More than 75% of Steam games tested are playable or verified on the Steam Deck
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Purchased the base model; overall impressed with the quality of the device too. So much more comfortable than I was expecting, I just rest it on my lap. Its great.
It does enough of what I wanted from my gaming PC, that I just gave my older PC to a relative.
If you play vanilla, the Deck's 16GByte should be plenty. Most cities will hit the asset limit long before needing this much RAM.
Sure, there are console players that have no means of installing a mod, but I'd be shocked if even 10% of PC players didn't use at least a couple.
After being just about finished with the game, I decided to try some mods. Things that should address pain points, like indeed not actually being able to use most of the map, and traffic management.
The traffic turned into so much micromanagement to get cars to pick the right lane, and every time you made a change anywhere it required updating half a dozen other intersections as well, it just wasn't fun to grow the city bigger than possible in vanilla.
I remember one of the last games being an attempt at public transport only, where housing and shopping and such were accessible only by taking the subway. That worked super well in some aspects, and it's fun to design the mass transportation systems to underpin that city, but Skylines is so much geared towards vehicles that I didn't feel this was a proper city either. (From what I remember of a single game I played five years ago.)
Anyway, what I'm trying to say: based on my own and my girlfriend's experience, not everyone plays with memory-hungry mods, or any mods at all
That is almost certainly a vast majority of PC users using that single mod! This is also probably why Bethesda tried to make 'paid mods' a thing, and bring them over to consoles. Not only does PC seem to be their best selling platform, but people are largely buying Skyrim to mod it, and Bethesda wanted to try to start taking a cut of it.
On the other hand I'd completely agree with you for games where modding isn't so well supported. That results in more technical issues, and less impressive mods. I mean in games like Skyrims you have literally entirely new and complete games built as 'mods.' Some even get their own independent releases, like Enderal [2], which many would claim is [vastly] better than Skyrim itself.
[1] - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863
[2] - https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal_Forgotten_...
So in a best case, it's 50% of PC players (which may apply to steam deck), or worst case, less than 15% of all players (which may also apply to steam deck).
[1] - https://www.gamesradar.com/skyrim-has-sold-60-million-copies...
I'm only talking about "Skyrim", the original game. It sold in the ballpark of ~25 million, with a probable plurality on PC - so somewhere in the ballpark of 10 million there. And no, like I mentioned, the download numbers are unique users - not total downloads. The total modding userbase is also going to be well upwards of 8 million. There are lots of reasonably sized non-English Skyrim modding sites also hosting SkyUI, and there's probably at least a small number of modders that have never installed that specific mod.
I'm quite confident on the PC sales, because there's an oddly consistent little metric. For games that sell beyond a minimum amount, about 1 in 60 players tends to leave a written review. So total sales tends to be in the ballpark of written_reviews * 60. For Skyrim, that's 180,000 reviews or 10.8 million sales [1]. Linked because the game's been unlisted since the Special Edition came out. That metric also matches the mod count near perfectly, as well as Bethesda's sales announcements, and also their behaviors like trying to do things like create 'paid mods' (and the predictable backlash it entailed). So I'd estimate reasonable figures would be around 10 million on the PC, and a 2:1 360:PS3 ratio for the remainder. So you end up with somewhere around 10 million, 7 million, 4 million, with a variance probably in the range of something like 30%.
[1] - https://store.steampowered.com/app/72850/The_Elder_Scrolls_V...
As noted elsethread, lot of pause-action-unpause though.
Cinema is so expensive nowadays.
and that's not even taking in account the overpriced pop-corn
But the drive-in is an edge case.
Tell me you live in the US :D
Hmmm.... So is bull fighting but most of us refuse for various ethical and moral reasons...
Maybe we should treat a giant parking lot that goes unused for 99% of the time, and requires people to use polluting transportation when they could use public transit to go to a theatre, as the giant unethical mess it is, eh?
Or is that just everywhere I've been?
Only went as a novelty maybe a few times before having kids. This drive-in was a godsend since having kids ~5 years ago, and have been going regularly since. Extremely handy during COVID too.
(Sorry, citation needed, but I clearly recall reading this from a reputable source.)
https://gameranx.com/updates/id/416500/article/gaming-is-fiv...
It's equivalent to saying that soccer and basketball are the same game because played both with a ball.
"core gamers" (the gamers that play videogames) are actually "videogamers". Mobile gamers are gamblers.
Of course there are also some videogames in the mobile world, so you can find some core gamers playing videogames on mobile
Same model. Most actors stay poor and barely make it. You just only know the most successful ones, which is a tiny minority of the acting pool.
I really shouldn't buy more games now though, when I have so many that I haven't even played yet or barely played.
I got sleeping dogs for the same price several months ago and could have also done so twice a month ever since... It's effectively just the going price and the discount is pulled just as an incentive to push immediate purchase when people do happen to log in....
I've stopped buying things on sale and am now waiting until I'm ready to play a specific game before buying it... Nearly 100 unplayed games on my gig with most never going to get played (I played Baldur's Gate enough as a kid, I don't need to play EE).
I've actually kept track how much money I've splurged on PC games this year. I've spent 420.10€ directly on Steam and I have 56 direct Steam Store game acquisitions in my license history. Outside of Steam, I've spent 111.30€ and I have 151 "Retail" acquisitions (which aren't all games since "Forza Horizon 5 Oreo Zonda" is in there). So a total of 531.40€ spent and 207 product activations.
Feels pretty cheap considering previously I used to buy actual physical box copies of PlayStation games, and those were generally not cheap. Average game price for those is like close to $40.
You are in for a treat!
I essentially play only indie games, with rare exceptions once or twice per year.
Some of my favorites over the years include Slay the Spire, Celeste, Vampire Survivors, and FTL.
Edit: How can I forget the "holy trinity" of mystery indie games? Return of the Obra Dinn, Outer Wilds, and Her Story. These are brilliant games that really make you feel like a detective.
Another I thoroughly enjoyed was Jupiter Hell, which seems to be a fast paced game, but is actually a very thought provoking, turn based game.
There's a rather extensive DLC to play through as well in case you haven't seen it. A bit different, but really well made too.
I also make a point of grabbing stuff only when positive rating is 90% or more (recent) and of things that have at least ~5000 reviews or more. There are exceptions obviously, but this helps a lot to trim down the things I don't love, my backlog is already infinite.
I can give you a list of my favorites if you want and you can trim down. As I said, world of mouth!
I'll throw out a recommendation for Dave The Diver, fun little oddball game.
On a side note, it's quite astounding what just a handful of people, sometimes a single individual, can accomplish. It becomes quite clear that the main limiting factor when trying to create a good game is simply your own imagination and creativity. A large team with a huge budget seems to be just as much of a curse as it is a blessing.
I have found some great recommendations there I would have never found otherwise.
Edit: Looked it up. Yes, its storage is 100% upgradable.
Edit edit: Ordered a base model + dock :)
IMO getting at least 256GB internal (or upgrading later) is a smarter decision.
