Valve - Steam Deck Launches Today

Redglyph

SasqWatch
Joined
August 29, 2020
Messages
10,159
Location
Good old Europe
The Steam Deck is about to launch. Valve announced what to expect.

Launch Day Details

Hi all, Steam Deck launches in just two days! Thought we would send along some details for what you can expect on Friday, February 25th:

Starting at 10am Pacific, we'll be sending emails out to the first batch of reservation holders via the address tied to their Steam account. Those folks will then have 72 hours to complete their purchase on Steam for the specific model they reserved. If they cancel or do not purchase in this time frame, we'll release their reservation to the next person in the queue.

Around the same time is when you'll start seeing coverage from the roughly 100 media outlets we sent early review units to, so there will be a ton of interesting content and coverage for everyone to check out.

We are also looking forward to getting the official Dock for Steam Deck into customers' hands. It won't be happening as early as we wanted, but we're excited to talk more about it soon and are planning to make them available in late spring.

In the meantime we can't wait to get folks playing on Steam Deck, and can't wait to hear what you think! Feel free to tag the official Steam Deck account on twitter (@OnDeck) to share your experience.
More information.
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2020
Messages
10,159
Location
Good old Europe
Not sure to understand what's "Steam Deck", exactly.
A portable pc gmaing rig inspired by the Nintendo Switch. The target audience would be those who want to play pc games anywhere they want to instead of at home.

The specs were mentioned on it's website.

Link - https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech
There are several reasons why it’s difficult to name a specific Steam Deck GPU equivalent. Its APU doesn’t work the same way as a desktop video card. Suffice to say it’s loosely equivalent to an Nvidia GTX 1050. More toward the point is this: If your PC has a graphics card from 2018 or later, you likely already have access to more graphical power than the Steam Deck can provide
Question is can it handle demanding games?
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,181
Location
Spudlandia
Steam Deck Launch Day

Valve posted an update:
Steam Deck Launch Day

The day is finally here - today Steam Deck order emails are going out to the first batch of reservers, in the order reservations were made. They will have 72 hours to complete their purchase or cancel their reservation, and the next batch of order emails will be sent next week, and so on. As production continues to ramp up, we'll be updating reservation estimates (we see you, After-Q2 gang!).

Today we've updated steamdeck.com with additional info and more prototype images than you can shake a stick at. On the desktop Steam Store, we've added a new Great on Deck page, a way to check your own library for Deck compatibility, as well as additional Steam-Deck-related display and search features.

And to celebrate the launch of Steam Deck, the team has put together a launch video. We hope you have as much fun watching it as we did making it!



In addition, today we are announcing Aperture Desk Job, a free playable short for Valve's new Steam Deck. Set in the Portal universe, Desk Job walks you through the handheld's controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds. Desk Job launches on March 1st and is best experienced on Steam Deck. Find out more about it here.



Finally, you'll start seeing impressions and reviews of Steam Deck from a variety of press and media outlets today - around 100 outlets have had Steam Decks in hand, and there will be plenty of coverage to browse through.

Have fun, and happy launch day!

EDIT: And apparently, they're already talking about the next version (Gaming Bolt), with mobile capabilities.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 29, 2020
Messages
10,159
Location
Good old Europe
Question is can it handle demanding games?

Well, it was reported today that Valve has verified that Elden Ring runs on it… though no one has seen how well. That said, it has been shown running plenty of other triple A games (Control, Doom Eternal etc). Battery life might be the worst thing about it based on previews - but otherwise, it seems pretty cool and capable.

I got in a very early pre-order and am hoping to get my hands on one soon!

