The 40th Golden Joystick Awards presented by GamesRadar is over and in the Best Gaming Hardware category, the Steam Deck won. While the event is mostly about individual games, it's nice to see such a device get the recognition it deserves because it really is such a transformative device for the way people get to play PC games and for Linux gaming as a whole.
Elden Ring made a nice sweep across the awards too winning multiple categories including: Best Visual Design, Best Multiplayer Game, Critics’ Choice Award and the Ultimate Game of the Year.
The full results are:
- Best Storytelling: Horizon Forbidden West (public vote)
- Still Playing Award: Genshin Impact (public vote)
- Best Visual Design: Elden Ring (public vote)
- Studio of the Year: FromSoftware Inc. (public vote)
- Best Game Expansion: Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (public vote)
- Best Early Access Launch: Slime Rancher 2 (public vote)
- Best Indie Game: Cult of the Lamb (public vote)
- Best Multiplayer Game: Elden Ring (public vote)
- Best Audio: Metal: Hellsinger (public vote)
- Best Game Trailer: Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer (public vote)
- Best Game Community: Final Fantasy XIV (public vote)
- Best Gaming Hardware: Steam Deck (public vote)
- Breakthrough Award: Vampire Survivors (critically chosen)
- Critics’ Choice Award: Elden Ring (critically chosen)
- Best Performer: Mahon Gage (Marissa Marcel, IMMORTALITY) (critically chosen)
- Nintendo Game of the Year: Pokemon Legends: Arceus (public vote)
- PC Game of the Year: Return to Monkey Island (public vote)
- PlayStation Game of the Year: Stray (public vote)
- Xbox Game of the Year: Grounded (public vote)
- Most Wanted Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (public vote)
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Elden Ring (public vote)
Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell did a little video spot to thank gamers on Twitter, so here's his video and some quick thoughts:
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14 comments
Congrats, but what were the qualifications?
What were the other candidates?
A Playdate?
The Steam Deck has some nice hardware but is in no way a bleeding edge device. Heck it has a semi-weak screen just to keep costs down.
EDIT:
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
And for those curious here’s what it was up against (it beat out a PS5 harddrive lol):
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate
Steam Deck (WINNER)
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Last edited by itscalledreality on 24 November 2022 at 1:43 pm UTC
What were the other candidates?
A Playdate?
The Steam Deck has some nice hardware but is in no way a bleeding edge device. Heck it has a semi-weak screen just to keep costs down.
EDIT:
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
And for those curious here’s what it was up against (it beat out a PS5 harddrive lol):
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate
Steam Deck (WINNER)
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Last edited by itscalledreality on 24 November 2022 at 1:43 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
I stopped voting in stuff like The Golden Joysticks after I saw people organising to try to rig/bot the polls about 15-odd years ago. That said, I'm sure that they have a handle on that sort of thing, and it's nice to see the Steam Deck get an "ordinary people dig this"-type award out of it. 
Last edited by Pengling on 24 November 2022 at 1:53 pm UTC
Last edited by Pengling on 24 November 2022 at 1:53 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Congrats, but what were the qualifications?
What were the other candidates?
A Playdate?
The Steam Deck has some nice hardware but is in no way a bleeding edge device. Heck it has a semi-weak screen just to keep costs down.
EDIT:
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
And for those curious here’s what it was up against (it beat out a PS5 harddrive lol):
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate
Steam Deck (WINNER)
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Hmmm, I think you’re confusing „best” with „fastest” there. And the Playdate is a very interesting device.
Last edited by damarrin on 24 November 2022 at 2:00 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Nov 24, 2022
Congrats, but what were the qualifications?
What were the other candidates?
A Playdate?
The Steam Deck has some nice hardware but is in no way a bleeding edge device. Heck it has a semi-weak screen just to keep costs down.
EDIT:
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
And for those curious here’s what it was up against (it beat out a PS5 harddrive lol):
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate
Steam Deck (WINNER)
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Did anybody said it needed to be bleeding edge to win? I think it's more about the new possibilities and experience that it offers which can be considered a breakthrough. The hardware as you are referring to is just one aspect and not the main one and since it's a public vote, most won't care about what's under the hood.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 24 November 2022 at 2:10 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
7 Likes, Who?
Congrats, but what were the qualifications?
What were the other candidates?
A Playdate?
