With the popularity of handheld gaming on the rise, gamers have historically seen very few options with portable gaming, with only the Nintendo Switch availa...
Interesting, I assumed that it would flop or at best be a very niche product. It doesn’t seem like a very interesting device to me. I don’t see the appeal at all.
I guess it’s nice to hear that it’s so successful, considering how much it has done for linux gaming.
Not the person you replied to, but I have a Steam Controller and a streaming device for my main library on my desktop, so I’m honestly torn.
What do you think makes this better than such a setup? From my perspective, it seems like the main benefit is “Steam Controller with screen attached,” so it’s portable, and it has some limited* capabilities to install and play games locally.
I’m not trying to detract, but having used my own setup for over five years, I wonder what it is I might be missing. What do you think?
Edit: *Compared to a desktop with latest-gen or second-latest-gen hardware.
Limited capabilities? I haven’t found a game in my library it couldn’t play locally. The ui is great, the controls work well, and it can even be used to run desktop apps.
I should have qualified: *Limited compared to latest-gen desktop hardware.
Because let’s be honest, no amount of tweaking will get you to that same level. But it’s obviously enjoyable and more than “just playable,” else we’d hear about it from a lot more people. My question was more geared towards “what is it that I’m missing out on” compared to what I have, not to passive aggressively wrinkle my nose at the console.
Well, it’s a great machine for emulators, for one. I setup Retrodeck as a single flatpak, then was able to dump my ROM collection into some folders and it used EmulationStation Desktop Edition combined with some pre-defined mappings and pre-configured emulators to have a retropie-style interface with almost no setup effort on my end (and the setup you do do is well documented on their site).
Now I have my entire library of games, new and old, available to play on a machine with super comfortable controls built-in, in a smaller form factor than a laptop plus controller.
And this is coming from a guy with Moonlight installed on my AndroidTV so I can stream my main gaming rig to it.
RetroDeck is a flatpak and EmuDeck is basically a script that installs a bunch of custom stuff directly and configures it. I like the flatpak ecosystem and it makes more sense to me to do it that way so it’s self-contained. Seems like it’d be cleaner to remove/update/move the installation and less likely to break due to a SteamOS update
EmuDeck is working on Windows/ROG Ally support, while RetroDeck is just for Linux and dev priorities are still fully focused on the Deck
RetroDeck supports a couple fewer systems than EmuDeck, but they both cover all of the ones I care about personally.
So you’re comparing a $400 portable to a $3k 1000 watt desktop?
Yeah, if you have that desktop and a steam controller, that’s going to play better at home. If you want to play portably, or anywhere in your house like in bed next to your wife, the deck is excellent. You could even stream locally from you PC to the deck while laying in bed.
Mine is only 450-500 at most, and about half that cost (towards when GPUs began to come down). But I was just trying to ascertain how it compares to a gaming rig from current or a generation ago. If it can emulate and do 2D like a champ but struggles with 3D, that would factor into my decision. I don’t mind lowering settings, but I do if they always have to be “Low.” I did my time on a GTX 960M—not doing that again, insomuch as it’s up to me.
But from the other answers, it sounds like it is both capable and has some unique use cases that my SFF desktop couldn’t fill. With the community support and ever-growing list of tweaks and tools, I think it might be on my shortlist for the next sale.
If your setup works for you I wouldn’t bother changing, but for me going from steam link to deck has been night and day. Running the games locally has been a massive experience improvement for couch coop, while the portability is great for unwinding away from my desk. No input lag, no weird video artifacts, things like that made it worth running locally for me.
Running the games locally also provides the ability to play games without an Internet connection, like at a park or cafe.
Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense, and I’ll have to give it some thought.
Running the games locally has been a massive experience improvement for couch coop
Can you explain this one a bit more? Can you connect multiple together, like a WLAN party, or do you mean like playing the same online game together on a couch?
Wellll you could connect multiple together like a WLAN, but I meant specifically local multiplayer on a single system. Games like KeyWe, It Takes Two, Sackboy big adventure, overcooked, etc is my main use for having my deck docked.
When streaming games with 4 bluetooth controllers going there was a lot of input delay, that problem has been totally solved by running locally on the deck. Of course I could have probably built a gaming capable HTPC or similar, the deck is just a PC after all.
I have a steam controller and a steam link, and this is not the same as that, at all. The steam link has a lot of issues honestly as well, and I tried to use the Steam Link as a way to play games on my TV in other parts of my house and it simply stinks unless you play only specific steam-link compatible games.
StemaDeck doesn’t have those limitations, you can play anything, even games not really made for it and have a smooth-as-butter experience. Even multiplayer on a TV, or on the go.