EDIT: Woot! Just got my order in and waiting on a shipping date.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 3, 2016
Messages
1,343
Location
A Misty Island
As someone who games a lot (like 4 hours+ day for the last 25 years) I draw the line at portable gaming. For me it would mean that gaming has transitioned from a hobby to life consuming. I would think one would be tempting to take it on the family holiday and other important activities etc which imo is not a good thing.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
3,086
Location
Sigil
Yeah, I've tried portable units before, and learned that I only ever used them while traveling, for the most part. I gave away my Switch some years ago, yet held onto the PSP in case I ever actually travel again. I can understand the attraction, yet for me the computer is king.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I'm not a portable gamer either, never got any of those nintendo portable gaming toys, or any alternative others in that category.. But if I was someone who traveled a lot for work, and had to take a long train ride frequently, for example, this is something I would definitely be interested in. It looks pretty good for a portable gaming toy.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
2,244
Location
Pacific NorthWest, USA!
I can understand how many people will use this for gaming when travelling or commuting but that's not how I plan to use it. I think of it as a cheaper, smaller, more comfortable to hold version of a gaming laptop.

I have a great desktop PC setup in my den... but my family doesn't hang out in my den. So I love the idea of being able to play a game somewhere else in the house where my wife or daughter are reading, or watching TV, or whatever. Or even out in our yard lying in the hammock. I currently do all of that with my Switch - but it doesn't have most of the PC games I want to play.

I actually think this kind of device may be the thing that eventually makes my gaming PC obsolete.
 
Joined
Sep 3, 2016
Messages
1,343
Location
A Misty Island
Well, it was reported today that Valve has verified that Elden Ring runs on it… though no one has seen how well. That said, it has been shown running plenty of other triple A games (Control, Doom Eternal etc). Battery life might be the worst thing about it based on previews - but otherwise, it seems pretty cool and capable..
Here you go medium settings seems to work the best.:)

8 Minutes Of Elden Ring Running On Steam Deck - Gamespot
Elden Ring and Steam Deck share a launch date, so of course we had to know how the game looks and runs on the system. We set the game to medium graphic settings and get a solid performance outside of the occasional frame hitching, although that issue seems to be PC wide and not Steam deck Specific.
Not bad for a mobile PC but not good for those that prefer max settings.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,181
Location
Spudlandia
Not bad for a mobile PC but not good for those that prefer max settings.

True but that doesn't tell the whole story imo. I think of some demanding PC titles I've played on my Switch that have been downsampled a lot to run there - and they still look quite good, due to the smaller screen size.

I'm not suggesting that's nearly as good as playing the game at ultra on a 1440p monitor but running ultra vs medium on a smaller screen doesn't always tell the whole story.

Anyway, I think it is looking like a stellar device for those who have a use case for it.
 
Joined
Sep 3, 2016
Messages
1,343
Location
A Misty Island
Portable gaming is great when you have a trip with long plane rides and periods of extended down time.

I'll probably prefer my Switch though just because it has games that I can't play anywhere else that I can save for a trip like that. The Steam games I've probably already played on my computer if I'm into them.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Mine arrived this week and I've had a chance to play a bit on a few games. Few quick thoughts:
- Controls are solid and extensive enough to give loads of choices and remapping capabilities. (so like Jedi Knight II you can assign force powers all over the place rather than the crappy Nintendo Switch method)
- Graphics are probably better than your laptop ... unless you paid a lot for your laptop. Many games allow 'high' settings at high res and play >30FPS with them.
- Surprisingly comfortable for its size.

Compared to the Switch it is less 'pick up & play' with many games needing some kind of tweak and 'unverified' games being a complete crap-shoot of whether or not things will work. For example - Portal obviously LOOKS better on Steam Deck, but I had to fiddle with controls to get things 'right', and I'm still not sure which version I'd rather play.

I grabbed a high speed 1TB Micro SD to go along with internal storage - but am definitely regretting my default choice for Kickstarters to go to GoG rather than Steam as I have a bunch of games I'd like to play that I now have to wait for the next big sale.

Any questions let me know - I don't plan to do anything extreme (install Windows, different Linux distros, GoG Galaxy, special launchers, etc.) but have already had to od some tweaking since Valve seems to thing you want to use the gyros rather than joysticks for everything and the initial Jedi Outcast defaults were so messed up I had to force reboot the entire system!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
Back
Top Bottom