Retro Game Corps has just posted a 30 day review of the Ally. As someone who has pre-ordered I found it quite interesting. As expected, the major down side to this device is the battery. Fortunately, my main reason for purchasing this is to do some gaming on my commute to work. As I’m only on the subway for 25 min, this should cover my needs perfectly, regardless of the game I play.
I wish some Steam Deck alternatives would also include trackpads into the design, since I’ve liked not having to rely solely on touch screen interactions for desktop navigation.
I’m wondering if Valve got a patent on that. That would explain why literally no one has ever done trackpads on a controller.
I’m holding out to see a Steam Deck 2 myself.
I’m interested but don’t want the battery tradeoff of Windows
I’ve been under the impression that the next time we see a new Steam Deck it would be more of a product revision. Rather than a true sequel. I hope I’m wrong but that is going off memory.
I’m down with that though, there are a few refinements I’d like to see. I’d happily see a Switch -> OLED style evolution
Yeah the weight too, current steam deck weighs about 600g which is okay-ish but I would love to see a lightweight version, something like the ps4->ps4slim upgrade.
100% it’s also very 1st gen looking, I expect it’ll get a bit sleeker
Oh yeah, I’m totally down for that if it helps more people get to use it. It is a great machine. I love my Steam Deck. I was lucky and got my reservation within about 5-10 minutes. So I got mine within a month of release. I’ve been using Chiaki4Deck to use Remote Play on my PS5 downstairs and it works great. But it’s also been great for re-exploring a lot of 360/PS3 era games that had PC versions and controller support. A lot of those look great on a handheld to this day.
I want it for that kind of thing, remote play to my iPhone is /fine/ but the flexibility that steam versions offer is very attractive
I also use a Mac for my primary desktop machine so having the Deck would be a good complement
You sound a lot like my use-case lol
I also main a Mac for computing. And the other Linux and Windows PCs I have are not gaming machines in the slightest. Since my reservation in July 2021, I went from around 3 games on Steam. To nearly 150.
I’m just excited that the portable gaming PC space is growing. Steam Deck has some real competition now in the space. I had always dreamed of some day owning one but the pricing was more than I could justify.
I might have considered waiting for a Steam Deck 2 if I thought there was any chance of it being available in Norway. That said, it might be a long wait. It seems they’re treating the Steam Deck more like a console, rather than a PC. Which makes perfect sense. Fewer iterations to support, and owners of version 1 are a little less likely to get left behind by developers as a version 2 would probably make that the lowest target.
Hope they make the latest version of SteamOS available to other handheld makers in an official capacity at some point. I can’t see it harming them as I doubt they earn much from the hardware sales. I always figured the main goal was to ensure that also your handheld library is purchased from them. I like Steam, but I try and buy as much as I can from GoG. Really wish Steam would allow developers to sell their games drm free. The choice really should be theirs, not Valves.
All very true; I just with GoG Galaxy wasn’t such a POS.
But all these clients are massive pieces of shit, so I dont know what I expect 😅
Yeah, I wish they would just simplify it and focus on what matters. Sync saves to the cloud, and let me install and launch my games. I don’t need it to be some cross-service game launcher. I don’t need social features. I just want my games 🤣!
Personally I just download the exe files and install them. Means I won’t automatically get patches though.
Hmm. That got me thinking. I’ve seen unofficial API documentation for GoG. Maybe it’s possible to create a Telegram bot that lets me know when a game I own has a new version available 🤔.
There’s probably an RSS feed somewhere that can do that kind of thing.
Maybe that’s the next target for the Fediverse, game distribution 😂
Definitely something I’ll be looking into when I have the time (the RSS thing, not the Fediverse game distribution thing 🤣).
I’m really looking forward to it. I live in a smallish apartment and am a Mac user. I just don’t have space for a gaming PC. I have PS5 and XSX for AAA games but there are often indies and smaller games that don’t make any of those platforms and this seems perfect for that. I’m also a Genshin Impact addict and Ally can play it whereas Steam Deck can’t without installing Windows.
I love RGCs channel but I also wish he’d stop making me crave handhelds I definitely don’t need
Haha, I know the feeling. I’d love to have that shelf full of gaming handhelds. Heck, I didn’t even realize how many handheld PCs existed before I heard of the Ally.