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Valve announces Steam Deck


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1 hour ago, ZeldaFreak said:

That's definitely just not true. I don't know how their customer support is in terms of hardware since I've never had to deal with it, but the only two pieces of hardware they've released you could honestly consider abandonware are the Steam Machines (which were a flop from the start) and the Steam Controller (which was getting support from Valve for a little while if I recall.) The Steam Link was incredibly successful, and the Index has also been incredibly successful, and as far as I know they're still supporting it. And the things that are no longer getting support from them still do function just fine, such as the Controller, the Link and probably the Machines as well if you wanted to use one for whatever unholy reason.

It's fine if you don't personally care for Valve, but that's no reason to be going around spreading misinformation like that 😛

Yeah I must admit I have never had an issue either so find the comment odd too. I had the controller and the support seemed fine to me and link definitely still works because I downloaded it the other week and it has been working flawlessly. Steam has its ups and downs but one thing I can say is that after the 10+ years I’ve had I still login and my games are still there…unlike a company that hasn’t passed on all my VC games onto new devices.

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On 7/17/2021 at 12:06 AM, phart010 said:

I think their success with this device will 100% depend on them successfully marketing it as a new console as opposed a powerful handheld pc.

There are so many gamers that are turned off by pc gaming, I’m one of them, but I know plenty of others.
 

This is kind of like trying to position the  Samsung Galaxy or the Google Pixel against the iPhone. It’s a difficult thing to pull off because there are so many other Android phones that cause a lot of noise and confusion in the Android environment. Some people just want a simple and seamless solution so they pick iPhone.

Conversely - I think their success will 100% depend on them marketing this as a handheld PC provided by a western company with western-expectations of customer service, support, and device security -- and providing that at a near-console price point.

There are about 5 years worth of dubious Chinese-origin devices from 3 or 4 manufacturers that FUNCTIONALLY do the task of the Steam Deck -- but:

1) you're dealing with the total black hole of customer service directly with a Chinese-mainland company

2) you're dealing with the total unknown of device "security" expectations of direct-manufacture Chinese electronics

3) you're paying full-blown laptop prices (devices tend toward the $800-$1200 price point)

 

Having the steam deck come from a major western company (and all that this implies) at a console-like price-point is a HUGE DEAL to PC gamers looking for a lighter-weight travel device (or even a non-TV couch-device, for when you want to play a PC game but not sit at a desk or use the main TV with Steam on an HTPC.

 

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On 7/17/2021 at 3:50 AM, Strange said:

I guess I’m just jaded but I feel like we’ve seen this shiny new toy song and dance come and go in various iterations with various companies. We’ll see but I’m not holding my breath just yet

If you follow sites like Liliputing then you'd know there is a lot of pent up demand for a major company providing a device like this at a good price point.  (and look back for when Dell debuted a test device - a handheld XPS machine - with a hypothetical $1k price point, and how much excitement that had)

There are a number of Chinese-mainland companies that have been iterating similar devices, as well as mini-laptops with built-in game controls for a few years now.  Nothing comes close to this price point.  And nothing comes close to the level of hardware and customer-service support you would hope for and expect from a major western company like Valve.

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3 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

Conversely - I think their success will 100% depend on them marketing this as a handheld PC provided by a western company with western-expectations of customer service, support, and device security -- and providing that at a near-console price point.

There are about 5 years worth of dubious Chinese-origin devices from 3 or 4 manufacturers that FUNCTIONALLY do the task of the Steam Deck -- but:

1) you're dealing with the total black hole of customer service directly with a Chinese-mainland company

2) you're dealing with the total unknown of device "security" expectations of direct-manufacture Chinese electronics

3) you're paying full-blown laptop prices (devices tend toward the $800-$1200 price point)

 

Having the steam deck come from a major western company (and all that this implies) at a console-like price-point is a HUGE DEAL to PC gamers looking for a lighter-weight travel device (or even a non-TV couch-device, for when you want to play a PC game but not sit at a desk or use the main TV with Steam on an HTPC.

 

I agree with some of your points. Before commenting here, I was severely underestimating the size of the pc gamer base. According to Statista, Steam has 120M active users.

Here’s where I have questions though: How many of those users would actually buy this system? I wonder how many of those users are in poorer countries in South America, India and Southeast Asia.. maybe the only reason they are Steam is because gaming consoles are too expensive for them. Those types of users won’t be buying this (by the way India’s population is 1B)..