Yes, guide here: https://boilingsteam.com/how-to-upgrade-your-64gb-steam-deck...
The only solution I found was to simply not screw in the rear outer enclosure screws fully tight, or to replace the cover with the JSAUX unit that includes an additional heat spreader.
As the Switch runs on pretty standard but outdated hardware, every game studio will basically port yesteryears games to it to squeeze some final bucks out of them. Meaning I can enjoy those games on the cheap ($10-30 mostly).
I feel like there are not enough games somewhere between casual and core without the need of spending 50 hours on it. 10-20 hours is the sweet spot.
As a dad with two very young kids I don't get much time for gaming, but the Deck helps me find that time and I am loving playing through some of my backlog of controller-friendly games.
Also a plug for https://www.protondb.com/ which has thousands of user-submitted reviews and optimization fixes/tweaks for playing games on the Steam Deck.
My immediate example for this is 'gamescope'. It's like a mini compositor that really improves the edges between X/Wayland
For those using Linux outside of a Deck, look into setting it up!
This was my first sentiment as well, but found myself in the same exact position as you. I almost was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to playing with the underlying OS, but even some of these heavy AAA titles run really smooth considering the hardware they employed for the deck.
Oddly enough that is partially to the credit and fault of Sony/Microsoft. games have been stuck targeting 2013 hardware for a very long time, longer than any other generation prior. But it was also needed in a way; the cost/speed ratio of storage was woefully behind the power advancements, and we see that with the crazy load times in the mid-late generation games of gen 8.
On the same end, mobile has been advancing in huge strides and there were more x86 hardware that could run on lower wattage. Valve simply saw a hole that only certain Chinese manufacturers were trying to fulfill, and they used their market advantadge to slash prices. Honestly surprised Microsoft didn't try this first, given their dabbling with Surface (I know Sony has long since been burned out on handheld gaming)
One exception is Flatout 2 which is a game I really like and would sit down to play for an hour or two every year or so in the past ten years. But in that decade I have switched to macOS and even though there is a Flatout 2 port in the App Store, it is 32 bit and thus not playable anymore either. I bought the game on GOG so I can get the installer any time and it doesn't require online functionality (it has a multiplayer mode but I doubt it works anymore) but in recent years it was a real pain to get it to work so I could play for a while.
CrossOver is a legend but this year I felt it was too much effort to even download it and set up FO2 in it so I bought the SteamDeck and tried the game on it. It works flawlessly! I have spent more time playing the game this year than I have ever before except maybe the year it came out (2006 I think) when I played it a lot.
Since that experience I have installed Blood: Fresh Supply and I have been enjoying replaying that classic a lot. It has been like two decades since I last played that.
If it wasn't for the Steam Deck and its specific-purposeness and how easy it is to just pick up and go, I would probably give up on gaming altogether. So if you're on a fence and you are someone who likes older games, go for the Steam Deck! It is a joy.
I considered getting a Steam Deck, but I just don't see myself carrying it around to play it somewhere else. And if I'm going to be here in my comfy chair at my computer with a big screen anyway, it doesn't make sense.
I did however finally manage to dump Windows from all my machines, apart from my VR sim racing rig, and now play everything on my Linux desktop or laptop. If it doesn't run, at this point I just pick something else to play. Steam Deck has pushed the state of the art of Wine/Proton/DXVK/... so far it's mostly just a plug and play experience, I've not had any issues at all. Often runs more reliably than native Linux ports.
Apparently lead graphics developer of Asahi Linux works also for Valve now [1]. If you have followed her work, such a talent.
I wasn't a big fan of Steam so I've bought games from random store, but I'll buy any games from Steam as possible.
Though the irony isn’t lost that pretty much nothing I use on it actually targets the OS it is running.
Was that the wrong distro, or has it really come that far in that short amount of time?
The SteamDeck isn't for me (don't care for mobile form factor). But this work also benefits me on a Chromebook using its experimental Steam support. It runs Steam and games in a container that works well with Proton.
I'd tried gaming on linux before and gave up after a week or two of configuration attempts. I had put it off for ages and tried with proton on a dual boot system earlier this year, and instantly had access to everything installed on windows. It also means I can actually recommend linux to people with older machines trying to squeeze a little extra out of their lifespan, without having to tell them it's an uphill battle to get gaming working as expected.
But somehow these all came together to make the Steam Deck which is an astounding success. I don't know if Valve are geniuses or just incredibly lucky.
I don't think it's luck. After the Steam Machines Valve worked for years on proton (wine, dxvk, vkd3d) and AMD graphics drivers to fix game compatibility. Experience with selling hardware themselves had Valve with the Index already.
Apple did the same thing with random features like LIDAR scanners in phones that you have no reason to use. Everyone questioned their thinking. Turned out they were doing that in order to make the best VR headset ever made.
Steam Controller was a bit of a bust, but it sold ~2 million units so not entirely. They probably made their money back.
mostly because it's cheaper and everywhere. Even water these days can cost $2 in a standard 16.9 oz bottle. You don't go out to buy a coke because you want the finest drink in the land.
Lessons Learned. The Steam Deck is the culmination of previous iterations. Even with the flop of the Steam Machines, The Steam Controller and Steam Link have ended up as Cult Classics, and there is the possibility they'll get revisions down the line, even if they end up minor niche releases.
The history of handheld gaming pretty much is Nintendo. I fully realize the history (and recognize the innovation. That is the Switch). I had the original Gameboy back when it was a new product in the 80s.
My guess is that 99% of the people posting here can’t even envision the product that comes after the Switch and makes such a large impact. And they did not envision the Switch either. Even though now it seems obvious because someone more creative already did it.
There’s an easy way to prove me wrong. Create the next Switch and become a billionaire. It’s that easy.
That’s definitely a part of a product, but depending on the specifics it might be trivial/not the most important part compared to, say, the actual implementation.
Also, let’s not start with this nonsense of “become a billionaire, it only needs that good idea” bullshit. Sure, give me all the connections and resources to actually be able to even play at that league. That’s just a cheap way to shut down the other.
I get what you're saying, but I think the key point is execution of an idea. If it were so obvious and so easy, someone other than Nintendo or Apple would actually get it done once every few decades.
The billionaire argument isn't bs. If you actually had a great idea, or knew how to execute things well, you'd have either patents or products under your belt. It's just incredibly difficult to execute an idea in the real world. Most people, 99%, don't even have a good idea. The whole thing seems like if you "just had connections and resources" you could do it. But you wouldn't be able to. Most people actually do less with connections and resources. What would your grand idea be? Buy rental apartments? You certainly aren't going to be taking on Twitter when you can lose your millions doing it, and have no particularly amazing ideas for a competitor. Most millionaires don't invent things or execute complex ideas. They sit on the couch and contribute even less than if they were hungry with ambition. This applies to most of us, most likely including myself.
The millionaires are largely self-made, and were hungry with ambition. That's the portion I'm referring to in the last paragraph. The billionaires that keep doing things and making money like Musk are even rarer yet.