The Steam Deck has some nice hardware but is in no way a bleeding edge device. Heck it has a semi-weak screen just to keep costs down.
EDIT:
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
And for those curious here’s what it was up against (it beat out a PS5 harddrive lol):
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate
Steam Deck (WINNER)
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
The screen could be better, but it's not bad at all. It looks pretty good when you have it in your hands, you can't appreciate it on videos.
The Steam Deck is awesome, but giving it an award against those other ridiculous candidates is laughable at best.
0 Likes
EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
This sounds like democracy :-D
3 Likes, Who?
The Steam Deck is awesome, but giving it an award against those other ridiculous candidates is laughable at best.
Which hardware from 2022 should they have included?
2 Likes, Who?
EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
What if most people are wrong and the Playdate is the better device?
0 Likes
Actually, what is the "best" X is a classic case of something that can really only be determined by democratic vote. If you want to determine the boiling point of lead, you don't want to do a poll on it, you want to check a reference book or ask a chemist (who will check a reference book).EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
What if most people are wrong and the Playdate is the better device?
But if the question is what is the "best" something, there literally is no way "most people" can be wrong. It's a subjective question; there are no agreed objective criteria. Experts cannot determine this. Arguably nothing can, and certainly individuals are free to continue thinking item number 3 is the best even if the majority thinks number 5 is. But a majority vote is definitely the closest you can come to a determination of something like that; certainly "a few experts" would have far less validity.
4 Likes, Who?
Bad luck. That's always a possibility.
It's almost impossible to decide what is the best since there are different ways to weight the strengths and weaknesses of each device since every user has different needs.
E.g. Warentest often does not factor in reparability/durability of kitchen appliances and recommends the throw away option because that device has an additional feature that they claim is essential although that might be something that most people never use. So they end up not recommending the alternative that works for several decades instead of several months because it might cost twice as much.
It's almost impossible to decide what is the best since there are different ways to weight the strengths and weaknesses of each device since every user has different needs.
E.g. Warentest often does not factor in reparability/durability of kitchen appliances and recommends the throw away option because that device has an additional feature that they claim is essential although that might be something that most people never use. So they end up not recommending the alternative that works for several decades instead of several months because it might cost twice as much.
2 Likes, Who?
Actually, what is the "best" X is a classic case of something that can really only be determined by democratic vote. If you want to determine the boiling point of lead, you don't want to do a poll on it, you want to check a reference book or ask a chemist (who will check a reference book).EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
What if most people are wrong and the Playdate is the better device?
But if the question is what is the "best" something, there literally is no way "most people" can be wrong. It's a subjective question; there are no agreed objective criteria. Experts cannot determine this. Arguably nothing can, and certainly individuals are free to continue thinking item number 3 is the best even if the majority thinks number 5 is. But a majority vote is definitely the closest you can come to a determination of something like that; certainly "a few experts" would have far less validity.
Sure but popular vote doesn’t account for bias. The people voting on this don’t all own Steam Decks and Playdates. This is a poll of best device from a game website that’s been pimping Steam Deck. It’s not a national or international or galactic poll where people had to vote on these things objectively after a predefined period of information.
Last edited by itscalledreality on 25 November 2022 at 5:53 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Fair point. On the other hand, experts are far from immune to bias. At least with fans, we don't have to ask who's paying them.Actually, what is the "best" X is a classic case of something that can really only be determined by democratic vote. If you want to determine the boiling point of lead, you don't want to do a poll on it, you want to check a reference book or ask a chemist (who will check a reference book).EDIT:Perish the thought that anything should be decided based on what most people think.
Oh I see it was a public vote, lame.
What if most people are wrong and the Playdate is the better device?
But if the question is what is the "best" something, there literally is no way "most people" can be wrong. It's a subjective question; there are no agreed objective criteria. Experts cannot determine this. Arguably nothing can, and certainly individuals are free to continue thinking item number 3 is the best even if the majority thinks number 5 is. But a majority vote is definitely the closest you can come to a determination of something like that; certainly "a few experts" would have far less validity.
Sure but popular vote doesn’t account for bias. The people voting on this don’t all own Steam Decks and Playdates. This is a poll of best device from a game website that’s been pimping Steam Deck. It’s not a national or international or galactic poll where people had to vote on these things objectively after a predefined period of information.
1 Likes, Who?
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