Also, how many pc gamers are power users with high end pc setups, or are primarily keyboard and mouse gamers? Some people might prefer the larger displays and higher resolutions/framerates and skip out on this. And while you can use a keyboard and mouse with this, if you are going to play that way, why get a handheld to begin with?

So of those 120M active Steam users, I wonder how many of them are middle to upper class salaried people living in Western countries that could actually afford this? And of those people, how many are casual gamers (non power-setup users). I actually have no clue, but I can’t help it to wonder whether the PC gamer segment alone probably would actually buy the quantity of units needed for this to be considered hugely successful.

But we do know how big the market is for console gaming. There’s potential for 50M-100M console sales over the lifetime of a successful $300+ gaming console.

If you could get those console gamers to buy this as a second or third system, that would make it successful. While there are console gamers that also do Steam, I think the typical console gamer is looking for something plug and play, which pc gaming is not (and yes even if it is, it’s not perceived that way).

So this is why I was saying they should market it as a console. I agree with you on customer service, reliability and price point though.

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1 minute ago, phart010 said:

So of those 120M active Steam users, I wonder how many of them are middle to upper class salaried people living in Western countries that could actually afford this? And of those people, how many are casual gamers (non power-setup users). I actually have no clue, but I can’t help it to wonder whether the PC gamer segment alone probably would actually buy the quantity of units needed for this to be considered hugely successful.

But we do know how big the market is for console gaming. There’s potential for 50M-100M console sales over the lifetime of a successful $300+ gaming console.

If you could get those console gamers to buy this as a second or third system, that would make it successful. While there are console gamers that also do Steam, I think the typical console gamer is looking for something plug and play, which pc gaming is not (and yes even if it is, it’s not perceived that way).

So this is why I was saying they should market it as a console. I agree with you on customer service, reliability and price point though.

How many of these do you think they need to sell for it to be considered "successful"?

I would put that number WAY lower than a traditional console cycle sales figure -- since "success" here doesn't carry all of the baggage of getting game developers along for the ride (because they are already there, designing PC games that are available on Steam).

 

I do suspect that the expectation here would be "most" buyers picking this up as a 2nd system, with the same use case I have in mind (i.e. convenient PC gaming on business travel).

And another significant segment of buyers are looking at this as a dedicated micro-PC (which may end up being my use case, as well, if the device is as flexible as is being discussed).

 

Then again -- marketed correctly as a "console" -- you probably could chew into the non-Nintendo market a bit, since XBox and Playstation don't have portable equivalents, and there is a lot of library cross-over.

 

 

 

All that said -- I really do wish something like OpenPandora had managed to be a more viable concept for a pocket-able PC-type device.  At the end of the day THAT is the form factor I really want (something that evokes the old-school HP Palmtop).

 

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Events Team · Posted
1 hour ago, arch_8ngel said:

How many of these do you think they need to sell for it to be considered "successful"?

I would put that number WAY lower than a traditional console cycle sales figure -- since "success" here doesn't carry all of the baggage of getting game developers along for the ride (because they are already there, designing PC games that are available on Steam).

I do suspect that the expectation here would be "most" buyers picking this up as a 2nd system, with the same use case I have in mind (i.e. convenient PC gaming on business travel).

And another significant segment of buyers are looking at this as a dedicated micro-PC (which may end up being my use case, as well, if the device is as flexible as is being discussed).

Then again -- marketed correctly as a "console" -- you probably could chew into the non-Nintendo market a bit, since XBox and Playstation don't have portable equivalents, and there is a lot of library cross-over.

 

Referring to your first point, if this thing sells, like, 5-10 million units, I would consider it a resounding success for Valve, honestly. Any more than that, and I think other big companies are going to try to get their piece of the handheld PC pie as quick as they can, which as I've said I think is the best case scenario, which is why I really hope this thing succeeds even if it isn't actually all that great.

Another thing I've pointed out that I think could give it a boost in sales is that many people are looking to build or upgrade their PC, but they just damn well cannot thanks to the current insane GPU market (I'm one of those people, hello!) Considering the timing in which this is coming out, I do think a decent amount of people who cannot get access to a GPU for a reasonable price are going to settle for this, since it absolutely has the horsepower to function as a legitimate, honest to god gaming PC if you hook it up to a monitor. Now, how much of a boost in sales that'll be, I'm not smart enough to say, but I do think the current climate in the PC gaming space is certainly going to work in Valve's favor here, just like the COVID pandemic worked in Nintendo's favor with the Switch.

