Steam Deck and Linux Gaming

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Steam announced the Steam Deck earlier today, with pre-orders opening up tomorrow morning.

Curious about people’s thoughts.

https://store.steampowered.com/steam...

Looks like it supports a bluetooth mouse and docking. I am utterly sold. Talk about a big launch library!

Ewwww... Running SteamOS plus Valves sketchy hardware support history is a big pass for me. Plus it looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

Man, purchasing a new portable with close to 2K games already in my personal library sounds hella tempting.

That joystick placement looks terrible.

TheGameguru wrote:

Ewwww... Running SteamOS plus Valves sketchy hardware support history is a big pass for me. Plus it looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

Fair point. The way they abandon stuff is a bummer.

This does seem like a weird amalgamation of everything they've done before though, interestingly.

Being able to install your own software and OS if need be, and to plug it into a monitor and use it like a PC, should at least soften the blow a bit if they abandon this in two years like everything else. So the $400 cost doesn't seem so bad in that regard.

The IGN vid said it supports Workshop and even non-Workshop mods. (Cripes it even lets you wipe the OS and drop Windows in there if you want.)

This was my biggest question regarding personal viability as my most-played games/genres (strat/sim/mgmt.) lean heavy into the modding scene.

Now I kinda want to pre-order tomorrow. But the practical side of me says to wait until it's out in the wild for hands-on impressions.

Of course if it's a hit it might be hard to find like current-gen consoles.

FOMO vs. pragmatism in a tug-of-war!

The IGN video also mentioned that Valve is looking into the possibility of suspending a game on the Deck, uploading the suspended data to Steam Cloud, and then resuming the game on your regular PC. That's nuts!

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/15/2...

It’s a good thing they will let you install Windows or whatever on there. Driver support will have to remain though or even that gesture won’t go very far.

$400 also Is for a 64gb which won’t get you very much these days. I wonder if you can add your own SSD.

The $400 price tag is a joke. Thats for 64gb which is already less than some PC games. Without versions of PC games built for this 'mobile' device, you'd need the $550 246gb deck at minimum.

There's a 'high speed' sd slot in there to mitigate things, I guess, maybe that's enough, but a 1 TB NVMe SSD is only about $100 on Amazon. I'm betting we can't just open the thing up and upgrade the hard drive ourselves.

(edit: GGhausered)

Aaron D. wrote:

Man, purchasing a new portable with close to 2K games already in my personal library sounds hella tempting.

Indeed, though I'm very wary of the physical layout. The buttons and sticks look like they were crammed way up at the top corners of the device in order to make room for the two track pads. I will want to hear some hands-on impressions because that does not look comfortable at a glance.

I'm also curious why the track pads were deemed essential on a device with a touchscreen.

TheGameguru wrote:

Ewwww... Running SteamOS plus Valves sketchy hardware support history is a big pass for me. Plus it looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

My tiny baby hands said "no."

Dyni wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

Man, purchasing a new portable with close to 2K games already in my personal library sounds hella tempting.

Indeed, though I'm very wary of the physical layout. The buttons and sticks look like they were crammed way up at the top corners of the device in order to make room for the two track pads. I will want to hear some hands-on impressions because that does not look comfortable at a glance.

I'm also curious why the track pads were deemed essential on a device with a touchscreen.

Watch the IGN video linked above.

If I could also add Netflix and streaming services, that would make this an easier "day 1" for me. I don't want to have to carry multiple devices....

Seems like a typical Valve hardware device to me, which means I think it'll be DOA due to price and what will almost certainly end up being underwhelming hardware.

Edgar_Newt wrote:

If I could also add Netflix and streaming services, that would make this an easier "day 1" for me. I don't want to have to carry multiple devices....

As shown in the IGN video, the Steam Dock's Linux-based Steam OS has a full web browser, so if nothing else, you probably could stream through that? They show a Youtube video playing in Chrome.

It’s running on Arch Linux. Throw Lutris and some emulators on there and you can run lots of non-Steam games and things. Stream to it from a bigger machine over Moonlight or Xbox Streaming perhaps.

I think this is cool but I’m not sure it fits my life any better than a phone on a controller mount streaming from my main PC does.

Considering I never use my Switch in handheld mode, I likely would get zero use from this too.
Could be a decent solution for those who do though. At the $550 version anyway. The smallest version seems a bit useless.

The controls seems horrible for your hands. At least that should be solvable by using a separate controller?

Speaking of Switch. When are we getting that new hardware Nintendo?

