Steam Deck

The Steam Deck Pocket PC could potentially set the gaming world on fire. If Valve throws enough weight behind it, that is.

The steam bridge has potential only if the valve can survive the risk

Confirming long-standing rumors, Valve recently announced the Steam Deck, essentially a handheld game console designed to compete with the Nintendo Switch based on the PC giant’s Steam platform. It’s already causing a stir within the Android Authority team and could potentially set the gaming world on fire… if Valve puts enough weight on it, of course.

Bottom Line: The Steam Deck is equipped with bespoke AMD processors, a 7-inch touchscreen and between 64512 GB of internal memory, which can be supplemented with microSD cards. It has a variety of control options, including joysticks and trackpads, and can also be connected to TVs, monitors, and docking stations via USBC. Since this is ultimately a hyper-optimized PC, many (but not all) of the games in your existing Steam library will work on the Steam deck. You can also install Windows there if there are similar and even competing gaming platforms like Epic Games Store or Xbox Game Pass. Bluetooth headsets, keyboards and mice are supported. Simply put, it’s a PC, but it’s portable.

While it doesn’t do away with high-end towers and laptops, the potential of the Stream Deck lies in solving two issues in PC gaming: cost and convenience. The cheapest model costs $ 399, which is just $ 50 more than the recently announced Switch OLED model. in October and arguably offers a much better deal in terms of performance and breadth of its game library; it’s also half the price of other niche laptops we’ve seen from GPD and other brands to date.

For the sake of simplicity, a conventional gaming laptop could be revolutionary. PC gaming has traditionally meant sitting at a desk or dealing with a bulky laptop. Of course, it is possible to connect a computer to the television directly or via Steam Link. However, the process can be tricky at times, especially compared to just plugging in a Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation. The brook bridge

is also an Instanton device with a built-in gamepad. A big advantage of a Switch is the ability to simply record it, press a button, and play anywhere, anytime. Laptops and PC players typically had to boot into Windows and plug in a mouse or other external controller, which won’t take that long in 2022, but the extra steps can make all the difference between someone playing Superhot or watching HBO. . People won’t be pulling out a laptop and a controller to play games on the bus.

Valve Story could haunt Steam Deck

The real test for Steam Deck will be whether Valve can keep it up to date and be supported. The company has a mixed history with the hardware, to say the least. As one of the best VR headsets for people who can afford the $ 1,000 price tag, Valve has released and discontinued hardware products in the past, including Steam Controllers and the Steam Machine PC platform. . It even ditched the dedicated Steam Link decoder. despite an enthusiastic audience.

This cheek won’t fly with the Steam Deck, not when it wants to compete with consoles. At the very least, people will expect their $ 400 investment to be worthwhile for a few years. Console makers like Nintendo and Sony don’t. Don’t give up the material if you don’t succeed right away. Improvements will also be made if needed as sales slow down and new technology becomes practical, hence the OLED switch or the latest generations PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.

In fact, with the rapid pace of PC graphics development, Valve is likely to have to iterate faster than its rivals. The current deck can run games like Control and Doom Eternal, but not in detail. The product is dead in the water, even though it has the same specifications in three years. its active and ongoing partnership with AMD improves performance as required by the gaming industry.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell makes some promising statements, such as telling IGN that the company is “doing this for the long haul” and that profit margins are “painful” for “establishing a product category.” That’s certainly the console maker’s approach: swapping material waste for cash for games and accessories. It remains to be seen whether Valve has the guts to do this, although it should be noted that Valve is working to sell more to people. They have fast NVMe storage, and the latest (priced at $ 649) has anti-reflective etched glass to sweeten the deal.