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Oof. Memory leaks?

Steam can definitely compete with them on price. It runs steam out of the box; and they can expect to make some sales on that. OEM margins are already razor thin, and Valve has a major leg up on them.

Any word on what the hardware specs are? Someone there used their brain and loaded up SteamOS, but the hardware needs to be worth the jump or it’s just a steam deck clone.

I swear I’ll be dead before they figure out why they haven’t managed to take on the SteamDecks success. Put SteamOS on it. Put trackpads on it. What really separates this from the other devices? Slightly different hardware?

Very true. It’s similar to NVIDIA in that way. Their money comes from data centers, licensing, and B2B - not gaming GPUs. I’m speaking in the terms of Windows on traditional consumer desktops and their position in that space. I don’t mean to sound like one of the usual “MS is dead any day now” people, cause frankly they are wrong.

I imagine some of the smarter people at Microsoft are seeing the Steam Deck unfold and are realizing it’s a potential threat. Desktop is dying, and gaming is one of the few segments still doing alright in the space. Microsoft wants to make sure games continue to be made for Windows even as mobile and consoles take over the lion’s share of profits. They haven’t been buying up studios just to prop up Xbox 😉. The Deck runs Windows games, and if compatibility ever reaches a point that the average gamer doesn’t need to know they aren’t running Windows, Microsoft is in big trouble. With the progress made just in the last five years alone, it’s an eventual possibility.

Licensing is a cost in an already razor-thin market. If gamers won’t care that a device isn’t running Windows - they won’t install Windows on it, and the OEM will just pocket the difference. Valve also has an advantage traditionally enjoyed by console manufacturers. They can sell it at no profit or even a loss, because Steam Store sales will make the money back.

So long as Valve keeps steady progress and improving compatibility, they will carve out their niche. If they can somehow get studios with major multiplayer games to provide official support, the chicken and egg problem will solve itself.

Fact of the matter is the most successful Linux devices are the ones that you don’t need to know Linux to use. Chromebooks and steam decks are popular because they don’t need tinkered with. You can if you want, but the average person can just use it.

I hope it does because the biggest problem for handhelds like the Ally is the atrocious experience as soon as you leave steam big picture. Armor Crate is buggy as hell and trying to click anything in windows with the joysticks is not fun. Not to mention the usual Windows shenanigans of “update every damn day” and “spam me with bs about one drive and angry birds”.

Haha right? I’ve got an embarrassing amount of hours in animal crossing and Kirby Air Ride and neither makes the fan even turn on outside of the initial shader compilation.

I’m not a big online multiplayer person, which I’ve been told makes me the model audience for it. My impressions have been nothing but positive for the six months I’ve owned mine. I haven’t had any issues with games either, which compared to the last Linux laptop I used is just wow. I’ve been playing Mortal Kombat 11 this week and the graphics it call pull off are impressive given its footprint. If a 2 comes out I’m definitely getting it day one.

Bingo, they want to hoover up all that data. Between subscriptions for hardware functionality and data mining, they want to turn cars into recurring revenue streams.

The gameplay I watched raised some of the same concerns. Looting without purpose beyond selling it, and so many menus to do anything. Another is the planets. Is it really just land, go to place far as fuck away, loot, then return? I get that it’s a galaxy and people are going to be spread out, but it’s jarring how…empty it feels? In Skyrim and Fallout the journey is the fun, you can walk around and something bizarre or interesting will happen. I’m not expecting space to be filled to the brim, but the planets are empty feeling too? My expectation was you could detect things in space or on planets and they would be like the dungeons or vaults, with unique little stories that tie together if you explore enough.

From the responses it seems like it’s a divisive game. You either like it or don’t. I’ll probably wait until it’s on sale and modded tear it apart like you recommended. And it’s funny running a steam deck how pretty much every game (even ancient ones like 688i Hunter-Killer) works out of the box. Just enable Proton and play. Now if only Vortex worked as easily… So I’m not too surprised Starfield works. I watched an hour of gameplay and it looks like it has the scavenging, but I didn’t see any use for it besides the fill-spaceship-with-random-object meme.

My man. Me and my partner have totaled about 100 hours in baldurs gate, and I just started downloading phantom liberty. Is starfield worth it? The Reddit hive-mind has decided it hates it so I’m not listening to them. I basically want fallout in space.

The most successful Linux devices are the ones you don’t need to know Linux to use. The Steam Deck has been exemplary in that regard. In my experience, I haven’t had to do anything but use it. Even desktop mode is just click and play.

For me it’s the fact that it just works. I don’t want to fiddle with Wine or bottles or any if that. I pick the game and launch it, never have i had to do more than that.