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Valve Announces Steam Deck (Handheld Gaming Computer)

Gooberking

Gooberking

FGC Cannon Fodder
So far it seems cool and like it's doing most of what I wanted it to do.

Screen resolution looks good for the actual device, but breaks down pretty quick if you run something externally. It's certainly not small, but doesn't feel ridiculous and it's comfortable enough to hold. It's not too heavy and unlike the Switch, doesn't cut into my palms. I can't hold a Switch for more than 2 min without regretting trying. Possibly because of the wider gate and because it rests better in the hands I've not had the same issue with the Steam Deck. That was something I was really hoping would be true.

Controls are kind of whatever. The d-pad isn't good for what we do here by any means, but I never really planned on using the built in controls any more than I had to in order to not wear them out. It's pretty painless to bluetooth a PS4 pad and it was totally fine with me plugging in my all buttons controller I typically use when playing fighters and platforms. The latter isn't portable but it's not a big deal carting around a DS4.

Started feeling a need right away for a stand when using an external controller, though hooking it up to another display kind of means you can just leave laying around, and kick back. I happened to already have a travel monitor to try with it. Didn't seem to like the direct USB-C connection as much as using a hub with hdmi.

I haven't tried any of the really big games that work though I do have them (GOW, HZD, Control). I'm not super interested in playing stuff at 30fps, so mostly sticking to stuff that seems the system has good odds at running well. A lot of what I've put on it though is running really, really well.

KOFXV is probably the most demanding thing I've tried and single player seems to be solid. Melty Blood TL is pretty similar though it has periods of frame skipping every once and awhile that don't appear to tied to anything specific going on and something I used to see some of on my PC. Haven't tried either online which would have extra processing overhead from rollbacks, so I'd have to try that before saying they run great.

I had several linux native GOG games I installed. That was as simple as going to the desktop mode, and running the installer from Dolphin in the console. After that you can just add them to the Steam launcher if you like. Non natives I had some luck just copying install directories over for but that strat is probably going to have limited mileage. Sounds like there is some 3rd party installer for GOG and Epic people are using but I'm not sure who I'm handing my sign on creds to and if I want to do that.

It sounded like a Proton contributer has a build that will run MK11 and people are having good results, but not sure what is involved in getting that version and just waiting for the needed changes to find their way into the Proton experimental build. Then I'll give it a whirl
 
mrapchem

mrapchem

Noob
My Steam Deck arrived about 3 weeks ago and I've been having a hell of a time with it!!!!

It runs MK11 at a full 60 fps at max settings, but I actually turned most of those settings down, along with the TDP in order to keep the system cooler and extend battery life. I was even able to play online once I changed the Proton compatibility layer to Proton GE 7-16! The D-Pad is pretty damn decent and is perfectly fine for Mortal Kombat. I don't get any erroneous inputs at all, even though it's glossy. I will admit that it's harder to do iAFs with Kitana in MK9, but I can pull off all my combos just fine offline and online.

MK9 looks absolutely gorgeous on this device too. Haven't installed MKX yet, but there's no reason to presume that it won't run flawlessly on this. Not to mention, all my other Steam/Epic games, like WWE 2K22, Shadow of The Tomb Raider, and Sifu all run at a near constant 60 fps, with Batman Arkham Knight running mostly between 40-60 fps depending on the scene.

However, the biggest strength of this device is its emulation power. I got EmuDeck running on mine and it plays Switch, Wii U, Wii/GameCube and PS2 without trouble. The Switch emulator, Yuzu does crash after a while, but the rest of the emulators do not. If you want a single platform to play all your old titles on it, the Steam Deck will more than suffice.
 
Gooberking

Gooberking

FGC Cannon Fodder
Got MK11 installed and running. It autoconfigs to most stuff on high and seems to run just fine. 60FPS cinematics I don't think are quite hitting the mark, but still look better than the default 30fps. Game is smooth, and even seems to not have some of the hitch points that started showing up for me on my PC (like finishing someone with a normal move causes a noticeable stutter in the game on my pc). So it may not have a good resolution or do cinematics as well, but the important stuff may actually run better for me on this thing.

Being so familiar with the game had me pretty convince there is some significant delay when playing on the Steam Deck's built in display. I have no clue what the stats are on my travel monitor, but I feel like things felt quite a bit better playing on it which suggests there is some display specific latency beyond whatever else might be going on. I tend to turn off Steam's input translation layer when playing fighters on PC when possible which I haven't done for the Steam Deck so there might be some slight overhead from that going on as well. Having it hooked up to the external monitor I didn't have much trouble with dropping things from timing, so it's in the ball park of what I'm used to.

All that said, if I'm traveling I'm not sure if I'm better off playing MK11 on it or just using my laptop, but then I happen to have one and for someone that doesn't you can game on this thing.

As an aside the touch screen on the thing feels really dated. It's pretty stubborn and requires some actual pressure. The vibration feedback helps let you know a touch didn't register which is helpful given that happens a lot.
 
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