The Steam Deck Crushed It In 2023

The Steam Deck is nearly everything that the Steam Machine and the Steam Controller wanted to be, somehow in a single package.

Valve's work into Proton and the Steam Deck are the best things to happen to spur Linux adoption in the gaming sphere and support from devs. It's made enough noise that putting intrusive DRM, anticheat and things that would make it incompatible with Linux would shut devs out of a sizeable demographic that will pay for good games that run well on Steam Deck. Previously Linux and their <1% share of users were an afterthought if anything. Honestly the main reason I preordered my Steam Deck was to support this, even though I've used mine just on and off and not much lately.

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They're so user friendly we opted to get my brother's girlfriend's 10 year-old sister one instead of a Switch. So instead of having 2-3 $40-$70 Switch games she got access to my Steam library through Family Share (limited to ~60 age-appropriate games), and 20 Switch games emulated through Yuzu setup by EmuDeck.

We're also teaching her how to do all of this which will give her a huge advantage when it comes to using computers in the future, and allow her to emulate any games she would like going forward.

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Also, I have a Steam Controller and now a Deck, and the touch pads and gyro on the Deck are better in every meaningful way. It's just a better experience all around.

And I felt better shelling out the money, because I knew at least some of that would wind up as a development investment in the Linux community.

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I'm excited for what comes out in a year or two. Maybe a Steam Box 2.0 with console-like qualities but tinker-friendly? A hardware refreshed Deck? Anti-cheat compatibility with more games?

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- If you pay attention to the Deckard rumors, the current guess is a console+wireless vr combo. A physical device that matches Valve's patent has been seen in "Half Life Alyx: Final Hours" on a shelf behind someone in a vr helmet.
  
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The Steam Deck was an amazing purchase for me. I put on EmuDeck and a bunch of ROMs and can play those from the Steam interface while also playing many of my Steam games and it's now a great all-arounder.

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What are your favorite emulated games? Need some inspiration :P

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- Right now I'm mostly playing Pokemon Prismatic Moon (a difficulty ROMhack of Ultra Moon) but I got Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Xenogears, Xenosaga (all three), Xenoblade Chronicles, and a good number of other Nintendo games and games not on Steam.
  
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If only I could buy one.

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Just give up on the oled and buy one of the thousand slightly used LCD. You can find true deals with 1 tb od storage under 300 $.

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- I think they mean that they are in a country were steam decks aren’t sold.
  
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- Where would I find this kind of deal??? I'd buy it now for that price.
  
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I think internal docs showed that Microsoft is leaving that to other vendors. I have the Legion go and it’s been amazing with GamePass. But I’m starting to buy more games on Steam now 😂

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I heard a reliable rumor that the Asus handheld was supposed to be essentially that, but Microsoft dropped the ball with the OS support

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Yeah I’ve used my Deck as an xcloud terminal quite a bit. If I was only interested in the Xbox ecosystem, I’d definitely go for something like PlayStation’s handheld terminal but for Xbox/xcloud

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And I'm really enjoying the Portal, it's everything I could hope for in a simple remote play device.

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The logic over at Xbox might be that Xbox games already come to PC, and their OEM partners are already shipping devices. Unfortunately the fact is that the problem is Windows itself. The thumb controls on them sucks to use in Windows. Go try an Ally or a Legion. As soon as you leave Armor Crate or Steam Big Picture the experience falls apart. Windows also insists on doing Windows things like updating and rebooting when it feels like it, and on a few occasions I've been kicked out of big picture mode because something stole focus.

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You can already play Xbox games on PC, and even VR now, with their game pass. Microsoft and plenty of companies already sell windows hardware.

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I got my Deck around May, and yesterday I've finished 18th game this year, played exclusively on Valve's handheld. 2 games last week, since it was a holiday break.

I've finished Wall World + DLC, Spyro 1 (and started 2), Tunic, Contrast, A Short Hike, Cloudpunk, Assemble With Care, Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, Vampire Survivors, Webbed, The Last Campfire, and Sable. Replayed older games like Linelight, Expand, Scrapland, MDK 2, and Gift. Started Obra Dinn, Grim Fandango, Dome Keeper, Gunpoint, Ctrl Alt Ego, and Zelda BOTW.

This device is such a delight. It plays overwhelming majority of titles out of the box, while older titles like Gift and MDK 2 only require a few minutes of tinkering to get right, plus maybe adjust the control scheme for gyro aiming the sniper mode in MDK.

