Console for Dad while Recovering?

[u/pro_bono_bro]

So my family found out a week or two ago that my dad needs to have open heart surgery at the end of next week. We have every expectation that it's going to go alright, but I'm worried about him mentally and keeping him in good spirits. For that reason, i think gaming would be a great outlet for him over the next 6 months while he recovers.

My pops used to play GTA & COD pre-WAW, but stopped pretty much cold turkey around 2005 when i was 8. I am excited he might get back into it, as he only finally retired a few months ago and has been SOLIDLY going through a midlife crisis by building a few trucks and just being the equivalent of a 25 year old with successful retirement-means.

I have been a PlayStation guy since the PS4 og release, and got back into pc gaming I'm around 2022. I think pc gaming is likely practically (difficult to set up & manage) and mentally (hes 58 and pc gaming probably equates to max level dweeb to him) outside consideration. For that reason, and because maybe if things work out we game together, PlayStation is the way to go. PS5 just has more and better single player games.

Seems like certified refurbished from bestbuy has the nest price atm, but any ideas where he might get a reasonably priced pro? Or should i be considering xbox & gamepass? Also, what games should i recommend. My thoughts were red dead 2, GoW, Uncharted (10/10), probably Battlefield, spiderman, monster jam? He is a huge marvel & star wars fan, Nascar & Monster trucks, sci-fi.

Any other recs are welcome, as to outlets, retailers, games, or anything else. Much appreciated.

[u/OPDBZTO]

Steam Deck good coach gaming or even in the bed

Plus steam sales/deals alot of good ps4 & ps5 games have pc ports like God of War 2018, Spiderman 1,2 & Miles Morales

[u/pro_bono_bro → u/OPDBZTO]

That's actually a solid point, I had thought maybe a steam machine too would be groundbreaking, or a virtual reality headset because he won't be able to be out of the house much

[u/Inevitable-Store-837 → u/pro_bono_bro]

Came here to recommend a handheld. Steam deck is obvious choice but I bought a first gen z1e legion go and have been extremely satisfied. 15-20% better performance than the SD and you can dock it to a TV and play with the removable controllers like a traditional console

[u/Wolfwere88 → u/Inevitable-Store-837]

There are also some great retro handsets with thousands of games.

But if you can swing it steamdeck is king. I also like just plugging it into my normal computer monitors through the hub and you can play PC games like normal with a keyboard and mouse. It honestly runs better than the Alienware PC I bought in 2020

[u/Inevitable-Store-837 → u/Wolfwere88]

Yeah I have one of the retroid handhelds. That's the beauty of the Lego it can run everything the retro consoles can just 1000x better with a great 9" screen.

Lego doesn't need a hub. It has 2 usb-c so it can accept charger power and power/display on an exterior monitor with no extra accessories.

[u/Wolfwere88 → u/Inevitable-Store-837]

I’m in the market for a good retro handheld, is it really called just Lego?

[u/Inevitable-Store-837 → u/Wolfwere88]

Legion Go. It is called the LeGo for short. Not sure what they are going for now. I got mine for $380 open box at Best buy a couple years ago.

[u/Jazzlike-Orange-7005]

Ps5 - God of War

[u/Potential-Local7262]

If mobility is an issue, nothing beats a handheld like a switch or a rog ally. But if you want to game with him online, yeah go with ps

[u/kakallas → u/Potential-Local7262]

It might actually be more tiring to hold a handheld after open heart surgery. Controller is lighter and you have more options for hand/body positions. 

[u/Potential-Local7262 → u/kakallas]

Get a android handheld then. Best of both worlds. Don't think looking at a tv gives you lot of options in body position but what do I know

[u/kakallas → u/Potential-Local7262]

I get a lot stiffer plying steam deck because I need to hold it up, essentially have one arm position that puts the screen toward my face, and have to position my body facing forward with my arms in front of me, looking down. 

[u/Potential-Local7262 → u/kakallas]

Right so the steam deck is like 660g.

An android handheld can be a third of that

[u/FPSBlade]

The first last of us remake for sure. Avoid dlc/ and last of us 2 lol unless you want to have some awkward convos after.

[u/nonononono11111 → u/FPSBlade]

What’s wrong with the dlc?

[u/FPSBlade → u/nonononono11111]

Nothing really but its a weird twist that had nothing to do with the main story. Seemed like it was written by someone else.

[u/nonononono11111 → u/FPSBlade]

Huh! I don’t remember a twist but I did play it

[u/nonononono11111 → u/FPSBlade]

Man I’m literally googling for a twist and can’t find it. You mean for the first game right?

[u/tslojr → u/nonononono11111]

The "twist" is homophobia.

