Steam Deck (handheld from Valve) - shipping is 4-8 days from NL to UK

[Hawklord]

1 hour ago, Gotters said:

PSA from over in the emulation thread, the Steam version of Just Cause 2 (one of the greatest open world sandbox games which is far superior to it's sequels) is on sale for 99p, but shows as Deck unsupported.

 

A quick hop to desktop mode to install the experimental Proton GE (piece of piss, 2 min job), which you then assign to JC2 and do an initial boot in desktop mode. After that you'll have a game that works perfectly in the normal Steam OS game environment and which you can max all the graphical settings on and it still runs at 60fps. 

 

It remains a brilliant game and is a bit of a marvel on a handheld, time to relieve the glory of Panau and the legendary Bolo Santosi. 

I went to buy this and it's already in my library 

[Flanders]

Well I just have to add Just Cause 2 don’t I - My Steam library already has Prototype and Red Faction Guerrilla from yonks back.
 

Hopefully one day they’ll drop Crackdown on Steam and I can go on sabbatical to write the definitive treatise on mad AA open worlders of the late 00s.

[g wings]

Thanks for the heads-up @Gotters. Shamefully I’ve never played Just Cause 2. I will remedy that now!

[Flub]

Yeah cheers. I've got JC2 in my library but I've never played it. I found it wouldn't work on GE Proton 7.41 but it did work on 7.15

[Kramer]

Only played for 10 mins and I'm terrible at it, but Donut Dodo feels like the real deal.

 

Bought it on Steam Deck even though I intend to buy it on Switch, this week.

[Fry Crayola]

I've done a lot of buying games on the Deck that I own on other platforms, but never done the reverse, especially with the Switch. I think I don't really trust Nintendo to let me carry the purchases over to their next console.

[Kramer]

1 hour ago, Fry Crayola said:

I've done a lot of buying games on the Deck that I own on other platforms, but never done the reverse, especially with the Switch. I think I don't really trust Nintendo to let me carry the purchases over to their next console.

It's a fair point - but I don't get much play time, so if I do get 10 mins for a quick blast, I just want to press on the Switch controller and play.

[Lorfarius]

1 hour ago, Fry Crayola said:

I've done a lot of buying games on the Deck that I own on other platforms, but never done the reverse, especially with the Switch. I think I don't really trust Nintendo to let me carry the purchases over to their next console.

 

They don't deserve any trust as they will drop the lot before long, believe Wii U is getting the kick next year.  Its incredible really that I've been on Steam since Half Life 2 came out and can still get the games I bought all those years ago.

[Siri]

1 hour ago, Fry Crayola said:

I've done a lot of buying games on the Deck that I own on other platforms, but never done the reverse, especially with the Switch. I think I don't really trust Nintendo to let me carry the purchases over to their next console.

 

I do agree with this, however no company is infallible, ultimately. I do have concerns with what will happen to Valve when Gabe is actually in the afterlife as god instead of just considered one by fans.

 

OTOH, PCs don't immediately fall apart if the online store goes kaput, and the same goes for the Steam Deck. I'll be picking games up from Itch, GOG, random backwater file sharing site or whatever comes after Steam.

 

The actual death of the device is when society as a whole moves on from x86 processors. Which is perfectly possible, but by that time I'll probably be dead.

[Fry Crayola]

All platforms will suffer from this, absolutely. It's just some have a better history in this regard than others, and that'll always play into my thinking.

[thesnwmn]

The difference with PC is your concern is really the death of the service and not just the "standard" console hardware cycle where platform holders have traditionally just thrown everything in the bin. There's no incentive for Steam, Epic or even Microsoft to cut off old games from their store. So on PC the only caution is buying from a store with little foothold. Somewhere that might really disappear. But Steam is huge. It's a money maker. It's not going anywhere for a long time.

 

There are individual game issues where they lose licencing rights or become unstable/incompatible over some OS upgrades but that's not really store related in most cases. And where it's happened so far I believe places like Steam have kept everyone available to download if you already bought it (at least for the most part). Of course. this has got worse over time as games become more connected and just stop working when services behind them get turned off but with 

[bradigor]

The thing about Steam Deck and why it has changed things up more than we realise. I have a 2000+ library ready to go on this. If/when we get a Steam Deck 2 then they library carries over automatically. 

 

On top of the 2000 ish games I have on Steam I can also play the hundreds more I have collected over the years via Amazon, Epic, GOG and Itch. 

 

Plus being open because it is a PC at the end of the day. I can even play the stuff companies like Nintendo no longer want me to play. 

 

I'll say it again. The game has changed this year and Valve have played a blinder. They aren't doing this because they like me and want to be my friend. They know now is the time to strike and eat into the market share consoles have dominated the years now. 

 

This is as big a seismic event as "$199" when Sony saw Thier opportunity. 

 

It could be a lot of hyperbole from me, but I believe the Steam machines, link, controller, were all part of R&D to get to this point. With the Switch itself showing where the market wanted to go 

 

 

[Ry]

Unless they start selling it in shops and get more advertising then it will never be a big deal. It's a niche product aimed at a specific market. I think valve is fine with that. 

 

Everyone I know who is into games including my younger nephew and his pals had no idea what it was when i told them I have one. All they said was "sounds cool".

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thesnwmn]

And it has to be actually seamless. The whole "it has access to Epic, GOG, XCloud" just doesn't fly for a big audience when it requires going near desktop mode or changing any settings beyond "performance vs shiny graphics". It's a lovely thing but it is not final form or even close to it if people think it's going to have any real impact on the market beyond a little more sympathy from PC developers supporting it.

 

Yes, I know this is version 1.

Yes, I know it can, will and already has improved via updates.