Dyni wrote:

I'm also curious why the track pads were deemed essential on a device with a touchscreen.

Imo, anything that means I dont have to place my fingers on top of the actual screen, is a good thing.

I, uh... wonder if Xbox Cloud Gaming can stream to one of these suckers?

Huh

merphle wrote:

I, uh... wonder if Xbox Cloud Gaming can stream to one of these suckers?

To the browser yeah probably. And with MS trying to get Xbox on everything they can I see no reason they’d do any hijinks to try to prevent it.

One reason I rarely buy non-exclusive Switch games is I already own the ones I want on PC and don’t want to re-buy just to get them handheld on Switch. Hades is a great example. This could solve that problem but it’s hundreds of dollars itself just to start so it’s me just paying Valve instead of the game devs. Not really a win for anyone except Valve.

I’m very curious to see reviews and hear first hand accounts. Maybe if this thing gets investment by Valve and a second version I’ll be more inclined to buy one.

pandasuit wrote:
merphle wrote:

I, uh... wonder if Xbox Cloud Gaming can stream to one of these suckers?

To the browser yeah probably. And with MS trying to get Xbox on everything they can I see no reason they’d do any hijinks to try to prevent it.

I inquired, though I expect with no social media presence to speak of, it won't get any response.

Steam Deck eliminates any desire I had to pick up an OLED Switch.

As a platform for emulation alone it should be very impressive. Can't wait to see the original BotW running on it, and giving people a look at what Nintendo games could look like--even on a mobile platform--if they'd use modern hardware components.

I wonder what battery life will be like.

It's intriguing. I was put off by price initially, but then I realized this is less of a "Switch alternative" and more of a "gaming-laptop alternative". If you want portable gaming (especially if you're someone who travels or commutes a lot), this would be a cheaper (albeit less powerful) option, and easier to lug around.

I wish I could justify purchasing it myself, but since 99.9% of my gaming happens in my house, I'd be better off just streaming from my desktop PC to my phone with Moonlight or something if I want to play while reclining in bed.

TheGameguru wrote:

I wonder what battery life will be like.

IGN wrote:

IGN: Battery life? That's a big one in any handheld device. What are we looking at there?

Pierre-Loup Griffais: Well, there's a wide variety of experiences there. It's about 2-8 hours, depending on what you're doing. You can play Portal 2 for four hours on this thing. If you limit it to 30 FPS, you're going to be playing for 5-6 hours.

pandasuit wrote:

One reason I rarely buy non-exclusive Switch games is I already own the ones I want on PC and don’t want to re-buy just to get them handheld on Switch. Hades is a great example. This could solve that problem but it’s hundreds of dollars itself just to start so it’s me just paying Valve instead of the game devs. Not really a win for anyone except Valve.

Yeah I usually planned ahead. Bought Slay the Spire day 1 on Switch. Same with Hades. But double dipped on Dead Cells because it came so much later. Don't regret it, I got father on Switch than I ever did on PC. Boss Cell 2 or 3 vs losing to BC0 multiple times.

merphle wrote:

Watch the IGN video linked above.

Thanks. I'd want to hear similar impressions from more people, but that does alleviate my concerns about button placement a bit.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

It's intriguing. I was put off by price initially, but then I realized this is less of a "Switch alternative" and more of a "gaming-laptop alternative".

It's also worth considering that 3rd party Switch games almost never drop in price as quickly or as deeply as PC games. You can make up that price difference quickly with games on sale.

TheGameguru wrote:

I wonder what battery life will be like.

merphle wrote:

I, uh... wonder if Xbox Cloud Gaming can stream to one of these suckers?

garion333 wrote:

Seems like a typical Valve hardware device to me, which means I think it'll be DOA due to price and what will almost certainly end up being underwhelming hardware.

NathanialG wrote:

That joystick placement looks terrible.

TheGameguru wrote:

Ewwww... Running SteamOS plus Valves sketchy hardware support history is a big pass for me. Plus it looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

Well, that puts it to bed for me...

I wants it.

aphesian wrote:

Steam Deck eliminates any desire I had to pick up an OLED Switch.

As a platform for emulation alone it should be very impressive. Can't wait to see the original BotW running on it, and giving people a look at what Nintendo games could look like--even on a mobile platform--if they'd use modern hardware components.

I guess I have my Switch for Switch games. This seems like a portable PC gaming device. Maybe they will have emulators but they would have to be made for the steamOS and then you have to get the rom of BoTW etc.

Seems like an odd way to do it to me.

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