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GAEMS Unveils Two Upcoming Portable Gaming Monitor Products
When I was a kid, I used to have this red, yellow, and blue padded case for my Nintendo Entertainment System. It flew across the country with me for extended visits to my grandparents’ house, but the one thing I could never take with me was a decent television.
GAEMS has been working to solve that problem, and you may be familiar with its suitcase-like entertainment systems. The Sentry and the Vanguard are hard-shell cases that include a display and speaker set-up as well as protection for a console in transit.
At RTX (Rooster Teeth's annual convention in Austin), GAEMS unveiled two products currently in development. The M155 Scout is a 15.5-inch HD display that’s extremely light and portable. At E3, I had a chance to see (and hold) one in person and was stunned at how little it weighed (about as much as my third generation iPad).
GAEMS co-founder John Smith plugged in his Android phone to show me the display, and I was impressed by how bright it was. The display is USB-powered, and GAEMS recently tweeted a picture of the Scout on top of an Xbox One with the console’s power supply handling both devices.
The Scout doesn’t offer the protection of GAEMS’ earlier products or speakers, but for those who have other methods of protection (and wish to get audio from the controller port), it’s a lightweight solution. The other product is also portable, though not quite the way the Scout is.
The M240 Hybrid Ops is a 24-inch display designed more for dorm room or apartment living. It has four speakers built in for simulated surround. The devices can also be daisy-chained (via the two HDMI input / one HDMI output setup) with no perceptible latency even three or four displays down the chain, according to GAEMS.
The device does have a screen protector and a rotating handle should you need to move it, though. It also will have a wheel attachment (coming later), so users don’t have to carry the Hybrid Ops (it’s portable, but not easy for everyone to carry). Alternatively, GAEMS will offer a mounting plate to connect to VESA mounts.
Both devices are available at RTX, July 4 through 6 for demos. They’ll be released later this year.
Our Take
I had the opportunity to see the Scout in action, and was extremely surprised at how light it is (and the image quality). I have a Gaems unit that I use when traveling on family vacations, and it's come in very handy (especially when there isn't a television available), but it might not be for everyone. The Scout strikes me as a much more convenient option. Depending on pricing, the Hybrid Ops could be a good alternative to a traditional television setup for dorm rooms. Once we know more about how much these will cost, it will be easier to weigh in more definitively.
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