What is the appeal of the Steamdeck ?

[ElaboratePseudonym]

Random lurker surfacing to ask : 

 

Anyone else not understand the appeal of paying $400-650 US to play PC games on a 7" 1280x800 screen ?

[davisev5225]

It's meant to compete with the Nintendo Switch, but offering PC games instead of Nintendo's curated (though less-restrictive than previous generations) library.

[27X]

1 hour ago, ElaboratePseudonym said:

Random lurker surfacing to ask : 

 

Anyone else not understand the appeal of paying $400-650 US to play PC games on a 7" 1280x800 screen ?

 

Considering what a graphics card costs and the target audience is people with mobile/wifi set ups that are grown ass adults, voila.

[travelmedic]

Has anyone heard if it's going to allow mods?  The website doesn't say, so I'm guessing not.

[ElaboratePseudonym]

33 minutes ago, 27X said:

 

Considering what a graphics card costs and the target audience is people with mobile/wifi set ups that are grown ass adults, voila.

(The Lurker paused, wary of engaging the Black Cat in its own domain, then proceeded carefully on.)

 

I have no objection to any "grown ass adults" exercising their financial freewill towards any object they desire. I am honestly curious about why this device is desired.

 

Also, my catvatar is more -suitable adjective- than yours.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, travelmedic said:

Has anyone heard if it's going to allow mods?  The website doesn't say, so I'm guessing not.

 

I think it's supposed to function like a normal PC, while also being more portable. So I'd imagine you'd be able to install mods on it.

 

As for it's appeal, I'm pretty sure it's the same as the switch's appeal (just with more power and a larger library of games).

[27X]

1 hour ago, travelmedic said:

Has anyone heard if it's going to allow mods?  The website doesn't say, so I'm guessing not.

 

Workshop is fully integrated.

 

30 minutes ago, ElaboratePseudonym said:

why

 

It's an entry level PC in market where a 2022-parts-made system is going to have a $350 SSD as the cheapest peripheral. Thanks to all the idiots, including a nice hefty chunk of this here neck of the woods that "needed" their labia to glow in the dark like the best Tawainese ENB twatter upvote whore running at 4fps told them they needed to allowed nVidia to gouge the fuck out of them, and now both lead graphics manufacturers know they can literally get away with charging three grand for a "premium" gaming card, not a flagship halo HEDT "prosumer" card (which will now go for about 5 grand) but a "80/800" """premium ultra""" card, which will now cost what an entire system used to cost in 2019, combine that with AMD forecasting a 50% increase in both CPU sales and CPU cost over the next two years and Intel literally having no answer to compete and yet still feeling that they should charge $1200 for an Alder Lake "elite" CPU, it's not hard to see why Valve chose now to enter the market.

 

The "Super" Lovelace/Tegra Switch from Nintendo is still a minimum of a year to two years away, so Valve has a discrete window to enter the market with the usual "it just works" marketing already in place with something you don't have to assemble that will play approximately every steam game ever made right out of the box and it's half the size of a laptop and thus can be taken anywhere.

[ElaboratePseudonym]

1 hour ago, 27X said:

 

what an entire system used to cost in 2019

The total new system cost is a good argument, and one I had not considered.

 

There is also the sheer novelty, gadgetry aspect.

Edited July 26, 2021 by ElaboratePseudonym

[27X]

 

[Guest]

On 7/25/2021 at 3:47 PM, ElaboratePseudonym said:

Random lurker surfacing to ask : 

 

Anyone else not understand the appeal of paying $400-650 US to play PC games on a 7" 1280x800 screen ?

This is mostly for the crowd that has loose dollars.

As for me, i do not need it. I can see the appeal but i rather play on a PC where i have a bigger screen.

I am waiting for GFX card prices to drop, whenever that happens.

Some need to have it no matter what. I was surprised how many pre-ordered. I think i am too old for that kind of stuff. There is no value for me.

The only reason could be when you are on the airplane but i do not travel much.

