Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Valve Steam Deck

steamdeck.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 1001 posts

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#231

Post by sudosysgen »

belltaco wrote: post #165
superkuh wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Valve but it seems like they create these hardware projects to occasionally remind platform owners like microsoft/playstation/nintendo that they can't completely abuse their users and software devs (Win10 store lock-in, etc) and retain all of them. Valve just wants to protect steam and credible hardware platform competition is how they do it. I don't think they have any real plans to produce and support hardwa…

And yet it looks like you cannot use the Steam Deck without logging into a Steam account. Looks like we are trading in one lock-in for another.

Seems like you can access the KDE desktop, so I think using the Steam account isn't mandatory. Not 100% sure though. Previous Steam machines allowed full control, even changing the OS.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#233

Post by filoleg »

belltaco wrote: post #165
superkuh wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Valve but it seems like they create these hardware projects to occasionally remind platform owners like microsoft/playstation/nintendo that they can't completely abuse their users and software devs (Win10 store lock-in, etc) and retain all of them. Valve just wants to protect steam and credible hardware platform competition is how they do it. I don't think they have any real plans to produce and support hardwa…

And yet it looks like you cannot use the Steam Deck without logging into a Steam account. Looks like we are trading in one lock-in for another.

Apples to oranges. Valve is concerned about hardware lock-in, not software lock-in.

I think users care more about being able to play their games on any hardware platform they own than about which software platform hosts their games. Also, it seems like Steam Deck is just running a customized Linux distro, so it isn't really a lock-in.

If Epic Games or Ubisoft decides to make their game stores work on Linux, I bet they would run on Steam Deck too. If that's the case, then how is it Valve's fault that other vendors/game stores aren't bothering to make their software platforms/games work on Linux? Valve put in the work, and they want to reap the fruits of it, without even trying to lock-in their device from using any other competitors' software (as far as I am aware). Competitors just gotta put in the work to make their platforms work on Linux.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#234

Post by modeless »

nostromo wrote: post #200
caslon wrote: post #38

First impressions: Really good hardware for the price. They fixed the worst thing about SteamOS: It's now got an Arch base. They're definitely overcharging for storage, but I imagine it'll be easy enough to modify one, so it probably doesn't matter much. Why is any company having more USB-2 slots than USB-3 these days? Going with a relatively low resolution compared to modern ones is actually a surprisingly smart mov…

> All models of Steam Deck support expanding your storage via microSD cards. Games stored on a microSD card will appear in your library instantly. This makes buying the model with limited storage a bit of a no-brainer. I'm glad Valve supports external storage.

Loading times will likely be a lot better on the high storage versions due to NVMe. And PC loading times can be brutal so I think the upgrade will be very noticeable.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#235

Post by bob1029 »

This is neat, but I really would like to see Valve putting a tiny fraction of what must be a monstrous private cash pile into some new content that can run on these devices (and my old-school desktop).

I feel like I am in the middle of a desert of gaming content right now... I can see the mirage of BF2042 and AOE4 on the horizon, but who knows how that is going to play out once we get there.

Maybe Netflix (with the recent EA exec acquihire) can pick up some of the AAA gaming slack with their even more gigantic pool of cash and inclination to greenlight and fund everything that even remotely sounds interesting.

I'm totally cool with a role reversal if Valve execs feel the need to master all manner of hardware. Someone else will eventually fill that software role.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#236

Post by flatiron »

css wrote: post #135

From the FAQ [0]: - What OS is Steam Deck running? SteamOS 3.0, a new version of SteamOS based on Arch Linux. - Will people be able to install Windows, or other 3rd party content? Yes. Steam Deck is a PC, and players will be able to install whatever they like, including other OSes. [0]: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq

they really missed out on saying (btw it runs Arch) or somin to play to that meme

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#237

Post by NikolaNovak »

romwell wrote: post #123
ketzo wrote: post #44

There’s obviously a lot of people who like playing games in a more mobile format, as evidenced by the huge popularity of the Switch Lite / mobile gaming. Giving the PC games market access to that form factor seems, on its face, like an extremely good move. But we’ve seen products like this before — the NVIDIA Shield, for one. Pretty cool piece of tech, but didn’t exactly start a revolution. I guess the question becom…

>I guess the question becomes “what percentage of current PC gamers are motivated to shell out $400 to play on the train?” Yup. Before clicking the "Reserve" link, I put a personal threshold for this thing at $300. If it was somewhere around that, it'd be an instant purchase for me. Over $500 for a version with barely acceptable (by 2021 standards) storage? No thank you. The 64GB version is almost a made-for-landfill…

>>"augment your built-in storage with a microSD card and fill it up with even more games."

I think that hints that you can install games... hopefully :).

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#238

Post by lasagnaphil »

shusson wrote: post #202

> 40Whr battery. 2 - 8 hours of gameplay Battery life doesn't seem too good.

I wonder if they would touch the Linux kernel a bit to improve things on power management. Vanilla Linux doesn't seem to provide good battery life for portable devices (at least, if we look at laptops.)

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#240

Post by css »

minimaxir wrote: post #223
css wrote: post #135

From the FAQ [0]: - What OS is Steam Deck running? SteamOS 3.0, a new version of SteamOS based on Arch Linux. - Will people be able to install Windows, or other 3rd party content? Yes. Steam Deck is a PC, and players will be able to install whatever they like, including other OSes. [0]: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq

Valve engineers explicitly frame the Steam Deck as a PC with an integrated controller rather than a game console: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtiRGTZvGM

Yeah, this is an awesome change of pace for an industry that notoriously locks down its hardware.
Post reply on HN