I highly doubt Nintendo is attempting any kind of gap closure with the deck, because how could they and why?
The only thing they share is a form factor. Nintendo is well aware that the reason they sell consoles is as a dedicated platform for their own games. I truly believe that is their bread and butter and all they really care about. If the system gets popular enough, then it will get some third party support which means it will have some very limited library crossover with PC/PS/Xbox, but I think we are past the point where Nintendo intends to rely on that as a selling point for this or any future generation of consoles. Ports of games that come to switch are pretty uniformly the worst version of the game to play, and it’s pretty clear that doesn’t bother Nintendo at all.
Which is all to say, I don’t think Nintendo and Valve think of each other as direct competitors, because they serve entirely different markets. I have both a switch and a deck. I love them both. I use my switch to play Nintendo games, I use my deck to play pretty much anything else. I don’t think I’m unique at all in that regard, and frankly it never would occur to me that these devices have anything to do with one another.
There are supposedly two new hardware devices coming from Valve, earlier leaks had two different product code names. So possibly we’re getting both a revised deck and a new VR something.
@Fubarberry@Lord_Wunderfrog dang, people just got a deck. Oh well, time to upgrade. I really want a better screen. Playing games on the SD and seeing that same game on other consoles makes me feel like I’m missing details.
I don’t think there’s currently evidence that this new “Deck” is a Deck at all. Releasing a standing console box with the Deck’s internals but better cooling, ethernet and better wifi, HDMI/DP out, 3.5" SSD support, and SteamOS 3.5, but no screen / integrated controls / battery would make a lot of sense for Valve. And I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t probably buy one - the docked Deck has been fantastic in that role. It would probably be cheaper than the Deck since durability, battery, and screen are all likely expensive investments for them on the actual Deck.
Steam Machines failed because there wasn’t a successful base model for companies to clone, and because Big Picture mode sucked. The modern Deck UI and UX are on par with Sony/MS/Nintendo’s and you get to sell the console as “it works with the controllers you already have and the games you already bought”.
God, what I wouldn’t give for a standalone VR headset with the Steam Deck’s internals…mostly because I just want them to shove a whole bunch of support behind getting VR to work right on Linux.
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I highly doubt Nintendo is attempting any kind of gap closure with the deck, because how could they and why?
The only thing they share is a form factor. Nintendo is well aware that the reason they sell consoles is as a dedicated platform for their own games. I truly believe that is their bread and butter and all they really care about. If the system gets popular enough, then it will get some third party support which means it will have some very limited library crossover with PC/PS/Xbox, but I think we are past the point where Nintendo intends to rely on that as a selling point for this or any future generation of consoles. Ports of games that come to switch are pretty uniformly the worst version of the game to play, and it’s pretty clear that doesn’t bother Nintendo at all.
Which is all to say, I don’t think Nintendo and Valve think of each other as direct competitors, because they serve entirely different markets. I have both a switch and a deck. I love them both. I use my switch to play Nintendo games, I use my deck to play pretty much anything else. I don’t think I’m unique at all in that regard, and frankly it never would occur to me that these devices have anything to do with one another.
They said they’re not releasing a more powerful deck, and we already know from leaks that the upcoming valve hardware has the same APU.
This doesn’t rule out other changes, like a new screen, different form factor, etc.
My money’s on a new Index. Possibly with onboard graphics like the Quest
There are supposedly two new hardware devices coming from Valve, earlier leaks had two different product code names. So possibly we’re getting both a revised deck and a new VR something.
@Fubarberry @Lord_Wunderfrog dang, people just got a deck. Oh well, time to upgrade. I really want a better screen. Playing games on the SD and seeing that same game on other consoles makes me feel like I’m missing details.
I don’t think there’s currently evidence that this new “Deck” is a Deck at all. Releasing a standing console box with the Deck’s internals but better cooling, ethernet and better wifi, HDMI/DP out, 3.5" SSD support, and SteamOS 3.5, but no screen / integrated controls / battery would make a lot of sense for Valve. And I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t probably buy one - the docked Deck has been fantastic in that role. It would probably be cheaper than the Deck since durability, battery, and screen are all likely expensive investments for them on the actual Deck.
Steam Machines failed because there wasn’t a successful base model for companies to clone, and because Big Picture mode sucked. The modern Deck UI and UX are on par with Sony/MS/Nintendo’s and you get to sell the console as “it works with the controllers you already have and the games you already bought”.
God, what I wouldn’t give for a standalone VR headset with the Steam Deck’s internals…mostly because I just want them to shove a whole bunch of support behind getting VR to work right on Linux.