Hey guys this is Austin. Welcome to some of the coolest gaming tech under $100. Kicking
off the list is the Nintendo 2DS. While this was in the very first Is It Worth It episode
a couple years ago it’s recently seen a big price cut down to $80 and that includes
Mario Kart 7. For this kind of money the 2DS is a surprisingly solid choice, at less than
half the price of the 3DS XL you really aren’t losing much. It still plays all 3DS games
and with a library five years deep you are not going to be lacking quality games. Super
Smash for the 3DS is easily one of the most impressive games for the handheld, it’s
been optimized massively to be able to run on comparatively weak hardware but you wouldn’t
know it by playing. Not only does it stay smooth with responsive controls but it’s
a surprisingly full version of the game. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire is the latest edition in the
series and it looks better than ever on the 2DS, while playing on the 3DS XL gives you
a bigger screen there’s really not a massive difference. You can also play DS games on
the 2DS which opens up even more awesome options in addition to the Virtual Console titles
like Game Boy games along with NES and Super Nintendo games. Of course there are a few
things you’re giving up. The 2DS is lacking any kind of 3D screen which is why it’s
called the 2DS. Clever. This really isn’t a huge drawback, most games either don’t
do much with the 3D effect or don’t really take advantage of it at all and basically
all games work fine in 2D mode. You’ve also got the slightly, odd shape which drops the
clamshell design for a flatter look. You’re losing some portability but it feels comfortable
even if you’ve got larger hands and while the build is definitely on the plastic side
it’s totally usable. One of the biggest things you’re giving up is audio quality
with only a single small speaker, it’s fine but you’ll probably want to use headphones.
For $80 though if you’ve never gotten into the 3DS line this is the perfect time to jump
in. Continuing down the world of price cuts is the PlayStation TV. At $100 this was an
interesting microconsole but you can easily pick these up for $40 now. For the price of
a single game you’re getting what’s essentially a PS Vita without a screen than you connect
to a TV. This means in addition to digital titles you can use physical Vita games but
you’ll want to make sure they’re compatible, since there’s no touchscreen some titles
won’t work. The PS TV is a straight up Vita once you turn it on, the interface is nearly
unchanged which isn’t an entirely bad thing. It’s downright quick to navigate and easy
to understand but it can be a bit overblown on a large TV. One of the bigger downsides
is the resolution, it tops out at 720p or 1080i which just looks dated. It’s not a
dealbreaker but don’t expect to use the PlayStation TV to watch Netflix or YouTube.
You do have a fair few options for games though, in addition to Vita titles you can play PSP
games which while definitely not intended to be played on a giant TV work fine. You
can also play PSone classics along with PlayStation Now. This is reliant on having a solid internet
connection which can be an issue on the TV since it has fairly weak Wi-Fi so you’ll
probably want to consider using Ethernet. However this opens up the library of PS3 titles
that you can stream and being limited to 720p really doesn’t really hurt it at all here.
Even though the $40 price tag is hard to argue with there are a few things you’ll want
to keep in mind. The base model only comes with a power adapter and an HDMI cable which
means you’ll need to supply your own DualShock 3 or 4 which probably won’t be an issue.
You’ll also need to spring for a PS Vita memory card though which can get pricey, the
PlayStation TV has a little bit of internal memory but you’ll almost definitely need
to pick up a memory card for all but the most basic use. The PlayStation TV is being phased
out soon but while it’s still available for so cheap it is absolutely worth it. Changing
gears a little we have the Valve Steam Link. For $50 you’re getting a streaming box that
allows you to play games from your PC across your network. It’s a simple little box that
gives you HDMI to a TV, three USB ports and an Ethernet jack. It also has fairly solid
AC wireless built in but you should use wired if you can. As long as you have a gaming PC
with Steam installed on the same network the Link should be able to find it and mirror
your display in Big Picture mode, it works with a mouse and keyboard along with normal
USB controllers like from the Xbox One. Get into a game and things work pretty well. For
my setup both the PC and Steam Link are on Wi-Fi so there’s a bit of latency but it’s
pretty manageable, the biggest issue is the occasional dropped frame. It can stream at
1080p at 60 frames and the picture quality is solid, if you look closely there are a
few compression artifacts but overall it’s impressive. Since everything is handled over
your home network this is a surprisingly cool way to play PC games on your couch without
having to move your computer. As always I’ll have links to everything I talked about in
the description of this video and if you guys enjoyed definitely be sure to hit that thumbs
up button. Anyway guys thank you so much watching and I will catch you in the next one!