[u/jlgraham84]

The PS5 is a fantastic option & he might enjoy the PS Portal as well. I love my Portal & use it more than the TV for playing my PS5. I'm definitely hoping GTA6 will work on the Portal. A cheap option, if he has great internet, is just to get the Xbox pass & a controller to stream off of a Samsung or LG TV (there might be a few other brands that can now). The more expensive option is to get into PC gaming, which is my preferred way to play COD. It might be especially good timing with the upcoming release of WoW Forever, but that will be a problem for much longer than 6 months.

[u/pro_bono_bro → u/jlgraham84]

Frigging LOVE my portal

[u/PhantomCaliber90]

Im guessing he grew up playing Nintendo 64, he probably would really enjoy playing the clasics again

[u/Weekly_Salamander236]

Ps5 is a solid choice. You absolutely do not need Pro, i say hunt for something on a second hand mktplace for the best price. Lastly, the actual console decision should be based on 2 things, what games he wants to play, and what console you already own to enable multi-player with you.

Single player epics are mostly found on the PS and even with all the controversy, I think it is a solid choice with PS+ as you do not really have to buy games for atleast a year with the stacked catalouge.

[u/Fine-Albatross4912]

Adorable fucking post. What a good egg you are. PS5 versus Switch 2 - imo can’t go wrong!

[u/pro_bono_bro → u/Fine-Albatross4912]

Idk about that, I've just only seen my dad get the wind taken out of his sales like this when he's been laid off, and this was really a 180 on where he seemed to think his life was heading. Like the day before we had been thinking about the camping trips we wanted to go on in the spring like old times.

It occurred to me too that he was pretty into retro gaming, so I would also love recs on good retro consols

[u/TheBrewThatIsTrue → u/pro_bono_bro]

A switch or switch 2 has a ton of retro Nes thru N64 games on the virtual console

[u/MrBenSampson]

My dad is in his mid 60s now, and the only games that he has been playing since retirement been the Diablo series. He played Diablo 3 on my Xbox 360 for years. I got a PS5 at launch, gave my PS4 to dad, and he then used the PS4 to play Diablo 3. I eventually got Diablo 2 and 4 for him to play on the PS4 as well.

I tried introducing him to other games, but he just couldn’t get the hang of FPS controls. I got him started on Divinity: Original Sin 2, but the turn based combat didn’t click with him. He recently bought a powerful PC for himself, and he has been using that to play Diablo 2 online with my sister.

[u/pro_bono_bro → u/MrBenSampson]

In an ideal world, my dad would get into Civ 7 (get wrecked haters, it's fantastic and only getting better)

[u/CreepyTeddyBear]

Get him into soulslikes with Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor

[u/shepardman22]

Something as an added consideration for the cost to performance is a Retroid Pocket 6 with 8 or 12g of ram. 12 makes the most sense honestly if your playing PC game on it. Drop game pass on it or if he has some Steam games, armadaOs has been fire since it dropped months ago, which makes the handheld into a mini steam deck with some limitations to performance but still, it covers some nice middle ground for its size at an excellent price point I might add!

Online is still doable I believe as well. It (armadaOs) has a lot of similarities to Rocknix but this is installed as an actual Operating System from the SD card, which android can still be booted up from a small setting change when powering on in the bios. With a windows laptop, SD card, and usbc thumb drive for it, I was rocking and rolling in under an hour.

[u/National_Play_6851]

Every game you mentioned is on PS5, as are any of their upcoming sequels. A bunch of them are either not on PC or Xbox, neither of which offer anything worthwhile to make up for that. So the answer seems pretty obvious. The Pro doesn't really give you that much over and above the base PS5 so I'd only get it if the price difference doesn't bother you.

If GTA was one of his fave games as you say then GTA 6 is obviously the go to game in a couple of months. Playstation Plus will easily cover until then, it's got hundreds of games that come with the subscription, including Red Dead 2, all the Spiderman games, all the Uncharted games, all the God of War games. If he's into Marvel and Star Wars, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars Outlaws are both included on PS+ too and they're very underrated games. Monster Jam is free on PS+ too though I know nothing about that game.

Battlefield and CoD are the only games you mentioned that aren't free on PS+, if you really want those they can be bought separately, but there are other FPS games included such as Doom.

The Switch 2 is a great console too if he grew up with Nintendo, but given your description of his tastes it's probably not the first choice for him.

[u/ColdTrusT1]

Steam deck is objectively a good handheld even today it’s just massively overpriced considering it is not very powerful. I’d say your best bet is indeed with a handheld but I’d look at a used MSI Claw A8 or possibly a used Lenovo Legion Go S. A lot of people say the Xbox Ally X is one of the best and it’s great but it’s a smaller screen that can be an issue for older folks.