Analogue, Inc. has announced Analogue OS, a new operating system that will be included in its upcoming gaming handheld, the Pocket.
Analogue OS will allow players to "explore, discover, and play through all of video game history." The company notes that the operating system has been developed from the ground up with the end goal of becoming a scholarly database for "all of video game history." Analogue OS will have a library that stores these games, allowing you to search for a game by platform, region, developer, and publisher and play these games on the Pocket.
Analogue OS' library will take full advantage of the proprietary technology created by the company to perform several things, including the ability to read physical game cartridges and detect all possible information on the game cartridge. For example, if you insert a cartridge for a game like Pokémon Red or Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the Analogue OS will allow you to find out what revision of the game you are playing and all the details that were changed for this revision.
Game preservation has become more of a hot topic in recent years as some parts of video game history are at risk of disappearing forever. There are multiple reasons for it, such as cartridge rot or developers losing a game's source code. Analogue, Inc. envisions building out its operating system to become "the great library of Alexandria of video game databases."
The operating system will also include save states, allowing you to save and load a game cartridge and pick up exactly where you left off. Analogue, Inc. also confirmed that the OS is optimized to play in both handheld and docked mode, the latter can output 1080p on an LCD or OLED display via HDMI or a connection to a CRT/PVM.
Analogue OS will also include features, such as the ability to capture and save screenshots, create your own box art, and even track your gameplay progress, by showing you key stats including what days you played a particular game and how long you played. Unfortunately many of Analogue OS' features like the Library and Tracking will not be available at launch with some of these features slated to come as early as update 1.1.
Analogue Pocket is currently slated to release sometime this December.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.