Valve introduces Steam Deck

[verymuchawful]

I wouldn't buy a Steam Deck, but I wouldn't mind one spontaneously showing up on my doorstep either.

 

[Pissmaster]

Ok so here's the current dilly-o: According to this PC Gamer article, Steam Deck's "release" is February 25th, and by "release", they mean that's the first day they'll be sending out preorder reservation emails. You have 72 hours to pay for your Steam Deck from the moment that email arrives, or else you'll get passed over.

There's also another article about which games are supported on Steam Deck. https://steamdb.info/ now has an entry for games and their status, and someone on a Reddit thread compiled a list. Not a working list, but a list of games that have any kind of Steam Deck status so far:

Spoiler: The list

DEATH STRANDING

Castle Crashers (Castle Crashers®)

Dishonored

Mad Max

War Thunder

Crypt of the NecroDancer

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Subnautica

Cuphead

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

RimWorld

DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin

Arizona Sunshine (Arizona Sunshine®)

Hollow Knight

DARK SOULS™ III

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Rise of the Tomb Raider™)

Budget Cuts

Factorio

APE OUT

Job Simulator

theBlu

Manifold Garden

Celeste

NieR:Automata™

Guacamelee! 2

Stormworks: Build and Rescue

Into the Breach

Psychonauts 2

Risk of Rain 2

Slay the Spire

RAD

The Messenger

SCARLET NEXUS

Farming Simulator 19

Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice (Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition)

Tribes of Midgard

Mark of the Ninja: Remastered

Tunche

Death's Door

Among Trees

Tetris® Effect: Connected

Inscryption

Black Skylands

FINAL FANTASY

Gunfire Reborn

Rogue Legacy 2

HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED™

Swords of Legends Online

BRAVELY DEFAULT II

Cookie Clicker

Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year (Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition)

Season of Mystery : The Cherry Blossom Murders

Tomb Raider

Total War: WARHAMMER II

Remnant: From the Ashes

Sable

Noita

Valheim

Super Mega Baseball 3

Circuit Superstars

Persona 4 Golden

Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-

Dyson Sphere Program

Webbed

Cats in Time

Portal 2

The article goes on to mention that the only games that are verified not to work are VR-exclusive games, but also Persona 4 Golden for whatever reason. Also, "Verified" means fully playable, and "Playable" means it does run, but isn't ideal/optimized.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

but also Persona 4 Golden for whatever reason.

I know it's made by ATLUS, but isn't it a SEGA published game? I know anything by SEGA for some fucking reason requires asinine hardware requirements and also DENUVO.

 

[Pissmaster]

I know it's made by ATLUS, but isn't it a SEGA published game? I know anything by SEGA for some fucking reason requires asinine hardware requirements and also DENUVO.

Apparently the issue is with P4G just not playing nice with the official version of Proton for whatever reason. This thread has people saying it works with something called Proton GE, so if you want to sideload that you might get it to work: https://www.protondb.com/app/1113000

Persona 4 Golden has fairly low system requirements, but it's also a 2006 game ported to a 2012 portable, later released on PC in 2020, so it really should be able to run on anything by now.

Spoiler: System requirements, according to its Steam page

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS​

• MINIMUM:
  • OS: Windows 8.1
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 | AMD Phenom II X2 550
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 | AMD Radeon HD 5770
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 14 GB available space
• RECOMMENDED:
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-650 | AMD Phenom X4 940
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 6870
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 14 GB available space

That being said, the concept of running Denuvo on a portable is something that shatters my brain. What a waste of battery power.

 

[Chris Mclean]

Sorry i know reaction images is frowned upon, but i can only think of this while reading the thread:

Im exicted for the Steam deck. Its the first piece of hardware since the Nvidia shield that has me kind of hopefull.

But.. I do have some worries.
1. The seven inch screen. My friend has a switch and its way to small for some type of games. But im hopefull it can be overcome with how the steam deck is a pc and as such more customizable.
2. The controller layout looks godawful for anyone with bigger hands then a small child.
3. How much Linux jank will we have to deal with, im not expcetin everything to work out of the box but it would annoy me to death if things like bluetooth keyboards and other peripherals refuse to work.

it's an experiment to see if there's a market category for it, gayben talked about it in the interview. also talked about how you have to price it accordingly to get the ball running. think he was also pretty nonchalant about it might working out or not, as you said even if it "fails" (however you define it) it just some pocket change. every business does r&d, there's a lot more shit companies spend money on that never gets anywhere, valve projects are just more public.

that's why all the shortsighted "hurr it will fail because X" when those are completely different from a business perspective are pretty dumb. it's like claiming restaurants will never happen because you can cook the same food for 1/10 the price at home. the demand (portable gaming) is clearly there, question is if it's possible (and feasible) to get into it, and if so, how. gotta spend some to get some.

I think its genius marketing my bros who are console people that don't have gaming pc's are talking about the steam deck. They might not understand what the hell specs are or what they mean but the results speak for themselves.
The price is also unbeatable. 500-679 euros is a goddamn steal for what it is.
For the people shitting on the price i have to ask do you have jobs? 500 euros is not a lot for an adult. Its less then what a flagship phone costs in first world countries.

 

[Product Intervention]

The price is also unbeatable. 500-679 euros is a goddamn steal for what it is

What is it though? Are the system specs even necessary. Five year old hardware still kills it.

 

[Pissmaster]

What is it though? Are the system specs even necessary. Five year old hardware still kills it.