Yeah, that's a very good point about Sony and Microsoft not really having any sort of proper handheld devices at the moment, so that could totally work in Valve's favor as well, and I could actually see those two companies releasing similar devices if the Deck does well.

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

I agree with some of your points. Before commenting here, I was severely underestimating the size of the pc gamer base. According to Statista, Steam has 120M active users.

Here’s where I have questions though: How many of those users would actually buy this system? I wonder how many of those users are in poorer countries in South America, India and Southeast Asia.. maybe the only reason they are Steam is because gaming consoles are too expensive for them. Those types of users won’t be buying this (by the way India’s population is 1B)..

Also, how many pc gamers are power users with high end pc setups, or are primarily keyboard and mouse gamers? Some people might prefer the larger displays and higher resolutions/framerates and skip out on this. And while you can use a keyboard and mouse with this, if you are going to play that way, why get a handheld to begin with?

So of those 120M active Steam users, I wonder how many of them are middle to upper class salaried people living in Western countries that could actually afford this? And of those people, how many are casual gamers (non power-setup users). I actually have no clue, but I can’t help it to wonder whether the PC gamer segment alone probably would actually buy the quantity of units needed for this to be considered hugely successful.

But we do know how big the market is for console gaming. There’s potential for 50M-100M console sales over the lifetime of a successful $300+ gaming console.

If you could get those console gamers to buy this as a second or third system, that would make it successful. While there are console gamers that also do Steam, I think the typical console gamer is looking for something plug and play, which pc gaming is not (and yes even if it is, it’s not perceived that way).

So this is why I was saying they should market it as a console. I agree with you on customer service, reliability and price point though.

I was gonna do a deep-dive of statistics, how many Steam users are from what country, what sort of hardware the average steam user uses, etc, but you know what? I'm too lazy, so I'll just do something simpler:

120 million Steam users. Let's start with that as a baseline (Not counting those who are not active PC users who may indeed be interested in something like the Deck, which there will surely be a decent amount of, and also not counting those who use something like Epic or GOG instead who might be interested in the Deck)

of 120 million Steam users, let's say only 5% of them decide to get a Steam Deck (And, while I have no actual evidence to back this up, I'd bet it's probably going to be higher than 5% of Steam users.)

That's 6,000,000 people. Using my metric for what I'd consider successful for the Deck up above, I would consider this a pretty good deal for Valve alone.

Let's take it a step further, let's say only 2% of those Steam users decide to get a Deck (Gotta be higher than this, surely)

That's 2,400,000 people. That's not... a huge success, per se, but... I mean, that's a lot of people, man. That's not an insignificant number of sales. And, in all honesty if I was putting money on the sales of this thing, I would consider 2 million the baseline, the absolute minimum. I would be pretty damn surprised to see this thing sell less than that in it's lifetime, unless the reviews come out and it turns out to be dog shit.

And, referring to your point about PC gaming not being plug and play, that's the good thing about this coming with custom software: If (and this is quite a big if) the software is good, or at least decent, it absolutely could offer the plug-and-play appeal of a console, which absolutely could entice people who prefer consoles for that exact reason (perhaps even including yourself, who knows.)

Either way, there's 120 million active Steam users, not counting those who prefer other platforms, and there's clearly quite a lot of console users as well. There's potential no matter which direction Valve decides to go with the marketing, and I don't fully agree on marketing towards one segment being better than the other either way, honestly. I would say there's an equal amount of potential in both the PC and console categories, which is why I was kind of saying they should try to strike a balance with it so they can get a bit of everyone on board.

Edited by ZeldaFreak
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It seems a bit underpowered to function as a true portable gaming PC. Outside of the 16GB of RAM, the specs are much closer to those of a PS4 Pro than a PS5. The Xbox Series S pretty handily beats this thing in all aspects (minus the aforementioned RAM). So you may get Fallen Order running at 720/30 in portable mode, but it's going to look pretty terrible on a bigger screen. Also, Valve's Proton tool, which allows Windows games to run on Steam OS, leads to some significant performance downgrades and compatibility issues in many games. (https://www.protondb.com/)

I'm also extremely skeptical of the comfort of this thing. The control sticks are symmetric and high up on the device. It's also much heavier and larger than a Switch. The touch pads are a nice addition for PC focused games, but I doubt most people would get much use out of them.

