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Many of you will have a fondness for the PS Vita and its predecessor the PSP, and understandably so – both were superb portable systems. But with the likelihood of Sony making another extremely low, this might just be the next best thing: an officially licensed one Backbone Onewhich works with an iPhone and the PS Remote Play app so you can enjoy PS5 and PS4 wherever you are.
Some of you will be familiar with this product, but for those of you who aren’t, it’s essentially a chassis for your smartphone that includes traditional controls. In this case, the product has been approved by PlayStation, so you get the console’s iconic face buttons and a color scheme that matches the design ethos of DualSense.
“The elegant colors, materials and finishes are all inspired by the design of the PS5 console’s DualSense wireless controller, including transparent face buttons and a visually distinctive floating look,” the press release points out. It also notes that the PS Remote Play app has recently been updated to even let you wake up the console no matter what you are.
In addition, Backbone has its own app that recommends content from a number of different platforms, including Apple Arcade. This will match the PlayStation app, and include “a dedicated row of new releases and updates” direct from Sony. You’ll even be able to download and install games remotely from here, ready to play in the PS Remote Play app.
Now, obviously none of this is a substitute for native gameplay, as your Remote Play experience will be heavily dependent on your connection. But for those slower-paced visual novels, having all the traditional PlayStation inputs available makes this a viable portable gaming option – and of course, everything will work with mobile games that support controllers too.
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Another thing worth noting is that the Backbone One requires no battery or charging: it draws a “negligible” amount of power directly from your phone, so it’s something you can easily throw in your bag without a second thought. Personally, we think this is a pretty neat idea, and we love the aesthetics of this officially licensed PlayStation edition. Are you going to check this at all?
