https://www.steamdeck.com/en/

now this i am very interested in getting.

i have wanted to get a gaming pc for a long time now but unfortunately it always comes down to cost.

this though i can see myself being able to afford (actually save the money for).

it’s basically a full on handheld pc that can run aaa games (but any game on steam account too).

prices start at £349 (with 64gb emmc storage) £459 (with 256 gb nvme ssd) and £569 (with 512 gb nvme ssd).

you can preorder now one for £4.00 and first dispatch is due 28th feb.

valve also putting a 1 person i deck buy limit as well as other things to try and stop the scalping scum buying them all.

i know that some on here will say they can build a gaming pc for less etc (and fair play to them for doing so) but for me this ticks the boxes for finally being able to play pc games (and on the move too if you want).

Given Valve’s track record of failed hardware devices I’m not planning to be an early adopter – that said I hope it succeeds and is as good as the pre-launch reviews suggest

Find myself interested in that too, would be a nice addition to the camper van trips in winter assuming it works in that scenario. And I’m not a fan of sitting in a different room on a PC to everyone else, although I am ok completely ignoring them a few feet away.

Does look interesting but having dabbled with the Xbox Cloud gaming beta I’m more convinced than ever that we’re in the final throes of home based hardware, and streaming will definitely be the near future.

Basically just evergreen hardware changes on the provider side with the consumer getting a constantly improving quality just propped up by a subscription model. It’s not quite perfect yet but seems close.

I’m therefore reluctant to be investing much in any kind of dedicated console.

I wonder if the size and weight may be a bit too much.

Looks interesting though – could be tempted, but dont want to be an early adopter and get left with something non supported after 12 months – and I wonder if that will be the downfall – too many people burned by previous valve hardware.

Given Valve’s track record of failed hardware devices

too many people burned by previous valve hardware.

Such as?

Steam Link was and is a solid piece of hardware, frankly it being discontinued was a daft move but then you can do exactly the same with any compatible slave computer.

Steam controller was solid as well, if not what a traditional controller looks like. I can only presume that the litigation around patent infringement was part of the reason it was discontinued.

I did the pre-order thing a while back for the biggest memory thing.

Not sure I’ll buy, but seemed like too good a deal not to pre-order

I suspect I’m not going to be in the first tranche of deliveries…

Same here, got one reserved but want to hear other peoples’ experience with it before shelling out. They seem to be putting plenty of effort into checking Steam titles will work on it, but there’s still a way to go. And I’ll be surprised if they sell many of the lowest spec machine, seems a tad goldfishy.

If you’re not really into new games you can get by* with an old Motorola E5 Play running Retroarch which’ll do stuff up to 2D Dreamcast games (MvC2 baby!) I use mine with an OTG thinger with a USB gamepad (Retro-Bit Saturn jobbie but XB360 controllers work as well) to play the games cos the phone’s touch screen is bobbins for actually playing games.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZRigY6M0gA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

* first world probs, obvs

you can preorder now one for £4.00 and first dispatch is due 28th feb.

People ordering now should not expect to see a system this year!

Biggest issue for me is a lot of PC games are tuned for mouse control and I cannot think of many games in my Steam library I would want to use sticks instead. Am keeping an eye on it though as it looks very interesting…

I heard the steam controller worked fairly well with mouse games so it might be alright if they’ve kept working on that. More and more games support multiple control methods as well.

My understanding was that it will accept periferals such as keyboard and mouse, possibly only once they roll out the dock.

Looking some more at the site, it has trackpads as well as sticks like the controller did. Should be able to get reasonable mouse accuracy.

It also has USB C, Bluetooth and will work with a USB hub if you want to connect peripherals.

I don’t have much use for one but I like the idea, not something I’d order until I can see some opinions of real world use.

Damn, my spelling of peripheral was Friday afternoon there. [/shame]

I’ve played on one for about 5 mins. It’s a very polished product but heavy. You couldn’t hold it in yours hands for very long. It’s best to play it sitting by a table.

Just shelled out for my pre-order.

Seems like actually hardware is selling on eBay at a premium so I won’t be out of pocket if I hate it.

Reviews I’ve seen say I might not like it (coming from a console gamer background), but I do like a tinker, so maybe I will.

I’ve not got a massive steam library, but the option to run xbox PC games (apparently there’s already a tutorial 🙂 ) is a big draw as I do miss Age of Empires!

Oh really? Damn, Steam Deck plus Gamepass would be a game changer!

I’ve tried one; they are weighty and a bit top heavy. I found I had to rest my arms on a table after 1-2 mins use..

Edit: double post 😺

I got mine this week.
So far just messing around with Portal 2 and a rally game but I do like it.
I wouldnt want to use the trackpads for gaming (bounced it into OS mode and its usable but not amazing) but that said many games nowadays target the console gamers first rather than the mouse and keyboard lot so I think many will work.
Can use as a limited pc in its own right or connect up to peripherals to make it more handy. Suspect will take it rather than laptop on the next trip.