Quoting: stormtuxinstalling and playing a game in steam from Linux will raise the sales statistics the developers/publishers have access to? Are we sure "activated games" are handled the same way as "bought games"?

Yes. The platform that gets the most playtime during the refund period (two weeks) is the platform that counts for the sales statistics, unless there isn't any which means that it's the platform it was purchased on, unless that isn't available information (because it's Android or just a key) in which case it's left undefined.

Quotewill Valve get a percent of the cost of the keys in the bundle? You know, bandwidth, infrastructure etc.

No. Keys are given to developers for free, and Valve just eats the infrastructure costs. The only restriction (other than total number of keys) is that "you plan to give a comparable offer to Steam customers within a reasonable amount of time."

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Quoting: MohandevirStill, I wonder what design choice they would have made in using a 1280x800 8" no bezel screen... Meaning, keep the exact display size surface and just remove the actual bezels. Could the Steam Deck get smaller? Would it cause airflow issues? Does these no-bezel screens generate more heat than the one they chose?

If they'd known for sure what the demand would be, so they could order in sufficient quantity to still hit their price point with a better screen, I think they'd have kept everything else the same without the bezels. Same resolution, since the APU has solid performance at 1280×800 but would be too weak for too much of the catalogue at a higher resolution, and the same size, since they had to work hard at the cooling and fitting everything in. Just with physically more of the front of the device showing an image.

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Quoting: MohandevirMy point is more pixels means more strain on the APU. Unless the Steam Deck 2 comes with a much more powerful APU, which may mean shorter battery autonomy, that's a tradeoff I would avoid.

For sure, it's definitely a balance that need to be struck. APU and battery tech improvements might cover it by the time the next gen is ready, and if they don't just stick with the lower res.

QuoteAs for the bezel thing it might be caused by the internal components that require too much space?

Nah, it's because they were trying to hit a price point, the same as it not having great colour reproduction. The bezel is the (quite chunky in this case) part of the screen that doesn't display anything. Having pixels that go all, or almost all, the way to the edge is an engineering challenge, so displays where they've managed to do so are more expensive.

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Quoting: MohandevirI don't see the point in the resolution race.

Game devs are more likely to test their UI at 1080p than 720p (unless they're targeting the Deck specifically, in which case the actual resolution doesn't matter, since they're testing for whatever it is). The bezels are too big so, if you get rid of those, you either get a smaller screen, bigger pixels, or more pixels. Of those (assuming there's adequate performance), more pixels is best. That's why I suggested it, anyway; OEMs just like putting big numbers on spec sheets.

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Ah. They've today put up a request for feedback, so I think I'll go through the survey with my little one and highlight that deficiency in a PC game. Maybe they will spare the dev resources to fix it after all?

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Quoting: StoneColdSpiderUgh....... As a ESDF gamer....... Not being able to change the controls is a pet peeve of mine...... I will wait for a bigger discount...... Thanks for the info

ESDFers, southpaws, and the French are particularly affected. I've put a nudge on their forum (in case they don't realise that it's important) and a tutorial video on how to do adjustable key bindings in Unity (in case they just don't know how), but the low number of reviews and comment threads suggests it hasn't sold all that well so they might just not bother even with those bits of information. It's a shame.

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Quoting: StoneColdSpiderYou will have to let us know what you think of it...... It is also on my wishlist.........

It got as far as my library a while back (Linux native, so full price purchase), but there were too many other things to take up my little one's attention at the time so I didn't install it. I've done so now, and he seems to be having a great time with it.

Edit: Oh. According to the Steam forums, you can't change the controls away from WASD, which is obviously a huge flaw. It doesn't currently affect us because the little one's playing on the Deck, but it's a kick in the teeth for anyone that wants to play it on desktop PC.

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Quoting: CAVRReplace the self-tapping screws with metal threaded insert ones, so people don't have to be worried about wearing out the plastic threads when opening the device multiple times

That's a good point. Also recognising that replacing the battery is something that people are likely to want to do, and so make it straightforward to do.

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I would say 2025/2026 for a Deck 2: a more consistent development target platform than the standard PC upgrade cadence, but not as long as a console generation.

Things I'd like in a Deck 2:

• Get rid of the bezels. Have a bigger screen. If the performance is there to be able to have 1920×1200, make the screen big enough so that's at a feasible pixel density, otherwise stick with 1280×800.


• Have a better quality screen. Whether it's OLED or simply IPS with a more comprehensive gamut, I don't really care. Use whichever is best for battery life.


• Have a kickstand, or a prop solution that comes in the box, since external controller support is already good.


• Kensington lock slot so that game devs use it to demo their games, meaning they're necessarily making sure that running on Linux is a first class concern.


• Have much better L1/R1 shoulder buttons. These ones seem like an afterthought, aren't especially comfortable, and aren't especially consistent. PlayStation controllers do these much better.


• Have a power LED that can go amber when the battery is low.


• Have some means, either tactile or backlight, to find the supplemental buttons.


• Any magical new-fangled battery tech that lets you fit more battery inside.


• Bigger base storage in the entry-level tier. 256/512/1 TB, or even 512/1 TB/2 TB


• Better haptics. They've done what they can with what's essentially an audio output, but dedicated controllers with motors do a much better job.

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Quoting: XpanderCan't see the change in the nvidia-settings icons also but i guess thats my icon theme taking over maybe

hicolor is the ultimate fallback for icons. When looking for a particular icon, the DE will first look in the theme, and then step back through the Inherits themes, and finally look in hicolor. The reason you wouldn't see a change is because your theme isn't taking it over, although this change makes it possible for themes to do so.

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