Topic: PC Gaming

@Dezzy
Yeah, you're right. It's just not quite as dramatic as it might seem. They're probably only making an extra $70US or something on the 256GB SKU vs the 64GB SKU. They're probably wearing the cost on the 64GB model and getting a small margin on the other SKUs. Which they can probably do because I think most people are going to be jumping to the higher SKUs

So… wow.

I’m not gonna lie. Trails Rising is a personal fave and would look and run so well at 60 FPS with analog shoulder buttons, so that sucks. Gears of War 5 is great, that one hurts too. Persona 5 Strikers I’m ok with since I’d rather play on Switch, and Star Ocean… eh. Don’t really care much. So 2 borked games I care about.

And of the bronzes, nothing jumps out. I’ve played Splinter Cell, and it’s an older game that’s not quite as smooth on PC with controller for gyro, though it does work. Don’t really care about any of these.

As for silvers, there’s at least 10 in that list I care about having on the Deck. These games could still run really well, mind you, but they’re not guaranteed flawless. That doesn’t mean the game won’t run well, it might just mean it takes some performance hits or something of that nature. But for the sake of a conservative estimate I’m going to write all 10 of them off as well.

That means only 12 games that I care about in my library that aren’t gold, platinum or native. That’s… impressive. And, that’s as of today. Right now. By the time this system is in our hands, 10 of those 12 games could be in the gold/platinum list.

I’m officially sold on sticking with Steam OS vs a Windows install.

@JaxonH

What does the Gold rating mean exactly when it says they need tweaks? What tweaks?

@Dezzy
Looking at a few examples for gold it seems to be stuff along the lines of additional non-core features aren't working or there are error messages that don't stop you from playing the game. Like anti-cheat not allowing you to play online, cloud saves not working, getting warnings about a corrupted save on boot. And for some of them there are trivial workarounds like editing one line in a config file or removing a file from your home directory.

I never realized how much more expensive the roughly equivalent alternatives are. I knew there was the GPD Win, which is kinda similar, but apparently there are a few other companies too, and they all cost WAY more than the cheapest Steam Deck. Here's a comparison between a bunch of them:

https://liliputing.com/2021/07/compare-handheld-gaming-pc-spe...

I'm not sure you understood the logic of what I said. Yes, there are plenty of games that take up less than 64GB. However, that doesn't in any way refute the existence of the ones that do.

Also, bear in mind that you won't be able to use all of that storage for games. A 64GB eMMC is more like 57GB in terms of usable space. Then you'll have the operating system, the steam client, any other pre-installed software and a healthy margin of free space for updates, temporary files and saves.

For my original GPD Win, also with a 64GB eMMC, I'd not be comfortable putting anything bigger than 24GB on it. However, that's running Windows and Linux is a fair bit leaner so the Steam Deck might stretch to 30GB, maybe even 40 if you're lucky. However, even some of the games you just listed are probably going to be too big for it.

@Matt_Barber

Sure, but you made it sound a lot worse than it actually is, by saying it would be good for older titles and indies. Obviously when games like Elden Ring will probably fit on it, it's really not that bad at all. That's probably the most anticipated game of next year.

So uh, I should say this now, But If you are getting the steam deck, and want to play DDLC, might as well wait so you can play it on there for free.

(Then again, it might not be on the system so there's that.)

No, it really is that bad. We're already in a situation where the average AAA game is going to be too big to fit on the base model. There will be some exceptions, for sure, but you will be wanting an SSD model not to be very limited in your selections.

For reference, Here's a list of the top ten AAA games on Steam right now:
F1 2022 - 80GB - No
Halo: Master Chief Collection - 43GB - Unlikely
New World - 50GB - Very unlikely
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 150GB - No
GTA V - 72GB - No
Civ VI - 12GB - Yes
FF XIV - 60GB - No
Sea of Thieves - 50GB - Very unlikely
Monster Hunter Stories 2 - 28GB - Yes
Fallout 76 - 80GB - No

That's two games out of ten, plus three more that I can't definitively rule out until we know how much space the OS will reserve but are likely to be very tight at best.

