Steam Deck - The Nintendo Switch Killer?

[CreepinDeth]

Steam Deck



Valve just revealed this today. Handheld with the latest AMD RDNA2 graphics and Zen 2 CPU. Starts at $399. Pre-orders start July 16th and you must put down $5 to reserve. I'm honestly thinking of reserving one.

Runs on Valve's Linux distro, SteamOS, and can hook up to a monitor to be used as a full sized PC. Comes with a 7" screen and full size analog sticks. Storage is expandable with Micro SD cards just like the Switch.


Full specs below.

[retro junkie]

Personally, I have never used Steam. I do like the concept. And I like the idea that someone can feel comfortable about marketing a product like this. Brings back memories of the days of early Gameboy, Neo Pocket, etc. Gives gamers options rather than Nintendo dominating. I don't think of phones as a gaming option and that might be because of my age.
But this will be interesting to watch just to see where this goes.

[BLUEVOODU]

Thank you for posting this @CreepinDeth well done post!  What model did you guys pre-order?  @Snatcher_L  mentioned on Discord he pre-ordered as well!

I've been heads down on a few projects since you posted... and I totally missed this.  Pre-orders are into Q2 2022 now.  That's insane.

Looking at the design, I'm wondering about the buttons on the underside - R4/L4, R5/L5.  I wonder how hard those will be to engage during play.  Hopefully they're not used during Resident Evil 5 scenes lol.    I was an early adopter of the Steam controller, but was not overly fond of it.  It was good for what it was, but...

Now... I'm trying to decide if I want to buy and wait until 2022.  MAYBE they'll have a production run increase and it'll be faster?  I'm really curious on the display and how well it'll look / react to games.

[CreepinDeth]

I grabbed the 256GB version and my wife got the 64GB version.

Both her and I ran into issues that most people did by getting locked out for "attempting to many purchases." Fortunately, the Deck was still in our carts and we were able to finish our reservation but we're looking at Q1 2022 because of it. Oh well, just stoked to have a reservation.

Hopefully they are able to make more than expected and can sell directly on day one.

[BLUEVOODU]

Alright... I'm in.  I pre-ordered my spot.   I want this to be awesome 

[Polygon]

Don't know if I would call it a Switch killer. Let's count how many technically superior handhelds have taken a dirtnap at the hands of Nintendo. It's not about technical superiority. It's about mass appeal and I don't see the Steam Deck managing to appeal to a wider audience than the Switch. Still, it's pretty cool and even though I don't care much about handhelds... competition is always good. But Valve doesn't have the best track record of hardware support.

[targetrasp]

For the most part, my steam library is mostly games best played on mouse and keyboard. I do have a few that could be played portably but it's a small amount.

It'd be great if it turns out a ton of games get developed for the thing specifically but that's not usually the PC way. I'm sure i'll end up with one eventually, but not soon. it looks like scalpers are taking advantage of the shortage and making these difficult to get.

[BLUEVOODU]

Woot, Glad to see you @Polygon ! 

yeah...  the nagging part in the back of my mind is their track record of hardware.   The Steam Controller left a meh experience... and I'm hoping the controls for this unit are awesome.  Screen AND controls are my main Hangups.  However, Maybe they've learned from and improved upon the past.

[CreepinDeth]

New impressions from people other than IGN have gone up -




As for this being a Switch killer, I don't think it will be. I deliberately tried to be a little click-baity with the title and the reason why I have a question mark in the there as well.

However, I do think it will affect the Switch negatively. For example, a lot of PC gamers have a Switch and double dip on games because they want the portability. Now, they can have a portable PC and not have to double dip on games. Which could cause some developers to not even bother with a Switch port. Also, online multiplayer is free. Sure, it's fairly cheap for a Nintendo Online subscription but it's one less thing to buy.

I'm also excited about this because it pushes Linux gaming forward. Valve is putting in a ton of work towards the kernel and other software making it a viable alternative to Windows. Especially since Windows 11 is not going to support a lot of hardware pre-2019 or so. Which is pretty crappy.

[targetrasp]

I'm warming up to it now...