I wouldn't get even close to this number of titles on a classic PC. My gaming computer is at the same desk where I work from home, creating this unpleasant mental image that I'm still "at work" when gaming - so having an external device that handles AAA games like Hogwarts Legacy with ease is a godsend.

My desktop PC was down for two weeks due to fried motherboard. I connected the Deck via a simple JSAUX cable that has HDMI out and USB-C for charging, paired a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and it worked perfectly as a replacement. I could play Soldat 2, design in Figma, and watch movies - because it's a regular PC, just in an unusual form factor.

I'm definitely getting a SD2 when it comes out in a few years.

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I've noticed I've been playing more frequently but in shorter sessions. I will still play "more involved" games on my desktop, but a lot of the games I would have avoided on desktop, because I didn't want to hunker down at the desk for a few hours, are getting played.

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Got two friends to buy one after I got mine. Love it so much. I didn't think I would use it much when I first bought it, but I have played on it more in the last several months than my actual gaming PC.

Such a fantastic device, I stream movies and shows with it, listen to music while I game, go to LAN parties, use it with my family for couch co-op, play all my old GBA games on it, it's just awesome.

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Now sell me one cowards

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Mad props to those that have it and use it.i just can't find a use case

We play lethal company as a group and one of us plays on a steam deck. He can't use the monitor or figure out the walkie talkies, but he can at least play with us, so it's a win.

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Sounds like he needs to use a different control scheme for LC

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The Steam Deck was probably my favorite tech purchases in the past few years, and I'm looking forward to checking out the linked article to see where it goes with things.

I had been mulling over the idea of getting a portable for awhile, and truthfully Asus and Lenovo's offerings are pretty nice. I felt like they were all good enough, performance-wise, for the types of games I play, but battery life was a big enough concern for me that it held me back from actually buying one of these systems. After the OLED Deck was announced and specs on battery life were released, it eased my concerns enough that I felt like now was the time.

I do wish they had handled the launch a bit more gracefully, particularly as far as the limited edition goes. At this point it doesn't really matter, but it did etch away at some of the "magic" initially and undermined my confidence slightly when they couldn't keep the store operating, then said the special edition was out of stock, only for it to magically come back into stock after I'd already purchased the regular/standard Deck. Oh well.

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Is this going to rival the Switch? Or will it end up like the PSP? They seem like a perfect balance to get all the games that aren't available on the Switch.

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It can emulate switch. And basically everything else.

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I have no idea why anyone would want a shittier PC with a tinier screen to play their steam library. It seems totally pointless to me. The only people I know who seem to rave about them are dads who can't get away to game except in half hour increments on the couch. I guess that's better than nothing, but fuck, that's a bleak gaming experience.

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"People aren't like me and I just don't get it!"

You know, empathy is a skill you can learn. You may consider working on it.

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- Hey you do you, I just don't get it.
  
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On several occasions I wanted to play a game for a while but did not want to sit at my desk to play so I ended up not playing at all. Now, with my steam deck, I often play for 15 minutes to about 1 hour or a bit more from my couch or my bed next to my gf and it's super easy and enjoyable.

If you don't like it, great. Just don't try to shit on the millions of people that do. Cheers.

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This is going to be pretty shocking to you, so brace yourself...Some people actually leave their gaming chairs to go into other rooms in their home. There even some folks, (this will really blow your tiny mind) who actually leave their homes sometimes but still want to play games!

Those are the strange creatures that like to play games even though they are away from their main PC. Now pick up your jaw off your Cheeto-covered gaming desk and pipe down, the adults are talking.

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- Do you realize that you can do other things in other places that aren't gaming? Why game in a substandard way all over the place instead of saving your gaming for where you can actually have a good gaming experience?
  
  If I'm going hiking, or hanging out with friends, something else outside, I'm not bringing a glorified Gameboy with me to do it. I'm gonna go and enjoy some non-gaming time.
  
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Its a portable handheld, it's not meant to be a replacement for a pc. You could use it for playing games on a commute or during your lunch break. Nothing wrong with using it on the couch either, sometimes you want to be outside of your room.

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- Literally viewing this thread while laying in bed with a FFXIV cutscene playing on my Deck right now.
  
  It's so cozy playing stuff on this thing, even when I have an extremely powerful gaming PC less than 5 feet away.
  
  And when I go over to my girlfriend's house, I just bring it with me, instead of having to lug a whole laptop over there and get it set up just to mess around with something casual that I wouldn't wanna run on my phone.
  
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People who touch grass tend to enjoy it.

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