I’m a sucker for a shiny new gaming handheld, especially one of the Sony kind. Nothing quite beats the feeling of binging another re-watch of some cheesy crime shows on your big TV while still being able to catch up on your gaming backlog. To date, the PS Vita is still my absolute favorite portable handheld to play on the go, even beating out my love for the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. However, without a PS Vita 2 on the horizon, it was inevitable I’d pick up the next best thing instead, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:PlayStation Portal.

Already being a proud owner of the PSP, PS Vita, and even the long-forgotten PSVita TV, I knew a PS Portal would one day be mine. That said, with the $200 / £200 price point, and the fact I’ve already been remote-playing my PS5 on Valve’s pixel pusher for a year now, I wasn’t in too much of a rush to pick one up last year. It wasn’t until the announcem﷽ent that the PS Porta✱l could stream games without relying on your PS5 that I finally added it to my shiny Son💖y tech collection. B꧂ut now, with the announcement of the upcoming Midnight Black model, I wish I held out a little longer.

Vice President of Global Marketing at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Sony Interactive Entertainment, Isabelle Tomatis, first revealed on the on January 7 that the new version of the PS Portal was on its way. The new sleek-looking handheld is part of the upcoming ‘Midnight Black Collection’ which features multiple iconic pieces of Sony tech, from the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Pulse Elite wireless headset to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:DualSense Edge controller but all with a new black colorway. These aren’t the first 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:PS5 accessories to get the Midnight Black treatment, but the up💫cominꦺg PS Portal is a sight to behold.

Instead of the dissonance of the Portal’s huge 8-inch screen and its black border clashing with the white on either side of the device, this new version has a more professional-looking edge. The deep, dark black makes the matte plastic finish look more velvety and the whole handheld looks more seamless in design. The device will always be a chonky boy, but somehow the Midnight Black makes it look less obscene, and more like a swanky device you’d want in your collection.

You may just be thinking to yourself, “But Rosalie, isn’t it just the same device but in black instead of white?” And you’d be entirely correct. Even the price point remains the same. But it’s the fact this stunning new colorway will now look the part amongst my other PlayStation hardware that’s grabbed my attention. Ever since the PS5 was announced I was often put off by its white design. Not only is white tech the easiest to get visibly dirty, but it stood out too much from its predecessors. From the PS2 to the PS3 and then the PS4, each of Sony’s consoles originally launched in all black - and now the PS Portal is finally following suit.

To me, ignoring the original PlayStation, black hardware designs and Sony are interwoven with each other, so if I can grab the black versions of Sony teꦡch, I will. Even as I type, my PS5 has swapped its garish white colorway for Dbrand’s Arachnoplates - third-party console covers that now make my pixel-pushing beast look like a perfect Spider-Man homage w💃ith its black and red colors. Regrettably, I don’t own the Midnight Black DualSense controller, but I use three other PS5 controllers to avoid using that unpleasant-looking basic white variant.

Most importantly, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Midnight Black PS Portal would look the part next to my beloved PS Vita. Although Sony has let its last major handheld collect dust, it’s still one of my favorite devices to pick up and play and sports a sleek black c🌳olorway of its own.

Currently, sitting the Sony handhelds side by side just makes the PS Portal look like an unsightly oddity. The handheld is large enough as it is, but it draws even more attention to itself standing out against not just my PS Vita, but even my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ayaneo Flip DS, and my plethora of all-black gaming headsets. If I waited for that Midnight Black version, at least my various bits of tech would feel and look more unified as they take up space on my bedside table.

I’m still glad, at least, that I made the step to get a PS Portal of my very own eventually. The often complicated setup of unofficially running remote play through the Steam Deck was a headache I no longer have to deal with, and as a first-party device, I even have the immersion-inducing DualSense haptic tech to enjoy, something Valve’s handheld isn’t capable of. After owning it for a few months, I look forward to nothing else but curling up in bed after a day's work and comfortably playing Persona 3 Reload, or browsing the PS Store for some brand-new deals.

With the🗹 new Midnight Black PS Portal launching on February 20, 2025, and pre-orders beginning as soon as January 16, I still wish I held out for just a little longer. Yet, with how notorious I am for feeling the need to own every piece of Sony hardware possible, I wouldn’t put it past myself to look f🌠or an excuse to already off-load the white handheld and prioritize some Midnight Black gaming sessions in my future instead.