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The news around the Steam Deck keeps on coming in, with a new video posted up by (surprise) IGN that checks out the Steam Deck's Trackpad and Gyroscopic controls.

IGN of course being probably the biggest around, we don't need to wonder why Valve has a seemingly exclusive deal with them to show off everything first. So for now, until the Steam Deck releases and our unit arrives sometime in Q1 2022, we're mostly relying on what Valve say to IGN.

Valve are no stranger to Trackpads of course, with the Steam Controller (R.I.P) having two of them and they were a lot of fun to use and setup. On the Steam Deck we have Valve mentioning how "We have capacitive touch joysticks and one of the really cool things about that is we can use that in tandem with our gyroscope to turn on or turn off gyroscopic aiming and motion controls in games." — Valve designer Scott Dalton. It seems to work a lot like the Steam Controller too, allowing you more freedom in how you aim.

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It works thanks to Steam Input so Valve and game developers can set it up however they like. Presumably then, it means users will still get access to adjust everything as they want just like we can do so now.

One of the worries with such a handheld is joystick drift, something that has been a problem elsewhere like with the Nintendo Switch. I've seen it myself and it can get quite bad, thankfully Valve said previously (that we missed) how they don't think it will be a problem "We purposely picked something that we knew the performance of, right? We didn't want to take a risk on that, right? As I'm sure our customers don't want us to take a risk on that either." — Steam Deck designer John Ikeda.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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26 comments
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BlackBloodRum Jul 27, 2021
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Liam, please for the love of all things tux convince valve to give you the deck early!

It's almost a cringe fest reading an IGN article.

For example let's see this one:
https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-hands-on-impressions-details-valve-handheld-gaming-pc

So much inaccuracy it makes me doubt their entire article.

For example:
QuoteThe Steam Deck runs a custom version of Steam OS that gives you a console-like experience on the surface without having to worry about things like drivers or setup, but under the hood is a full-blown PC for those that want the freedom to go deeper. The OS is built on Proton, a version of Linux that supports both Windows and Linux games and applications.
Feel like giving this writer a penguin slap with a wet fish.

The OS is built on proton? Proton is a version of Linux? Grrr so much inaccuracy.

I really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!

There's other problems with their writing too but this is just an example of an immediate in your face mistake.

So please Liam help us out here! :D
DaiKaiser93 Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: BlackBloodRumFeel like giving this writer a penguin slap with a wet fish.

The OS is built on proton? Proton is a version of Linux? Grrr so much inaccuracy.

I really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!

There's other problems with their writing too but this is just an example of an immediate in your face mistake.

So please Liam help us out here! :D

The whole "The OS is built on Proton" bit sounds like the writer has no idea of what Proton is, that or he thought calling it a compatibility layer would confuse people. I personally would have gone with "although Steam OS is built of Linux, it comes packed with Proton, an utility that allows Windows games to run on it seamlessly" or something along those words.
sub Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: DaiKaiser93
Quoting: BlackBloodRumFeel like giving this writer a penguin slap with a wet fish.

The OS is built on proton? Proton is a version of Linux? Grrr so much inaccuracy.

I really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!

There's other problems with their writing too but this is just an example of an immediate in your face mistake.

So please Liam help us out here! :D

The whole "The OS is built on Proton" bit sounds like the writer has no idea of what Proton is, that or he thought calling it a compatibility layer would confuse people. I personally would have gone with "although Steam OS is built of Linux, it comes packed with Proton, an utility that allows Windows games to run on it seamlessly" or something along those words.

I would expect Valve to tell them about those major mistakes.
rustybroomhandle Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: sub
Quoting: DaiKaiser93
Quoting: BlackBloodRumFeel like giving this writer a penguin slap with a wet fish.

The OS is built on proton? Proton is a version of Linux? Grrr so much inaccuracy.

I really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!

There's other problems with their writing too but this is just an example of an immediate in your face mistake.

So please Liam help us out here! :D

The whole "The OS is built on Proton" bit sounds like the writer has no idea of what Proton is, that or he thought calling it a compatibility layer would confuse people. I personally would have gone with "although Steam OS is built of Linux, it comes packed with Proton, an utility that allows Windows games to run on it seamlessly" or something along those words.

I would expect Valve to tell them about those major mistakes.

That article has been there since 15 Jul, so I guess not.
sub Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: rustybroomhandle
Quoting: sub
Quoting: DaiKaiser93
Quoting: BlackBloodRumFeel like giving this writer a penguin slap with a wet fish.

The OS is built on proton? Proton is a version of Linux? Grrr so much inaccuracy.

I really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!

There's other problems with their writing too but this is just an example of an immediate in your face mistake.

So please Liam help us out here! :D

The whole "The OS is built on Proton" bit sounds like the writer has no idea of what Proton is, that or he thought calling it a compatibility layer would confuse people. I personally would have gone with "although Steam OS is built of Linux, it comes packed with Proton, an utility that allows Windows games to run on it seamlessly" or something along those words.

I would expect Valve to tell them about those major mistakes.

That article has been there since 15 Jul, so I guess not.

Actually that's what I meant.
If they really have a close partnership with IGN this is slightly heading in the wrong direction, imho.
Liam Dawe Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: BlackBloodRumI really wish IGN would fact check and research before they write!
We tried to correct them on it, no reply. We did the same for The Verge, who did actually corrected their article. The Verge initially said all Linux titles worked thanks to Proton *sigh*.
rustybroomhandle Jul 27, 2021
RPS also still has an embarrassing article implying that Big Picture Mode is the operating system.

Eurogamer at least corrected their own version of that story.


Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 27 July 2021 at 11:44 am UTC
BlackBloodRum Jul 27, 2021
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It just feels like a bad decision to allow a writer on IGNs side to be writing about something they don't understand and don't bother to research a little first.

I mean I understand they've probably never used GNU/Linux and have no idea what proton is (clearly) and that's okay because outside of the Linux community they are for sure obscure terms.

I mean if I was asked to write about Windows I wouldn't even know where to start.

But with that said, if you're writing an article about something and you hit some words or terminalogy you don't understand or know, then take 5 minutes to Google "What is proton Linux?".

They don't need to be a GNU/Linux expert, but there is no excuse for a lack of fact checking and research where needed. The problem is that when a reader reads the article, that reader may also not know or understand those terms either. So they'll just take the writers word for it. Thus misinformation starts.

I don't mean to be ranting here, but it's my issue with IGN lol.
Julius Jul 27, 2021
Ah, I already suspected the thumb-sticks being somewhat touch sensitive based on their look. This is definitely a very cool improvement over the Steam controller.
mao_dze_dun Jul 27, 2021
Pretty sure their original review of the Steam Controller, was something on the lines of: "I used it for 20 minutes, didn't feel like an Xbox controller, so I am reporting that it sucks". It's the sort of "quality" and "journalistic integrity" we've come to see from IGN. I expect nothing less of them... because they're already scraping the very bottom.


Last edited by mao_dze_dun on 27 July 2021 at 4:05 pm UTC
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