Steam Deck Announced

[Spacedeck 920]

This does look interesting, even though it only outputs at 720p. With this being the case though, what about text on screen? wouldn't that be a little small?  I imagine if you play certain games, action adventures or FPS, this should be great.  I already see mention of Civ on this, but do you think it would work? I have Civ on the VITA and that's a watered down game compared to the full game, I can imagine the resolution and screen size alone wouldn't be ideal for them types of games unless they are designed with handheld in mind.  Then there's grand strategy games like HOI or RTS games like Company of Heroes, them I can see as not being ideal for something like this.  So it'll highly depend on the games you play.  The concept is awesome though, price tag not so much.

 

Although if you can load other apps on the device, having GOG Galaxy installed for some of the older titles would be super cool to have on the go.

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

5 hours ago, Spacedeck said:

This does look interesting, even though it only outputs at 720p. With this being the case though, what about text on screen? wouldn't that be a little small?  I imagine if you play certain games, action adventures or FPS, this should be great.  I already see mention of Civ on this, but do you think it would work? I have Civ on the VITA and that's a watered down game compared to the full game, I can imagine the resolution and screen size alone wouldn't be ideal for them types of games unless they are designed with handheld in mind.  Then there's grand strategy games like HOI or RTS games like Company of Heroes, them I can see as not being ideal for something like this.  So it'll highly depend on the games you play.  The concept is awesome though, price tag not so much.

 

Although if you can load other apps on the device, having GOG Galaxy installed for some of the older titles would be super cool to have on the go.

I think it's gonna be a case of some developers having to optimise their games specifically for this system. Ones with controller support immediately have an advantage but others may need improved display and scaling support. There may also be instances where some games are just not suitable to be played this way.  The device may also come with a quick-zoom function or something too. 

[Spacedeck 920]

Sure so long as it doesn't impact on the rest of the production.  Otherwise games might start being produced to a lesser standard to be compatible with the Steam Deck.

[Tar-Eruntalion 511]

I tried Steam Deck early and it's AWESOME!

 

this is ltt's first hand's on experience it seems great and you can connect to it a monitor/kb/m and close to 60 fps on doom eternal medium and it's not completely done yet

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Bad news

[crispymorgan 1,056]

Just put a deposit down. Ideal as a second gaming PC for Alex when he's at mine, and great for me to play games in front room 

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

40 minutes ago, crispymorgan said:

Just put a deposit down. Ideal as a second gaming PC for Alex when he's at mine, and great for me to play games in front room 

What's the ETA of yours? 

[phil bottle 9,761]

24 minutes ago, Plumbers Crack said:

What's the ETA of yours? 

 

I think they're being advertised for people who buy them now as Q2 2022, which is the same as me, although I reserved mine the day it  first went on sale...so who knows😁

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Valheim running on the Deck

 

[phil bottle 9,761]

Today is the big day for the first batch of Steam Deck customers. Emails are being sent out at 10am PST and then each person has 72 hours to pay in full. Unclaimed reservations go to the next person in line.

 

I hear it may be a slow roll out and peripherals such as the Dock won't be on sale until the summer.

 

Also, while they're still working their way through the library to verify games, apparently it's only multiplayer games that have issues with anti-cheat that have any problems.

 

No idea when I'll get mine, happy to wait but must admit that I'm very excited and already have a list of games I want to play on it. 

 

Here's a sample:

 

Disco Elysium

Katana Zero

Dishonored 2

Hotline Miami 1 & 2

Prey 

Rimworld

 

To be honest I won't know where to start. I used to play DayZ mod and Civilisation in bed on my laptop 10 years ago, which I loved lol and the return to horizontal gaming will be interesting 😁

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

If @Rumelylady and moi can get our hands on one of these, I can see our switch collecting a lot of dust for the foreseeable future.  

[phil bottle 9,761]

According to Steam, Q3 emails start getting sent from 30 June. So, while I'm not sure I can afford it, I'm also hoping to be in the first few batches🙃

 

I'm itching to play Disco Elysium and see how Rimworld plays on it.

[phil bottle 9,761]

On 6/28/2022 at 10:17 AM, phil bottle said:

According to Steam, Q3 emails start getting sent from 30 June. So, while I'm not sure I can afford it, I'm also hoping to be in the first few batches🙃

 

I'm itching to play Disco Elysium and see how Rimworld plays on it.

 

So it seems I was in the first few batches, the second in fact, and I completed the order yesterday evening. This time next week I should be the proud owner of as Steam Deck.