That was simply a tech issue. The PSP in 2004 was capable of playing games from last generation. it was pretty high tech for its time, and sold for about the cost of a Steam Deck's cheapest variant after inflation.
It also fit in your pocket, very comfortably. The one thing I feel handhelds gave up in their attempt to reach parity with modern consoles (and partially why I rarely take out handhelds anymore, in lieu of phones). I ultimately bought a GPD Win 4 because it was the smallest form factor while keeping those specs, but It fits in my pocket about as well as my high school jersey fits on my body 12 years later :(
>either did the old handhelds allow you to play two player on the same handheld on the go
That's a usability issue, not so much a hardware issue to innovate around. Even if the PSP was like a Switch, we're comparing a 4.3 inch LCD screen to a 6-7" switch/SD screen. over double the screen estate.
I think the real let down here was Sony not having the kinds of party game software that let multiple PSPs play with one cart, like some DS games did. Or at least, they weren't well known if they did exist.
[1] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/omdia-steam-decks-total-consol...
Valve might not directly profit from the sale of GPD, Aya or Asus PC gaming handhelds, but they still get their percentage from every Steam software sale made on them, other stores notwithstanding but lets face it, they continue to dominate that space. It highlights that it's not specific hardware that Valve care about as much as broadening access to their storefront.
It's not the hardware itself you should be keeping an eye on, but rather how many platforms on which Steam is available.
But those handhelds, being quite expensive, almost certainly sold much less than the Steam Deck, which itself didn't sell overly well.
It's Switch vs. Steam, which is available on desktop, laptop and handheld form factors and in the future likely a lot more (see box86/FEX, Chromebooks, Deckard). Valve doesn't care where you buy your games, they care that you buy them from Valve.
Valve don't need Steam Deck to become as big as Switch, Steam as a whole already is.
Windows isn't the "winner" because Windows isn't an app store, Microsoft don't get a cut of every game sold on Windows, but from sales through their store. That's the revenue stream that matters, moreso than how many Xboxes or windows licenses they sell.
You're not wrong that a lot of people don't see things this way. But they, particularly regulators, probably should.
What amazing things do we miss out on because not everyone has a infinite well of capital to draw from?
It's quite hard to find a game that doesn't work at all, the most common cause usually being an external launcher trying to mess with the system in ways that wine doesn't agree with.
For example, Skul: The Hero Slayer[1][2] is a relatively popular indie game whose Steam Deck compatibility is officially "Unsupported" because "graphics settings cannot be configured to run well", but if you ignored the warning and installed it anyways, you'd be scratching your head in confusion trying to find anything broken compared to PC. Imagining NEOWIZ/SouthPAW Games is liable to have lost quite a bit of revenue because of this seemingly incorrect compatibility listing alone.
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147560/Skul_The_Hero_Sla...
You can instantly jump into a game that usually takes 5 minutes to start up while waiting for the kettle to boil or during an ad break.
I wouldn't ever buy a handheld that didn't have this.
With the deck, I just sit on the couch and play games - the sleep/standby function is amazing.
I agree with the standby / sleep modes. Super useful if you need to stop gaming and run for whatever reason.
I think there's a big sale on them right now (I do wish I'd waited a month!).
It's not for everyone for sure, but it's an excellent way to have every PC game, including emulators, on the go... Which is basically 90% of all games ever created.
Personally I wouldn't take it outside my house, but I could see myself bringing it with me if I were to travel a lot.
much better than Windows on the ROG Ally for sure
It's one of the best hardware purchases I've done in years. It's surprising how well it managed to balance "It just works" with "You can still customize/modify/install things you need.". It's not perfect (screen could be better, battery life could be better, it's a bit chunky).
> And how do you use it?
I use it as a "secondary" gaming device. I have a gaming PC where I play games with a Steam library. Since Deck shares that library and seamlessly syncs save games, I can sneak in some game time before sleep, when travelling or when commuting with a lot of game time. When I have more time, I usually move back to my PC where the games and saves are waiting for me.
The fact that it goes instantly to sleep and suspends games is amazing - it really reduces a lot of friction for short gaming sessions because you don't need to wait for games to load.
If you don't play games though... it's probably pointless to get one.
Installing new GOG games from the GOG library isn't quite as easy as installing Steam games is, and you don't get the extra testing and verification for running games on Linux that you get on the Deck.
You do get all of the benefits from the Steam UI, though, like controller remapping and game specific performance profiles.
But, the Deck absolutely 100% works the way Valve intended: I find myself preferring to purchase games on Steam because it’s easy, even if it’s a couple bucks more or I have to wait for the Steam sale. It’s just a better experience.
My Steam account is possibly most oldest active account anyways and I have always preferred it, but if you primarily use another store it might be a bit annoying to have to do all the manual steps for the majority of your games
You just made me feel old. I think my Steam account is even older than my Gmail account. It has accompanied me through several phases of my life... I first created it using a very silly username, later I grew up and became extremely ashamed of it. I remember frequently checking if it was already possible to change the username, but they never allowed it. And now that I'm older I just laugh about it as a memory of my teen years.
(About half the games I play on Deck are from GoG.)
Caveat: I'm not a frame rate chaser and I'm not obsessed with graphics quality, so a lower end GPU running at 40hz is perfectly fine by me.
The huge win for me is sleep mode. The fact I can pick up my deck, play during some downtime, then put the thing to sleep and pick it up later, is huge. Couple that with the fact I can play anywhere and it allows me to play during those fragments of time when, previously, it was just too much of a pain to trundle off to my desk, fire up my rig, and get a game going.
And the range of control options means short of a fast twitch FPSes, where I still prefer m&kb (tbf I was never that good, and a lot of folks do just fine with stick+touchpad+gyro or a flick stick setup), there's little I can't play on the deck after some tweaking to get the controls the way I like.
I like being able to detach from my gaming computer but still make progress on my RPG games. The device is very hacker friendly—- valve has done an amazing job creating something that is user friendly (versus user hostile e.g. Windows). The device is able to render good graphics without (much) slowdown. I like connecting it to my TV and using it like a console. I like knowing the games I buy for it are accessible on my PC. It’s great.
It doesn't replace a gaming desktop or even an ipad. It's a mobile gaming console that plays steam games for the most part.
I like the hardware, but yeah I've had a harder time recommending it to some of my friends because my first question is "do you go anywhere?". Plenty of them say no.
Form factor is good, no problem so far with controller position. Rather big and rather heavy, not as portable as psp or nds but definitely portable.
Battery lasts only 2 hours-ish for AAA games though, much longer for lower specs.
Suspend and continue works wonder, though anticipate for hang or freeze that you'll need to save before if can.
Controls can be mapped freely for each game which is amazing, 4 back buttons works wonder to add more functionality to already limited buttons. Moreover the radial menu with trackpad is superb.
If you don't have gaming pc or laptop, you'll definitely like this, though maybe you'll need usb hub, keyboard and mouse if you want to enjoy games that doesn't support controller (sim city). If that's the case, slap an external monitor too since you'll need a bigger screen to play those games.