To plug the Steamdeck into a TV you need, at minimum, something that converts USB-C into DVI or whatever port your TV has. The multiplayer can be through corded USB controllers plugged into a dock, or you can use Steam controllers through USB thingy, or Xbox and Nintendo Bluetooth controllers natively through the deck itself.
It’s a handheld that can play basically any game through the previous generation and even some current AAA titles. If you have a steam library already, most of your games are suddenly playable on the go. The hardware is open with spare parts easily obtainable so that you can repair it yourself if you drop it. Valve is very engaged with maintaining and updating the software to be an enjoyable experience whether you prefer console or PC. Because it is subsidized by software sales the hardware costs less and drove down prices in the industry for competing products. When my 10-year-old motherboard gave out in my desktop, I was able to use the Steam Deck as my primary PC for a month while I took my time putting together a new computer. Also, you are very correct that it has had a meaningful impact on Linux gaming.
I will also argue that the Steam Deck is driving more quality/fun games as the HW is not the highest spec. Some (bad) games relied only on the “prettyness” of the game to sell. Today those practices do not push many numbers… looking at you Forspoken.
I get what you’re saying. I thought that myself, that it would be niche. Then I got it and now it’s part of my standard carry. I think the tricky thing about it is that it doesn’t do anything surprising, so you wouldn’t expect that it would be so successful. But once you try it yourself, you realize that the appeal is primarily in how balanced and versatile it is. In other words, it doesn’t do anything new, but it does everything that it tries to do very well
I have two for my kids, and will be getting a third. With the dock, it acts as a regular desktop computer with monitor on an arm, mouse, keyboard, etc, giving my kids an inexpensive desktop computer that can play games. It’s emulation is so robust that I downloaded battle net from Blizzard, added the installer as a non steam game, ran it with proton compatibility, and they can now play diablo 2 resurrected.
In desktop mode it is just a regular Linux desktop, so they can browse the web, and I have a nuc running Windows that they can remote into to learn Windows OS stuff as well. It is a way better experience for them than any other micro PC you might find for $400. And it can be mobile. Pretty crazy device.
That said, I wouldn’t need one for myself unless I traveled a whole lot more and wanted my steam fix on the road. But for a kids first desktop they are amazing.
If you mean pure desktop, probably whatever age you’d need to be to use windows. Switching from Windows to Linux is an adjustment for most normal people, but a big part of that is because they’ve been using windows for years and are used to their design choices. At the end of the day, though, in either case, shortcuts on a screen are shortcuts on a screen, and you’re not going to be ready to manage either OS for a good while.
In terms of using it as a handheld, the flow is pretty easy, but it’s really big and heavy for a little kid.
One other suggestion for game mode with kids: you can use decky loader with the CSS Loader plugin to customize the experience and remove elements that you don’t think are needed. I’m not sure if you can straight up hide the store completely or not, but you can definitely hide the news and other tabs that might have content you’re unsure of.
Ages 10 and 7, and I will be setting one up for my 5 year old. The two older kids can easily switch between game mode and desktop, run teamspeak and switch to their games, browse the web, etc. They needed a little help to get going but now are self sufficient and play multiplayer trailmakers all the time. The five year old will just do game mode with a cheap wired Xbox type controller to play kid games.
You can throw it in your backpack and go around the city on roller blades screaming “hack the planet” because you’ve literally got a fully functional PC in your back pocket.
It’s solid. when my laptop went out and I needed a back up, it serves as a daily driver for a few days while the replacement shipped. No issues.
This was one of those products that, when it was announced, I thought to myself “meh, I have no need for this.” But through the urging of friends, I pre ordered it back in July of 21, because hey, it was only 5 bucks to deposit and I could cancel.
Then as they started coming out, and I heard about everything they could do, I thought “well damn that’s pretty cool.” And then my own hype grew until I managed to get it, I believe August of last year. By far the most fun I’ve had with a device in quite some time.
Interesting, I assumed that it would flop or at best be a very niche product. It doesn’t seem like a very interesting device to me. I don’t see the appeal at all.
I guess it’s nice to hear that it’s so successful, considering how much it has done for linux gaming.
Tell me you haven’t tried a steam deck without telling me you haven’t tried a steam deck.
Not the person you replied to, but I have a Steam Controller and a streaming device for my main library on my desktop, so I’m honestly torn.
What do you think makes this better than such a setup? From my perspective, it seems like the main benefit is “Steam Controller with screen attached,” so it’s portable, and it has some limited* capabilities to install and play games locally.