[CreepinDeth]

Mark your calendars, kids! Steam Deck releases Feb. 25th, 2022 for those lucky enough to get in the first batch.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675180/view/3117055056380003048

Steam Deck Launching February 25th
Hello, the day is almost here! On February 25th, we will be sending out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders. Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue. The first units will be on their way to customers starting the 28th, and we plan to release new order email batches on a weekly cadence.

In addition, we're sending out press units for full review shortly. Press review embargo on Steam Deck coverage will lift on February 25th, but keep an eye out for some preview coverage and impressions before that. In the meantime we're working to tie up the last few loose ends and polish some rough edges, and are excited to get these out to you at the end of next month!


Additional details for the curious:

    - We will start sending invites shortly after 10:00 am on February 25th, PST
    - Order emails are sent in the same order that reservations were made.
    - You can only order the Steam Deck model that you originally reserved.
    - Your reservation deposit will be applied to the final price of Steam Deck, and shipping costs are included.

[retro junkie]

I like what I am seeing but that price point is a little bit out of my league. 

[BLUEVOODU]

Man... I'm in a pre-order... but, last I checked, I was at Q2 or Q3 lol.   Not sure where my pre-order is at this time.

I'm definitely pumped... I hope it doesn't turn out to be another Steam controller... but this is looking good.

@retro junkie  -- totally understand.  After the PS5 and a couple other things, it's really a lot of money to continually shell out for gear.  It's cool gear... but it's a bit rough to continually pay out for new gear.  The price increases haven't helped either.

[retro junkie]

@BLUEVOODU it seems like I have so many games that I have purchased over the years that I never got to play, real life interrupted, by the time I had time, a new console would be released. Then I would be hyped over it, the cycle continued, over and over. Now that I am retired,.......hmmmmm....looks like retro gaming is here to stay. I have plenty to keep me occupied. I have started not to even think about new stuff. I have plenty of old stuff that is new to me. 

[CreepinDeth]

The embargo for hardware reviews have been lifted and there are now reviews. The software embargo is still on and will be lifted later this month.

[BLUEVOODU]

@CreepinDeth - oh man... this is making me more excited.   The ONLY draw back ... is when Linus Tech stated a steam controller was built in.  LOL... that makes me shudder a bit.  These videos make the Steam Deck look more exciting for sure.

[CreepinDeth]

Happy Steam Deck Release Day!!!

New review has been posted by Digital Foundry. I haven't had a chance to watch it all but so far seems impressive.

[CreepinDeth]

As the days go by, more reviews and tutorials are showing up. Word on the street is Q2 folks should start seeing purchasing emails starting in April and should conclude in June. I hope I'm in April!

Valve just released Windows drivers for this machine. Here's Linus trying out the Steam Deck with Windows.

[BLUEVOODU]

Man... this is looking cooler and cooler.  Thank you for posting this, @CreepinDeth

I'm still months away from being able to get mine.  Did you get yours yet?

[CreepinDeth]

I'm still months away from being able to get mine.  Did you get yours yet?

Not yet. I'm in Q2, so between now and June I should be getting that illustrious email. I'm hoping it comes in May. Would be a great birthday present to myself. 

EDIT: Did not receive an email today (they're being sent every Monday.) Only 11 more Mondays left for me to get my purchase email.

[CreepinDeth]

Got my email today!!!!!!!!!!! 

I should be getting my Steam Deck this week. Shipping is fairly quick so it should probably be here by Thursday.

Whooooooooooo!!!!! 

[BLUEVOODU]

lol.. no email here... although, you ordered yours a lot early than I did.  Come on, email!

Dangit @CreepinDeth - you have to let us know how awesome it is!!

[CreepinDeth]

I definitely will. It's scheduled to be delivered next week, so I'll have some first impressions out as soon as I get.

[BLUEVOODU]

@CreepinDeth  --> we need a review topic    I can't wait to hear about your Steam Deck

[CreepinDeth]

@BLUEVOODU - I'll do that as soon as I can. Just finished moving so should have a little more time with it and put up a review. 

