Steam Deck ~ PC Switch

[TemplarGR]

How about mouse movement on countless games that need it?

It has double trackpads, left and right of the screen.

 

[Villagkouras]

Yeah, you're both right. I don't have any experience with Steam controller and hate the pathetic trackpads of some laptops I've seen and used, that's why I have my reservations.

 

[The Decline]

It's essentially the Aya Neo at half the price.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[duke nukem]

64GB+SD card might actually be viable. Obviously it's less optimal but seems pretty far ahead of HDDs but behind SSDs in load times.

In Steam Deck`s case it will be worse, because games are not optimized for the deck.


But still i reserved the cheapest one.

 

[Naraya]

God bless early adopters. I'll get v2 with all wrinkles ironed out. Cheers!

 

[680x0]

Took 2 hours of refreshing my shitty smart phone whilst driving 85 MPH thru America's "heartland." Had to get the Big Chungus edition for the matte screen. The last thing I want to see between loading screens of the next Atelier game is my scrunched up face and hairy nips.

 

[TemplarGR]

Guys, one thing i don't see mentioned: On Archlinux, i frequently play Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III, and Overwatch. I also know that WoW plays flawlessly on Linux. So, if you are playing Blizzard games, this is your portable Blizzard device. World of Warcraft in the shitter.

 

[TemplarGR]

Definitely buying one. Fun fact: I am an Archlinux gamer and have been for years. So i know what to expect from a device like this, unlike the windoze plebs. It won't be without issues, there will definitely be the usual sponsored-by-nintendo-and-epic trolls on the internet crying that certain windows-only game does not work on Proton therefore the device is garbage, but for most people this is going to be a great handheld.

1) It can run native Linux games, and there are plenty of those. I own a lot of linux native ports, mostly strategies though. Also, most shite isometric crpg garbage people in this forum play, have native linux versions or run flawlessly in proton, so this is the perfect portable machine for the rpgcodex grognard.

2) Proton these days is quite good, and you can expect it to become much better in the future, as developers work with Valve to fix the various issues. It is cheaper for them than making a native port. Though i do expect that this is going to provide some incentive for developers to utilize Vulkan more and/or release Linux ports as well in the future.

3) It can run Blizzard Battlenet games. I haven't tried everything, but i can play Heroes of the Storm, Diablo III, and Overwatch, at near native windows performance. I know World of Warcraft is also perfectly playable on Wine. While Steam won't advertise Battlenet games compatibility, rest assured that you can install Battlenet and play World of Warcraft while you are taking a shit.

4) It can run almost every emulator out there, including Switch emulators.... You don't need to hack it. Just install the emulators and download the roms. Linux has every emulator under the sun, native

5) Unlike every other console on the market, this is a full fledged PC running Archlinux with the KDE desktop environment. That means you can literally use it as a laptop, run Libreoffice, desktop browsers, productivity software, watch porn, read pdfs, watch netflix, write code for a living, whatever the fuck you do on your PC, you can do on the Steam Deck, without needing Nintendo to release special support.... You can even use a game streaming service like Stadia on the thing....

 

[Alter Sack]

I owned a gameboy as a kid.

It was useful because I didn't have a PC or TV in my room and could still play some games.

But is there really a sufficient adult audience for such a thing?

I could only imagine using that if I had a long commute.

I mean the Nintendo handhelds are still successful but they target a younger audience and have exclusive titles.

That thing is basically a relative low end pc with a very small display.

I would always prefer my main pc to that device.

 

[TemplarGR]

I owned a gameboy as a kid.

It was useful because I didn't have a PC or TV in my room and could still play some games.

But is there really a sufficient adult audience for such a thing?

I could only imagine using that if I had a long commute.

I mean the Nintendo handhelds are still successful but they target a younger audience and have exclusive titles.

That thing is basically a relative low end pc with a very small display.

I would always prefer my main pc to that device.

Yes. I am working on a PC all day. Often times i feel tired, and would like to lie in bed, and i am getting my android phone to have something to do, but it is shitty as a game platform. I just love the idea of lying in my bed or on my couch, and running all my PC games in a relaxed position on my handheld.

There is definitely a market for this. In fact, i might even begin playing all my PC games on this.

 

[fork]

If you like it, I think it's best to not like it.

 

[OSK]

Valve and Collabora have been working on resolving the anti-cheat problem for a while now by contributing to the Linux kernel and adding kernel-space emulation for anti-cheat Windows kernel calls. Now that the foundation for understanding such calls is in place, we'll see the fruits of their labor soon.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2020/...indows-game-emulation-in-kernel-5-11#images-2
(These changes have since released in Linux 5.11)

I missed this. There was a followup from Valve saying the kernel changes weren't for anti-cheat: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2020/...pcoming-and-recent-linux-work-is-actually-for

I don't think we yet know what the anti-cheat solution is going to be. There's actually an EAC port for Linux, but it's not as robust as it is for Windows. The problem is the Windows version of EAC (and others) don't run in Wine/Proton.