Otherwise you can lie sideways on couch, or I read you can lie on the back with pillow to rest your hand to play deck. Perfect for open world and action games.
Haven't really tried sd card so I don't know how flexible it is to play from it, but I guess it'll works wonder for less than latest AAA games.
Agree. When rewriting an older game for Steam I ended up in-biggening the artwork a touch to look good on the Steam Deck. Of course the game now looks positively Duplo on a normal PC monitor now.
Without adjustable ui size the text will undoubtedly be small in some instances.
The console like quality gives it a different feel compared to a controller hooked up to a gaming PC in my opinion. The fast sleep/resume also makes it super easy to pick up and play for a short while without having to worry about not making it to the next save point in time.
SteamOS/HoloISO is so good that I seriously consider installing it on my next gaming computer when the time to upgrade eventually comes. It has tons of issues with Nvidia hardware (as with any kind of Linux distro) but other than that it's one of the first times I've seen Linux for the mainstream done right. Read only system images, all software installed in the user directory makes for a very stable hassle free update experience. You can unlock the system partition if you want, but I intend to keep it read only for as long as I can.
It's not some kind of magical machine that will make you experience fun, though. If you're already happy with the amount of game time you're getting and you don't think you'll use it, don't get one. It is what it is, a handheld console. I bought mine knowing I'd probably spend a significant amount of time on it playing games in bed and on the go, and that's where it has really shined for me, especially when I was too sick to sleep for a few days.
If you've already got a gaming PC or console and a tablet/large smartphone, consider getting a comfortable controller grip for that instead and stream the games over your network. I've got pretty good experiences streaming games over WiFi and even over the internet this way. It's fiddly to set up, but it'll work for significantly less money than a separate game console.
If you've got money to throw at your gaming hobby, also consider more powerful alternatives. I think the 1200x800 screen is fine for the Deck screen size, but some people don't like it. The machine is also clearly optimized to play games at that resolution, hooking it up to a monitor can quickly show the limitations of a 15W chip. There are more powerful gaming handhelds out there, often running Windows and some kind of homebrew console environment, for a significantly higher price.
If you know anyone with a Deck, ask them to try it out for a few minutes.
I've had a single-player game of CIV5 going for MONTHS now. The Steam Deck is PERFECT for pick it up, play for 5 minutes (or a couple of hours), pause it, and resume later.
I have 2 main use-cases:
-couch-playing. When the Wife-unit is watching her shows, or I get bored but still want to be in the same area as her; I can play this on the couch without it being intrusive.
-kids playground. When the kids are at a playground I'll start playing as a way to pass my time until it's time to leave and/or I need to play with the kids too.
Both situations can have frequent interruptions, IMHO the Steam Decks' ability to suspend the game and then let me resume without a problem is incredibly helpful.
I also LOVE that because it's a "real PC", I don't need to fight with config oddities with linux on a laptop. Plug in an external monitor/keyboard/mouse and you have everything you need.
Curious, does anyone own both devices? Is there any noticeable difference in device sleep support between Steam Deck and Switch?
Happen to have any insight on this? $360 vs $540 on sale right now is tempting. Upgrading the storage to a larger NVMe is likely to happen either way, so the premium price would just be for the screen.
Based on videos I have seen online, the 'glossy' version is almost mirror-like. So ANYTHING would be an improvement over that.
FWIW I've added a microSD card and it's fine. Updating the internal nVME is not on my radar, because the whole point of SteamDeck, for me and my personal use, is for it to be "play and forget", as opposed to a hobby in and of itself :). YMMV :-)
But several folks around the interwebs have done practical tests of loading actual games from internal nvme vs external microSD in steam deck, and actual differences were far lesser than specs would indicate.
It has become the only way I play games now. The single USB-C is great, I plug it into the same dock [a Dell WD19TBS] I use for my work MBP and personal XPS which provides dual screen, keyboard, mouse, Ethernet, additional USB ports, power, etc over a single cable.
I use it any time I'm travelling which can be anything from 20 mins to 15 hours. Depending on which game I'm playing, I can still get ~6 hours of battery in a single charge and it still charges quick enough. It uses the USB Power Delivery 3.0 standard so any >=45 W charger from a phone or battery pack will work.
This is a bit like the original Switch adverts when it first came out. Where people are playing a game on their sofa at home, then take the console with them to a party on a roof somewhere.
I thought I would never use the trackpads but they are probably the killer input. I use them extensively, they've very sensitive which makes them perfect for fine input controls, and they have rumble motors in them so it feels like you're physically moving something.
The suspend-resume is fantastic, it's very quick and works even though games were not designed for this usecase like they are on consoles.
One complaint I've heard a few times if from people who have already spent a lot on a powerful PC to play games, and are then disappointed that games are less impressive on a device optimised to run at 10W. I was already used to running AAA games on low->medium graphics so in some cases the Steam Deck was actually an upgrade for me.
(Unfortunately Valve broke the per-platform playtime reporting that SteamDB had, so I can only say that I've played for at least 105 hours.)
I bet you have. wink
Lol
I need to apply a translation patch to my Steam copy of CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, but running the installer on the Steam Deck seems like a massive pain. I think I need to try to just copy over the patched game directory from my Windows PC to my Steam Deck to get it done without losing my sanity and installing a bunch of crap on the Steam Deck.
(Also, not a direct reply to your comment about trying to install something on the Steam Deck, but the comments here about cloud saves working seamlessly don’t compare to my experience. I mean, it wasn’t hard to fix. I’m a software engineer and could follow the instructions on some wiki to move some specific file in the terminal. It only took like 2 15 minutes max, including finding the wiki itself and a workaround without having a Bluetooth keyboard. But still, it was more than I wanted to do and I initially thought I was going to go down a rabbit hole. The device is still really good though!)
I spent a couple of hours diagnosing why I couldn't get save files for a particular VN sync via the cloud between my Steam Deck and my gaming PC. Turns out that they implemented cloud saves so that Steam syncs the cloud saves to Location A on the file system, and when the game boots up, it checks if there's a save file in Location B, it loads that, and if there isn't, it copies the save file from Location A to Location B and then loads it. The end result was that all of my Steam Deck saves were on my gaming PC immediately after I installed the game on my gaming PC, but neither device ever refreshed the saves because the actual save location was different from the cloud sync location, and there was no mechanism to override local saves with cloud saves.
It’s a wonderfully flexible device, and extremely fun to tinker with - but the ergonomics are shockingly bad. I don’t know if it’s the size, weight or shape to blame, but it quite reliably gives me the worst hand/wrist pain I’ve ever experienced from a device like it. I’ve tried plenty of purported solutions - adjusting my grip to various positions, attaching grip tape to the handles, etc - and none of them have made any difference.
I played it for two hours last week and it gave me such severe hand cramp that I wasn’t able to fully close my fingers without pain for three days. The only way to fix the pain is to simply not use the console.
