Picked up a few games:

-Panzer Elite Action
-Juju
-The Smile Alchemist

On my second playthrough for Baldur’s Gate 3 and god… the OST they used for the Mountain Pass is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. That moment you’ve spent soo long in the Underdark to step out into the MP is just a truly amazing moment in this game.

I don't get the rumors about PS handheld being able to play PS5 level games. Unless the device is like 3-4 years away from release, it would be insanely expensive to cram that much power into a handheld. Who is going to buy a $700+ handheld device? That's too expensive for the typical handheld gamer.

It probably means: at a lower resolution with fewer effects if the game is ported to the console. A binary compatible handheld that plays PS5 games I cannot see.

If it materializes I fully expect a series S in a handheld form factor. MS is uniquely positioned to bring a semi-custom APU with more cores at a lower fixed clock and improved power efficiency. Such hardware would not work great with many PC titles.

Also, Xbox hardware being sold at a loss to keep prices low is a strategy that works only if Xbox gets a cut out of every software sold for the device. So if they were targeting to do a PC handheld I would expect a high price tag ($600+) whereas with an Xbox handheld it could target a much lower ~400$ or so.

But I can see a slim possibility of MS doing again 2 Skus, with one being locked to the Xbox ecosystem with a Series S price tag And another with more RAM, an Unlocked clock, beefier cooling, and dual booth (Xbox or Windows) with a price much more inline with the ROG Ally or Legion.

Exactly, Sony would need to require a Series S-like port for all their PS5 titles for them to work in a handheld form factor. 

This is not impossible but Sony would only be able to require such from 1st party for existing titles. And it's not even clear how they could add such a requirement for 3rd party going forward as they would have to renegotiate past contracts with everyone which does not seem feasible.

So this pretty much leave the possibility of a handheld being a completely separate hardware like it was for the Vita. But creating a Vita 2 that cannot defacto live off of the success of the PS5 seems like a no-go to me. The investment would be too large, and risky and cannibalize support for their main system.  

Theirs also the possibility of Sony doing a PlayStation-branded PC handheld, their PC support has increased and I expect them to fully support PCs in the short term. This is unlikely but it still appears as the likeliest path for Soy to do a handheld now IMO.

Hadn't heard of this game, but it sounds like a more casual experience you can enjoy in co-op

"Lightyear Frontier is a peaceful open-world farming adventure on a planet at the far edge of the galaxy. Climb into your versatile mech and start your new home on a distant planet with up to 3 friends as you farm alien crops, build your own homestead, and explore the untamed wilderness of the world."

It doesn't have to have the specs of PS5 itself to play PS5 games, games are highly scalable these days. They only need AMD hardware for compatibility purposes and specs high enough to play games that run at say 1440-1800p on PS5 at 720p or so on the handheld (or even 540p and then use AMD's FSR to improve the look of the resolution), and then devs will be able to port PS5 games to the handheld with minimal effort (full PS4 back compat should be achievable as well as long as the specs are high enough, Series S for instance has full Xbox One BC minus the graphics improvements of Xbox One X).

The specs necessary to pull that off should be doable within a year or two most likely for the same $400 that Switch 2 is rumored to be launching at later this year. 

That would certainly get all the Series S haters to be silenced  

I agree though that not only would the investment be too great, but the dev power would be too great to support a separate ecosystem. We're already at the point where we'll get 1, maybe 2 games from a developer in a single console gen, Insomniac being a major exception, and pulling even more first party resources to support the separate handheld ecosystem would push timelines even further, unless Sony outsources like crazy. A big knock on the Vita was how quickly Sony first party abandoned the platform. There were certainly some notable titles for sure, but after the first year, they became scarce to nonexistent and the Vita was quickly a focus from third parties. 

A portable PS5 with Series S, if not a little greater than the Series S, level capabilities would certainly be much more doable from a dev perspective and would an enticing offer in a post-world Switch and handheld PC market.

A PS branded handheld PC I don't think would make much sense. Sony has always run proprietary software on their hardware, and to go from that to potentially running Windows, I imagine would upset a large portion of the playerbase. Not to mention, Sony's CEO specified that the console would be their primary focus and all hardware released up to this point has been dedicated to the PS5. So outside of console, software will most likely be how Sony handles mobile and PC. Whether Sony is actively working on a dedicated PC launcher though....continues to be a big question. 

Xbox/Palworld marketing has begun! I wonder the likelihood of Palworld branding on the console box next lol