 

My list of games I want to play on it keeps expanding:

 

Disco Elysium

Katana Zero

Dishonored 2

Hotline Miami 1 & 2

Prey 

Rimworld

Divinity 2

Pillars of Eternity

Resident Evil 2

Legend Bowl

The Outer Worlds

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

Really looking forward to seeing it and your views on how different it feels playing the same games we've been playing on our PC together. Also, can you give us an update on how the Mic/Voice feels on it too. Not sure if you've had to purchase a different headset to work with it or not!

[phil bottle 9,761]

Ok, so it arrived Monday morning. No instructions with it or anything but I'd prepared and watched a few videos on set up. Very straightforward.

Love the case it arrives with and its a beautiful looking little machine. I've made my Steam account appear offline for the time being as a couple of my Steam friends are work colleagues 😉

 

So far I have installed:

 

Katana Zero - brilliant game and plays very well on SD

Prey - i will now finally give this game some love

Hotline Miami

Divinity 2

Rimworld 

Disco Elysium 

Desperados 3

South Park Stick of Truth

 

So, what was i looking out for to start forming an opinion?

 

My no.1 concern was controls.

2nd was sound. 3rd was holding it for long periods of time.

 

I'll start with sound. It's amazing, with or without headset/ear buds they did a really good job. People were talking about fan noise. I've haven't heard them at all. Sound without headset is very loud and rich and I take my hat off to Valve on that.

 

But yes controls. I was a bit afraid to begin with that I would find them too fiddly. But I have been pleasantly surprised. Rimworld, the game I thought I would have most trouble with, has been a dream to play. The track pads work extremely well and there has clearly been some effort made to ensure user friendliness. I'm very happy.

For first person shooters, I'll wait until I've spent some time on Prey before fully feeding back. I still prefer keyboard and mouse but from what I have played of it on the SD it's very smooth so far.

 

With regards holding it, I can put it on my lap or if I'm in bed it's light enough not to be cumbersome or tiring. 

 

So yes, after 3 days I'm very very happy.  I'm going to Ramsgate on Saturday and it's only the possibility of me getting drunk there that's stopping me taking it for the journey, will see😁

 

 

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

That's great news Phil. I do wonder how long the guarantee is because what happens if you start getting stick drift over time? Any chance they'll sort that for you?

 

Are there settings in each game that recognise you're on a steam deck and then it reassigns the buttons accordingly? Would love to play this on holidays, especially with the survival games like Valheim and even perhaps 7 Days. Two Point Hospital would be a given on this system - just have to weigh up the game choices as it looks and sounds like the switch so far in terms of what i would use it for.

[crispymorgan 1,056]

How you getting on with it @phil bottle?  My preorder shouldn't be far off.  Can it run DayZ and stuff like that or is that a bridge too far?  Ideally I was going for both a new PC and the steam deck, but it's going to have to be one or the other.  

[phil bottle 9,761]

6 hours ago, crispymorgan said:

How you getting on with it @phil bottle?  My preorder shouldn't be far off.  Can it run DayZ and stuff like that or is that a bridge too far?  Ideally I was going for both a new PC and the steam deck, but it's going to have to be one or the other.  

 

I love it. I should be reading last thing at night but I've been on this a lot. 

 

Personally, for shooters I'll be sticking to PC, although I should try it with a keyboard and mouse at some point.

 

I've been working though Disco Elysium, South Park stick of truth and started No Mans Sky last night....but I've about 17 games installed at the moment and I've played a little bit of Hotwheels Unleashed, Prey, the Ascent, CloudPunk, GTA 4, Katana Zero and Divinity Original Sin.

 

I haven't tried DayZ and not sure how well it is optimised but I'll check and let you know🙂

 

I hear they've ramped up production so I'm sure yours will be available im no time.

 

 

 

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I performed a ritualistic sacrifice of several day old donuts in the hopes of securing a pre-order.  Fingers crossed...

[Luseth 1,957]

I put the £5 deposit down at the end of August thinking I could make my mind up nearer the time, turned out it was much nearer than I thought it would be. Got the notification last week and decided to purchase it (only the basic model) and it turned up on Saturday. Picked myself up a £22 256gb SD card and I'm away pc gaming for under £400. I let my gaming computer go about 6 months ago and I have a laptop that's fairly capable but I find it difficult to game on as my daughter wants to mess.

 

So the steam deck seemed a good shout.

 

My first impressions are really really good, it's incredibly capable, runs well and isn't too difficult to get to grips with in terms of how things function and that.

 

I have played just 1 game so far, GTA IV and that played really well. Simple enough to get installed and up and running and now I spend an hour or so in bed of an evening shooting up Liberty City? 

 

I have also put a couple of my PS2 games on there, I have had Shadow hearts ready to play for a long time but finding time to sit down with the CRT at my desk is difficult (again because of the little ones) so thought I would add it to the deck and see how it performs so I will let you know on that front if I get round to it. I have a fairly sizeable steam library backlog to play though and I do genuinely feel like it will get enjoyed now.