There are scattered accounts along these lines on places like /r/SteamDeck - I gather I’m not really unique in this respect.
It’s tremendously unfortunate, really - it’s excellent at what it does, but I expect I’ll have to just sell mine and hope that a future revision to the hardware makes it a little less painful to use.
It could be the weight? it's heavier than most handhelds
I've barely played games the last 5 years or so, but the Steam Deck has been much better than I ever thought it would be and it has brought back gaming for me.
The instant standby/resume from inside any game, from anywhere, is a true game changer. If I have 5-10 min somewhere I can jump into a game and be back in a second.
Another use-case is playing some mouse/keyboard games in the bed or sofa. I've been playing tons of FTL and the trackpads work exceptionality well (for slower games or games you can pause).
Or just emulate almost any older game (and many newer switch games).
One feature that doesn't get mentioned or appreciated enough is the perfect sleep capability. I have 2 young kids and busy work/family life so I struggle to dedicate gaming time. I might get 20min or I might get interrupted in 30s after I sit down. No problem! You hit the power button and it sleeps instantly, and whenever you have time next you seamlessly and perfectly pick up where you were. This removal of overhead for booting and loading the game makes a massive difference for people like myself.
Otherwise, its interface is great and gets out of the way. There is any number of awesome games available and I've found I've played games I might not have on pc anyway. And a lot of games have seamless cloud saves too - for example I'm playing witcher 3 now and I can play here and there during the day on steam deck and then if I have time for a bigger session I pick it up on pc.
Games I've enjoyed on it include outer wilds (CANNOT recommend that one enough!), steam world dig 2, Dex, into the breach, backbone, and a lot of others.
Edit / p.s.: for me it's size is a plus btw. With Kishi+phone, Nintendo ds and even Nintendo switch, my fingers tingle and wrists hurt after a while. The wider and more natural spacing / angle of the larger steam deck means I can play with no such ergonomic issues.
Somewhat disappointed with Outer Wilds though ;)
Later, I found the final sequence so frustrating that I gave up and watched the rest on YouTube—and was glad I did, because that ending would not have landed for me, at all. It reminded me (to its detriment) of Majora’s Mask, a game that actually did a good job of convincing me to care about the NPCs and their situations over the course of the story.
Funnily enough, Outer Wilds has been on my mind lately, because I just played through Tunic, a different (and for me, much more enjoyable) take on the “play the game blind” concept.
Can you let me know about Tunic? I first heard of it literally yesterday when I googled for "Zelda but on Steam Deck"...
No wonder it didn't, you just watched a video. It's like the difference between 4dx and netflix.
(It is a bit of a slow burn; but if you've invested time and it doesn't quite meet the hype, fair enough :)
But the deck stays.
- it’s underpowered. I knew that going in but so many games have to be played at either a really low setting or you chew through battery life quicker than i can manage.
- battery life is pretty poor. Most games give me an hour or two of use. While I rarely game that long in a stretch, it means that on a trip I’m always thinking about battery. The charging port is in a location that shifts the ballance in an unfortunate way.
- you can’t download while it’s asleep or in the background. So if a game needs to be downloaded or updated, you have to leave it lying there, turned on and doing nothing. You can opt to have it download while you play but it stutters a ton if you do so.
- screen is mediocre. I knew that going in but it’s really hard to appreciate how dim and dull it looks compared to my phone screen for example.
- it’s loud and hot. It’s not something I can play silently therefore. The fans are really working overtime to relieve that poor SoC
- the ergonomics are so so. This one is really subjective. It starts out feeling pretty good, but I find the weight distribution makes it really uncomfortable for me after a whole. I feel a lot more cramping in my fingers and wrists.
Now, it was relatively cheap so I don’t mind, but I find myself not wanting to use it unless I’m on a solo trip or my partner is using the TV.
- my battery life is roughly 2-4 hours depending on the game. I'm playing Yakuza like a dragon right now and the battery lasts close to 3 hours
- my screen is plenty bright. I don't play in direct sunlight, but I do sit out on my porch during the day and it's fine.
- I've not had an issue with it being underpowered. I played Harry Potter on it which is a pretty demanding game and it seemed comparable to the performance my daughter had on the PS5 with her copy.
- I've never noticed an issue with downloads and stuttering while playing.
- Loudness is about the same as a laptop or console while gaming. Same for temp.
- Ergo is a small issue for me as well. The size and bulk of the deck can make my wrists hurt after some time.
Battery life is heavily dependant on the games being played. Yakuza isn’t typically that demanding so I’m not surprised you’re getting more. Playing something like Forza kills my battery pretty quickly.
The screen is 400nits. It’s also not got great gamut coverage. That’s what I mean by it being dull and dim. It’s usable but it’s really dependent on the content and context what clarity is like.
Yes it can play Harry Potter but at what settings and frame rate? The capability to play a game isn’t an issue, it can play most things. But it’s essentially a mobile PS4. Which is great, but it’s also only capable of playing games at settings comparable to a downclocked PS4. Again, something I knew going in but I figured they’d have better thermal management if I was giving up more contemporary performance.
I’m glad performance is fine enough for you though. I still find it quite underpowered, where every game I play requires both feature and resolution compromises. Playing without AA is just not acceptable to me in this decade. At least not unless I’m getting significant battery life or thermal freedom to compensate.
The steamdeck does not really have a concept of dual modes, per your own statements about playing on a bigger screen.
And I completely disagree that AA isn’t needed on smaller screens. You can see aliasing at any screen size.
Again, perhaps it meets your threshold of quality. That does not mean it meets mine nor does it mean that the form factor somehow obviates it. It just means that we have subjectively different preferences.
But again, I disagree that “it’s not needed”. That’s not why games will disable AA in handheld mode. AA is expensive and a cost they try and mitigate with art direction that tries to avoid much of the losses.
The steamdeck is not just playing games designed for a small screen. Many games suffer from shimmering and shifting. Whether that’s an issue for you or not is independent of whether they exist and might be issues for others.
You can try to replace it with some parts from ifixit or somewhere else.
I refunded my first too because it was just too loud and I didn't had the right situation for it.
Now one kid later and a newer deck with a silent fan, I'm very happy with the deck again.
It’s not that it’s making an unpleasant whining sound like what the older fan was meant to be, it’s that it’s trying to push out so much heat all the time that it’s perceptibly loud.
It’s the difference between tone and volume.
All my other devices in the house are relatively quiet compared to it. My switch, my Macs, even my PS5. None of them are fanless but they’re pushing out much less air at any point.
The steamdeck is fine for some games, but once it hits the thermal ceiling it gets so loud.
Are you saying this is something unique to the Steam Deck? If my Linux desktop is anything to judge by, you should be able to enable background downloads in Steam settings. I'm also fairly sure there should be a way to get logind to inhibit sleep during the download.
If you put it to sleep, it pauses downloads. Out of the box, it pauses downloads when you play games unless you enable a checkbox that says it will degrade performance.
