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Latest Comments by CatKiller
Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
19 October 2021 at 2:51 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: damarrinFor some reason, Valve decided to take these from Playstation and they’re L1,R2 and so on.

The Xbox names are stupid (WTF is a "bumper?"), but it's mostly because there are five of those buttons on each side. You wouldn't want "right bumper," "right other bumper," "right other other bumper," and so on.

Quoting: 3zekielAnd considering the outcry every time a game dev removes the ps button when they port to PC, I doubt I am the only one who prefers dualshock. I also don't think x360 is all that popular ? Maybe in US, but worldwide I highly doubt it. Maybe it had some extra usage due to being easier to setup at some point, but I don't think it was out of love.

PlayStation controller support on Windows has historically been quite bad, and Microsoft did a big push for the Xbox controller being a "Windows standard," so developers that think PC = Windows also tend to think that PC controller = Xbox.

Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
18 October 2021 at 10:46 pm UTC

Quoting: mphuZ
QuoteSteamOS can run this game
What do they mean by this concept?

Native? Proton? WHAT?
Valve don't particularly care either way. They're taking away the "compatibility tool" popup, at least on the Steam Deck, that we've previously had when first running a game through Proton. As much of the Steam catalogue as at all possible, running well on Linux, by hook or by crook, is the objective from Valve's point of view. There'll probably still be the SteamOS icon (but not Tux) for native games, I expect.

Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
18 October 2021 at 10:41 pm UTC

Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: BielFPsThe only thing that's not clear is who will evaluate if each game meets the requirements: The consumers, the developers or (most unlikely) Valve itself?
Valve made it pretty clear they are ultimately the ones who make the ratings.
I do really hope that they get buy-in from the game devs. There's a window between failing the tests and the results of the tests being put up where Valve send an email to the developers saying "fix your shit." It would really suck to have a game that has the mark, loses the mark, then a couple of weeks later gets the mark back again. The only way to avoid that situation is for devs to properly test things themselves (which Valve are clear that they should do) before they push any updates. It still remains to be seen whether enough of them actually will.

Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
18 October 2021 at 10:35 pm UTC Likes: 10

Quoting: BielFPsPersonally I think they'll have to, just imagine someone buying a Deck only to discover latter that the game you have doesn't work with it, because not stating that the game won't run on it could open a grey area of lawsuits claiming "false advertising".


I fully expect that after all the UI updates have been rolled out, the Verified mark will be shown on the desktop Store, and will be a filter that customers can apply just like the others. They just haven't said that will definitely be the case, again AFAIK. Good for customers, and of huge strategic importance to Valve.

QuoteWhile I believe this is no problem for Valve itself (putting the mark of shame outside the deck), I expect some publishers to not like this decision and can result in some lawsuit or they leaving steam because of that.

I fully expect that Valve's response would be "good luck with that." Politely, of course.

Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
18 October 2021 at 10:06 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: BielFPsGood point, this could open the possibility of developers requesting to "opt-out" the review process, claiming that this will give "bad PR" to their games, or making Valve to only show this evaluation system for those running the client on deck / linux (and hiding completely from windows users for example).
Valve have already said that developers can't opt out.

QuoteI believe my game isn't a good fit for Deck. Can I stop my game from showing up in the Deck store and library?

Removing products available on Steam from the Deck store or library isn't a supported feature. The Deck is an extension of Steam onto a new portable PC form factor, and so customers both expect and have access to the same store and library that they would on any other PC.

While it's possible for players to hook up a keyboard or a monitor, we believe most customers will be treating the Deck like a handheld appliance, most of the time. Because of this, one of the goals of the Verified badge Verified on Deck badge is helping customers easily understand how well any game plays with just the standard Deck hardware configuration and no peripherals.

Though this may be the most common customer use case, it isn't the only one. As with Steam in general, rather than completely restricting access to some products, we want to enable customers to find the right products given their specific goals and desires.

