I think 3 years after the Steam Deck 1 is the right period of time to launch a successor. By then, the latest APU should be much faster and probably more power efficient too (meaning the battery doesn't have to be that much bigger). Apart from APU improvements, they should have a better screen with smaller bezels to allow 8" 1080p without increasing overall size. Other hardware improvements could be: a fingerprint reader, a second USB C port on the bottom, move storage tiers up so they are all SSD between 256GB and 1TB and maybe a good Webcam with a privacy shutter. You will not see a $399 Deck 2 - I suspect it would start at $499 or maybe even higher.

They should also launch a Steam Controller 2 at the same time modelled on the Deck controls. Assuming SteamOS 3 is finally out as a standalone ISO by then (c'mon Valve, you're taking too long!), then Valve should offer SteamOS 3 and the Steam Controller 2 to major OEMs as a free or partly subsidised gaming bundle for desktops/laptops (Valve would certify SteamOS on the OEM hardware but insist that it's a simple radio button to switch between Windows 11 and SteamOS when purchasing [i.e. not hidden on a separate product page, which would kill sales as we've seen with Dell and Lenovo's Linux efforts in the past]).

We desperately need big OEMs to ship Linux pre-installed for Linux gaming to take off and SteamOS might be able to do it.

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Am I the only one who has every GOG freebie going (over 100 of them now), has Heroic Games Launcher installed on both their Linux desktop and Steam Deck and yet still can't even be bothered installing/playing most of them? :smile:

Part of it is the "friction" of leaving the Steam environment (yes, I know you can add them as a non-Steam game), but I have had issues trying some of them out with Heroic, plus GOG's bizarre refusal to release a Linux GOG Galaxy client (especially egregious when they do actually sell native Linux games unlike those reprobates at Epic) sours me on them.

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I found a post on Reddit that got me further in the process on Linux. Basically, the controller's USB device doesn't have write access for your normal user, so it comes up with that incorrect "used by another tab" message. The fix is bring up a terminal as root and find the Stadia controller's bus/device with "lsusb" and then chmod a+rw on the appropriate bus/device.

For example, with my controller plugged in, lsusb reports:

Bus 001 Device 013: ID 18d1:9400 Google Inc. Stadia Controller rev. A

So you would then run this as root:

chmod a+rw /dev/bus/usb/001/013

Now start the process and as you go through each step, repeat the lsusb command each time. I found that it changed to be a "bootloader" on a new device ID:

Bus 001 Device 014: ID 18d1:946b Google Inc. Bootloader

So I did this when i saw that:

chmod a+rw /dev/bus/usb/001/014

The snag is that these steps did get me the very final "Install Bluetooth mode" screen, but the 4-button press I'd done just before to "unlock" it caused the controller to drop off the USB entirely and it was no longer listed when pressing "Allow Chrome to install". Did anyone else see this and find a way around it?

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I don't tend to buy new games (I wait until they become dirt cheap), so the only 2 games I've played in both lists are Cyberpunk 2077 (on Stadia via a £50 hardware/game bundle deal that recently got refunded in full so it cost me nothing) and Vampire Survivors (on Android, where it's free).

You can tell I'm a cheapskate because my Steam Replay tells me that TrackMania Nations Forever is my most played game of 2022...yep, it's a freebie :-) Heck, I'm so tight, I still won't buy The Witcher 3 Complete Edition until it drops to £4.99 (it's been £6.99 in many sales, including right now).

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I'd like to see a Steam Controller 2 modelled on the Deck controls and also a SteamOS 3 ISO released with additional support for Intel/Nvidia CPUs/GPUs included.

Valve should then strike a deal with major OEMs to bundle SteamOS 3 and a Steam Controller 2 with desktops/laptops for the same price as the Windows equivalent without a controller (yes, Valve may have to subsidise much of this). Valve would have to help the OEMs with cuatoner support (e.g. maybe sequester some Valve staff with the OEM who trains up support staff for a while). Note that the SteamOS machines must ne in the same page as the Windows machines (i.e. a simple radio button selection) and not on a well-hidden separate section like Dell infuriatingly do with their Linux XPS laptops.

I think this is the only way to significantly increase Linux market share - the vast majority of people stick with the OS their machine was pre-installed with.

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I just got a new PC and it's a tower with black panels on all sides (and, yes, I turned off any motherboard RGB in the BIOS since you can't see it!). I was much more interested in quietness than RGB, so I got a case that came with soundproofing material inside, along with a quiet PSU.

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The Steam Deck already has a ton of "exclusives" - all the games that only run in Windows (or via Proton on Linux) or only in native Linux! That's about as exclusive as you need to be really.

I think market forces would stop the vast majority of developers from releasing their games only on Steam Deck (or even only on native Linux), plus I'm surprised Steam blocks Linux-only games anyway. It seems very strange considering Valve has been actively trying to avoid tying itself to the Windows platform for years now and it certainly allows Windows-only games on Steam.

If you were to try to offer a Deck "exclusive" it would have to have a very short exclusivity window e.g. first month Deck only, second month Deck+Linux, third month Deck+Linux+Windows. I can't see anyone going that route for fear that by the time the third month rolled around, any game launch buzz would have died down and Windows sales would be heavily impacted.

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