If you switch to the desktop mode instead, you can download things as you would on a Linux desktop with all the other requisite performance state management caveats, and it’s very much now how the device is designed to be used.
Biggest dislike is the on-screen keyboard. On the one hand it's usable with the two trackpads, but, I still take way to long to enter text, even compared to a phone screen. It's also very slow to appear and bugs out too often. I really hope that that can be improved so it can pop up and disappear without noticeable delay.
I'm not sure about underpowered, I was actually quite happy to install some rather resource-intensive (Windows!) games and while it's getting quite warm, I never ran out of battery immediately, but yes, if you've got to save energy, better turn on all the options for that. And that's actually quite cool to be able to turn down energy consumption on a whim, or with per-game profiles, etc.
As long as they're going to optimise the experience more and not just keep it as-is, because "it works fine", then it could be a really good platform going forward.
Same question for the dock though, is it worth it?
And you lose all the important aspect of the Steam Deck, which is hardware/software integration.
Something about how quickly you can turn the device on and off and just start playing really makes me want to play more.
I've been playing different kind of games I play on console (Hades, Vampire Survivors, Hollow Knight, Brotato), just because they also help with the quick sessions.
I find myself picking it up several times a day when I need a break, and even when I'm stuck in some task at work.
As others have said, it is truly an outstanding achievement by Valve. Most things just work.
Of all my electronic purchases in the last 5 years or so, the Deck is by far the one that had the best cost/benefit. And the one that surpassed my expectations.
I’ve played with emulators in the past but they’re always a little laggy, or the controls aren’t quite right, or there is some other nagging issue. EmuDeck isn’t perfect but it handles a lot of the hassle and is the only setup where I have 100% completed the old mario and zelda games of my childhood. https://www.emudeck.com/
I don't mind the ergonomics. I find it comfortable to hold. Battery life is not great but I mostly play at home and I don't mind.
We also have a switch but don't play it that much. The steam deck is just more convenient because of the steam integration and the fact that games on steam are much cheaper and there are a lot more games.
The only times I pick up my Switch is for Tears of the Kingdom. I put my old gaming PC to storage because I hadn't turned it on for 6 months (too shitty to bother selling).
I own an Xbox Series X, but the times I can hog the only big TV in the house are rare. The Deck I can just pick up and start playing where I left off. I also take it with me on commutes and sometimes play it at the office to wind down or keep the front of my brain occupied so the rest can think in peace =)
Even if new games became too resource intensive for it to run starting tomorrow, I'd still have literal hundreds of games I can play with it. And that's not including emulation. Combine that with the readily available spare parts and upgrades, I'll be keeping this for years.
I recently got both a GPD Win 3 and 4 and I’ve found they’re much better in all the areas I care about. They’re more expensive of course but better to spend more on something that you use than spend less for something you don’t.
I've been playing Nier Automata & Devil May Cry 5. Both on pretty good settings but I've locked the refresh rate in the decks settings to 30fps and lowered the TDP of the processor per game so they both run at a smooth 30 while drawing as little power as possible. It's great for the commutes.
I fear my Deck's USB-C connector is going to fail in a year, and think I need to use an external controller to let the Deck sit stationary on a desk. I wish there was a sturdier hardware connector.
I’m guessing here that native games are often linked to some SDL version or something similar and might not work well with a considerable newer system.
So far I have played a bunch of old classics I brought 10 years or so ago which worked flawlessly, now playing “Return to Monkey Island”.
I cannot spend time sitting at a PC playing games these days with kids around, being able to pick it up and put it down on demand is frankly amazing. It is the best thing I’ve owned for years.
Mostly it's an issue for video codecs in games (patents are the issue here), or games that use a less popular API. (From windows! Which has ~3 decades of APIs from multiple vendors. Let alone 10s (10-100 IDK) different ways of playing back audio or a video, or both at the same time.)
Some of the changes are simply more bleeding edge patches or game specific tweaks that are included faster than official releases include them.
Wine is probably the best cross-distro Linux platform, especially for closed source products that don't get compiled for every specific repo. Flatpak/AppImage would also work but that lacks the raw system access that many games depend on (even if that system access is secretly emulated by Wine).
Apps like Lutris, Spotify Yuzu are on the Discover app store which uses flatpak. Flatpak is on many distros already installed or can be installed manually.
(PS: The Steam Deck's OS isn't even Arch Linux. It's based on it and uses Arch packages, but updates come from Valve through their own update mechanism with a read only file system. It's like calling Ubuntu Debian just because Ubuntu pulls packages from Debian Testing.)
Also, it's probably a joke.
It could certainly be argued that I’m doing some mental gymnastics here, but I look at Proton/WINE as simply being part of the game engine. Traditional engines like Unity/Unreal have all kinds of translation layers and indirection.
So I wonder about the metric for "playable" -- is a 4x greater chance of crashing when using your Steam Deck vs your PC still "playable"? And I wonder if players, who can't tell if a crash is related to emulation or a bug in the game, will blame the game developer when it isn't really fair to hold them accountable.
Do Windows games work on Linux? No, there's little Valve can do to change that, bless their hearts. But it's a very Reddit Social Media friendly statistic. It doesn't square with the reality from people like you, who actually make games with an audience.
And anyway, if you want to build for Linux, use Unity, so Proton is kind of a moot point, and also, you'll be doing that to sell on Switch anyway, porting your game like Vampire Survivor, Slay the Spire, etc. did, if you care about that audience. Vulkan will be fully deprecated before Proton can substantively reimplement enough Windows for non-middleware games. And anyway, Vulkan is awful, it's poorly supported by all the vendors, including Valve's own, but again, it doesn't matter.
The bigger picture: Steam already sells so many copies of games to so many people who spend 0 minutes playing those games. The idea of playing a game is enough to sell it. So in a sense, does it matter if your game doesn't work for the people who bought it? Like in the sense of objective reality?
RGB? People buy that stuff. It wouldn't be on everything if it didn't sell.
The Steam Deck is a cozy idea of gaming people like to buy. They could also blow $300 on a video card overpowered for playing Overwatch and League. These trends don't make sense in an objective reality, but the product is already psychological for so many people.
Brad Wardell, pariah and guy who was, ultimately, totally utterly right, figured this out ages ago:
> You focus on people who buy your stuff... One of the jokes... is how "ugly" WindowBlinds skins are (though there are plenty of awesome ones too). But the thing is, the people who buy WindowBlinds tend to like a different style of skin than the people who would never buy it in the first place.(https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/303512/piracy-pc-gamin... 2008)
And anyway, who cares? At the end of the day, you go and buy Windows on your handheld. Would people spend $15 on an OEM license of Windows for the Deck to have their games not have this problem? Probably. It is good for the planet that Valve is trying to make WINE emulation work, but it's not doing anything for the consumer - Unity is, middlewares are - and it's not doing anything for the game developer - more games would sell if it was just Windows - so really, pass your judgement in an objective reality. I really don't see the point of DXVK.