I’m not trying to detract, but having used my own setup for over five years, I wonder what it is I might be missing. What do you think?
Edit: *Compared to a desktop with latest-gen or second-latest-gen hardware.
Limited capabilities? I haven’t found a game in my library it couldn’t play locally. The ui is great, the controls work well, and it can even be used to run desktop apps.
I should have qualified: *Limited compared to latest-gen desktop hardware.
Because let’s be honest, no amount of tweaking will get you to that same level. But it’s obviously enjoyable and more than “just playable,” else we’d hear about it from a lot more people. My question was more geared towards “what is it that I’m missing out on” compared to what I have, not to passive aggressively wrinkle my nose at the console.
Well, it’s a great machine for emulators, for one. I setup Retrodeck as a single flatpak, then was able to dump my ROM collection into some folders and it used EmulationStation Desktop Edition combined with some pre-defined mappings and pre-configured emulators to have a retropie-style interface with almost no setup effort on my end (and the setup you do do is well documented on their site).
Now I have my entire library of games, new and old, available to play on a machine with super comfortable controls built-in, in a smaller form factor than a laptop plus controller.
And this is coming from a guy with Moonlight installed on my AndroidTV so I can stream my main gaming rig to it.
@entropicdrift @Telorand why did you choose retro deck over emu deck ?
Couple reasons:
RetroDeck is a flatpak and EmuDeck is basically a script that installs a bunch of custom stuff directly and configures it. I like the flatpak ecosystem and it makes more sense to me to do it that way so it’s self-contained. Seems like it’d be cleaner to remove/update/move the installation and less likely to break due to a SteamOS update
EmuDeck is working on Windows/ROG Ally support, while RetroDeck is just for Linux and dev priorities are still fully focused on the Deck
RetroDeck supports a couple fewer systems than EmuDeck, but they both cover all of the ones I care about personally.
RetroDeck is also more closely partnered with EmulationStation-DE
@entropicdrift is retrodeck ready for use? I haven’t really heard of it compared to emudeck.
So you’re comparing a $400 portable to a $3k 1000 watt desktop?
Yeah, if you have that desktop and a steam controller, that’s going to play better at home. If you want to play portably, or anywhere in your house like in bed next to your wife, the deck is excellent. You could even stream locally from you PC to the deck while laying in bed.
Mine is only 450-500 at most, and about half that cost (towards when GPUs began to come down). But I was just trying to ascertain how it compares to a gaming rig from current or a generation ago. If it can emulate and do 2D like a champ but struggles with 3D, that would factor into my decision. I don’t mind lowering settings, but I do if they always have to be “Low.” I did my time on a GTX 960M—not doing that again, insomuch as it’s up to me.
But from the other answers, it sounds like it is both capable and has some unique use cases that my SFF desktop couldn’t fill. With the community support and ever-growing list of tweaks and tools, I think it might be on my shortlist for the next sale.
If your setup works for you I wouldn’t bother changing, but for me going from steam link to deck has been night and day. Running the games locally has been a massive experience improvement for couch coop, while the portability is great for unwinding away from my desk. No input lag, no weird video artifacts, things like that made it worth running locally for me.
Running the games locally also provides the ability to play games without an Internet connection, like at a park or cafe.
Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense, and I’ll have to give it some thought.
Can you explain this one a bit more? Can you connect multiple together, like a WLAN party, or do you mean like playing the same online game together on a couch?
I’m not sure about their response, but I’ve had success using it with a usb adapter to play couch coop on a tv without needing a dedicated console.
Wellll you could connect multiple together like a WLAN, but I meant specifically local multiplayer on a single system. Games like KeyWe, It Takes Two, Sackboy big adventure, overcooked, etc is my main use for having my deck docked.
When streaming games with 4 bluetooth controllers going there was a lot of input delay, that problem has been totally solved by running locally on the deck. Of course I could have probably built a gaming capable HTPC or similar, the deck is just a PC after all.
Hmm, I had been thinking about building/getting an SFF PC for streaming, but maybe this would be a good option…
Can you play your desktop while in bed?
I have a phone clip for my Steam Controller and Steam Link on said phone, so yes.
But could I play when I’m not home? Not without lag.
Or when the desktop is off? No, and I’m not leaving it on for that.
I have a steam controller and a steam link, and this is not the same as that, at all. The steam link has a lot of issues honestly as well, and I tried to use the Steam Link as a way to play games on my TV in other parts of my house and it simply stinks unless you play only specific steam-link compatible games.
StemaDeck doesn’t have those limitations, you can play anything, even games not really made for it and have a smooth-as-butter experience. Even multiplayer on a TV, or on the go.
