Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH

Depends what situation you're in I guess. In quite a few of the situations I'd use a portable, it's usually quite easy to rest your arms on something as you hold it. Either in the passenger seat of a car, or on a train with a table in front. (or plane even, although I don't fly much)

@Dezzy
If it had detachable controllers and a kickstand that would solve the problem many times, but alas it does not.

edit
Wow! They designed a sensor in the right analog so Gyro can be activated only when it detects your thumb on the right stick!

This was always something you could do for the Steam controller on the right trackpad. It prevented unwanted movements any time you weren't aiming. Most use that setting in the config editor. But since this device also has a right analog this time they actually put the sensor in the analog as well! That's so rad.

This needed to happen. If nothing else this will at the very least show Nintendo what they could be doing. If it does really well they'll be forced to respond. Not that I think this thing is gonna take over the market, but if it can pull off 10+ million sold, Nintendo would have to take note.

Yeah no way will this sell Switch numbers. I could easily see it doing like 5-10 million units though.

@Dezzy
That's a fair estimate. GPD Win sold several million I think, and that was considered a massive success for them.

I like this bold new direction for Valve, and they deserve to hit 10 million. Will they? Idk. I think they can at least do 5. But I'd like to see 10. I really would. I just want it to be successful enough they continue the line and release successors and revisions.

In the interview with IGN hands on they explicitly stated they wanted to pursue this long term with future successor models "if they're right about consumers wanting a product like this and it does well".

Their mistake with Steam Machine was, it only appealed to non-PC gamers without a gaming PC, and while they made it console like in some respects, they still had 10 different companies releasing 50 different variants with different power levels and upgrades, which makes it just as intimidating to non-PC gamers. Should have stuck with 2 models. Low and high tier.

But this... this not only appeals to handheld gamers, this also appeals to actual PC gamers. Unlike Steam Machine which offered no value to a PC gamer, this does. This provides something PC gamers don't already have. And they're releasing one model power wise. And that is why I believe this will see a much different outcome.

As someone who uses Switch as a fighting game practice machine from time to time with stuff like Street Fighter 30th and DB FighterZ, being able to practice SFV tech or Guilty Gear on the go like this sounds blissful

Is Steam OS just Linux then? Would any Linux-compatible software run on it?

Anyone got a link to a list of all switch physical releases to date.😁

My main hope is that it makes it blindingly obvious to end users how overpriced the Switch has become for its spec. Or at the very least shocks enthusiasts who defend the Switch spec at that price a bit. I lost count of how many people on this forum have said to me over the last 6 months or so that landing a bit under the XBOne spec for a bit over the Switch RRP was way out of reach. Now Valve announces hardware that has a GPU that's about 25% above the OG XBOne and is only $50US more than the OLED Model

Whether this is competing with the Switch directly or not, and I don't think it is, it certainly makes it abundantly clear what is possible in that kind of form factor and price in 2021. Something that hopefully forces Nintendo's hand a bit in terms of pricing and, eventually, SKUs with improved internal hardware

It's a custom distro but yeah, it's basically just a custom laptop in a different form factor that ships without windows. No reason why you can't install windows on it if you want. But also, given it's Linux, no reason why you can't install anything you want on it.

I know people say Steam Machines was a forgotten idea but in a way it kinda wasn't. It was literally just a branding PC makers could use to sell hardware with SteamOS on it. Problem was most of the people who were into the idea were also into building their own hardware......

Also this Steam Deck thing has Steam OS on it so technically it's a "Steam Machine"

Seeing Sony this year essentially repeat what Nintendo did last year (lots of silence with the odd announcement here and there) is a reminder of just how lucky we are that Nintendo went back to their normal approach (general Direct early on in the year, general Direct in June, etc.) this year.

Zelda Skyward Sword is amazing.

It looks fantastic on my Lite. Playing at work today and the buttons work great. Camera control needed to be set to Super Fast- once I did that it was perfect.

Can't believe I'm playing Skyward Sword on a handheld.

@Ninfan

Probably not anywhere. The list would be close to 2,000 games at the moment, if you include all the physical releases exclusive to certain regions of the world, boutique limited prints, etc. To my knowledge, Twitter user JP Switchmania is the most manic Switch collector of us all; he might have a Google doc ongoing or something. Just look at that glorious Wall-O-Red behind the man.

Anywho, are you curious about something in particular?

@CactusMan

A woefully insufficient database. Good in regards to commonly available retail releases, but not good in regards to the several hundred boutique limited prints not present in their database.

I haven't had Linux for like a decade.
There are quite a few limits to what software is available though right? I mean I'm looking at the Dolphin emulator and the Linux version seems to be quite a few years behind the windows version.

@Dezzy
Linux definitely has its downsides, and emulation progress is one of them. I have no idea how well Dolphin on Linux runs but I hope it has a version of 5.0 stable build that offers sufficient emulation.

Most Steam games should work though. Proton compatibility layer let's Windows Steam games run directly on Linux without any porting or emulation in the background. But it has issues with anti-cheat. Valve, however, in their Developer FAQ has stated they're working with several entities to get that ironed out before release.

@Dezzy
True, but for the kind of "non-game" software you might want to run on a device like the Steam Deck there has already been a bit of demand carved out for it from things like the Raspberry Pi. There's already a pretty significant demand for emulators & media players on Linux so it should be fine there. The real space Linux is lacking is in professional software but... you wouldn't be doing video/photo editing on portable gaming device anyways.

Well, it also falls short a bit in games. You have to lean pretty heavily on Proton which can be a bit hit-and-miss and even when it works well performance can be less than it would be on Windows. But again, this thing is a piece of hardware not a locked platform. You could always just install Windows on it, or even dual-boot.

@JaxonH @skywake

So it's actually running the windows version of the games on the Steam OS, through some kind of wrapper program?

How could that be more efficient than simply installing some version of windows instead?

@Dezzy
It's not emulation, it's more of a different set of libraries that looks close enough to windows that it can run. Sometimes it runs better, sometimes it runs worse, sometimes it breaks. And some games have outright native support for Linux (in my Steam Library it's a tad over a 3rd) so it's not an issue.

As for why? Because it doesn't cost them anything and Valve ideally wants to be in full control of their store. It's kinda like what Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have with their consoles but... minus the completely locked down hardware

@skywake

When you say it doesn't cost them anything, I assume you mean in terms of having to pay for a third party OS?

There might not be any performance differences though?

@Dezzy
And I would add, not just their store but the OS itself. Windows isn't exactly designed around portable gaming. But Steam OS is. It makes navigating and general use much easier for the average end user.

Not that Windows doesn't work. I have Windows 10 on my Win 2. With Steam Big Picture mode it's great. But, doing anything outside of that is a little bit less streamlined. It does have a Switch that makes the analog control the mouse and buttons the mouse clicks. But Windows has tiny icons and text for a small screen, especially in context menus and stuff like that.

I think the previous failures of Valve's hardware were due to marketing and not the excellence of the products. If they market this right (frankly, NOT primarily toward PC gamers), it's gonna do well.

@rallydefault

That seems likely true. With the previous Valve hardware, I was never completely sure what it was they were selling, or why I should want it.

The Steamdeck is a lot more self-explanatory, and I'm seriously considering buying it instead of getting a laptop in the next few years.