Somewhat tongue in cheek, but also not kidding. I realize the deck is not a desktop, but this is by far the most penetration Linux has had on something that is actually a consumer facing computer (vs an appliance).
That said for me if it works 95% of the time, I still prefer dual booting. I spent a few months trying Steam on Ubuntu and it was great - I was surprised just how transparent the experience was since Steam handles Proton/Wine etc for you.
But after seeing limitations like Oculus software to do some Quest + LInk PC VR, or Steam VR etc. I was like, I 'm just going to keep Ubuntu as my daily OS to surf and code etc, and I will reboot into Windows for gaming. Then I dont have to worry about any of the small print.
But I am hopeful. Those are great developments and within a few years we might see all the VR as well supported with no hassle in Linux.
BUT... interestingly with the recent developments on macOS, and their own "proton like" API - the macOS platform may also become a viable one... who knows.. if it works with external GPUs for example.
Exciting times for gaming!
Game breaking bugs are rare in playable titles from what I've seen.
The majority of games I play on SD are "only" playable and it's still a great experience.
Other than that, I have found that lots of games which aren't "Verified" play perfectly, and some games which are "Verified" don't launch at all (because Valve said 'hey! it works!', gave it the Verified badge, and then a month later the developers pushed out an update for the game which broke something for Steam Deck users).
Essentially, complete non-issues most of the time.
The most common reasons are requires using the on-screen keyboard and small fonts. Some playable games are completely fine: Occasionally I find a game that only requires using the keyboard once or twice but is still marked 'playable'.
And then, as a Linux user, you can just return any game you like, past the return window, by marking 'doesn't work on my system ' in the return wizard.
Sad thing that often the games that have the 15% performance hit are the ones most demanding of your hardware. It's also wierd playing some games on Linux, because clicking both left and right mouse button causes a middle click.
Playable usually means some text is too small or you need to enable the SteamOS virtual keyboard for some bits.
Forza Horizon 4 is Playable rather than Verified because of the Xbox Live sign in window at the start, but after that goes away it's flawless.
Some titles are getting c++ ABI/glibc issues because if they build "outside" the steam official steam runtime they will be hit full frontal by c++ and glibc planned obsolescence (they would have to control in a fine grained way the symbols/versions they link their binaries with... feature not provided by the sourceware binutils...).
I thought my Switch was too big and even got a Switch Lite, then when I got a Steam Deck (“worst case I’ll just dock it”) it was so much nicer. The grips cancel some of the size out, and it’s more comfortable (to me) than my (full size) Switch, despite the weight differences.
I wish there was a Switch Lite-sized one capable enough, though. But so far it’s all either: throttle, low battery life, no support, or extremely expensive (e.g.: the $1000+ ones).
Though agree that OP need to try it themselves, but still beware that some people with small hands get hurt playing deck due to the weight.
The switch controllers, when decoupled, fit my hands perfectly without weighing anything. It works much better for me and my puny wrists.
https://boilingsteam.com/valve-is-accelerating-the-validatio...
I think I've seen people that can't get their hands on it through "official" means get their own by arranging a delivery through someone else on Reddit for instance. I don't know if you'd be comfortable with that solution though.
EDIT: they are planning to support the Steam Deck long-term, but they said nothing about the first generation -- my bad[1].
[1]: https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamdeck/images/pres...
Also — check local resellers, some importers just set up a deal with Valve but don’t appear on Steam.
Note that requiring a launcher, or keyboard input also make the games land in playable territory even though it works perfectly otherwise.
As more older Steam games went through the process, less % of games actually fulfill those conditions (main reason I'm personally seeing is either "small text" or a launcher that requires use of mouse to click "Play" before the game starts).
Modern games without a big ass high res monitor will have text that's too small to be enjoyable.
In the end, perhaps sadly, the Steam Deck was for testing only. I rarely boot into the Desktop any longer.
CMake, BTW, was a great way for someone like me who does not know Visual Studio to get something working on Windows. (Xcode is familiar to me so I didn't bother trying to generate the Xcode project from CMake.)
SDL2 is the amazing framework I found for cross-platform development. Just the right level of abstraction for my code-it-in-C game projects.
Thanks for the tips!
2. Varies depending on how many games implement incompatible things like certain anti-cheats. Admittedly, this may only account for a small amount. They come/go in waves -- eg: looter/shooter trend
3. Steam Deck verified is a more strict qualification than Linux in general; tiny screen/resolution, gamepads, etc.
4. Finally, inconsistency between the rate-of-verification and rate-of-addition - these are not locked
Probably more, these are what immediately come to mind
Since I upgraded to 23.04, most of Paradox and many others refuse to play.
Is it something that Ubuntu broke, or a different Linux kernel that breaks OpenGL?
That being said it did take me an unbelievable amount of tinkering to get it to work. And unfortunately SteamOS comes with all of the typical bugginess you would expect from a Linux OS baked into a handheld device (keyboard disappears, trackpads stop working randomly, UI elements overlap with no way of removing them, etc.)
Still, the Steam Deck is a freaking achievement. The battery life is unbelievably good for a device of this kind. If a new Steam Deck comes out with an OLED screen it's a day 1 purchase for me.
For non-SD users reading this: you can get D4 running in about the time it takes to download Battle.net and the game itself. You basically install Battle.net on the deck, and then create a launcher from within Steam. That's it.
Okay, I'm on Hacker News, what are the odds I don't know what I'm doing?
You don't "just install" Diablo IV on the Deck. You have to add the Battle.net Setup binary as a non-Steam app, or go through Lutris. I chose to not use Lutris and instead go through Steam which requires you to go to desktop mode, install it, and then change the paths from the setup binary to the Battle.net Launcher binary, which means going through the file system to look for it, and the paths could differ depending on whether you installed it on an SD card or the SSD.
Apologies for being defensive. I want to make sure people who read this thread take the positive reception with a grain of salt. I had to do all of this as a brand new Steam Deck user. All of this was made more complicated by a couple of UI bugs in the Steam UI and the fact that desktop mode has a bug where the keyboards and trackpads stop working randomly unless Steam big picture is enabled. I had to discover all of this through Google searches.
A couple more problems: one of the tutorials online forgot to mention you have to change the launch directory as well. That was about an hour wasted trying to figure out why Battle.net was not launching. Additionally, you can't download games with the screen off. That's because pressing the power button behaves like a computer, in that it makes the entire OS go to sleep. You have to literally keep your Steam Deck on in order for it to download the game.
The Deck is just a handheld console. It's a successor to the PSP more than it's a competitor to anything else. The fact it's implemented as a laptop with a weird keyboard makes it very flexible, so things like emulation become easily available without having to resort to hacking your console or jumping through dev mode hoops.
The Deck is great for use in circumstances where you can't get behind a full desktop, like in public transport, or when you just want a quick session without having to boot/update/log in/load/save/quit/shut down. The sleep/resume functionality is very good, so quick five minute bursts in games that would otherwise take half an hour to load are suddenly a possibility.
