The year of the Linux handheld.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

It was just a matter of time before someone put RGB on a Steam Deck. It's like the law of PC gaming.
If object exists Then 
Create RGB 
Else die

View this comment - View article - View full comments

The reality is that people who are actually upset enough about this to actually review bomb are likely white supremacists themselves, even if they're too cowardly to admit it.

Also, it's telling that they'd get upset over the removal of sexual exploitation of young characters. It's not like they removed all sexy outfits or anything, only predatory depictions of young characters. Why would that bother someone unless they get off on exploiting young girls?

Lastly, there really is no justification for hating the removal of racist imagery unless you're racist yourself. People these days are really good at telling on themselves.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

This is a game I'm definitely not going to play on the Steam Deck. I'll likely play it on my TV. While I'm glad Linux creators are making Steam Deck content, it would be nice if someone was still running tests and doing benchmarks on desktop Linux for games like this.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: kaiman

Quoting: MiZoGPhoronix benchmarked rx 7600 on Linux already

While slightly faster than the Rx 6600, there isn't enough difference to even think about switching. Though it appears to be cheaper than my Rx 6600 was a year ago (unless those $270 are excluding VAT, in which case there's no difference either, meaning it's still too much for what it offers).

Considering you can get a used 6700 XT (12GB) for $275, I can't see how it's worth it.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: MohandevirJust speaking about the value of the Ally... From what I read from different sources, I'm totally unconvinced... Like most of the PCGamers, I already have a more powerful PC... That's why I use my Steam Deck in handheld mode 95% of the time. The other 5% is for couch coop gaming and these games are not usually resource huggers. In my case, battery autonomy is make or break. If all this raw power is wasted because you need to cap everything to gain minutes of playtime... What are you getting? A little more powerful Steam Deck with less input options, unreadable 3rd party apps, crapy os interactions and still worse battery autonomy (the Steam Deck's autonomy is already to the limit)?

If it's a handheld as long as your power cord (who first said that? 😉), It kinds of defeat the purpose and makes it feel like a big marketing smokescreen, to me.

If so, I'll wait for the Steam Deck 2, in this case.

It's totally a big marketing smokescreen. Asus and Microsoft have a ton of money, and they partnered together to release what is unquestionably a monster in terms of performance. They know it'll look good on all the bar graphs and that enthusiasts with money to burn will run out and buy it just to say they have the fastest handheld. A year from now, Asus will have moved on, and the promise of a Microsoft Windows that's handheld friendly will have taken a back seat to whatever new Xbox announcement pops up. Neither is committed to this the way Valve is.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: ObsidianBlkI feel the biggest risk to the Steam Deck is the ROG Ally actually being in a store. As far as I'm aware, Steam Deck is only available from Steam (at least in the US). That means most customers would either have to already be familiar with Steam or (to a much lesser extent) be willing to "risk" the Steam eco-system sight unseen. The Steam Deck had a *HUGE* amount of positivity after it's release (definitely a key benefit to not over-hyping your hardware before release), so Steam Deck saw converts who were not normal PC gamers.

But ROG Ally will be in a store. This means it will be *A LOT* easier for (grand)parents to buy the Ally for their gamer (grand)child's birthday or as a holiday gift. This is a huge deal! Even if the ROG Ally is only half as good as the Steam Deck (and more likely it'll be, all around, on par) that could lead to more ROG Ally units in gamers hands after a year than Steam Deck units.

I feel Valve *really* needs to find a way to get at least the base-line model Steam Deck on store shelves (including Amazon, Walmart, etc). Otherwise, I fear the Steam Deck (and more directly, Steam OS) will be drowned out by more easily purchasable devices.

Realistically, Valve just can't compete with Asus in hardware distribution. Asus is a gigantic multinational corporation that makes Valve look tiny. Valve is also primarily a software company. What would be nice is if Valve partners with some hardware vendors like Asus to get more SteamOS devices out there, similar to what they did with the Steam Machines but hopefully more successful.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: ElamanOpiskelija1-2h battery...
I hate to bring this up, but my also-ASUS laptop with Fedora can play most games at 15W TDP, and that lasts me definitely longer than 2 hours.

That's because you don't have Windows chugging greenhouse gasses underneath the hood. The Wired magazine review of the Ally said it was drawing like 6 watts just idling, which is all the Steam Deck draws even when it's running Stardew Valley. He only got 2.5 hours playing Stardew Valley on the Ally but can get 7 hours on the Steam Deck. Not saying I recommend playing Stardew Valley for 7 hours though. You need to get up and move around for the sake of your health. :grin:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Guest8.6 tflops is crazy number for a handheld device, it is twice bigger than ps4pro, on par with rtx2070 tier GPU, and just a bit behind current gen consoles. you literally can replace a decent gaming pc with it

And that's probably all it's good for, to be honest. To get that kind of speed, you have to run it at full power and barely get an hour of battery life. Coupled with the clunky Windows UI and half-baked Asus software, it would be better to use it plugged into a monitor on a desk than as a handheld. It makes sense if you want it instead of a gaming laptop. For a desktop, you can still build a cheaper machine. In fact, I just built one for my living room, and it runs SteamOS. :grin:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Uberkeyser

It all depends on the price.

Well, kindof not at all. For me it all depends on the software, in particular the OS. The ASUS thingy won't stand a chance with me for being Windows 11 based.
And that is not because of ideology this and that; okay maybe a bit ideology, but mainly because I do not want to end up with a brick once MS decides to no logner support it (potentially on purpose because it competes with the Xbox ecosystem).

Booo booo, ASUS, booooooooo!

There's a rumor [External Link] floating around the interweb that Asus is working on their own custom OS. You know how rumors are though. They seem to have gone out of their way to mention that it's a Windows handheld, so I'm skeptical. If they did have their own OS though, it would likely be Linux-based since it's the only other OS that can support a large catalog of games.

View this comment - View article - View full comments