All Steam games are going to be visible from the Deck, and all (once they've been tested) will show how well Valve thinks they'll work on the Deck, with those that work well getting additional visibility.

They haven't said (AFAIK) that the "mark of shame" is coming to the desktop client, but they have said that they want it to all be different views of the same data (rather than BPM which was an entirely different product), and they really want every game that's at all possible to run well on Linux so there's no incentive for them to shy away from chivvying along those devs that are dragging their heels.

Valve launches Deck Verified, to show off what games will work well on the Steam Deck
18 October 2021 at 8:30 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: SalvatosDue to "appropriate controller input icons" alone, I feel like a lot of games will fall short of Verified. I rarely see the right icons for my DualShock.
"Appropriate" is "appropriate to the Steam Deck," and they accept Xbox prompts as a suitable substitute for those.

However, if developers start using Steam's Input API to pick up glyphs - which they're strongly encouraged to do by Valve - and Valve implement PlayStation prompt glyphs - which they have, as you can see in BPM - then PlayStation prompts will start automagically working in games.

Valve banning games that allow exchanging cryptocurrencies or NFTs
16 October 2021 at 12:44 am UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: Purple Library GuyI must be out of the loop. What's an NFT? I'd look it up, but acronyms are notoriously bad for searching.
Non-fungible token.

NVIDIA Vulkan Beta Driver 470.62.05 rolls out for Linux
7 October 2021 at 5:18 pm UTC

Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI'm still waiting the 470.74 version for Ubuntu ¬¬
That's weird. I've been on 470.74 for, like, a week or so, I guess? on Kubuntu 20.04.

Get a look inside the Steam Deck in Valve's latest video
6 October 2021 at 9:26 pm UTC Likes: 11

Quoting: GuestI got a weird vibe from the video.


It seemed to me to be mostly full of nerd warm & fuzzies. I dug it a lot.

QuoteWhy make a video for this tutorial at all?

People kept hassling them about what it was like inside and what could be replaced, and they felt that the answer needed more than a soundbite, so they said they'd make a video about it. This is that video.

They explain how it all fits together, and what the downsides and pitfalls are, and confirm that, yes, it is your device to do with as you wish. That's exactly what I'd want, and what I'd get from ifixit, too.

A look at the top 100 Steam games and how many will work on Linux and the Steam Deck
6 October 2021 at 4:46 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: MohandevirI get your point, but I see a "flaw" (might be too strong a word)... No other company will be able to challenge Steam Deck's pricing ranges. Valve was able to offer agressive pricing because they mainly sell games. Those that could challenge them are Sony or Microsoft, who knows how to undersale consoles and get the money invested back on game sales. DELL's potential UFO will never be able to challenge the Steam Deck on this aspect... Just like any other PC handheld that we've seen up to this date. The Steam Machines suffered from too high prices in the same way.

I'm quite sure that the Steam Deck will stay relevant for years, in this market and will be the leader of the segment. Let's hope Valve is aware of that and ready to face the challenge.

It's that they're willing to let other companies make similar devices that shows that they aren't going for the sell loads of hardware to get locked in ecosystem sales console play. I agree (and have said in comments elsewhere previously) that other companies aren't really going to be able to.

Hardware companies don't have Steam to lean on, so they need to make profit on the hardware itself, and at the low end the aggressive pricing of the Deck shuts that out. At the premium end there could be profit, but for current and near-future technology the Deck has hit the optimum compromises so that a more expensive device would be a worse device: higher resolution screen means worse performance and worse battery life, a better battery means a heavier device, and so on. Maybe in a couple of tech generations there'll be space. I think it's naïve, maybe, certainly optimistic, for Valve to think that everyone's going to leap in and make SteamOS devices and solve their worldwide logistics things for them.

Microsoft, of course, does have a gaming software ecosystem to lean on for profits, and releasing an Xbox-branded handheld that plays Windows games could really put a spoke in the wheels of the Steam Deck.

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