Steam Deck

[Reaperman]

Steam deck thread time! How don't we already have one on this?

 

 

I went with the medium-spicy model, and experienced a fantastic scalper-free, relaxed preorder process, where I didn't even have to pre-pay in full--which used to be the norm, but has become a true rarity these days.

 

I'm also enjoying the repairability/modability of this console, that was described in their teardown video, and looking forward to seeing the range of aftermarket accessories for it. It's nice to know I can get a new stick module when I need one. Also supposedly these won't need to check in online (unless the software itself does, like pinball fx3, etc), so that's new for steam, and an improvement over standard offline mode.

 

Steam Deck's still months away (Q1 2020, unless it gets delayed), but I think this handheld console has already changed my buying habits.

See, I used to be a nintendo switch whale, re-buying the last 15+ years worth of games on switch because portability made a nice justification, as did bringing them all onto one system. That instantly stopped. I've got 2100+ Steam games, and it turns out most of them are already compatible with proton (to varying degrees). Now my buying habits are almost exclusively filling in steam-holes and buying bundles, all for far less money than N's eShop would cost, and I get a much, *MUCH* better buying experience that doesn't involve scrolling through a list of hundreds of items 4-8 items at a time. (is that really your best, nintendo?)

 

I've started going through my library, making lists of games that I think would be a good fit. You can start too, with (ProtonDB) --a site where you can join your steam library, or search for games manually, so you can see how compatible everything already is with Proton, the compatibility layer steam deck will use. It's unknown how flexible the steamdeck proton will be, but this makes for nice window shopping while waiting.

 

Some less typical ones' I'm looking forward to (all at least silver compatibility rating):

Split Second, crazy taxi

Just Cause 3 or Saints Row 3/4

Danganronpa/death end/persona4/disgaea

Deus ex (all of them)/system shocks

FTL, rimworld

Darkstar One, X3, rebel galaxy, no man's sky, xwing!

it even does Wacky Wheels.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Reaperman

[Punisher5.0]

I'm looking forward to what the Deck does for the handheld PC market. I've always been fascinated by the niche segment of the PC world. I won't be getting one because earlier this year I got the OneXPlayer but I could see myself getting a second gen unit.

[Metal Jesus]

I got in on the original pre-orders for the fully decked out model (see what I did there? ?) and I'm excited for it. I'm actually a MacOS user normally (my iMac machine is a beast built for Final Cut video editing) and so the Steam Deck will be my most modern Windows based gaming PC. I plan on trying out a bunch of Steam games and GOG.com stuff on it. Should be fun! 

[Hwlngmad]

Looking forward to the Steam Deck to get back into PC gaming as well as having an awesome (and pretty much ultimate) retro handheld to boot.

[Punisher5.0]

33 minutes ago, Metal Jesus said:

I got in on the original pre-orders for the fully decked out model (see what I did there? ?) and I'm excited for it. I'm actually a MacOS user normally (my iMac machine is a beast built for Final Cut video editing) and so the Steam Deck will be my most modern Windows based gaming PC. I plan on trying out a bunch of Steam games and GOG.com stuff on it. Should be fun! 

 

I can't wait to see that video!

[Steven Pendleton]

Sadness

 

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

13 hours ago, Reaperman said:

Steam deck thread time! How don't we already have one on this?

 

 

 

Yes....how indeed? ??‍♂️

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322922-new-competition-the-steam-deck/?tab=comments#comment-4864466

Edited October 30, 2021 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[roots.genoa]

I was going to link it as well but to be fair, it's in the VCS section.

[adamchevy]

I pre-ordered one of these when they were first announced. I preordered the most decked out version as well. I’m pretty excited to have my steam library on the go. I mainly purchased it to have something to play Baldurs Gate 3 and World of Warcraft on the go.

[Reaperman]

So, Steam Deck picked up a 2 month delay, with shipment now expected to start Feb 2022, because we can no longer have any nice things.

Since this isn't the usual 'pre buy and pay in full' scenario, I guess I'm not really that bummed.

But I have started looking forward to the steam deck more than just about anything else in gaming. (well, maybe analogue pocket--it's close)

[Punisher5.0]

Yeah that delay was no doubt going to happen. December 2021 was a lofty goal to say the least.

[Tommy2D]

I'm also excited about the Steam Deck. This is the opposite of a "hot take" but: having my PC game library, on an aggressively priced handheld, is enticing. 

 

I'm holding off from ordering, for the moment. I'd like to see how well it does with Non-Steam games (GOG in particular).  I realize that it's essentially a PC and you should be able to install whatever you need but I'd like to see how that well that process works on production models. 

