Valve introduces Steam Deck

[Belvedere]

Hands on with the device:

Local archive:

It seems that Microsoft got the message and this handheld will ship with a specialized version of Windows that works out of the box with controller support and will launch directly to an optimized Xbox/SteamOS like interface bypassing the Windows desktop.

Big wiff there since it’s not a portable Xbox Series.

I disagree. Xbox as a console completely lost this generation, it got outsold by Playstation by a 5 to 1 ratio and there are no exclusive titles at all since everything Microsoft is publishing is being made available on PC. Having this device being a shrunk down Xbox Series would make it a proprietary, closed ecosystem that would limit its appeal and library to a console Microsoft already gave up on, Xbox's focus moving forward is to make their games playable everywhere. (They are already publishing games for PlayStation and they'll most like publish games on Switch 2 as well) it is obvious they don't care about dedicated hardware anymore hence why they outsource this handheld to Asus).

By being a portable PC running Windows the costumer will get access to not only Xbox's PC library and Game Pass but to Steam, Epic, GOG, and whatever other launcher or online retailer you may want plus all the additional advantages of being an open ecosystem like emulation and mods. Microsoft wants for people to run Windows, buy their games and subscribe to their services, they don't care where you do it.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Surely Microshit has solved the windows gaming handled now! Watch out Steam Deck.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

If I were to get one, it would be the 2nd version of it. Considering how the Switch 2 is going with game key cards there won't be any physical copies which was one of the main reasons for getting a Switch 2. You might as well just get a Steam Deck and buy digital games from Valve. But I know, it's the first party games that count. There won't ever be any Zelda or Mario games on Steam. But people said that about Playstation games.

Bing Bing Wahoo will be the call of the pirates. I can't wait to see how Nintendo Switch 2 games run on Steam Deck 2.

So, the newly announced "Ryzen Z2 A", aka "Aerith Plus" is the Steam Deck SoC/APU being sold to any device manufacturer that wants it. Same quad-core Zen 2 and 8 CUs of RDNA2 graphics.

AMD Ryzen Z2 A Product Code Matches That Of “Aerith Plus”, Confirming The Official Codename Of The New SoC
AMD announces Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and Ryzen Z2 A APUs for gaming handhelds

Therefore, the cheaper ROG Xbox Ally (non-X) with the Z2 A is the Steam Deck's chip running Windows with an Xbox coat of paint.

 

[Belvedere]

Surely Microshit has solved the windows gaming handled now! Watch out Steam Deck.

You say it in jest but it seems Microsoft finally is getting around to creating a dedicated gaming mode for Windows that is aimed at specialized handheld PCs and are going to focus on optimizing it for that purpose alone so as to not even display a desktop when you turn on the device and instead loading a Xbox like interface. On top of that they are improving memory usage and sleep functionality.

It may sound topical but if Valve had never created the Steam Deck nor develop SteamOS, Microsoft would not be doing any of this.
I'm certain there were a lot of people inside MS not happy to find out that Valve's efforts with Linux have resulted on a free open-source OS running native Windows applications with better performance and battery life than Windows itself, talk about getting beaten at your own game.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Very true, the entire games industry would suck a lot more if Valve hadn't been valve the last two decades, acting as a bulwark against the MS monopoly and flanking them on a number of issues.

I salute Gabe.

 

[Billy_Sama!]

I am too disgusted with all the bloatware on windows 11 to want handheld windows on the go.

 

[regalterry]

Very true, the entire games industry would suck a lot more if Valve hadn't been valve the last two decades, acting as a bulwark against the MS monopoly and flanking them on a number of issues.

The really funny part is that MS gave Valve the win by basically antagonizing PC gamers at every opportunity and treating them like subhuman trash, while they sunk all their money and effort into the XBox (that has actually never turned a profit for them). Now the PC is the moneypriting platform while both MS and Sony are floundering and on the verge of shutting down their gaming divisions.

And yes, I'm aware that Valve also played a huge part in their rise to power by actively trying to please costumers, and would have likely won out even if MS had decided to fight for the PC market, but it would have been a much more difficult struggle.

 

[BradeRunna]

Bing Bing Wahoo will be the call of the pirates. I can't wait to see how Nintendo Switch 2 games run on Steam Deck 2.

So, the newly announced "Ryzen Z2 A", aka "Aerith Plus" is the Steam Deck SoC/APU being sold to any device manufacturer that wants it. Same quad-core Zen 2 and 8 CUs of RDNA2 graphics.

AMD Ryzen Z2 A Product Code Matches That Of “Aerith Plus”, Confirming The Official Codename Of The New SoC
AMD announces Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and Ryzen Z2 A APUs for gaming handhelds

Therefore, the cheaper ROG Xbox Ally (non-X) with the Z2 A is the Steam Deck's chip running Windows with an Xbox coat of paint.

Since Nintendo doesn't want to put an actual game on a cartridge anymore you might as well just pirate them. With no games on the physical carts anymore you might as well just get a Steam Deck or one of the other handheld PC gaming devices.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Therefore, the cheaper ROG Xbox Ally (non-X) with the Z2 A is the Steam Deck's chip running Windows with an Xbox coat of paint.

So it should be pretty cheap then... Might consider getting it over replacement Steam Deck depending on the price and quality.