It works for gaming on the couch, in bed, in public, anywhere but at your desk, really. I suppose you could also use it as a desktop computer if you attach it to a USB C dock, but I don't think that's the primary intention of the device.
If you're content with your desktop gaming experience and don't see yourself gaming anywhere else, the Deck is probably just not for you.
1. Suspend and resume. If I’ve got a quick 20 minutes I can hit the button, change the input on a monitor, pick up my controller and play. No need to shut a bunch of stuff down to free up RAM, wait for the game to start, wait for a save to load, etc. And no need to worry about getting to a save point, finish a cut scene… just suspend. 2. It doesn’t heat my office up a bazillion degrees like my desktop.
There is one game that I had played elsewhere that I enjoy (Sniper Elite) but other than that I really wish it would have a more AAA catalogue. Most of the games are childish and/or arcade, just not for me unfortunately.
ProtonDB is better, though it does move slowly. Basically if protonDB says it isn't borked, the game will run.
In year 2022, it switched. I haven't found a Windows game that doesn't work on Steam. And amusingly, I have found a few Windows games that don't work on Windows.
You will need a fan, but it works really well - you can run the Witcher 3, Cyberpunk (albeit not at 60fps) and many, many games very well.
Steam Deck is another piece of hardware, you can get away with using a lot less.
And locked in Android's attic, in a padded cell.
I gave up on Linux desktop long time ago.
[1] my personal YotLD was '99.
Android achieved that many years ago.
There's nothing I want to do on desktop Linux that I can't anymore. That's really kind of insane for me to accept, but it's real. Well done guys, it took like thirty years but you made a good OS.
The caveat is I don't do anything highly specialised like high-end video-editing, which is where I hear the big gaps still are.
They'd also need to keep costs down like they do with the Deck and that's going to be a real challenge, but if they can get a controller + desktop out for about the price of the Deck but without the handheld performance restrictions, I think they can gain popularity.
All of that being said, I've unfortunately never had the opportunity to try it myself, so I don't really know.
My biggest issue is that the touchpad lack precision that a normal joystick would provide, and you need quite some force to push the directional buttons underneath the DPAD.
It wasn't a complete design failure. I do miss the button on the end of the triggers, that was a smart choice. I find the Deck paddles a lot harder to press than the ones on the Steam controller.
The deck took everything the Steam controller tried to do and just did it better. The trackpads is still there, including the force feedback, but it's no longer used in place of usual controls.
With these lessons learned, I think Valve will be able to design an awesome controller!
But after CLion's free period ended and they wanted to charge me, I started just testing my Windows build on the Steam Deck and was surprised at how seamless their Proton layer was. I ended up not shipping a Linux-only version of the game.
Honestly too, even supporting the two platforms is a bit of a pain — a third would be unwelcome.
as someone who's been trying to run games on linux for almost a decade, we are still a long way away from being able to just launch games on steam (in linux or with steam deck) without thinking twice.
despite the progress in emulating windows code in linux, you need devs to step in for weird cases such as anticheat or another layer of DRM companies like Ubisoft and EA put on their titles.
given steam deck's success tho, i am hopeful to see some effort from developers to make it more accessible to just launch a game on deck and have a good experience. even if it might be down to just supporting less powerful hardware.
it might also be a blessing to only have a limited subset of titles given how vast steam catalog is. my library is already too big to catch up on.
0: https://www.sono.no/kontormobler/ergonomisk-kontortilbehor/e...
- Windows as the key interface
- very poor battery life (even worse than the Deck!)
- no trackpads so this limits what you can ever play with it to games made for gamepads
- none of the SteamOS goodness
And I read that the button can stuck and it can get hot.
The problem specific to the Ally right now is that it seems to get too hot where the SD card reader is, causing SD cards to fry for some users: https://www.dexerto.com/tech/asus-rog-ally-has-a-bizarre-ove... . I'm sure this will be fixed in a future hardware revision, but for now it seems worth waiting on the Ally for them to hammer out the first-generation kinks.
Still, I'm happy that the Ally exists, both as competition for Valve and to help prove that this PC form factor has legs.
And for anyone comparing the options… go upthread and read how many people are saying this is _the_ killer feature of the Steam Deck. Because it is.
I’d been kind of on the fence how I felt about the ROG, but that makes it a solid “no” for me.
That being said, I think the Ally has great potential and some of the problems listed can be solved/mitigated;
> - Windows as the key interface
You can boot straight into Steam Big Picture. It will show you the desktop for a second, for now, but surely there will be solutions to make it boot almost instantaneously. And then Windows remains as your Desktop Mode.
> - very poor battery life (even worse than the Deck!)
There's a tool called Handheld Companion (FOSS) that tries to do a lot of what the right hand side menu in SteamOS does, FPS limits, power control, etc. It has a feature called AutoTDP which basically modulates power to target a certain FPS average, and it works surprisingly well, shaving off enough power to make the SD and the Ally battery comparable in situations over 9W. Below 9W I agree, the ROG Ally chip just eats more power for sometimes lower performance. It even emulates a DualShock 4 controller so you can stream PS4/PS5 games to it via Sony's app. (that also enables gyro in Steam games, which Asus didn't care much to add, even though the hardware is there)
> - no trackpads so this limits what you can ever play with it to games made for gamepads
Nothing that can be done about that, except maybe yet another Handheld Companion tweak which adds virtual gamepads on the edges of the touchscreen. Very customizable, not perfect, hard to reach with smaller hands, but hey, it's an option.
> - none of the SteamOS goodness See Handheld Companion above
PS: how do I add quotes in here?
I have myself barely scratched the surface of the steam input features, but there is nothing that I have been unable to do with it. And that is so important when you are emulating games.
Personally I like the Ally's gamepad a bit more. The Steam Deck makes the buttons just a bit too small to make room for the trackpads. When I compared them they were about the same size as a Joycon's buttons.
I say almost as good, because the "Steam button + joystick" mouse controls don't work for very long; the Xbox button gets mapped to the Steam button, but holding that will turn off the controller...
The UI is quite clearly designed for use with a touchpad, so your mileage may vary, but it works okay in my tests.
For single player games and people who don't expect their portable gaming device to be 4k/240FPS SD is better in every way.
Games not tested are out of the 100%. This is NOT 75% of Steam catalog.
I wish Steam Deck wasn't this poorly designed, I'd have bought one
Hopefully their 2nd gen will look better, smaller and with a better battery
Unless they release a 2nd gen of this baby: https://gpd.hk/gpdwin4
> That link looks sketchy, btw.
Yeah, it kinda is weird, but that's your typical Chinese website.. lol
GPD is the company that pioneered the handheld gaming PC form factor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbFPXLB7GI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K9ByWPqYtc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpjrbHFv_dA
And this one, 6 years ago already! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lslcH-T1E0o
Makes you realize Microsoft could have owned the handheld market if they weren't this incompetent
https://twitter.com/SeamusBlackley/status/164838536603307622...
Something fishy going on
This is exactly why karma based voting system is flawed