Handheld Gaming Has a New Competitor
Handheld gaming is still an important market. There can be no doubt about the fact that mobile gaming has emerged as a serious threat to handheld gaming. However, there are still a lot of people out there who want something that is both powerful and convenient, which means that a handheld gaming console can still be the best solution for them.
Having said that, interested individuals should know that the new Steam Deck from Valve and AMD isn’t what most people would consider to be a normal handheld gaming console. Traditionally speaking, handheld gaming consoles have their own game libraries, which can contain both exclusive titles and cross-platform titles. Steam Deck’s game library is the Steam library, which doesn’t include every single PC title out there but definitely includes the overwhelming majority of PC titles that are still being supported in the present time. As such, there is a reason why some people have compared the Steam Deck to gaming laptops rather than other handheld consoles.
What Should You Know About the Steam Deck?
Here is what interested individuals should know about the Steam Deck:
Meant to Play Almost the Entire Steam Library
The Steam Deck is meant to be capable of playing almost the entire Steam library. Theoretically speaking, Valve could have built a less powerful handheld gaming console in exchange for more limitations on what it could and couldn’t play. However, the leadership insisted on this function, which was at last made possible while working in cooperation with AMD.
It is interesting to note that the Steam Deck is meant to be future-proof to some extent. Its specs are modest when compared with truly high-end gaming computers. However, it was designed so that it will be enough for the overwhelming majority of games for years to come. Valve has stated that chances are good that there will be future iterations of the Steam Deck, but that will depend a great deal on the latest handheld technologies rather than be a regular thing.
Not Quite Perfect In This Regard
Unfortunately, the Steam Deck isn’t quite perfect in this regard. Essentially, it uses Linux, which is problematic when so much of the Steam library is PC-only. Valve started working on a compatibility layer called Proton before the Steam Deck was ever a thing. However, while it does work for the most part, it isn’t perfect. A green tick on the Steam UI indicates that everything is good to go for that particular game. Meanwhile, a yellow tick on the Steam UI indicates that the game is playable but can have issues of various kinds while a red tick on the Steam UI indicates that the game is outright unplayable. Currently, most games come with a yellow tick, though there is a small upside in that there aren’t a lot of games that come with a red tick. Generally speaking, the games that have a red tick only have a red tick because they need some kind of hardware that isn’t supported by the handheld gaming console. As such, there is hope that things will continue to improve in the future.
Very Flexible
One of the upsides of the Steam Deck is that it is very flexible. For example, if people want, they can connect the handheld gaming console to either a TV or a monitor via USB-C for a more traditional console experience. Simultaneously, it is entertaining to note that it is possible to install Linux apps on the Steam Deck, thus turning it even closer to being the mini-PC that it is. In fact, if people wanted to for whatever reason, they could install a Windows OS on it.
Starting Price
The starting price for the Steam Deck is $399. This is for the 64GB model. There will be both a 246GB model and a 512GB model, which will be priced at $529 and $649 respectively.
What Does This Mean For Valve Games?
It is hard to say what this will meant for Valve games. The Steam Deck is Valve capitalizing on the advantage that it has built up over time by focusing on its video game digital distribution service. After all, the more games that people have in their Steam library, the more useful the handheld gaming console will be for them. However, this doesn’t really affect Valve’s interest in making more Valve games one way or the other. The company hasn’t stopped making them, as shown by the release of Half-Life: Alyx. Even so, there is no indication of it showing much interest in going further in this regard anytime soon.