We're currently in a computer apocalypse, so $400 for a full-fledged computer on par with a five year old gaming desktop is very good, let alone one that's fully portable with modern architectures. GTX 970s, a midrange card from 7 years ago, are currently going for $200 on eBay.

 

[Product Intervention]

We're currently in a computer apocalypse, so $400 for a full-fledged computer on par with a five year old gaming desktop is very good, let alone one that's fully portable with modern architectures. GTX 970s, a midrange card from 7 years ago, are currently going for $200 on eBay.

I don't know. I'd rather save up a little more and get some older PC parts than give my money to a fickle company like Valve for what ammounts to "Buyer's Remorse" the handheld.

 

[Kane Lives]

I don't know. I'd rather save up a little more and get some older PC parts than give my money to a fickle company like Valve for what ammounts to "Buyer's Remorse" the handheld.

Then you're not the target audience. Simple as.

Steam Deck, as I understand it, targets the normies where "it just werks" is a major appeal. Amusingly, there's also a small core of users who want the Deck because they plan to retrofit it to a portable emulator machine. Time will tell if it'd actually pan out. Personally, I think the screen's a little too small for what it's setting out to do but I'm the kind that doesnt like squinting at a handheld anyway.

 

[BananaSplit]

I don't know. I'd rather save up a little more and get some older PC parts than give my money to a fickle company like Valve for what ammounts to "Buyer's Remorse" the handheld.

It's more like you'll have to prioritize processors with integrated graphic chipsets firstmost since GPU prices are currently hella expensive
I dunno how well the newer APUs perform these days (my last integrated chip was an Intel HD 4600 from a Haswell i5 proc before upgrading to a Ryzen 2nd gen which has none) although I guess they made some decent progress depending on what you want to run.

 

[milk]

I wonder how well it will run ryuujinx or yuzu

 

[Back me up!]

Then you're not the target audience. Simple as.

Steam Deck, as I understand it, targets the normies where "it just werks" is a major appeal. Amusingly, there's also a small core of users who want the Deck because they plan to retrofit it to a portable emulator machine. Time will tell if it'd actually pan out. Personally, I think the screen's a little too small for what it's setting out to do but I'm the kind that doesnt like squinting at a handheld anyway.

I also have to believe there is a fairly large subset of older gamers that has some money, not as much time/dealing with kids , that also loved playing 2d/sprite based games (dear god there are a lot of them on Steam) and just wants to something to drag around to play the stuff they already own any where.

Like a 15 min run of Dead Cells before bed, a quick game of Slay the Spire while waiting for your kids soccer game to start, etc.

 

[Product Intervention]

it just werks

We'll see about that. Especially after Valve abandons it.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

We'll see about that. Especially after Valve abandons it.

I wouldn't really call it abandoning, more just dropping the product. Most of the software that came out of their products still get updates. Steam controller configs, SteamOS, and Steam Link are all still being worked on and being updated.

You guys still have this idea that they're making these products with the expectation that they even care about the sales numbers. Valve is a weird as hell company with enough Fuck You Money to do whatever they want for decades. The only constant that seems to come from them is a push for Linux, and that genuinely seems to be the main goal for the Steam Deck.

 

[Shidoen]

Honestly I’ll wait till it gets cheap in like a year or three after the release. It’s honestly a neat concept to have pc games on a hand held device. Then again laptops exist too.

 

[Product Intervention]

You guys still have this idea that they're making these products with the expectation that they even care about the sales numbers. Valve is a weird as hell company with enough Fuck You Money to do whatever they want for decades.

Riiight.

So what you're saying is that they are going out of business.

Rate me dumb all you want @Dr. Geronimo. You are the one that just argued that a business isn't about doing business.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

Riiight.

So what you're saying is that they are going out of business.

Rate me dumb all you want @Dr. Geronimo. You are the one that just argued that a business isn't about doing business.

Double posts and calls out a user over a rating?

Begone thot.

 

[Jack Awful]

Riiight.

So what you're saying is that they are going out of business.

Could go the way of the Steam Controller and flop or that PC streaming box that they wound up selling for $5 (and I bought during the massive markdown)

Or it could do well. I'd like to buy one for $5, though.

 

[Product Intervention]

Double posts and calls out a user over a rating?

Begone thot.

Lol you're so mad.

 

[ZMOT]

no idea why the deck makes people seethe so much confusing the farms with /v/ thinking HURR VALVE is an epic gotcha...

Could go the way of the Steam Controller and flop or that PC streaming box that they wound up selling for $5 (and I bought during the massive markdown)

Or it could do well. I'd like to buy one for $5, though.

already explained, the steam controller was a workaround for an issue only a niche really cared about and has mostly been fixed now by the games themselves offering controller support ootb.
steam link still exists and is supported, it's just pure software now - because again, no point in selling dedicated hardware when most people these days run around with a more powerful phone and can do it with an app.

I also have to believe there is a fairly large subset of older gamers that has some money, not as much time/dealing with kids , that also loved playing 2d/sprite based games (dear god there are a lot of them on Steam) and just wants to something to drag around to play the stuff they already own any where.

ironically they look all pretty good. saw the trailer for metroid dread and didn't really blow me away, while there at least a handful of them on steam I'm waiting for them to come out. those should work quite well on the deck (and since most of them use premade engines shouldn't be that hard even for indie devs to scale them probably to such a small screen).