So for TV multi, do you need the dock for that? How does that work, because that would definitely be a use case for me.
To plug the Steamdeck into a TV you need, at minimum, something that converts USB-C into DVI or whatever port your TV has. The multiplayer can be through corded USB controllers plugged into a dock, or you can use Steam controllers through USB thingy, or Xbox and Nintendo Bluetooth controllers natively through the deck itself.
Thanks! I think I’m getting a better sense of how this might work for me. Appreciate you taking the time to explain
It’s a handheld that can play basically any game through the previous generation and even some current AAA titles. If you have a steam library already, most of your games are suddenly playable on the go. The hardware is open with spare parts easily obtainable so that you can repair it yourself if you drop it. Valve is very engaged with maintaining and updating the software to be an enjoyable experience whether you prefer console or PC. Because it is subsidized by software sales the hardware costs less and drove down prices in the industry for competing products. When my 10-year-old motherboard gave out in my desktop, I was able to use the Steam Deck as my primary PC for a month while I took my time putting together a new computer. Also, you are very correct that it has had a meaningful impact on Linux gaming.
In my opinion, there’s a lot to like.
I will also argue that the Steam Deck is driving more quality/fun games as the HW is not the highest spec. Some (bad) games relied only on the “prettyness” of the game to sell. Today those practices do not push many numbers… looking at you Forspoken.
I get what you’re saying. I thought that myself, that it would be niche. Then I got it and now it’s part of my standard carry. I think the tricky thing about it is that it doesn’t do anything surprising, so you wouldn’t expect that it would be so successful. But once you try it yourself, you realize that the appeal is primarily in how balanced and versatile it is. In other words, it doesn’t do anything new, but it does everything that it tries to do very well
I have two for my kids, and will be getting a third. With the dock, it acts as a regular desktop computer with monitor on an arm, mouse, keyboard, etc, giving my kids an inexpensive desktop computer that can play games. It’s emulation is so robust that I downloaded battle net from Blizzard, added the installer as a non steam game, ran it with proton compatibility, and they can now play diablo 2 resurrected.
In desktop mode it is just a regular Linux desktop, so they can browse the web, and I have a nuc running Windows that they can remote into to learn Windows OS stuff as well. It is a way better experience for them than any other micro PC you might find for $400. And it can be mobile. Pretty crazy device.
That said, I wouldn’t need one for myself unless I traveled a whole lot more and wanted my steam fix on the road. But for a kids first desktop they are amazing.
When you say “kids,” what do you think the age floor would be for such a setup? Do you think being able to read is a prerequisite?
If you mean pure desktop, probably whatever age you’d need to be to use windows. Switching from Windows to Linux is an adjustment for most normal people, but a big part of that is because they’ve been using windows for years and are used to their design choices. At the end of the day, though, in either case, shortcuts on a screen are shortcuts on a screen, and you’re not going to be ready to manage either OS for a good while.
In terms of using it as a handheld, the flow is pretty easy, but it’s really big and heavy for a little kid.
Thanks!
One other suggestion for game mode with kids: you can use decky loader with the CSS Loader plugin to customize the experience and remove elements that you don’t think are needed. I’m not sure if you can straight up hide the store completely or not, but you can definitely hide the news and other tabs that might have content you’re unsure of.
Does Steam Family View work on the steam deck?
No clue. I don’t use family view.
Ages 10 and 7, and I will be setting one up for my 5 year old. The two older kids can easily switch between game mode and desktop, run teamspeak and switch to their games, browse the web, etc. They needed a little help to get going but now are self sufficient and play multiplayer trailmakers all the time. The five year old will just do game mode with a cheap wired Xbox type controller to play kid games.
You can throw it in your backpack and go around the city on roller blades screaming “hack the planet” because you’ve literally got a fully functional PC in your back pocket.
It’s solid. when my laptop went out and I needed a back up, it serves as a daily driver for a few days while the replacement shipped. No issues.
i don’t get this, it’s a handheld PC that can play games really well, in what universe would that not sell well?
This was one of those products that, when it was announced, I thought to myself “meh, I have no need for this.” But through the urging of friends, I pre ordered it back in July of 21, because hey, it was only 5 bucks to deposit and I could cancel.
Then as they started coming out, and I heard about everything they could do, I thought “well damn that’s pretty cool.” And then my own hype grew until I managed to get it, I believe August of last year. By far the most fun I’ve had with a device in quite some time.
Yep.
It’s also interesting to think of it as a “device” because it blurs the line between PC and handheld so well.
Half the time I’m thinking of it as a device. The other half of the time I’m thinking of it like a laptop or a PC.