 

The screen's decent, the device is fairly snappy and simple and though it's only my first game to play GTA IV help up really well and played incredibly smoothly so I can see this potentially taking pole position when it comes to my gaming time in the not so distant future.

[IRaMPaGe 3,238]

42 minutes ago, Luseth said:

I put the £5 deposit down at the end of August thinking I could make my mind up nearer the time, turned out it was much nearer than I thought it would be. Got the notification last week and decided to purchase it (only the basic model) and it turned up on Saturday. Picked myself up a £22 256gb SD card and I'm away pc gaming for under £400. I let my gaming computer go about 6 months ago and I have a laptop that's fairly capable but I find it difficult to game on as my daughter wants to mess.

 

So the steam deck seemed a good shout.

 

My first impressions are really really good, it's incredibly capable, runs well and isn't too difficult to get to grips with in terms of how things function and that.

 

I have played just 1 game so far, GTA IV and that played really well. Simple enough to get installed and up and running and now I spend an hour or so in bed of an evening shooting up Liberty City? 

 

I have also put a couple of my PS2 games on there, I have had Shadow hearts ready to play for a long time but finding time to sit down with the CRT at my desk is difficult (again because of the little ones) so thought I would add it to the deck and see how it performs so I will let you know on that front if I get round to it. I have a fairly sizeable steam library backlog to play though and I do genuinely feel like it will get enjoyed now.

 

The screen's decent, the device is fairly snappy and simple and though it's only my first game to play GTA IV help up really well and played incredibly smoothly so I can see this potentially taking pole position when it comes to my gaming time in the not so distant future.

 

Your making it sound incredibly appealing. Great to hear more feedback on it. @phil bottlegave it top reviews on it as well. 

[Luseth 1,957]

So I do have one small gripe but it could be game related. I wanted to push the deck a bit further yesterday and opted to try GTA V, where this fell down is I did not want to buy it again and I have a free copy on Epic that I got ages back. So looking about online, you can install Epic / GOG games onto the deck using a third party launcher, got that all installed and set up and then set GTA V to download and install.

 

Where it irked me is that it took the whole night to download and install, in fact the install only completed as I left for work this morning so I never even got to try it 😄

 

Now I am not sure if it's down to the speed of the SD card but it took far too long and I fear for the loading times off it!

 

I have also realised 256gb SD card is nowhere near going to be enough so I am going to look at getting a 1TB card some point the next couple of months when I have some spare cash.

[Luseth 1,957]

So this will be my last post for a little while as I think now it's time to get to grips with the system and really enjoy it but to provide another update.

 

Last night I had another play, I now have GTA V up and running, so that means Epic games work and though GTA is getting on a bit now it is still a fairly demanding game and the deck runs it fairly flawlessly (I did turn down settings to medium just to max out the performance and it was lovely).

 

In addition to that, I may have mentioned that I like the idea of taking some of my retro games with me. Lugging round a CRT and SNES or Gamecube is obviously not practical so I looked at setting up the emulation side of things. I at first tried to install a couple of emulators separately, the PS2 one ran ok but the dolphin emulator wouldn't detect the steam deck controller and buttons. Looking about online I came across emu deck, turns out it's a script you can download and run and it installs and sets up all of the main emulators for you including dolphin. So gave it a go and it was incredibly simple, got it up and running and just loaded up fire emblem path of radiance (something on my to buy list but depends on how much my work christmas bonus is this year) and it seemed to start up really well and looked fantastic. I will give it a proper go later on today but the deck is really impressing my with it's capability at the moment.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Our Friends Adrian bought one and has let us borrow it until next week.  Mostly to help Sarah get over her cold quicker.  I really dig this machine.  It's comfortable in the hands, all the buttons/analog sticks are easy to access and don't feel out of place.  I really like the dual touch pads.  It gives that mouse kind of quickness and control with something portable.  I think I may have to buy one for us.

[Greboth 2,721]

So my finger may have slipped and ordered one earlier - oh well.

 

I've been eyeing up one for a while but quite a few games I'd play on it aren’t properly supported but having spent far too much time reading online about people running Windows on it and emulators, it's a hard proposition to say no to so finally gave in.  It says delivery is 2 weeks but I imagine they've sold a lot leading up to Christmas and Christmas itself is going to delay that further but looking forward to lunch times in the office next year 😄 

 

I've also ordered a dock for it too, not so much for connecting a screen but being able to use the mouse and keyboard at my desk at work over lunch will be great.  I've also ordered an SD card so lots of storage for other games too.