Not sure if that will be a success. Perhaps. Maybe it will be the iPhone of gaming. Who knows.

[pinky6225]

Cheaper alternative to a gaming laptop i suppose

[DamienVryce]

On 7/25/2021 at 8:45 PM, ElaboratePseudonym said:

(The Lurker paused, wary of engaging the Black Cat in its own domain, then proceeded carefully on.)

 

I have no objection to any "grown ass adults" exercising their financial freewill towards any object they desire. I am honestly curious about why this device is desired.

 

Also, my catvatar is more -suitable adjective- than yours.

I haven't got one, but if I did, it would be to play 90s era video games.  The screen size and controls would be fine for that, some of these games are already available on steam, and the rest could be arranged via emulator.

[Vinamael]

I view it as being aimed at the mobile gamer and those who don't have the space/financing for high end gaming machines.  For example, if I am remembering right, in certain Asian countries, living quarters can be rather limited.

 

Imagine being an oilfield worker or constantly having to travel for business; the steamdeck makes for an overall better gaming device for these types of situations.  

[Knight of Faraam]

I've been considering it for my wife in all honesty.

 

Our PS4 Pro despite a thermal paste reapplication + thorough cleaning seems to be having issues as of late. She doesn't care much for KBM, or sitting at a desk to play games so, given the thing can supposedly be docked (been a while since I looked into it), it could serve as a means to get my wife onto Steam, with no paywalls to multiplayer and a good selection of co-op games to choose from.

 

It's either that, or I get her a Series S and get her on Game Pass.

 

I also don't mind portable gaming, I'd use the Switch in portable mode more often if I didn't have such a distinct hatred for the Joycons.

[Darkening Demise]

Portable Fallout New Vegas.

[aranious]

Hmm. I guess if you already have a serious gaming PC, then really there's no point unless you just want it.

 

But, if you're like me and had a shitty PC until recently, it was a serious option for me for a little while. (Only thing that swayed me was getting a 1650Super for "dirt cheap" by todays standards and a free i7 that worked with my current PC).

 

Plus, portability, when I was younger I had a mac book pro and I brought it on a trip with me, playing Half Life 2 on a plane was a whole new experience for me, and, as much as I enjoy the switch, being able to play full PC's games on the go? That was the dream for a lot of people.

 

Plus, yeah, like most people have said, cheaper than a whole new PC or console for the most part. 

[ElaboratePseudonym]

On 11/11/2021 at 12:05 PM, Darkening Demise said:

Portable Fallout New Vegas.

Ya almost had me at "New Vegas". But will stay with objection to PC gaming on 7" screen. It's right there in the name of the artform, Video games. Video. Visual. 

[zekrem0]

I'm excited to see the emulation potential for it. With it being completely unlocked and linux-based, it'll take maybe a day or two for somebody to put RetroArch or something on it. Taking my library of emulated games on the go in a self-contained package sounds worth a few hundred bucks to me, especially since it'll be easy to cast it onto a larger screen and connect multiple controllers.

 

That, and I'm admittedly kind of interested in the novelty side of things, but that alone probably wouldn't motivate me to buy one.

[Joeynator3000]

I just want it so I can play it on my TV once the dock hits...

 

I tried the dual-screen setup with my PC multiple times before, back then it just slowed my computer down to a crawl, and recently it's just a confusing mess to me trying to get it to go full screen on my TV...and even then I can't even do 1080p on my 4K screen because I need an even more powerful graphics card. So my games just look pixely and with lower graphic settings. It's not worth it.

 

I think I rather just use my PC to browse the internet, chat on discord and stuff than use up the monitor with a game instead or something, I dunno. Steam Deck just makes things a bit easier and more simple to play on the TV. Besides, I'm able to save up for something pricey like this these days so money isn't too much of a big deal for me.

[dxw]

On 7/25/2021 at 10:47 PM, ElaboratePseudonym said:

Random lurker surfacing to ask : 

 

Anyone else not understand the appeal of paying $400-650 US to play PC games on a 7" 1280x800 screen ?

