Steam Deck (handheld from Valve) - shipping is 4-8 days from NL to UK

[Popo]

Oh, I never considered that Game Pass streaming would work on this. That’s juicy. 

[jonamok]

It's the triple threat: native steam library; uber emulation platform; game pass streaming.

 

Oh man.

[moosegrinder]

Is it such a strange notion that MS could release a Steam Deck only Game Pass with the ultimate subscription? If Steam Deck is a platform in and of itself is there a reason they would or wouldn't segregate it from the desktop version of Steam?

[Mogster]

22 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

Is it such a strange notion that MS could release a Steam Deck only Game Pass with the ultimate subscription? If Steam Deck is a platform in and of itself is there a reason they would or wouldn't segregate it from the desktop version of Steam?

It's not really a platform as such, as it's a Linux PC running steam with a new version of Big Picture mode. MS seemed keen to point out that it can handle Game Pass streaming though, and already release their games on Steam. I don't think it would be a huge leap for them to include some form of Game Pass on Steam, like EA have with Play, but I think they'd at least wait a while to see how well the Deck does after launch.

[Mr. Gerbik]

I assume that having Xcloud work on Steam Deck already, counts as "Game Pass is on Steam Deck" as far as Microsoft are concerned.

[moosegrinder]

12 minutes ago, Mogster said:

It's not really a platform as such, as it's a Linux PC running steam with a new version of Big Picture mode. MS seemed keen to point out that it can handle Game Pass streaming though, and already release their games on Steam. I don't think it would be a huge leap for them to include some form of Game Pass on Steam, like EA have with Play, but I think they'd at least wait a while to see how well the Deck does after launch.

 

Yeah I know it's only a kind of platform, it's more that it's a uniform specification in a dedicated form factor. It just seemed to tick most of the boxes that make it a 'platform'.

[moosegrinder]

Just now, Mr. Gerbik said:

I assume that having Xcloud work on Steam Deck already, counts as "Game Pass is on Steam Deck" as far as Microsoft are concerned.

 

Also this. The whole 'Xbox as a platform' thing is basically "Can I play Xbox games on it from a legitimate source/service"

[Mallet]

I'm really happy that they worked to implement a suspend and resume feature, it is what I miss most from the consoles when I am playing on my PC.

[Siri]

10 hours ago, jonamok said:

It's the triple threat: native steam library; uber emulation platform; game pass streaming.

 

Oh man.

Hell, with Proton being pretty agnostic in terms of software (being an offshoot of Wine), it's surprising what it can do for games outside of those ecosystems, as well - even if the developers claim that it shouldn't 'work' that way and they hold no responsibility for you fucking around and finding out about bans.

I threw on Tony Hawk 1&2 on for a laff, because it's still an Epic Games Store exclusive, and as such doesn't have a record in ProtonDB because it pulls all the information from Steam. And the result was that It's probably one of the best performing 3D games the little APU PC I got could handle.

Not that it's a magic bullet that solves every performance issue on Linux, nor is FSR - there's still PC games that will put any APU in a chokehold, like Satisfactory. OTOH, they also put RTX3080 cards in a chokehold, so it's not the end of the world.

On a tangent - at the moment, the weirdest (albeit small) omission from Linux's gaming community at the moment is a lack of Android emulation. Bluestacks is quite popular on Windows, and Windows 11 lets you sideload Android Apps on it. Meanwhile, the platform that Android derived itself from has a couple of very early virtualisation projects that don't support GPU acceleration yet. It's a shame, because... well, I'm just trying to weasel a way to get Genshin Impact on the fucking Deck without their anti-cheat freaking out or needing to boot into Windows. If there's one thing I've learnt from using the Mini PC, it's that installing Windows to dual boot after Linux is no bueno.

[alex3d]

So, I just paid the 4 bucks registration fee. Is there any chance at all of receiving the Steam Deck before Q2/2022? Is this maybe just a placeholder date?

[Siri]

Probably not. Even if a bunch of people cancel their orders if it turns out to be a turkey, it's not like the worldwide Semiconductor shortage is going away any time soon to make our orders magically jump by months at a time.

[Myshkin]

god, it's going to be tough waiting 6 months after reading all about how much people love their new Decks.

[moosegrinder]

The joy of Decks.

[jonamok]

Pretty much the PS5 experience for many.

[marsh]

If I've learned anything from the hunt for ps5 stock, to even be in the queue, you have to get in the bastard right at the start.

