Wait, let me understand this. Is your link something official? Like, reliable? Because come on Gabe, less time on Aliexpress ordering random valves with the company card!

Ah! It’s even more visible there than on their page, leave it to me to find the hardest way lol

Also, while during gameplay it’s true that depending on the game there’s no real difference with a ssd, the speed is a matter of standard: you aren’t going to fall for a usb 2 drive boasting 1gb of speeds! But the UHS-I standard is far less known and they can make their out of standard reader, so while in practice it’s nonsense, it’s also technically correct and that’s probably the one thing keeping things from being false advertising.

(My point was that it’s important to make informed purchases, get whatever has the best price/performance for your use while being aware of that kind of marketing shenanigans)

FYI it’s 104, not 150. https://www.sandisk.com/products/memory-cards/microsd-cards/sandisk-ultra-uhs-i-microsd?sku=SDSQUNC-016G-AN6MA At the bottom: “engineered with proprietary technology to reach speeds beyond UHS-I 104MB/s, require compatible devices capable of reaching such speed.” or in other words, it does that only with their own reader.

It’s not fully comparable. Basically Microsoft, as it seems to be the default, messed things up by making the Xbox: sure, before that the computer gamepad situation was chaotic, but after, they created the de facto standard that is the Xbox controller. Is a feature on that controller? No? Well, nobody else will have it then. Back buttons are really just there for ergonomics because with a thumb over each stick you get no access to face buttons but back ones can be remapped to those. It’s cool! But also the only thing they can really do. Steam Controller/Deck? Thanks to Steam input, more or less anything you want! Mouse click? Sure. Pop up menu with a bunch of options? Obviously. The game supports Steam input? Then you can bind them to anything the game offers. As a super basic thing, you end up with a controller that has two analogs, a d-pad, “not anymore start and select”, a “home” button, 4 face buttons, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, two trackpads, a gyro and four back buttons. I have a GameSir Cyclone 2, and I’m eagerly waiting for the Steam Controller 2 as it’ll be a meaningful upgrade even if at first glance the only missing feature are the trackpads.

Similar opinion here! What I’ve noticed since the NES, is that my hands are largely symmetrical, and so the better layout depends more on the game than anything. For example, Microsoft had the advantage for a long time in racing games! Longer triggers giving better control, left stick in a spot making symmetry with the face buttons so everything goes naturally over steering, throttle, brake and whatever the face buttons do in the specific game, maybe turbo or…

Similarly, that layout favors games where camera control isn’t important (or possible) like action games, platformers and so on, focusing on movement and actions.

Now, the symmetrical sticks? They are perfect for things like fps, as the hands will be comfortably over the same spots: both thumbs on analogs, index and middle fingers over shoulder buttons and if there’s back buttons even a better alternative to face buttons!

And as mentioned in another comment, the Steam Deck has everything on the same level, making it perfect for anything. <3

I have played so much that nowadays I don’t even notice the difference in layout so much, be it the Dual Sense for games that support it or the GameSir Cyclone 2 for the rest (TMR sticks!) but what I DO notice is the not anymore start and select. Press “mystery button” to open the menu and I’m there, trying to figure out if it’s the one on the right or left side…

Somehow I never noticed that everything is nice and symmetrical until you mentioned. That… yeah, I think that’s even better than Sony’s design.

PowerWash Simulator. Was included with Apple Arcade and I saw no reason not to actually try it, then I started getting into it and long story short, there’s a lot extra content on the main version, plus a lot extra paid dlc (that’ll have to wait for a sale!) and the only way to play the game is, IMO, with the gyro. Perfect match for the Deck!

Ubisoft is a weird one. I like their open world games (not that hard, so long as I like the premise for a specific one, it’s more of the same) and they seem to want their games running everywhere! Except sometimes. Here’s the latest example, but conversely a few months ago Motorfest stopped being announced anti cheat pita and just worked. Always have to check protondb before getting one… oh! And then there’s Starlink, which works on Linux but, lol, hates virtualization tech so on Windows it’s either that not running, or Windows complaining about lowered security. Lovely.

You know Proton, and how the various versions have different compatibility? And some games might prefer a specific Proton? This stuff is a… “Linux base” that developers can target, so for example if I make a game tomorrow and target a specific version, it’ll run tomorrow like in 20 years, because no matter how the actual system will change, that “Linux base” I targeted will still be there.

Look, I have a Mac, I like the ecosystem but have a handful of Linux machines (including my laptop) so I’m, ahem, not the average Mac user. You go in the App Store and enjoy whatever games are there. Or hear that on Steam they’re less expensive and go through that… then discover that there’s a boatload of Mac games that simply won’t work on your OS because they are 32 bit and Apple dropped support for that in 2019 (meaning that from 2019 no Mac, even Intel ones, can run those games). Then, there’s the Crossover option: a paid product that will allow you to install Steam for Windows and any game compatible with that platform. It’ll use GPTK for compatibility and it’s a big supporter of WINE, so a purchase helps open source…

But: how likely do you think that an Apple user will go that far off the beaten path?

Mandatory reminder to remove the microsd before opening the Deck…

I have none of those issues, but a couple of extra weird ones… this is the official dock btw. First, maybe it’s something I plugged in, but the Deck’s battery will be drained (slowly, over many days) if it’s plugged in and not turned on. Suspended or off is the same, I must unplug. Then the one that really pisses me off because I can’t wrap my head around it, I can’t unplug it unless I fully turn it off first. Doing otherwise tends to make my home network comatose! Basically nothing can see anything. Computers lose connection to the NAS, to the router… nothing works until I plug it back and turn it on, then I can turn it off and unplug. ffs.

I got Warplanes Air Corp and also Battle over the Pacific. And Dragon Age Veilguard.

However, lol, the servers must be a little overloaded, it’s downloading at dozens of megabits and, running a speed test at the same time gave me over 700 so yeah. It’ll take some patience XD

Yep! Just pick any Proton, and it’ll work… my favorite is experimental as it’s always updated, but the latest one is fine, same if you want to use proton GE.

Have you considered Snowrunner, Farming Simulator and American/Euro truck simulator? All games capable of unplugging your brain for a while. Just remember to manually set Proton if you play either truck sim, they have a terribly unoptimized Linux native version that runs poorly on the Deck.

It’s a computer, after all. But if you want to try it… don’t expect too much: a simple game, VERY pixelated by the time I’ve reduced the resolution enough was enough to make it barely hit 60fps. A cool experiment, but not much more…

The weirdest thing so far has been setting up Steam VR with ALVR because I could. And it technically works XD

Agreed 100%, I’m happy with my 4th quarter 64gb Deck (after the ssd upgrade XD ), however choice and diversity is good. If Windows is considered a selling point, and a Linux version would have to be a separate SKU, reducing availability? Giving the option to buy the single Windows SKU, and maybe downloading an official tool that installs Linux with all the necessary drivers would be better than having to justify a separate, likely less popular SKU. Plus while neither of us is interested in the Ally, other people will have different tastes. Let companies make all shapes and performance/price options for everyone :D

I pointed out that the OS, trackpads and ergonomics are my main focus. Honestly, more Linux devices would be a win! Even if it ships with Windows but there’s an easy, official way to get Linux on the thing that’d be great.

I say “”””yes”””” you might disagree. Here’s my findings https://startrek.website/comment/13646875