So with all that, I see a couple good use cases for this thing:

  1. Indie and Retro Games: Many of these should run well and upscale nicely in docked mode. These will likely perform better on Steam Deck than Switch.
  2. Budget-conscious Gamers: We all know Steam has some insane sales and many of us have enormous PC backlogs. Those who don't mind waiting a year or two for big games should be able to find plenty to play at a great price.
  3. Tinkerers: Anyone who wants to have a portable PC in a very cool form factor. This thing can easily be converted to Windows and has enough power to find some cool applications we haven't thought of yet.

I am none of those people, so barring some more interesting use cases, it's not for me.

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1 hour ago, Shmup said:

A few news places are reporting that within the first 90mins of pre orders opening the 256 and 512 models sold 110k between them. Unsure on the 64gb model numbers.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/07/html-holes-provide-a-glimpse-of-steam-decks-initial-preorder-numbers/

Anecdotal evidence from my steam feed: I think 3 of my friends potentially fit the initial 90 minute window and 6 friends + me came way after that. 137 people on my friends list. Worth mentioning that people can cancel the reservation at any time but I imagine they will pay for it unless something comes in the way.

2 hours ago, ZeldaFreak said:

Referring to your first point, if this thing sells, like, 5-10 million units, I would consider it a resounding success for Valve, honestly. Any more than that, and I think other big companies are going to try to get their piece of the handheld PC pie as quick as they can, which as I've said I think is the best case scenario, which is why I really hope this thing succeeds even if it isn't actually all that great.

Steam is not going to really profit off of the system pricing itself but are focusing on external aspects. Also it doesn't seem like they fear other companies jumping into the market in their wake but are embracing it - of course it's easier to think this way when you're first to market but it's definitely about more than just selling a system.

Couple relevant quotes with some filler word redactions:

"For us it's really how does the press react and what are they saying about it, what are they saying about it a year later. What's the perception - what are gamers saying - what are their reactions, what are our partners saying; are the kinds of things that are most helpful to us because our assumption is - these are long-term decisions that we're making about how we can contribute to the health and the vitality of this ecosystem and we're always gonna be successful as long as that's continuing to happen."

"So our view is, if we're doing this right then we're gonna be selling these in millions of units and it's clearly gonna be establishing a product category that ourselves and other pc manufacturers are gonna be able to participate in."

50 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

It seems a bit underpowered to function as a true portable gaming PC. Outside of the 16GB of RAM, the specs are much closer to those of a PS4 Pro than a PS5.

Yeah but Switch is also underpowered compared to PS4, so getting a PS4 tier handheld should be just fine with many people including me, like how're you going to make handheld PS5 at any reasonable price point when PS5 is not even that old.

50 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

So you may get Fallen Order running at 720/30 in portable mode, but it's going to look pretty terrible on a bigger screen. Also, Valve's Proton tool, which allows Windows games to run on Steam OS, leads to some significant performance downgrades and compatibility issues in many games. (https://www.protondb.com/)

I'm also extremely skeptical of the comfort of this thing. The control sticks are symmetric and high up on the device. It's also much heavier and larger than a Switch. The touch pads are a nice addition for PC focused games, but I doubt most people would get much use out of them.

These are more legitimate concerns, which I share. Anyway I'm not expecting perfection and I'm probably going to play way more indies than any AAA titles to begin with, so there should be enough cool compatible stuff I can enjoy playing in handheld mode. Also looking forward to using it for RetroArch with RetroAchievements.

Edited by sp1nz
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52 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

It seems a bit underpowered to function as a true portable gaming PC. Outside of the 16GB of RAM, the specs are much closer to those of a PS4 Pro than a PS5.

The Switch is underpowered and people still use it as an indie machine. Also portable gaming will always be underpowered to consoles. If they were to build this to high range pc specs no one would buy it. The specs are pretty amazing for the price. People really want a handheld that can play AAA titles at a decent frame rate, this should in theory be able to do it.

Fair points on your other concerns though.

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Events Team · Posted
1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

It seems a bit underpowered to function as a true portable gaming PC. Outside of the 16GB of RAM, the specs are much closer to those of a PS4 Pro than a PS5. The Xbox Series S pretty handily beats this thing in all aspects (minus the aforementioned RAM). So you may get Fallen Order running at 720/30 in portable mode, but it's going to look pretty terrible on a bigger screen. Also, Valve's Proton tool, which allows Windows games to run on Steam OS, leads to some significant performance downgrades and compatibility issues in many games. (https://www.protondb.com/)

I'm also extremely skeptical of the comfort of this thing. The control sticks are symmetric and high up on the device. It's also much heavier and larger than a Switch. The touch pads are a nice addition for PC focused games, but I doubt most people would get much use out of them.

