They're pitching their product to Valve pretty hard in that video... Haha
Sounds like a very cool tech, although kinda pricey, but would be nice to see it in a Steam Deck 2.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Maybe we should stop using only percentage numbers as a measure for Linux adoption and also start using estimated absolute numbers (by multiplying the percentage of Linux users with the estimated total number of Steam accounts). It would be more inaccurate (since we are also using estimated numbers of the total number of Steam accounts), but it could give us a better understanding of speed of adoption (the percentage of the total might decline, but we still might get a higher increment of people using Linux in that month).

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I have very mixed feelings about this. From one side is nice to have more attention on the Deck/Handheld-PC-gaming to make developers have games that are more scalable to support "lower-specs" hardware, but on the other hand, this could make developers stop bothering with Linux/Proton at all, since they could say: just install the Windows gaming UI on it. We all know what this would bring: many other decades of bloated and closed proprietary crap. This could be very bad news.

Edit: typo

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I'm not trying to be an "elitist" here (I am one of those who live in an "undeveloped country", after all) and I don't want to diminish the community effort behind this project (I love messing around with game mods!), but I would highly advise against playing the game this way. Besides all the immersion and tactility that is lost going from VR to "pancake" (traditional monitor), the level design, enemy AI and difficulty curve were all specifically fine-tuned with VR in mind, which translates into much more compact levels with easier and fewer enemies that works great for VR (your movement is slower and you can get overwhelmed by enemies much more easily otherwise) but become too easy and very boring outside VR. Not to mention all the puzzles that require very precise motion controls, which would be either unplayable or awful to control on pancake with mouse+keyboard or gamepad controls.

It's also worth noting that HL:Alyx is very well optimized, so you don't really need some crazy rig to play it. My friend used his Dell laptop with a GeForce 1060 (which is slower than the desktop version) and a first-gen Oculus Quest with Virtual Desktop (to play wirelessly) and managed to beat the game without many issues while still looking very good. Compared to the Steam hardware survey, these specs should be covered by the majority of PC gamers nowadays. Now about the VR headset itself, if you can't afford a new or used one, you could try to borrow it from a friend (which probably hasn't used it very often these past years, let's be honest) or search for a place that can rent it for a week or so. Yes, second-hand headsets are not ideal, but considering how lackluster the offering of good VR titles has been, it might be a better idea to get a headset just temporarily (maybe the PSVR2 could help change that in the near future, though).

I'm probably very biased on this subject, since I'm a big Half-Life fan, but first impressions matter a lot and playing this game without VR will for sure make the experience considerably worse and taint your experience even if you manage to play it in VR later on, so if you're determined to not use VR, I'm almost inclined to suggest you to just watch a let's play of the game on Youtube. You won't get be benefits of playing in VR but you also won't get all the problems of the translation from VR to pancake.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

The hardware looks competent, no info on the price (I will be surprised if this is less than 800 USD), but there's one thing that really worries me: they said the UI is powered by their Armoury Crate software, which is probably one of the worst pieces of software I've had the displeasure of using in recent years. Asus is good with hardware, but I don't trust them with software at all. And finally, since they're using Windows, there won't be a quick suspend/resume feature, which is one of the most important things for a handheld device to have.

Edit: typo

View this comment - View article - View full comments

In a chat with PC Gamer, Epic's Tim Sweeney noted: "They have a classic lock-in strategy where they build these services that only work with their store, and they use the fact that they have the majority market share in order to encourage everybody to ship games that have a broken experience in other stores," Sweeney said.

He says that as if you are obligated to ship your game on Steam using Steamworks, not to mention that Steamworks predates all those other stores... Disingenuous Tim Sweeney strikes again. 🤦‍♂️

View this comment - View article - View full comments

This very likely will only be an engine update that will make development easier, not something that will have profound consequences gameplay-wise, just like it happened with Dota 2 going from Source 1 to Source 2. As usual, people are overhyping this, then will get disappointed and will blame Valve for "underdelivering" it.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

From most to least important for me:

- Put an additional USB-C port on the bottom;
- Reduce the screen bezel and use this space to shrink the device a little. I think the current screen size (except the bezel, obviously) and resolution are fine for now. Maybe make it a little thicker to compensate for the reduced footprint, like other similar devices do;
- Offer a reasonably priced OLED SKU;
- Try to make space for a full-sized (2280) m.2 slot. Obviously, also offer the mounting point for those who already have a 2230 SSD. 2280 SSDs are just so much cheaper, can offer much higher capacity, and are much easier to find;
- Better "Steam" and "..." buttons;
- Replace the self-tapping screws with metal threaded insert ones, so people don't have to be worried about wearing out the plastic threads when opening the device multiple times;
- Improve the haptics. I know Valve said that it can drain battery life, but make it optional for players that want to use it anyway;
- Instead of using that weird "L" shaped battery, add another layer (on the previously imagined thicker body), and make it squared, with less glue to attach it to the case to also make it easier to replace;
- Make the triggers dual-stage like the original Steam Controller;
- Make the USB-C support eGPUs;
- Manufacture the USB-C ports as daughterboards that can be detached from the motherboard for easier repair;
- Make the AC power adapter cable detachable;

BONUS:
- IMPROVE THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION. I know the logistics are VERY complicated, but there are a lot of people out there who want to buy the device, but can't.
- Make it a dual gyro controller. Seems like it improves a lot the stability of gyro controls: https://youtu.be/OrucAJknMys?t=262 [External Link]

View this comment - View article - View full comments

That logo in the back... Nope!

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Let's not forget that stupid time when the EU sued Valve and other game companies because they were trying to protect the viability of regional pricing by geo-blocking games:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/geo-blocking-in-the-games-industry-a-closer-look-at-valves-ec-fine [External Link]

Without the regional pricing, games in my country are getting ridiculously expensive (like almost a third of a monthly minimum wage), so it's painful to watch nearly every major AAA publisher dropping the support for regional pricing. Now even some indies are starting to do it too. I wouldn't be surprised to see a significant resurgence of piracy in developing nations like mine, which Steam had helped to ease a lot when regional pricing was almost universally adopted.

View this comment - View article - View full comments