Quoting: BeamboomI find some of those whitelisted as downright *weird* that they've spent time on testing. Looks so ridiculously random. I really can not understand why they don't start with the currently most popular games on Steam, and proceed downwards on that list.

It would look SO much better towards those that's on the fence on this machine if some of their favourite games that they are gaming on nowadays are confirmed working on it.
And obviously, the more popular a game is the higher that chance will be.

EDIT: Or, if that's indeed what they HAVE done, then... Uhm... That doesn't bode well.

I too find it weird, but I'm ecstatic that it shows they're testing smaller games the likes of which I'll be more likely to be playing on the Deck, rather than just popular AAA games that I'm not interested in. And as others have pointed out, they probably are testing those games too, and we'll start seeing a bunch more statuses getting updated in the next few weeks.

Quoting: Mountain ManMy guess is that the testing is automated, and any game that gets "green lights across the board" in the benchmark is given the "Officially Confirmed to Work on the Steam Deck" stamp of approval. That would explain why things might seem a bit random.

Aren't some of the criteria things like "text is at a readable size" and "correct controller glyphs are shown"? Like, programming's my day job so I'm not going to rule out that automated tests could be derived for that, but…programming's my day job, so I also have an idea of just how hideously difficult it would be to write such tests. I suppose if anyone had the motivation and know-how to do it it'd be Valve…

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Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: PhiladelphusCan we just settle on a smaller number of standard refresh rates, please, preferably in larger increments than 5 Hz? I don't care whether it's multiples of 24 (144 Hz, 240 Hz), 30 (60 Hz, 120 Hz) or 5 (165 Hz), just pick one standard and stick with it.

With adaptive sync there is no need to make some standard increments. It's basically, whatever the panel can handle :)

Congrats on the new monitor!

Thanks! And true, obviously it doesn't matter with VRR, I meant more from a…simplification standpoint, I guess. Like, we have 720p and 1080p and 1440p and 2160p in 16:9 resolutions, but not 1712x963 or 1984x1116 or other random resolutions in between. If nothing else it's going to make this graph a nightmare if there are monitors with refresh rates every 5 Hz interval above 150. :dizzy: (Personally I'd probably say something like intervals of 30 Hz: 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, etc.. That's a big enough jump I'd believe people saying they could see a difference, and keeps the monitor space less diluted with refresh rates all over the place.) But you're probably right that since it doesn't really matter too much with VRR there's little chance of that happening.

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Quoting: ShabbyX

Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: ArehandoroLast night I dreamed that I was the first customer to receive the console, but somehow felt small, light and with a tiny screen. I mustn't read GOL before going to sleep xD

No no, see, that was the Dream Deck. Totally different console, but it's easy to see how they might be confused…

Now wait for Stream Deck!

Don't have to, it's already out [External Link]! :happy:

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Quoting: ArehandoroLast night I dreamed that I was the first customer to receive the console, but somehow felt small, light and with a tiny screen. I mustn't read GOL before going to sleep xD

No no, see, that was the Dream Deck. Totally different console, but it's easy to see how they might be confused…

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After four months of waiting my PC finally made its way across the Pacific to my new home, and I can update my stats with my brand spankin' new 1440p, 170 Hz monitor. :woot: (My first above 1200p [and that over 4 years ago] and 60 Hz.) Only to discover that its refresh rate of 170 Hz is not on the list… :whistle:

Honestly, refresh rates are a bit crazy nowadays. I'm upgrading from 60 Hz for the first time, and there's a dizzying range of Hz above 120 now. Do you want a monitor with a refresh rate of 144 Hz? 150 Hz? 160? 165? It's like, I can accept that people see a difference between 60 and 120 Hz, or even 120 and 240 or other stupidly high numbers…but I refuse to accept that anyone sees a difference between 165 and 170 Hz (that's a < 3% difference), like the articles I've seen that literally say things like "This monitor has a 160 Hz native refresh rate, and it can be overclocked to 165 Hz!" Can we just settle on a smaller number of standard refresh rates, please, preferably in larger increments than 5 Hz? I don't care whether it's multiples of 24 (144 Hz, 240 Hz), 30 (60 Hz, 120 Hz) or 5 (165 Hz), just pick one standard and stick with it.

