my old Gameboy. Now it's all rechargable things.

However, the PSP has a rechargable battery pack that can be removed and be replaced. Sure, they're rechargeable only and are more expensive, but at least it manages to increase the longevity of your console whilst on a trip or something.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Well you can now get adapters to charge phones, consoles and laptops by plugging them into your car. It's an extra thing you need to buy but you're not too likely to be away from the car for too long. If you're going on a proper hike I don't think you're going to want to carry around electronic devices which will be more to carry. Or maybe you would, either way I don't think many people do that.

[oneandonly]

Yeah, those days were nice, but now we have rechargeable batteries. My tablet lasts over 12 hours on a 4 hour charge. I use it pretty often for gaming (GTA III), but instead of being just for gaming, it can let me do (limited) work, check my accounts, and all sorts of other stuff. If worse did come to worse though, and power was lost, it wouldn't be too hard to mod it to take alkaline batteries, but it wouldn't be easy.

[catwithpen]

This makes me sad. I haven't had a game boy in years, and I've been thinking of getting one again, but it looks like they don't make them any more I don't want the new DS, I want something simple like I used to have. I don't see why they can't keep making both the old and new tech at the same time.

[Tiger]

It's also irritating to need to carry a charger everywhere in case my DS battery dies. I always take it with me to a friend's house or the coffee shop we hang out at. POlus the fact that every system has a different charger, so I can't bring my 3DS to my friend's house and expect him to have a charger for it because he has a Lit,e not 3DS.

It's all sorts of inconvenience :c

[Aetius]

My laptop's battery likes to die on me, it only lasts about 3 hours without its charger.

Yay for semi-portable gaming.

[piñardilla]

My old Game Gear used to suck down 6 AA's in a matter of hours. It could be worse.

[Ibuuyk]

I don't really mind. The longest trip you usually do around here is going to Montreal, and that takes six hours and half at most, so I just bring my PSP and 3DS (got one of dem expansion battery pack for the 3DS that almost doubles its battery length).

I'm good for about 10-11 hours with these two babies alone, and if I ever go on a longer trip, I can just bring my GBA SP and add another 5-6 hours!

If all else fails, then I'll finally have time to read books :V

[Drifloon]

I charge my PSP and 3DS well in advance and they last me four days at the most. My iphone on the other hand drinks battery life like its water (so glad I am getting an Android phone soon)