Valve announced a new thing, and as always that meant the internet lit up like a switchboard, only with opinions instead of electricity. First we got the obvious out of the way: praising Valve for doing what Nintendidn’t, dubbing the Steam Deck the Switch Pro. As Hard Drive wrote, “At press time, a full technical spec sheet for the Switch Pro also revealed that it would include a long-awaited Switch feature of functional analog sticks.” Oof.
Sony copped it as well. Mark Doherty, who runs the ex-Sony CEO Kaz Hirai parody account, decided to post this take under his own name instead: “With Horizon and Day’s Gone now on Steam, Sony has already given more support to Steam Deck than the PS Vita”. YouTuber and Kindafunny co-founder Greg Miller is also still mad about the Vita.
Those who weren’t renaming the Steam Deck the Switch Pro were arguing over whether Gabe Boy or Gabe Gear was a funnier alternate name (the answer is Gabe Gear, obviously). The memes came thick and fast, with Fighting Games Daily turning the Russian anti-alcohol HET! poster into anti-Switch propaganda, while Classic Mac collector Dana Sibera, who normally tweets about retro hardware, mocked up an image of a version of the Steam Deck with an Atari 2600 aesthetic that actually I would quite like to be real.
Steam Deck CRT, with deluxe woodgrain. pic.twitter.com/iv6Jrg0LOQJuly 15, 2021
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The professional videogame industry pundits weighed in with their Serious Commentary, Daniel Ahmad praising the Steam Deck because the “price point is aggressive” and it’s “a fairly open device that has desktop / dock capabilities and the ability to install third party software and storefronts”. Jason Schreier took doubters to task, pointing out that, “Steam Deck skeptics might be undervaluing the huge audience of people who play most games portably (dad of toddler here!). For years every indie game announcement has been met with “When is it coming to Switch?” If this thing feels great (big if), nobody needs to ask that anymore”.
Mat Piscatella said, “The Discourse comparing Steam Deck and Switch as though the two devices will somehow directly compete with each other is top tier misguided, to put it nicely.” Jeff Grubb explained why 720p resolution for a screen you’re holding in front of your face is fine actually, and Lawrence Sonntag simply pointed out, “it’ll be the cheapest point of entry to PC gaming in general.”
PC games are cheap as hell AND you could probably just spend the rest of your life playing weird stuff off Itch for free.July 15, 2021
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Umurangi Generation developer Tali Faulkner provided a voice of skepticism, noting that activities like “modding, hardware building, chatting with mates on Discord while you play, watching Youtube on the side” are central to PC gaming, and “I don’t see anyone doing that on a bus.” Chris Kramer, who works in videogame PR, was another naysayer: “The only way I’d purchase a Steam Deck is if Valve gave me a $100 refund for the absolute garbage Steam Controller I purchased. Worst piece of plastic I’ve burned money on since the 3DO.”
Meanwhile, The Behemoth, the studio behind Castle Crashers, gave everyone an exclusive first look at its game running on Valve’s new hardware, and Radiator developer Robert Yang joked “the only positive thing about this is that valve’s haptics will usher in a new era of teledildonics”.
More helpfully, modder, DSFix creator, and PC Gamer contributor Durante broke down Steam Deck specs in a straightforward way by making some console comparisons, explaining that “The GPU is about as fast in raw performance as a base PS4, but it’s a much newer and more efficient architecture” and the “really neat” 16GB of RAM is four times what the Switch has.
IGN’s Simon Cardy had an angle that was presumably inappropriate for the work account, saying, “[I’d] be worried about the weight of that Steam Deck hurting my wrists if I hadn’t just spent 18 months locked inside my house.” Finally, Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon used an Elgato Stream Deck, two joycons, and some masking tape to make the Steam Deck we’ve got at home.
incredibly thrilled to check out valve’s new steam deck today pic.twitter.com/QedveLHyBeJuly 15, 2021
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