PlayStation Portal will be cheaper than feared - more expensive than hoped

Sony didn't exactly drown us in information when Project Q and the first PlayStation earbuds were unveiled in May's PlayStation Showcase. This resulted in a ton of speculation, as those who had believed the rumours of a sequel to the PlayStation Vita were still interested in the streaming handheld if the price wasn't too steep. Microsoft speculated that it would cost "under $300", and forum posts made it seem like $299 would be too high for most. Then I have great news.

The Japanese company has announced that what's actually called PlayStation Portal will cost 199.99 dollars/219.99 euro/199.99 pound when it launches later this year. It's important to reiterate that this will only be able to stream games already installed on your PlayStation 5, so you won't be able to enjoy the games available with PlayStation Plus Premium's cloud streaming feature on it.

Today's announcement doesn't stop there, because Sony also reveals that the earbuds are called PlayStation Pulse Explore and will also cost 199.99 dollars/219.99 euro/199.99 pound. They'll have dual microphones and AI-enhanced noise rejection to truly avoid background noise ruining the experience. We're also told they'll be the first devices using custom-designed planar magnetic drivers that will take the sound to another level. This technology will be in a second product those of us who think audio is a very important part of gaming should take note of as well.

We finally have confirmation that the already great Pulse 3D headset is getting a new and improved version called PlayStation Pulse Elite. This won't just have the original's lossless audio, but also a retractable boom mic and the same AI-enhanced noise rejection as the Pulse Explore. A charging hanger is also included, so it's rather surprising that it'll only cost 149.99 dollars/149.99 euro/129.99 pound when it launches sometime in the future.

Do any of these seem interesting to you?