Postage included. It's a steal!

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Quoting: ShabbyXThe goal doesn't justify the means.

Lol. This is a cliché.

The thing is that means always tell about the actual goal, which pretty much always differ from the PR friendly, publicly stated one. And that's one of the major reasons why civilized people invented propaganda.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: LoftyIt's a momentary relief that it cannot be installed on a screen size lower than 9", but windows 10 is still going to be 'technically' supported until 2025. And maybe people will find a way to install windows on a smaller screen, although the more complex the procedure the less likely the average windows user is likely to try.

I don't think many people will bother. It's going to be a hassle, and they're likely to get a worse experience as a result.

Agree with this.

All these windows fears are based on the fact that many games don't work on linux, i.e. Proton doesn't deliver. But if proton doesn't deliver, Steam Deck doesn't deliver and it will be a failure like the Steam Machines (and for the very same reason).

Just suppose Valve learnt from the past and actually delivers what is promised. Why would people replace SteamOS with windows? Whatever performance they might gain from removing the thin wine layer they lose it with windows itself, plus all the hassles of running a OS not meant for the device.

Imho there are two potential issues for deck success.

First is OS independent and happens also on windows that is bad/lazy PC game implementation in terms of usability. To many games once started present you a clunky launcher and only then let you go in game. And to many other have a confusing implementation of the controller interfaces that Steam overlay only partially mitigates. Ideally all should use Steam Controller API and with that show the player the buttons of the actual controller model they use and have a list of actions in the overlay for customizing input. There are also many titles that despite having controller friendly mechanics, GUIs and adjustments on console ports, on pc ports just regress to messy interfaces because who cares, people with m+k don't deserve good interfaces. Valve voluntary lack of "control" on the quality of stuff sold in Steam is virtuous in many ways, but when it comes to user experience can become a serious defect and scare away many users. Especially console users, those that are used to press a button in the menu and play in seconds, not start being harassed by a number of free hassles.

The second ofc are non steam windows only *killer* games. Like Activision, Ubisoft and Riot stuff. And everything Tim Sweeney might be able to touch. Granted, this device might still the best bet to play those games on the go once SteamOs is wiped out for the time being. But switch like portable pc aren't exactly a novelty. Soon there will inevitably be some better options in the market.

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I always found these titles interesting but of impractical fruition.

Enter the Steam Deck.

Gotta go to the bathroom. See you later! :grin:

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Quoting: Liam DaweHeck, even Tim Sweeney of Epic Games appears to love the idea:

Quoting: Tim SweeneyAmazing move by Valve! A handheld PC/console hybrid running the SteamOS fork of Arch Linux, and it’s an open platform where users are free to install software or their choosing - including Windows and other stores.

Hell. Why not?

Steam Deck will be a gaming console with low to null profit sales entirely financed with the subsequent 30-70 software sales. Like for Xbox, PS and Nintendo. And this is fine, actually no, this is awesome! It's the model Tim defended, glorified and advocated for in front of federal courts!

Men, this is it. Who could have imagined that? It's finally over! We thought EGS would force Valve to adopt a healthy 12/88 instead of asking unjustified 30/70. Instead Gaben outsmarted everybody and started to produce consoles to actually justify that 30/70 we otherwise used to hate. This is great!

Obviously EGS is not needed anymore. Soon Tim will close it for good. And soon after weyou will also play Fortnite native on linux.:woot::grin::tongue::grin::happy:

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"It's not the size of the Deck, it's how you use it."

Sorry, but I had to. :grin:

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Chromebooks are already great as they are. They're cheap and they can do everything a generalist user need for a tenth of the price of an Apple counterpart.

But if they also start to support steam libraries then there might be a case for buying the premium versions. They would still be cheaper than premium Apple counterparts and able to run more games.

If might help "pure" Linux popularity as well if Chromebooks start to educate people that you don't need to be ripped off by Apple to have a portable pc that actually works. Though, at the same time, ever since Chromebooks I find it harder to justify installing an Ubuntu on a relative's pc given their use case. As opposed to the times when you just had to replace windows with Linux to fix every issue a year old notebook could have, with Chrome OS things just works. In my opinion there are little reasons to "upgrade" to Linux from Chrome OS if your a generic user, gaming being probably the only one until borealis takes it away.

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Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native and accidentally works in Proton is worth maybe 10%. It could stop working at any time.

I also believe that buy a "new" game because it works well on proton is nuts. It works today, it's easy anti cheat tomorrow. Eventually though new games become old games. Old games -> no more development cycles. No dev cycles -> no (or close to null) risk of proton breaking.

For AAA games often it's just a matter of waiting like 1 year or so until the project goes support mode. With their obsene day 1 prices, waiting it's not a bad idea anyway.

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I remember that one. I didn't backed it when it was kickstarted because it was about the time EGS was scooping up all indies it could find. And with so many other ks projects already ditching Linux the second they hit a snag, I wasn't in the mood. But I'll gladly buy a copy when they hit early access.

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Smartphones "killed" the portable console market. It submerged the market with casual audience easily satisfied with F2P crap reducing the hardcores to a small minority unworthy of big investments. And even then premium smartphones and accessories can rival any dedicated handheld console making very difficult to justify the existence of such a device.

In this market mess where the bounds between consoles, pc, Smartphones, tablets and whateverelse are blurred and not clearly defined, only the vendor with the clear personality could survive which of course is Nintendo with the switch.

If steam pal has to be a handheld console, it needs this. A clear and well defined personality that makes it distinct and allows it to deliver experiences that no other hardware can. You can replace a PS with an Xbox. And also a PC easily enough now. A vita you can replace it with a portable switch or a handheld pc. You just can't replace a switch with anything else. It's in a league of its own.

Imho that's not the kind of things Valve excels at. Quite the opposite. I would be surprised if their board (or whatever equivalent they have) really believe they are. If they release something and hope it's a success, I bet it will be a pc accessory, rather than full fledged console.

With proton sitting in a nice place, and stuff like Nvidia Now working excellently it's a good time to bring out something that allows PC gamers to survive this dire times of Hardware famine by exploiting the opportunity of the cloud. And after that, when cards come back to the stores, LAN streaming if one still wants it. A pal meant to amplify streaming experience, could really find the best market window right now with Chinese miners and global scalpers running wild. To bad it won't be able to escape the semiconductor crisis though.

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