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A thought I had just now: is this Linux-exclusive, or would these APIs work on Windows/MacOS too? I know, I know; it doesn't mention OS anywhere in the announcement, and Valve like making things open, so there's no reason it wouldn't work on other OSes...but on the other hand, Valve also don't need to support people installing Windows on their Deck, so there's also no particular reason they've done the extra work to make it work on something other than Steam OS 3.0. (Could even be a subtle way of encouraging people to stick with the default OS.)

Realistically I'm sure it works across all three OSes (since it could also serve to sync progress between desktop & laptop, etc.) but still...a man can dream.

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Quoting: CyborgZetaI made my reservation late in the afternoon the day Valve started taking reservations, and my shipping timeframe is "Q2 2022". I don't expect to see mine until Spring.

Which is fine. I'm in no particular rush. Gives me time to get a few good size microSD cards.

What! I was on within five minutes of reservations opening, then spent over an hour fighting overloaded servers until I was finally able to get mine in, and my expected date is "After Q2 2022". There's just no justice in this world, I tell yah... :tongue:

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Sounds like a pretty cool idea. But yeah, even if we take "Steam Deck shipping in February" to mean February 28, that's not a lot of time for developers to integrate this new tech into games, no matter how easy Valve's made it. And of course games vary wildly in terms of save systems and how well they might work with this, so I predict we won't see all that many games with this implemented by the time regular consumers start getting Decks in their hands (maybe some Valve games, or if they've been secretly working with some developers to have it implemented at launch). Hopefully that number will increase over time, though, as devs get familiar with the new APIs and start adding it.

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Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI still don't really get what the audience for the Steam Deck is. I kind of want to buy one, but then I remember I have no use for it. I can play games in bed with my laptop. I have 4 GNU/Linux computers already. If I'm outside, I don't want to play games, otherwise I wouldn't have gone outside.

I guess I don't really understand the portable gaming idea to begin with. I did play Pokemon a lot as a kid, but those days are long gone. I played a lot of mobile games when I was younger, too, but that was mostly the novelty of it rather than them being any good. I don't think that phase lasted very long.

I guess it doesn't help that a lot of the games I play involve using Textractor, copying text to the clipboard, looking it up in a J-J dictionary, and creating an Anki card. Not really the type of gaming suited for a small, portable device without a keyboard.

I just have no idea what to think, because I am clearly not the target audience for this.

A few years ago I'd probably feel similarly; I already had a buff gaming rig and a body that could handle sitting in front of it all day, why would I need anything else? As I get older the idea of playing less technically demanding games (in my case, a significant fraction of my library) while lounging on the couch or in bed sounds better and better, and I've personally never found laptops comfortable to play on in those scenarios even back when I used to have one. It'll also be nice for my annual multi-week trip to visit family in another state, both as a way to access my library and for general web-browsing. But if you don't feel an inclination for it, that's fine. Life situations are different (and change over time, as I discovered).

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Quoting: GuestI'm beginning to think that in their rush to appeal to end users, Valve might have forgotten to put as much effort into appealing to developers.

Because they don't really have to, I don't think. This isn't some new console where they need developers to make games or no one will buy it; when the Steam Deck finally gets in people's hands it's going to have more games working on it Day 1 than any console launch in history (probably by an order of magnitude or two). Thousands of games will "just work" (either by being native or working fine in Proton). It'd be nice to get more developers on board to expand the selection that works, but Valve probably doesn't feel the need to prioritize it as much. (Whether that's the right attitude or not remains to be seen, as we'll have to see how much lack of <Popular Game X> is actually a factor in people buying the Deck or not.)

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