So with all that, I see a couple good use cases for this thing:

  1. Indie and Retro Games: Many of these should run well and upscale nicely in docked mode. These will likely perform better on Steam Deck than Switch.
  2. Budget-conscious Gamers: We all know Steam has some insane sales and many of us have enormous PC backlogs. Those who don't mind waiting a year or two for big games should be able to find plenty to play at a great price.
  3. Tinkerers: Anyone who wants to have a portable PC in a very cool form factor. This thing can easily be converted to Windows and has enough power to find some cool applications we haven't thought of yet.

I am none of those people, so barring some more interesting use cases, it's not for me.

Well, you're comparing apples to oranges there in terms of the specs. The Series S is a big ol' box that sits next to your TV, whereas the Deck is a (relatively speaking, obviously it's a bit chunky) tiny little thing you carry around with you. You're always going to be making some sacrifices with portable gaming, and, obviously with no actual disrespect meant from this comment, I think it's a bit silly to expect anything close to PS5-levels of specs when the PS5 only just came out, and is not just a big ol' box that sits next to your TV, but a very big ol' box that sits next to your TV.

And keep in mind that it is a PC, so you can alter the graphical settings to your liking. If you want Fallen Order looking good at 30 FPS, you can do that. If you're willing to take a hit to the graphics to get past that 60 FPS threshold, you can do that as well, and on a screen that small, you're probably not going to notice the decrease in graphical quality as much as you would on a proper monitor or TV. And, while I'm not sure if it would work on a device like this, if you could utilize, say, AMD's FidelityFX on this thing, then the performance of it would turn in to a complete non-issue. That's a complete hypothetical since I don't know if would even be feasible for that to work with this thing, but if it did... hoo boy, that would be a game changer.

Your other concerns are totally valid though, and we'd have to wait for reviews to get answers on said concerns. I'm also a bit wary about the layout of the controls, although apparently the small amount of people that have actually gotten to use it have said it works OK. We'll see, though.

36 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

Steam is not going to really profit off of the system pricing itself but are focusing on external aspects. Also it doesn't seem like they fear other companies jumping into the market in their wake but are embracing it - of course it's easier to think this way when you're first to market but it's definitely about more than just selling a system.

Couple relevant quotes with some filler word redactions:

"For us it's really how does the press react and what are they saying about it, what are they saying about it a year later. What's the perception - what are gamers saying - what are their reactions, what are our partners saying; are the kinds of things that are most helpful to us because our assumption is - these are long-term decisions that we're making about how we can contribute to the health and the vitality of this ecosystem and we're always gonna be successful as long as that's continuing to happen."

"So our view is, if we're doing this right then we're gonna be selling these in millions of units and it's clearly gonna be establishing a product category that ourselves and other pc manufacturers are gonna be able to participate in."

Oh yeah, I've seen that video and understand what their whole thought process is with releasing this thing, but obviously they have to make some profit off this thing, and even if that isn't their focus, per se, that's still going to be something they'll be concerned about, otherwise they'd just sell it for the exact same amount of money as they're spending to make them, which usually isn't the best of ideas as a company. Plus, even besides just pure profit, just the numbers of how many people buy it are important, since that'll signal to other companies (and Valve themselves, for that matter) that hey, this type of thing can totally work.

And yeah, I know that they're actually welcoming other companies to make products similar to this, which is awesome since most companies will grab hold of their little niche, and hold on to it tight, enjoying the monopoly they have in that particular area while they can. I share in their hope that other companies will follow suit.

9 minutes ago, Shmup said:

The Switch is underpowered and people still use it as an indie machine. Also portable gaming will always be underpowered to consoles. If they were to build this to high range pc specs no one would buy it. The specs are pretty amazing for the price. People really want a handheld that can play AAA titles at a decent frame rate, this should in theory be able to do it.

Fair points on your other concerns though.

Yeah, that's the thing, if they made it any more powerful, that's gonna up the price, and therefore make it less desirable to consumers. For what you get for the price, this should be more than adequate.