 

With the steam deck, even if it turns out to be a steaming dog turd, they'll be someone else ready to snaffle that up at the moment.

[alex3d]

Sh*t.

[Myshkin]

how much do i regret half-assing my preorder, and only doing it when i remembered at 9:30 that night. gah.

[Rex Grossman]

 

3 hours ago, Myshkin said:

god, it's going to be tough waiting 6 months after reading all about how much people love their new Decks.

 

Decks offenders.

[Siri]

Just now, Rex Grossman said:

Decks offenders.

Deckpests.

Again lads, look on the bright side - you're still able to get in a queue and have a rough date of getting a unit. Tell that to the raving loons refreshing Twitter for PS5/Series X stock at Argos at four in the bastard morning and they'd think you're in fantasy land.

[deKay]

4 hours ago, jonamok said:

Pretty much the PS5 experience for many.

Yeah but the Steam Deck has games.

[Giddas]

1 hour ago, deKay said:

Yeah but the Steam Deck has games.

resists mentioning Xbox series x

[Dudley]

On 17/08/2021 at 18:09, deKay said:

Yeah but the Steam Deck has games.

 

To be fair, how many exclusive games does the steam deck have?

[Mallet]

3 minutes ago, Dudley said:

 

To be fair, how many exclusive games does the steam deck have?

That are not on consoles?

 

I don't know, hundreds or even thousands I would expect. Not just games but entire genres that are hardly represented on consoles.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Surely more like hunderd of thousands or even millions? Even now loads of PC games never come to consoles, but back before the 360 era it was even the case that *most* never came to consoles and there wasn't even an expectation that they would ever appear. A paltry handful, the ones with a huge reputation like Planescape and Baldur, have since made the jump after all - but that's probably like a dozen or so total.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Steam Deck also has more Nintendo exclusives than the Nintendo Switch.

 

And more PlayStation exclusives than the PlayStation 4 and 5 put together.

 

 

[Fry Crayola]

Alternatively, the Steam Deck has no exclusives because every game can be played on something which is not a Steam Deck.

 

You can view it either way, it doesn't matter. The device itself is the exclusive feature - all those PC classics in the palm of your hand! Beat that, Johnny PlayStation!

[Mr. Gerbik]

4 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

You can view it either way, it doesn't matter. The device itself is the exclusive selling point - all those PC classics in the palm of your hand! Beat that, Johnny PlayStation

In all seriousness, that it's also very comfortable to hold and actually play games on, is something that Nintendo can't currently beat. The Switch makes my old man hands hurt like hell, it has zero thought put into its ergonomics. This is a big factor for me personally.

[Mallet]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Gerbik said:

In all seriousness, that it's also very comfortable to hold and actually play games on, is something that Nintendo can't currently beat. The Switch makes my old man hands hurt like hell, it has zero thought put into its ergonomics. This is a big factor for me personally.

Agreed.

 

I was surprised when the Deck was first revealed and people complained about it's ergonomics, it seemed obvious to me that it would be comfortable to hold. I even watched videos comparing the two that had the Switch's ergonomics as a plus in it's favour, what ergonomics?

[phresh]

Ignoring that this would be virtually unplayable in a child's hands, which is kind of important for a Nintendo handheld, I don't see that either are particularly ergonomic. I love the idea of a handheld steam machine (not running windows, which sounds like some proper dystopian shit on a handheld console) but going to wait and see what the reviews are like on this. I loved the touchpad on the steam controller but felt the circular, concave design was integral to that and i'm not sure about the new pads.

[Mr. Gerbik]

8 minutes ago, phresh said:

Ignoring that this would be virtually unplayable in a child's hands, which is kind of important for a Nintendo handheld, I don't see that either are particularly ergonomic. I love the idea of a handheld steam machine (not running windows, which sounds like some proper dystopian shit on a handheld console) but going to wait and see what the reviews are like on this. I loved the touchpad on the steam controller but felt the circular, concave design was integral to that and i'm not sure about the new pads.

I'm going by what literally everyone who has actually held a Steam Deck so far has said. Especially interesting was Jan's take of Giant Bomb fame - he's relatively young but his hands are susceptible to pain/cramps when holding an unergonomical controller for longer than 30 minutes. Like the Switch, which is just a flat rectangle with little to nothing in terms of support for your hands. He was surprised by how comfortable the Deck feels. You can also see in all the footage that it has actual grips and sensibly placed buttons, unlike the Switch. It's a personal thing but the only way I can use the Switch is with the pro controller.