As for Elden Ring, do we even have the official requirements yet?

@Matt_Barber well with halo you can actually choose which titles you wanna install. or is 43gb the minimum? i just installed the game 2 weeks ago and already forgot

btw halo 2 on MCC has horrible frametimes. so annoying

@6ch6ris6 I believe that's just for the first game. The entire collection is 125GB if you want the lot of them at once.

Another thing worth considering if we're talking storage. It does have a USB Type C port which behaves like any Type C port on a laptop. There'd be nothing stopping you from plugging in a portable HDD or something. Probably a more viable option for when this thing is docked but still, worth noting.

No reason why you couldn't have a library on a HDD sitting next to this thing while it's docked. A second tier of storage as a ~256GB microSD card for less frequently played games or stuff you might want to play. Then have the stuff you're currently playing or always want access to on the main storage. Then do the old "cleaning the fridge" shuffle every now and then to move games. Maybe even having a further tier of games again that you just have installed on your PC and only play via in home streaming.

With that said, I still wouldn't go for the 64GB SKU myself......

@Matt_Barber

Well a top 10 list is not necessarily representative of steam games overall. I mean for a start, about half of those are multiplayer games or games that have heavy multiplayer components, which obviously tends to add to the overall filesize. But if you're not a multiplayer gamer, as I'm not, then that's less of an issue. Fallout 4 is only 30GB, compared to the 80GB of Fallout 76 for example.

Also Halo can be downloaded individual game at a time, and every single Halo except 5 is under 50GB. (which is mostly just because they never separated the single player from the multiplayer in Halo5. I'm guessing Infinite probably will be under 50GB for the single player campaign)

I think the best argument for buying the 256GB version is just that the average filesize might increase over the next decade, while the minimum performance requirements might not that much, meaning the Steamdeck will be fine running a AAA game in 5 years time, but it might not fit on the 64GB version.

That said, the filesizes could also shrink over the next decade if the Steamdeck ends up being a massive success and developers start targeting versions of their game for that platform specifically. Stuff like texture sizes wouldn't need to be as big with a 720p screen, so a lot of those filesizes would drop quite a bit, as textures are one of the biggest factors in a game's filesize.

@Dezzy I went with the top ten because that's surely the most representative of the games that people want to play, where any other selection could be cherry picked.

As for Fallout 4, it's nearly six years old now and pre-dates the bloat I'm talking about. Just applying the free updates and texture packs will double the size of it though, and that's a pretty good indication as to how a comparable newer game will ship.

While it's possible that developers could implement some sort of smart delivery system, like Microsoft does with the Series S/X, so games only come with the textures they need for the display it's got, I doubt that's going to get widespread adoption. The attitude of PC developers for the past forty years has largely been that if your hardware isn't good enough, you should upgrade it.

Still, at least the Steam Deck will be upgradeable. You might just have a bit of a wait for the parts and it'll be a non-trivial task.

Slowly coming to terms with the realization I won't have this device for another year.

Hard to stay excited when it's so far off. I will have my handheld Portal 2 with Gyro. That day will come- the day I've been dreaming of since I bought a Vita in 2012.

But it's gonna be a while yet. Best get comfy.

@JaxonH If everything is ok next year I will get it too Once it is properly tested and guides are available online

Fallout 4 in portable mode is a dream come true and still there are so many PC games that are a handheld players wet dream ...

I also love that fact that they are so open about not locking the device with DRM crap.

@Zuljaras
May want to reserve one now. The estimated shipping queue is already well into next year. By the time it's out and reviews drop, queues may be into 2023.

Can always opt to not purchase once you get the invitation email to order.

@JaxonH I prefer to wait. Even with reservations many could just ask for returns if the first wave is not reviewed as satisfactory.

Either way I am very excited about this. And that comes from a guy that play his console games exclusively in physical form But PC games are just fine in digital form.

Just reserved one of these suckers yesterday, only 5 bucks so why not! Never really been a PC gamer but this could go nicely as a portable xbox/ps in my opinion. Really hope it does well and spawns other similarly priced alternatives.