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@sp1nz, @Shmup, @ZeldaFreak: You guys certainly make some valid arguments in favor of the Steam Deck and I'm definitely not trying to get too down on it. I actually love that Valve has the guts to do something like this when it's not entirely clear that it will be successful. Innovation requires risk and I'm hoping this thing ends up doing gangbusters and evolving the PC market.

Even so, my concern with the specs has to do with future-proofing and I'm not sure that this machine will be able to handle new AAA games in an acceptable manner. Fallen Order and Control are cool games, but they're both nearing two years old. I'm confident id tech will run impressively well, but there aren't a lot of companies with the technical prowess and scaling solutions they have.

Again, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. And maybe this thing will be an amazing indie/retro/PS4 level console and maybe that's all it needs to be successful! For me personally, if it can't satisfactorily play new games a year after release, then it's not worth the $529 investment (in my opinion, the base model with eMMC storage is not even worth considering).

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Events Team · Posted
10 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

@sp1nz, @Shmup, @ZeldaFreak: You guys certainly make some valid arguments in favor of the Steam Deck and I'm definitely not trying to get too down on it. I actually love that Valve has the guts to do something like this when it's not entirely clear that it will be successful. Innovation requires risk and I'm hoping this thing ends up doing gangbusters and evolving the PC market.

Even so, my concern with the specs has to do with future-proofing and I'm not sure that this machine will be able to handle new AAA games in an acceptable manner. Fallen Order and Control are cool games, but they're both nearing two years old. I'm confident id tech will run impressively well, but there aren't a lot of companies with the technical prowess and scaling solutions they have.

Again, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. And maybe this thing will be an amazing indie/retro/PS4 level console and maybe that's all it needs to be successful! For me personally, if it can't satisfactorily play new games a year after release, then it's not worth the $529 investment (in my opinion, the base model with eMMC storage is not even worth considering).

Oh yeah, I know I've been speaking in it's defense a lot in this thread, but I just like the concept, am glad that it's a bigger company taking a crack at something like this, and I like all the discussion that's happening in this thread. I obviously have no loyalty to Valve, if it sucks then I'll happily retract everything I've said in this thread, but like you said, I'm happy Valve has the guts to do something that may or may not be successful. That's why I personally like them quite a bit as a company, they sort of remind me of Nintendo in the sense that they aren't afraid to take risks, despite the fact that they could easily be a company that just runs Steam and would be able to get by just fine for probably the next few decades doing just that. I think even more so than Nintendo, they always seem to be trying to innovate or progress things with their hardware, even if it doesn't always pan out that way.

Future-proofing is a valid concern, and again that's something where we're gonna have to wait for reviews and make a judgement call on that. Personally, since PC games are flexible and you can alter the settings to your liking (One of the main selling points of PC gaming as a whole, IMO) I think there's a good chance it'll still be able to play brand new games reasonably well at least 2 or 3 years down the line, but we'll see. I think Cyberpunk, as much of a trainwreck as that game was, will be a pretty good test of this thing's capabilities. If it can hit that 60 FPS ceiling in that game, even if you have to turn the settings down quite far, I can't imagine it having much trouble with AAA games a year or two down the line.

In terms of the base model, I think that's pretty clearly meant for people who are going to use an SD card with it anyway, and I do appreciate that they offer a model like that, since I think a lot of people are going to be using SD cards even with the higher end models. I do wonder how SD cards will work with it, since these are full-fat PC games we're talking about, but I think by this point you can kind of see why I always wait for reviews on hardware like this before pulling the trigger, hahaha.

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1 hour ago, arch_8ngel said:

Went ahead and made the pre-order for the mid-tier system (the top-end system isn't a bad deal -- just would rather have the option of getting it in Q2 vs Q3)

 

I thought about that because I went for top tier. I might go for bottom tier as well (if I can) then Keep one and sell the other. 

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22 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

I thought about that because I went for top tier. I might go for bottom tier as well (if I can) then Keep one and sell the other. 

Yeah -- I was on the fence.  But being a cheapskate about it, as well, favored the mid tier model (totally adequate for my needs from a space perspective -- and if I am bothered by it later I can just upgrade the disk drive then)

 

 

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29 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Oh snap!

Steam Deck may get cartridge games!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/gamerant.com/steam-deck-cartridge-games/amp/
 

The moment we get confirmation of this I’m on board.

This is the dumbest idea and completely defeats the whole purpose of the hardware, and I'm totally down for it. I already was thinking about making my own custom art boxes for games I'd play on this, kind of like how Indiebox does it.

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