 

Considering that the Steamdeck is not locked into the Steam marketplace, I wonder if they are able to eek out a small direct profit?  Maybe they are counting on most people using the Steam store, even if they can, theoretically, use other sources. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Tommy2D

[MrBeefy]

I'm curious how the initial batches do and hold up. I love the idea of having my steam library on the go. I don't think it would replace my Switch, but I would get some of my Steam library played through.

[Hwlngmad]

On 12/10/2021 at 11:56 AM, MrBeefy said:

I'm curious how the initial batches do and hold up. I love the idea of having my steam library on the go. I don't think it would replace my Switch, but I would get some of my Steam library played through.

Definitely I am looking forward to the Steam Deck so I can play old computer games I missed out on and turn it into an emulation beast.

[MrBeefy]

3 hours ago, Hwlngmad said:

Definitely I am looking forward to the Steam Deck so I can play old computer games I missed out on and turn it into an emulation beast.

The Pocket looks great too. Might not have room for Steam Deck if I get a Pocket. 

[Reaperman]

Starting to get a lot more footage of these going:

 

 

 

Also I believe there are 86 games currently steam deck verified to some extent. Here's a vid with a list, so far nothing really on my super-omg-must-play list. Rimworld and KOTOR, are nice. Also nice to see EA games on the verified list too, as on PC they require a separate launcher. P4G is currently out since it only runs on an older proton version, but that's the first of my big-want games:

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Reaperman

[zzip]

22 hours ago, Reaperman said:

Also I believe there are 86 games currently steam deck verified to some extent. Here's a vid with a list, so far nothing really on my super-omg-must-play list. Rimworld and KOTOR, are nice. Also nice to see EA games on the verified list too, as on PC they require a separate launcher. P4G is currently out since it only runs on an older proton version, but that's the first of my big-want games:

I think there's going to be a backlash against the Steamdeck.  Many people preordered this thinking they can take their entire Steam library on the go.  In reality there's likely to be a significant list of important games that don't run.

[Razzie.P]

3 hours ago, zzip said:

I think there's going to be a backlash against the Steamdeck.  Many people preordered this thinking they can take their entire Steam library on the go.  In reality there's likely to be a significant list of important games that don't run.

Yeah, I know a few people who are a bit concerned by that, now, as we were thinking the same as you mentioned.

[Punisher5.0]

9 hours ago, zzip said:

I think there's going to be a backlash against the Steamdeck.  Many people preordered this thinking they can take their entire Steam library on the go.  In reality there's likely to be a significant list of important games that don't run.

If you change over to windows and AMD keeps up with good good igpu drivers then this should run almost anything.

[Reaperman]

Feb 25th, 1000PST the invites start going out to pay, and the press embargos are lifted.

Feb 28th, shipping starts (link to some vid on it)

 

 

Of course I have a week long business trip Feb 14-18, so I'll have to deal with my usual 2015-era travel-netbook.

I'm probably nowhere near the first batch, anyway.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

SteamDB lets you search the deck verified games,

You'll have to sign in via steam, but that lets you filter by owned games, wishlisted games, etc.

 

(steamdb deck verified search link)

 

Looks like Danganronpa 2 (and only the 2nd one) made the list. I'd really hoped to be playing those on the deck, and can't imagine the rest are too far behind.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Reaperman

[Punisher5.0]

Linus released a review with cherry picked benchmarks today. It looks like a really solid handheld. Hopefully Valve keeps updating the hardware because I could see myself getting a second or third gen unit.

[adamchevy]

Linus released a review with cherry picked benchmarks today. It looks like a really solid handheld. Hopefully Valve keeps updating the hardware because I could see myself getting a second or third gen unit.

That’s my thoughts as well. I’d like to see continued progress with Proton. As well as trying to make most games native to Linux. I own a switch for mobile gaming, and I’m not anxious to have my steam library available on the go. In the future it would make a nice portable computer as well as game device. Ofcourse my phone does all of the things I would want a mobile computer for, so I don’t know really. I guess for me it will depend on what Nintendo does with the Switch successor. I don’t really care about 4k, but it looks like that’s the current standard.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

 

[Zoyous]

I'm mainly interested in it for emulation purposes. I have had a GP2X Caanoo for about 10 years and it's been a trooper but it's starting to have some stick drift, so I started researching the state of emulation handhelds over the past year to find a replacement. Once I started really looking at the Steam Deck, I figured that nothing really beats the value proposition of this device. Just the fact that I can play it handheld, or easily dock it in my MAME cabinet, sounds like a lot of fun. So I registered for the least expensive model. I considered the more expensive models with more onboard memory, but most of the games I'm interested in are quite small. Plus, I heard that it can read from SD cards very quickly, so there's that option if I ever run out of internal space.

 

Especially considering the size of the community that will be supporting it, I bet there will be a lot of interesting software developed for it in the coming years. I could easily see it getting a lot of use as a portable DAW for music production and recording.