Client-side anti-cheat is a tough nut to crack for an open-source system. The anti-cheat can't trust any part of the OS, since it could be modified to feed the anti-cheat software false information. On a closed system like Windows, you have an idea how parts of the OS should look, so you can verify the integrity of OS files and can be confident that lower-level cheats can't be injected into the closed-source code.

I can think of three possibilities:
1.) A hardware solution. I hate this idea and I really don't think Valve would go for it. It would lock certain games to their device, and they seem intent on making things as open as possible.
2.) Watered-down userland anti-cheats implemented on Linux. I don't think this is the solution either. Cheaters would flock to Linux and I could see developers telling the anti-cheat developers to pull Proton support to stop them.
3.) Closed-source kernel modules. Controversial to the Linux community, but I feel like this is the most likely solution. It gives anti-cheat software the best chance at success, though it still wouldn't be as robust as on Windows.

Ultimately, we need better server-side anti-cheats. Client-side anti-cheats are like antivirus. They're only good for catching known issues and low-hanging fruit with heuristics, so it essentially becomes a game of cat and mouse. Though I'm sure that's how the anti-cheat companies like it.

 

[Metro]

It's amazing to me how many people are willing to pay $400+ for a mediocre hand-held PC. Do that many people play games when taking a shit? Where are people playing these things that it doesn't make more sense to simply buy a $400+ better GPU/CPU or simply not waste money? Lol @ 'in bed.' The decline is real.

 

[randir14]

If I traveled a lot I might buy one, but since I don't I'd rather put the money towards a new GPU whenever the availability improves. Also Digital Foundry mentioned a concern that I had myself - that this thing won't be powerful enough for next-gen games and you'll mainly be stuck playing your current library or emulators. An example they gave was Metro Exodus, whose dynamic resolution can already drop to 720p on the Series S which has a GPU 2.5x more powerful than the Steam Deck.

 

[ADL]

I think a lot of people are underestimating the appeal of this. The Switch's form factor is great but the library aside from Nintendo's exclusives is bad. Everyone I know with a Switch ends up buying shit that they own on other platforms. With this, if you've been PC gaming over the past 15 years, you don't have to buy the same game twice. This means I have access to hundreds of games that I would otherwise have to buy on Switch at a premium.

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

the hardware concerns me; it looks like a plastic case for your reading glasses and the buttons dont look like they will last

yes yes i know; expert after one pic but come on; it doesnt look very robust at all compared to say a original PSP - that thing was built solid and felt like quality.

 

[TemplarGR]

I think a lot of people are underestimating the appeal of this

This thing is gonna be this decade's Game Boy. It is going to sell like hotcakes, especially if Valve can keep up production. Also, i can see Valve releasing a Home console version of this, to compete with the current gen home consoles, if this catches on. The main thing Valve needs, is for AAA developers to support Linux, and releasing a handheld first can help entincing them. If they had released a TV version first, people would get stuck on not having a 100% perfect experience on the latest AAA titles, and it would lose vs PS5 and Xbox. But as a handheld, it doesn't have any competition other than the Switch, and the Switch has less games, more expensive games, it is far less powerful, it is locked up, can't run emulators, can't be used as a laptop. So Valve will be able to sell a lot of these in the handheld market, and once this catches on and AAA developers realise the market justifies better support for Vulkan/Linux, Valve could potentially release a proper TV version with 10-15 teraflops and conquer the entire console market.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Fundamentally, wine and anti-cheat are incompatible unless the anti-cheat is designed to interface with wine. Anything else is -- from the point of view of the developers -- bypassing the anticheat.
This is why EAC attempts to detect if it's running in wine and bails out, btw.

Much like how steam uses a shim between their windows and linux API when running proton games, EAC would likely need to do similar. And yes, it would almost guaranteed involve some binary kernel blobs.

 

[ADL]

I hope so because Windows users have proven that short of killing Win32 applications and forcing the Store and UWP down their throats in a walled garden ecosystem, Microsoft can do anything and they'll take it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

isn't valve's VR thing one of the more popular ones on the market?

 

[OSK]

The main thing Valve needs, is for AAA developers to support Linux, and releasing a handheld first can help entincing them.

I don't think this is going to result in a huge increase of native titles. There's no incentive. If developers release a native Linux port, they need to support it. If their Windows game works through Proton, it sounds like Valve will be supporting it. I don't hate that. I just think of Wine as another API. While native would be ideal, that's only if they're done well. Shitty Linux ports run worse than Windows games in Proton.

I could see an increase in Vulkan support. Wine/Proton has little to no performance impact on games, but translating DirectX to Vulkan can be a significant performance hit.

 

[purupuru]

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech
All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)


I suppose it is possible to replace the SSD after all. Wonder if it's actually difficult to do or he is just trying to scare people off with a warranty sticker.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I always wanted a system where I can look at my library of games, choose nothing to play and instead go to sleep.

 

[fork]

I always wanted a system where I can look at my library of games, choose nothing to play and instead go to sleep.

You might be able to play Doom (1993) on it though.