[BLUEVOODU]

@CreepinDeth still no notice for me... I think it's supposed to be sometime in July.  Now I'm starting to have pre-buyers-remorse   

[CreepinDeth]

@BLUEVOODU oh wow. There's still one more week left. Unless they bumped you to Q3?

[CreepinDeth]

Quick review time!!

I've had my Steam Deck for about a month but have not had much time to play with it due to moving to a new place which took up nearly all of my free time. But I think I can talk about it now with more hands on.

First, I personally love this device. It's what I've been hoping someone would create once I got my hands on a Switch. Having my entire 1200+ PC game library available to play* is just downright amazing. With that said there is a major caveat (hence, the asterisk) with this. Not all games are playable on this. Which is a bummer but it's usually an older game that requires certain emulation software to run (eg. DosBOX) but most newer games do not have this problem. Over time, the amount of games playable will keep going up. Valve is constantly working on fixing the compatibility for all games. Every week there are new games that have been verified by Valve to work with the Deck.

However, (lol) some of the newer games are already too heavy for this machine to run at a locked 60FPS. This is where the magic of SteamOS comes in. There's already a frame limiter that allows you to set a lower FPS so that you have a smooth experience, but Valve recently made this feature even better that I feel is a total game changer. SteamOS now allows you to actually lower the screen refresh rate between 40FPS-60FPS. Which means that you don't have to lock a game to 30FPS like most would do on a typical desktop. If you have a game that doesn't stay at 60FPS but regularly stays above 40FPS, then you can lock both the game and the screen to that framerate. If you want to lock it to 46FPS for some reason, you can. Want 51FPS? That's possible too.

40FPS may not be 60FPS, but it's so much smoother than 30, especially when the screen is also set to refresh at that framerate. I wish this could be done on a desktop but I could see this being difficult for Valve to implement considering there are a gajillion monitors out there to try to work with.

A lot of people have complained about the screen and the inaccurate colors. If you've never cared or asked whether a monitor you have is accurate, then this probably won't bother you either. It will look washed out because you're probably used to looking at your smart phone (which tend to be oversaturated sometimes depending on the make and model) but it shouldn't affect your fun. The black levels are what I wish were better.

The other complaint people have is the fan. It has been confirmed that Valve is shipping two different fans between units. One of the fans apparently has a high-pitched whine when going full tilt. I'm fortunate to not have this fan. Valve has been kind of enough to allow customers to RMA for this reason. I'll post a video of tests done by Gamers Nexus so you can hear the difference. Valve has recently updated the fan curve on the Deck in order to make the fan not go full tilt at lower temperatures. When it is at 100% it is audible.

With all that said, you can change the fan out yourself if you feel like it. Valve has teamed up with iFixit to supply replacement parts for your Deck. This is awesome and I wish more companies did this. I don't have to wait for an RMA if a part goes bad. The joysticks are completely replaceable if you experience any issues with them.

This device is definitely for someone who doesn't mind tinkering. Although you can install games from other store fronts, it's going to take some massaging to get them running. I'm personally just sticking to my Steam library. I don't plan on installing from those other store fronts. I'm also not sure if I'm going to run emulators on this yet. Just keeping the experience 100% stock right now and running games at 30FPS to maximize battery life. I prefer to have more battery versus more frames, but it's completely up to you to tailor the experience for yourself.

I also don't plan on installing Windows. I have a gaming PC already with Win11, so seems unnecessary for me.


Feel free to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

[CreepinDeth]

Big news today for Steam Deck!

You no longer need to reserve a spot to order in the future. You can now outright purchase one.

The Dock is also now available for purchase.

[CreepinDeth]

I'm personally loving this machine every day. A while ago I set it up to stream Xbox Game Pass games. It's not the main way I play games but when I'm in the living room and my wife wants to watch something and I want to play an Xbox game, then I just fire the streaming app up. The router is in the living room so the image quality looks great. Just a tiny bit of input lag that I can detect but not much.

I also installed PPSSPP and can play emulated PSP games. It's the perfect handheld for this and wish I tried this earlier. I was mainly just wanting to keep my system fairly vanilla with only some minor tweaks but it was so easy to setup that this might be my preferred way to play games now.