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Steam Deck: First Anniversary

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Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#181

Post by taeric »

tylersmith wrote: post #179
ghusto wrote: post #170

I'm catching up on the last 20 years of gaming I've missed for not having a Windows machine :) Bonus points for most of the old games being super cheap now. I'm really happy with mine. Games just work, no tweaking or weird configurations necessary, gamepads and other controller schemes work well, and; it's running Linux in the back! Once you configure something like Syncthing in desktop mode, it carries on working in…

> my Switch doesn't need to phone home to believe I own the games I've bought However once your Switch _can_ connect to the internet Nintendo can just erase all your games.

Oddly, it also does phone home if you are a family. Having one copy of the game that is shared among the 4 kids at home is insane.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#183

Post by ARothfusz »

I find the killer feature to be the ability to pause games. Sure, I could do that on my PC, but since this whole Deck is dedicated to just running the game, and I can set it aside, do the thing I need to do (maybe on my PC) and come back and start right where I left off, it feels different, more integrated, because for a little while, the game state and the deck state are the same. It is less like the Deck is running the game and more like the Deck is the embodiment of the game.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#184

Post by taeric »

Hamuko wrote: post #86
ccouzens wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Steam ecosystem has devices in both categories. It's the only ecosystem in the list where you can buy a game and have your progress synced between a performance device and a portable device.

Sony used to have hardware and software for this, as you could cross-buy a title for a PlayStation 4 and a PlayStation Vita, and then sync the save data through the cloud. Unfortunately Sony abandoned the handheld gaming market just before the Switch and Steam Deck blew it up.

Yeah, how Sony has managed to never build any synergy between all of their offerings is mind numbing. The success of making the PS2 backwards compatible with the PS1 was a huge thing that looked so promising. And then they just never bothered leaning in on that as a full strategy. Imagine if they had made it so you could play PSP games on any of the home consoles? Could have been amazing.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#185

Post by nindalf »

boh wrote: post #178

Valve is a pretty amazing company that consistently innovates and makes long-term, strategic decisions. Its a real model for a great tech company. Its unique capital and management structure has insulated it from any real competition. Companies like EA have to constantly turn a profit, cut corners where they can, and think in very short timeframes. Valve is completely private, with mostly (if not complete), owner/man…

Valve is cool, but they're only able to afford this style of development because they take a 30% cut of all PC gaming revenue. Not profits, revenue. When you're making that much money you can do whatever you want and still stay afloat. They've mismanaged some games (Dota 2), abandoned other games (TF2) and completely messed up other games (Artifact 1 and 2).

They have my loyalty as a consumer because they've treated me right. But let's not pretend that their success is tied to their culture or that the culture would work elsewhere. I reckon you could do anything and be successful if you had Steam's revenue rolling in.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#186

Post by ghodith »

Kukumber wrote: post #169
kibwen wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that sounds like a flop to my book It would be a flop for a traditional console, but the Steam Deck isn't a console, it's a PC. The reason that consoles need massive sales is because consoles have a limited repertoire of games (at best, they might be backwards-compatible with the previous-generation console), so they need large sales to demonstrate an install base and convince developers to make games for the platf…

> It would be a flop for a traditional console, but the Steam Deck isn't a console, it's a PC I don't think people use it as a PC, but more like as a portable media center, the Switch and the PSP do that as well (even the PSP had a web browser!) So it's wrong to picture the Deck as the exception, even thought it can and is a supported use case They sell it and market its gaming capabilities https://store.steampowered…

You've misunderstood the point. It's not that people use it like a PC that matters, it's that it's compatible with PC games.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#187

Post by netcraft »

I am super happy with mine, after having it for a couple months now. There are many games I would not have played otherwise, not to mention emulation.

But after spending some time in the last week in the desktop mode, the thing that is striking me is that the steam deck is a serious alternative to the raspberry pi insofar as using it for a tinkering, first computer kind of way. A few years ago I bought my son a rpi and after getting it, a case, keyboard, mouse, sd card, usb hub, etc, plus needing a monitor, it ends up being a few hundred dollars. And at the end of that you still cant really play any games on it. You would still need accessories, but they technically wouldnt be _required_ for the steamdeck. I bet I could use it for a lot of programming without any issue.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#188

Post by [deleted] »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #92
Hamuko wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony used to have hardware and software for this, as you could cross-buy a title for a PlayStation 4 and a PlayStation Vita, and then sync the save data through the cloud. Unfortunately Sony abandoned the handheld gaming market just before the Switch and Steam Deck blew it up.

Handheld gaming has always been extremely lucrative (unlike their TV consoles which have a spotty record, the worst selling mobile console Nintendo sold was the 3DS at 70+ million.) Sony just couldn’t capture that market, so gave up.

[deleted]

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#189

Post by eatsyourtacos »

nindalf wrote: post #185
boh wrote: post #178

Valve is a pretty amazing company that consistently innovates and makes long-term, strategic decisions. Its a real model for a great tech company. Its unique capital and management structure has insulated it from any real competition. Companies like EA have to constantly turn a profit, cut corners where they can, and think in very short timeframes. Valve is completely private, with mostly (if not complete), owner/man…

Valve is cool, but they're only able to afford this style of development because they take a 30% cut of all PC gaming revenue. Not profits, revenue. When you're making that much money you can do whatever you want and still stay afloat. They've mismanaged some games (Dota 2), abandoned other games (TF2) and completely messed up other games (Artifact 1 and 2). They have my loyalty as a consumer because they've treated…

>I reckon you could do anything and be successful if you had Steam's revenue rolling in.

I disagree completely. Most people in a company like that would completely take advantage of the monopoly they have and make everything miserable as hell for the end user.

I'm hard pressed to think of anything else over the past 20 years that hasn't sold out or been turned to utter trash in one way or another. Steam continues to be absolutely top notch. They have essentially lowered the price of all PC games over the years and added great features like family sharing etc. It just works. It's not some convoluted garbage interface that they try to keep updating every year to stay up with the pace of "modern design". They don't bombard you with crap when you aren't using steam, you don't get random pop ups (like Epic games...) and all that.

Anyway- I get what you are saying. Obviously they have some massive revenue to work with.. but I don't think it's as easy as you think to stay successful in the way they have to the end user.

Re: Steam Deck: First Anniversary

#190

Post by Razengan »

izacus wrote: post #63
Razengan wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t want to spend 20 minutes of the first hour in a settings menu. Get a console (PS5, Switch, Xbox), they cater to alleviating exactly that!

Haha, until your PS5 demands a 40min patch to start the game. It's become almost a meme.... All the updates if you don't use those regularly and they don't stay in standby.

> until your PS5 demands a 40min patch to start the game.

Never saw that happen yet or even heard of that as a meme. Even if it does happen it would still be less jank than PC upkeep :)

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