Since Nintendo doesn't want to put an actual game on a cartridge anymore you might as well just pirate them. With no games on the physical carts anymore you might as well just get a Steam Deck or one of the other handheld PC gaming devices.

If Switch 2 emulation doesn't pan out and if they actually start releasing games for the thing then it's going to be difficult not to want one, regardless of if they actually put the games on cartridges or not.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

So it should be pretty cheap then... Might consider getting it over replacement Steam Deck depending on the price and quality.

Price could be bad like the ultra high MSRP of the original Rog Ally non-X, but ASUS usually partners with Best Buy, and if they don't sell, "open box excellent" (barely touched) can become available at a steep discount.

I think reviewers will savage anything without those little mouse touchpads (I haven't tried them yet), but hey, it's not like an Xbox controller has those.

If Switch 2 emulation doesn't pan out and if they actually start releasing games for the thing then it's going to be difficult not to want one, regardless of if they actually put the games on cartridges or not.

I think the games are going to be built very similarly to Switch 1, which should make it easy to adapt to existing Yuzu/Ryujinx code:

Nintendo Switch 2 will reportedly be easy to emulate

However, a recent report from Centro LEAKS claims that the upcoming gaming handheld will use the same tools and ROM format.

The emulation scene will depend on cracking the DRM, and emulator developers learning the right lessons on how to dodge a litigious Nintendont. It will obviously be harder to run the new games than Switch 1 games, requiring better hardware. But ~1 GHz 8-core Cortex-A78 isn't anything stratospheric.

 

[Chuck 'n Geck]

The emulation scene will depend on cracking the DRM, and emulator developers learning the right lessons on how to dodge a litigious Nintendont. It will obviously be harder to run the new games than Switch 1 games, requiring better hardware. But ~1 GHz 8-core Cortex-A78 isn't anything stratospheric.

I have a feeling they won't, because this seems to keep repeating over and over again - but regardless, much like the Steam Deck was a better fit for playing Switch games, it would theoretically be a much better fit for playing Switch 2 titles (with shit being 99% digital instead of 90% anyway).

Well, provided Steam Deck or its' clones can do most of them at full speed. The OLED can't emulate Fast RMX good, so... maybe it does need something like Wine for Switch stuff.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Well, provided Steam Deck or its' clones can do most of them at full speed. The OLED can't emulate Fast RMX good, so... maybe it does need something like Wine for Switch stuff.

It will be interesting to see. I think if SD2 is not imminent, it should use at a minimum, 8-core Zen 6C / Zen 6 LP (LP is a rumored core variant that would be even smaller and lower clocking than 'C' cores). Perhaps with the same clock speeds as the original or creeping up to 4 GHz territory when allowed to use more power. There may be around a 70-75% average IPC increase between Zen 2 and Zen 6, which can be affected by the amount of L3 cache.

Nintendo Switch 2 moved from 4-core Cortex-A57 to 8-core Cortex-A78. It's hard to measure but I think that's at least 2.5x IPC. Luckily only running at up to 1.1 GHz.

I don't know if CPU is the bottleneck for Fast RMX, or any of the new games, but you have to stretch your timeline to find x86 CPUs getting >2x faster at the same clocks.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

So, I have ordered steam deck OLED. I have a question - had anyone tried to launch games from other launchers on it? Like GoG one

 

[Car Won't Crank]

So, I have ordered steam deck OLED. I have a question - had anyone tried to launch games from other launchers on it? Like GoG one

I've used both Heroic and Lutris and recently migrated to Heroic. Since they're desktop based launchers they'll run just fine in desktop mode. They both also allow you to add the non-steam game to the steam ui in gaming mode so once games are installed you just browse to it and launch. Heroic is better IMO since it has more timely updates and does a much better job at managing wine prefixes and versions. The gog and epic games account stuff works great too.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

The gog and epic games account stuff works great too.

Is it just press launch or is there faffing about with chmod? I haven't used Linux for gaming in years

 

[hog cranking frog]

So, I have ordered steam deck OLED. I have a question - had anyone tried to launch games from other launchers on it? Like GoG one

Yes. Ended up putting stuff into steam as non steam games so I don't need to dip into desktop mode but it's all feasible.

If you can navigate KDE Plasma which is basically a windows clone you're golden.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

So, I finally have it. It feels a bit awkward to use two touchpads for substitute for the mouse, but otherwise, everything runs smoothly so far
Installed heroic launcher and I have a question about native Linux games - it just starts them like Windows ones?

 

[hog cranking frog]

It should. In some cases you may find the windows version thru proton runs better. E.g. deus ex (the 2016 one) runs better thru proton than the native port at least for me.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

Is it just press launch or is there faffing about with chmod? I haven't used Linux for gaming in years

It's mostly click and go. If you install games from exes you'll have to tell the launcher the location where you install the game but that's it.

 

[ZMOT]

You say it in jest but it seems Microsoft finally is getting around to creating a dedicated gaming mode for Windows that is aimed at specialized handheld PCs and are going to focus on optimizing it for that purpose alone so as to not even display a desktop when you turn on the device and instead loading a Xbox like interface. On top of that they are improving memory usage and sleep functionality.

MS has neither the manpower, talent nor the will to actually do that. they tried with vista and couldn't do it, and they were vastly more competent company back then.