Final one for this notebook!

Released in Feb 2009 for around £70. The Dingoo (Chinese: 丁果) is a handheld gaming console that supports music/video playback and open game development. The system features an on-board radio and recording program.

It is similar in size to the Game Boy Micro and has an XMB style interface similar to the PSP. Dozens of official and homebrew games were made for the system.

It has sold around 1 million units.

Sony released a smaller version of the PSP in 2009, The PSP Go is about 50% smaller than the original PSP. Instead of having a UMD disk slot the system has a built in 16GB of flash storage as well as bluetooth. It was the first digital only handheld from a major hardware publisher. The USB port was also removed in favor of a proprietary connector.

In February 2010, it was reported it might re-launch due to the lack of consumer interest and poor sales. In June 2010, Sony began bundling the console with 10 free downloadable games. In October that year, Sony announced it would reduce the price of the unit. On April 20, 2011, the manufacturer announced that the PSP Go would be discontinued outside of North America.

It sold around 100,000 units.

The Nintendo DSi was released in late 2009 for the price of $170. It removed the GBA cartridge slot of the DS in favor of larger screens, better wi-fi connectivity, and two cameras. Nintendo stated that families often share DS systems. Its new functionality was intended to facilitate personalization, so as to encourage each member of a household to purchase a DSi. It was backwards compatible with DS games and several games had DSi-specific features like Pokemon Black and White.

Nintendo launched digital only DSi Ware on the eShop for indie developers to release games for it.

An XL version of the system was also released that was much larger as a common complaint about the DS was it was uncomfortable for users with large hands.

It sold over 41 million units.

GP2X Wiz was released in May 2009 for $179.99, and was the first console from both Game Park to also be released outside South Korea.

It featured video/audio playback as well as being able to play Shockwave Flash media.

The Pandora was released in 2010 as a spiritual successor to the GP32/GP2X. It was an open source Linux based system featuring a full thumb keyboard as well as more traditional controls.

The device is also intended for use as a portable media playback device with a storage capacity of up to 128 GB of data (64 GB SDXC cards) across two SD memory card slots.

About 7500 Pandoras have been made and sold altogether between 2010 and 2014, with further production made impossible due to shortage of WiFi chips.

Nintendo released the 3DS in Feb/March 2011 for the initial price of $250. It featured more powerful graphics rendering. It featured a glasses free stereoscopic 3D screen that allowed for users to see much more depth in games, similar to 3D movies. There was also several Augmented Reality related features developed for the cameras. An XL model was released a year later.

Initially the 3DS sold very poorly and on July 28, 2011, Nintendo announced the 3DS would be getting a price cut of almost a third of the system's original price, from $250 to $170. In an effort to compensate those who had paid the original price, the company introduced the Ambassador Program, thru which existing 3DS owners were eligible (they must have accessed the eShop at least once prior to August 21) to download ten NES games and ten Game Boy Advance games at no extra cost.

It went on to sell over 75 million units.

The Xperia Play is a smartphone with elements of a handheld game console produced by Sony. With the marketshare for dedicated handheld game consoles diminishing into the 2010s due to the rapid expansion of smartphones with cheap downloadable games, Sony attempted to tackle the issue with two separate devices; a dedicated video game console with elements of a smartphone, the PlayStation Vita.

The device featured games graphically within the range of similar portable devices and plays these games via an application known as PlayStation Mobile.

Sony finally released their followup to the PSP in 2011 for $250. The PS Vita was again graphically superior to its Nintendo competitor. It featured a much larger OLED screen and was capable of HD visuals.

The sales of the Vita started strong at launch but then stalled and greatly underperformed. In 2013 Sony dropped the price to $200 to try and remain competitive, but 3rd party developers were becoming more and more reluctant to support the system. The Monster Hunter franchise in particular was a huge loss for the system as Capcom had decided to only develop the games for the 3DS this time around. With support diminishing, Shahid Ahmad, Sony's Director of Strategic Content, instead began a new approach to games, through directly reaching out to, and making accommodations for independent developers who had previously released games for mobile and PC platforms. While not completely reversing the sales trends of the Vita, the lower costs of making or porting smaller-budget games made it easier for devs to make a profit on the system's smaller userbase, and in turn, increased consumer attention on the console, keeping the device afloat. Ahmad also maintained interest in the device by directly interacting with consumers on social media; the game Tales of Hearts R was localized into English only because it was number one in a survey of games desired on the platform.

Sony even attempted to revitalize interest in the system when the PS4 launched, updating it to have Remote Play functionality and also added support for PS TV, a a game streaming platform Sony was launching around the same time. Sadly none of these efforts produced enough sales and Sony eventually retired the system.

There is still a very active homebrew scene for the Vita, as it is still one of the most powerful portable game systems ever produced.

It sold around 15 million units.

An "entry-level" version of the 3DS, the Nintendo 2DS, with a fixed "slate" form factor and lacking stereoscopic (3D) functionality, was released in Western markets in October 2013 for $130. It was marketed towards families with younger children as it was less breakable.

Later on an XL version with a clamshell design was also released.

Nvidia Shield Portable was released in mid 2013 for $300. Through Nvidia's GameStream app, Shield Portable allows the streaming of games running on a desktop PC equipped with a GeForce GTX 650 or higher video card.

The Android 4.4.2 update for Shield Portable adds Console Mode, which allows a Shield Portable to be connected to a TV at either 720p, 1080p or 4K resolution (either using a wireless connection or MicroHDMI) and controlled with a Bluetooth controller, and software for mapping on-screen control buttons to the device's hardware buttons for Android games which do not natively support them.

Due to being out of stock for many years, it is presumably discontinued, but there has not yet been any official announcement from Nvidia.

If you enjoyed this post please check out the other parts in this series.

Part 1: https://cohost.org/AgentOtter/post/5565885-a-brief-history-of-v
Part 2: https://cohost.org/AgentOtter/post/5584876-a-brief-history-of-h
Part 3: https://cohost.org/AgentOtter/post/5599570-a-brief-history-of-v
Part 4: https://cohost.org/AgentOtter/post/5614025-a-brief-history-of-h