The appeal is real. The price and features are junky . And it's not even that hard to DIY.

• Remote Play only? Buy any sturdy "xbox phone controller holder" for less than $15. Glue a $5 aluminum plate with a lip to the controller holder... download Steam Link... and, you're done for $20, lol. I do this with a 10 inch tablet and an Xbox one controller. Perfectly comfortable, works fine. Controller dies? Swap out another. Tablet dies? Plug in a small USB battery.
   
• Offline-only? Put a Netbook to good use. Those 8" Atom units floating around by the bazillions from years ago are dirt cheap, sub-$100 easily. You might even have one in a closet gathering dust. If you can swivel the lid 180 degrees and jerry-rig joycons to either side with glue -- you're done. Those netbooks get insane battery life... they'll run anything you'd realistically care to play on a mobile PC... and if you splurge on 5G, you can use it to Remote Play...
   
• There's already better mini-PC handheld solutions out there for around the same price that offer an actual OS, ports, expansion room, and more power...

Valve has mastered the art of entering markets late -game, and yet, somehow, coming out financially successful. Don't ask me how that works =\

[27X]

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by 27X

[NatsYordle]

I am interested in it because i can emulate older games on it largely. And it's an open system so I am not restricted to just using steam.

[landess]

On 12/19/2021 at 7:41 PM, dxw said:

Valve has mastered the art of entering markets late -game, and yet, somehow, coming out financially successful. Don't ask me how that works =\

 

Being first doesn't mean being best. Once the mad rush is over and the dust settles, it's much easier to see what works and what 'doesn't' - and enter the market once the others have shown this. That is - entering the market with products which have been designed with the knowledge of other's failures.

 

I have a great example of this process: World of Warcraft. No - it wasn't the 1st MMO. Also it was delayed a considerable amount of time after several competitors launched their products earlier - Star Wars Galaxies ring a bell? People were whining about the delay but Blizzard took that time to make sure when WoW launched, it would avoid several key issues other games suffered. Very Few MMO's which came after WoW lasted for very long.

 

 

>>>Edit: Thought my own example of being in a hurry and buying a VR unit from Occulus would have been better served waiting and getting the Valve unit which has superior engineering based on certain 'failures' of the Rift (such as sensor/transmitter placement). Occulus has since remodeled their designs and was even bought by Facebook. I doubt Facebook will buy STEAM.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I don't do CONSOLES! (Unless you count either my Atari2600 or Commodore64 use from the 80's)

 

I have a decent STEAM Library.

 

I have a few dollars to burn. (This is the one kids won't get till they reach a certain level of financial freedom)

 

The Steam deck is the ONLY handheld system which even slightly interests me.

 

 

 

Watching the video(s) of Gabe Logan Newell personally deliver (and give away a few) the first Steamdecks was a treat and hate for the guy and/or his accomplishments reminds me haters gonna hate.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by landess
I only use my phone to make phone calls - this is a better solution if I have to 'wait'.

[OrcishOatmeal]

At the moment, there are now TONS of gaming handhelds but they are mostly cheap chinese knock-offs that play roms/old consoles, there has been a few "Switch like" consoles which the steam deck is part of (GPD, Ayaneo) but its relatively new

 

Personally, I would love to have a more powerful switch, but if I wanna play PC games, I use my PC....  The only area it feels like the Steam Deck would be useful is a gaming laptop replacement as frankly, I dont see the point in a heavy laptop where the battery is always dead and burns your legs from the gpu's

 

I wouldnt mind a odin though... (please add gamecube to switch!)

[ElaboratePseudonym]

On 3/3/2022 at 5:17 PM, 27X said:

 

 

While I think Mr. Newell is certainly someone to emulate, and I've gained an appreciation of your particular linguistic skills, posting a link to a Bellular video is not persuasive.

Edited August 19, 2022 by ElaboratePseudonym