Yes, I know its flexibility allows it to do so much more than any other platform.

 

And yes, of course I love it.

 

But it's also a bit "not quite" so often. I can normally tweak the controls to get something I like. Often starting with a community profile. But the fact I have to is a blocker to adoption.

 

Luckily, I love tinkering so all of that makes me personally like it more.

[Siri]

Carrying on from the discussion in the Deck Emulation thread, I've been fucking around for about an hour and a half with getting the disc version of Pure working on the Deck. Half of that was finding the right No-CD patch to get around the requirement to have a disc in the drive, virtual or otherwise.

 

I cracked it after that, but it was a bit of a faff - the Direct X redist comes as a separate thing on the disc, so the best thing to do is use ProtonTools (it's in the Discover Store) after installing the game to set up the Bink Video Codec and D3DX9 files instead of fucking around with a bunch of different installs.

 

Not had a proper play, but it seems to run like butter with everything maxed out. I mean, it should for an old-ass PC game, but it doesn't stop it looking magnificent in the process.

[bradigor]

Should have asked I saved the files for anyone that needs them 

[Paulando]

In a few years, all Steam games will be made with a Deck mode with the graphics settings and controls all pre-configured by the developer. You’ve just got this initial period of relative hurt, mucking around with Proton and all that. It’ll be seamless in a couple of gens of deck hardware.

[Fry Crayola]

8 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

But it's also a bit "not quite" so often. I can normally tweak the controls to get something I like. Often starting with a community profile. But the fact I have to is a blocker to adoption

 

I don't think that's a fixable problem. You never need to tweak controls for games that are recently released, but nobody's going back and rewriting older games to add modern controller support, and the Steam profiles approach is never going to suit everyone.

[thesnwmn]

4 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

I don't think that's a fixable problem. You never need to tweak controls for games that are recently released, but nobody's going back and rewriting older games to add modern controller support, and the Steam profiles approach is never going to suit everyone.

 

This just isn't true.

 

Monkey Island. Vital to turn off all controller support. Otherwise you get highlighting of all interactable objects in the scene. I don't want that. To some extent a developer choice but one the Steam Deck highlighted for me.

 

Last night I was playing Roadwarden for the first time. It apparently has controller support. But sometimes it seems impossible to get the cursor to highlight the actual story options rather than some menu stuff. Even the keyboard controls I assume would have the same issue. The only way I found it make it behave as I really expected was to change my controller to pure mouse input.

 

9 minutes ago, Paulando said:

In a few years, all Steam games will be made with a Deck mode with the graphics settings and controls all pre-configured by the developer. You’ve just got this initial period of relative hurt, mucking around with Proton and all that. It’ll be seamless in a couple of gens.

 

I hope so but I'm suspicious if it'll really be true. It depends I guess on what happens with sales. Steam Deck doesn't need to be massive to make that happen, just massive with the right audience. Influential people need to expect it to work out of the gate.

 

Anyway, not trying to be down on it.

[Gotters]

I think the Deck at present is a bit how David Simon used to describe The Wire - he said it isn't meant to be for everybody, he knows he'll lose most of the audience straight away and he's going to make those that remain work a bit, lean in to understand what is going on. Those who do put in the effort will then love it far more than something easier to watch and they're the people he's targeting. 

 

I agree any talk of it taking on the Switch & other big consoles is fantasy at present in this form, I do think though it could be a gateway drug, I've already dropped my PS5, would probably lose my X Series now too and its really only Nintendo first party games that would interest me on new hardware. A more powerful deck 2 could well be my machine of choice for both portable and under tv use. 

[bradigor]

I was talking about down the line. Not this year by the way. I should have been clearer

[Paulando]

10 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

I hope so but I'm suspicious if it'll really be true. It depends I guess on what happens with sales.

It does, but I think there are a fair number of people who love it already and will definitely chuck their hat in the ring for an upgraded model. I know I’ll be there day one for a OLED model, or one that isn’t the size of my fridge.

 

And then there’ll be a new audience picking up the older ones for £150/200 second hand, and as more and more games get out of the box support it’ll be easier for the mainstream to get into it.

 

It’ll snowball.

[Fry Crayola]

26 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

This just isn't true.

 

Monkey Island. Vital to turn off all controller support. Otherwise you get highlighting of all interactable objects in the scene. I don't want that. To some extent a developer choice but one the Steam Deck highlighted for me.

 

Fair enough, I accept that.

[Siri]

28 minutes ago, Paulando said:

And then there’ll be a new audience picking up the older ones for £150/200 second hand

 

I know I'm a head case, but I think I'd probably keep my old Steam Deck even if a newer, shinier model came out.

 

I currently have a small Deskmini computer that I use for all my admin shit, uses a 2400G - Windows partition for work VPN, and Linux Mint to watch YouTube, play the odd game and write stuff up.

 

The deck smashes it on pretty much all fronts except for storage - it's smaller, uses less power, about the same CPU chops but absolutely batters it on the iGPU.  It even runs off a battery if the power cuts out, has decent speakers when up close and provides a second screen to have Indoor League on repeat.

 

I might not be keen on HTPC bollocks, but it'll make a fine desktop computer.

[yakumo]

Any of you guys use a case with you're deck?.

[deerokus]

Just the one that came with it.

[thesnwmn]

I have the case that came with it. But it has never been back in it.

But then mine has never left the house so no need for a case really.

[Zio]

Same, just the case it came with.

[yakumo]

I mean case surrounding the deck?.  Mine is either docked or being played.

[thesnwmn]

4 minutes ago, yakumo said:

I mean case surrounding the deck?.  Mine is either docked or being played.

 

So like, a case. Around the deck. Like the one it came with.

 

Or do you mean some disgusting skin to make it look like shit?