I wouldn't mind a soft exclusive, like the sort of game which is largely made to be played on the Deck, and is playable on other platforms just not as ideal for one reason or another.

Reading some comments got me thinking. Console games are often tailor-made and optimized for specific target hardware. But the Deck is almost the inverse, where it's instead the console rather than the games being tailor-made and optimized to run target games. Steam Input, Performance Profiles, Proton, it's all just stuff to get the console to conform to the games expectations rather than the game being forced to conform with the console expectations.

This has all kind of been the reality for PC gaming since forever, but seeing a console take this approach is fascinating.

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Quoting: samurroIts double the weight of the switch, at least to the quick google search I did. So I am not sure where your arguments are. I even said "mobile gaming".

But I get the feeling this forum is not accustomed to different opinions on anything...

Oh, I honestly thought you were joking so I thought to play along and respond with a joke. Whoops. I haven't seen any negative reviews of the Deck myself, any criticisms are typically followed up by reasons why that doesn't really take away from the overall experience or value of the Deck.

This forum is really tolerant of fractured opinions honestly, like Linux is a very fractured yet still unified community. No one here is going to seriously criticize anyone for putting Windows on their system, we're all just trying to have fun the best we can.

To answer your question seriously the Deck is insanely good value. It's not for mobile gaming, its more for console-grade gaming, but on the go. Think of the PSP for example, its goal was to essentially bring the PS2 to your pocket during the PS3 era, the Deck essentially has the power of an original Xbox One, and that's enough power to even play Switch games decently, which is just crazy, like you need a lot of overhead to emulate a whole different system with any semblance of playability. And since its part of the PC ecosystem, you'll save a lot on buying games as Steam store prices are cutthroat and Epic just gives the darn things away every other week. If your the type to fiddle, you can even buy a PC game from goodwill and load it up on there, with emulators and a crazy lineage of PC games you have access to almost the entirely of gaming history, all in the most powerful and affordable PC handheld to date. And at the end of the day it's a PC, my sister plans to buy one because it not only can play her favorite games but also since it works with her drawing tablet and can run Windows 10 when needed. You could buy this thing and use it entirely for productivity tasks if you so chose. Even If you were to look at this thing as a laptop alternative... $400 is a good price for such a capable laptop.

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Quoting: samurro

Quoting: BotonoskiI already bought one, but it would make a fantastic Christmas gift, I hope I ain't filtered from the drawing for already having used a Deck on my account.

You know, I think if Valve put actual marketing dollars behind the Deck, get flashy ads on TV and whatnot, it could absolutely be a smash hit. At first I was fairly certain it was going to be a niche thing like my RPi handheld, but with how cleanly it fits into my lifestyle this thing really got potential mass appeal, its versatility gives it potential appeal to everyone, even a coworker of mine who barely games is considering buying it instead of a new laptop. This could be the next step for console gaming, not the portability but the versatility, it's not enough for a console to just play games anymore, much like how at one point, it wasn't enough for phones to just make call.

So far I heard comparisons between Switch and Steam Deck, and most of the people who bought both said: The Switch is more worth for its money.
Also Steam Deck seems to be bit heavy for weak nerd arms and mobile gaming?

Yeah, Steam Deck bad, it only play Super Tux Kart and weigh like two house brick, very very bad. Switch much more gooder, Games much good price! only $60 for 5 y/o game! What steal?! Weak nerd arms can almost lift Switch!

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Their updating blender faster than I can learn its features. It's almost overwhelming, sometimes I just go back to 2.79 since I learned on that era of Blender and its my comfort zone.

Even if you aren't a 3d modeler learning the basics of a 3d application can be insanely useful. I've used Blender to help build my ebikes, draft up a design for my pallet wood desk, benchmark rigs with very specific loads, editing videos with the help of a few plugins, extract frames from videos, and turn a folder of frames into a video... Its one of those things versatile enough that it can imitate the functionality of a lot of software if your clever and don't need specific file formats.

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Dwarf Fortress gas never been my sort of game, but I've always wanted it to be.

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Interesting spread, I would say those open world sort of games aren't really suited for a handheld, but quest systems offer a perfect way to break up the content, and the Deck's smooth hibernation allows you to just get back into questing whenever you have a free minute. Playing a game throughout the day rather than in far apart chunks probably also makes it easier to follow the larger plot.

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I already bought one, but it would make a fantastic Christmas gift, I hope I ain't filtered from the drawing for already having used a Deck on my account.

You know, I think if Valve put actual marketing dollars behind the Deck, get flashy ads on TV and whatnot, it could absolutely be a smash hit. At first I was fairly certain it was going to be a niche thing like my RPi handheld, but with how cleanly it fits into my lifestyle this thing really got potential mass appeal, its versatility gives it potential appeal to everyone, even a coworker of mine who barely games is considering buying it instead of a new laptop. This could be the next step for console gaming, not the portability but the versatility, it's not enough for a console to just play games anymore, much like how at one point, it wasn't enough for phones to just make call.

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I wonder if the Deck will influence companies to put their games on Steam that they would've otherwise kept exclusive on some other store. The Deck appeal to PC gamers and console users alike, and the more console oriented users aren't going to go through the headaches of setting up other store fronts to function on their Deck, they're just going to stick with what's on Steam.

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I played this mod through proton on my desktop when it dropped, text bugs were ignorable since it only effects the menu and subtitles, and readable regardless.
Really one of the best mods I've played.

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I wish that Steam added android as a platform, Google Play is an utter shitshow and I bet if Steam through their hat into the ring and allowed devs to upload apks of their games, things'd be a bit better, get more non-freemium games onto the platform at least.
Of course it'll never happen, Google Play doesn't allow appstores to be distributed on their appstore.

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