Steam Deck: Thread 01

[nonny]

Yeah that would also be me...


It's pretty painless to setup. You just download all the drivers from Valve and setup the full 1tb SSD as Steam OS initially and then re-partition to free up space to install Windows later.

This is what I used:

https://github.com/jlobue10/SteamDeck_rEFInd

And then this for tweaking settings on Windows 11 to make it better on the deck.

https://github.com/baldsealion/Steamdeck-Ultimate-Windows11-Guide

[Neon Ignition]

Cheers, bookmarked those

[Neon Ignition]

*Me realising I have enough MS points to get the SSD for free*

[nonny]

*Me realising I have enough MS points to get the SSD for free*

Lol... I've just bought a new steam dock using MS points this morning. Got annoyed of moving mine back and forth into the lounge

[Neon Ignition]

We're mid house move and sorting through things I found and realised I had a dock for the Deck, never even opened the box

[Neon Ignition]

Amazingly, two months on from the Steam Sale where Decks where reduced by 10% the 64GB and 256GB models remain out of stock. The 64GB finally popped up in stock today but sold out within an hour again

Valve needs to ramp up production a little it seems

[nonny]

Valve seriously needs to open up more territories and also make this available through main retail outlets.

It's still not available in Australia for instance and I feel if you're not aware of it's existence it's easy to miss it altogether

The ROG Ally pairing up with Currys will give it that edge so I feel Valve really needs to sort this out soon.

I've been sat at the train station going to work last week and got asked what it was by another bloke who was sitting next to me.

[Dogg Thang]

It's still not available in Australia for instance and I feel if you're not aware of it's existence it's easy to miss it altogether

The ROG Ally pairing up with Currys will give it that edge so I feel Valve really needs to sort this out soon.

Really not sure I agree with that at all. The best customers for this system are already wandering into the store where the Steam Deck is on a regular basis. I'm not seeing Curry's competing with that any time soon. That idea might underestimate the traffic on Steam, all of them PC game buyers.

[wakka]

I agree, I can't really imagine many people impulsively dropping 900 quid on a ROG Ally when they're in Curry's to buy a new washing machine or TV (which assuredly is what most of the people in there are doing, at least on my intermittent visits). It's even dorkier (and much more expensive) than the Steam Deck.

I think Valve have the right strategy. The Deck as it stands is still a bit of a tinkerer/enthusiast product, not truly mass market. Further versions could change that but I don't think getting it stocked in retail park electronics retailers will ever be all that important.

[fishbowlhead]

Anyone tried to play an RTS on the deck yet? Are they very playable?

[Dogg Thang]

Anyone tried to play an RTS on the deck yet? Are they very playable?

I tried a Command & Conquer and really struggled with the controls but that's all I've tried.

[nonny]

Really not sure I agree with that at all. The best customers for this system are already wandering into the store where the Steam Deck is on a regular basis. I'm not seeing Curry's competing with that any time soon. That idea might underestimate the traffic on Steam, all of them PC game buyers.

I get that but I do think they need to expand the reach of the product past the (admittedly huge) store ecosystem. The Steam Deck is capable of more than just Steam games at the end of the day and having a real store presence is probably the next logical step.

Maybe that isn't Curry's and more Game but I think being able to walk into an actual store and hold one, feel whether it's comfortable to use etc is important for a handheld device.

If the ROG Ally wasn't doing that same thing soon I wouldn't think Valve needs to either but things are heating up in this space now and it would be smart for Valve to be at the forefront of that narrative.

[Dogg Thang]

I guess I don’t know what else the ROG Ally people do. I know Valve are in the business of selling games on Steam so while you’re right that there is much more to the Deck and maybe it would help for people to know that as a selling point, primarily I have to imagine it exists to sell Steam games rather than anything else. So I don’t know if any wider business is of interest to them. Is the ROG Ally selling on the system itself or have they something else to push? I don’t know who is making that one. (Quick edit - if people buy the Ally and buy Steam games to play on it, that’s also a win for Valve if that can happen)

I do think things might be different if, say, Epic released a competitor and got it out in stores because that might be something that locks people into the Epic infrastructure if it sells.

[MartyG]

The only reason people have an Epic Store account is to get the free weekly games

[Dogg Thang]

The only reason people have an Epic Store account is to get the free weekly games

This is the truth.