This is not big daddy N loosing a bunch of money, this is a market correction. People purchased shares 2 days ago expecting an announcement and the price has returned to normal
They always do. I remember when EA shares dropped by like 3% in a day after an announcement about a game people were like " it’s the end of EA". But then you look at the graph beyond a week and it was still up be several percent.
Proton technically isn’t emulation, but it’s pretty crazy that the device basically doesn’t have anything natively built for it, everything is translated emulated. It took that much effort to break Microsoft’s PC gaming monopoly.
Regardless of what the website says, waydroid isn’t an emulator by any meaningful definition.
It’s a container that runs on top of your regular linux kernel (with some very cool desktop integration features), java/kotlin applications run as natively as they’d run on your phone.
Sadly that’s mostly true, but that may have more to do with devs lack of experience with Linux in general. Often they would have to outsource the port to Aspyr or another team.
Not gonna lie. That is hella hype. Although it does make it harder to target hardware as a game dev. It does however make the whole ecosystem way better.
Hope they introduce some minimum hardware requirements that a hand-held has to have for it to be steamos compatible. That way devs can target that hardware and it will run on any steamos verified device
Minimum hardware requirements are likely to be performance (at relevant minimum resolution) and battery life at least on the same level as the current Steam Deck.
I don't think that's feasible. The current set of handhelds have the OG Deck at the bottom end of the performance tier anyway, that'll only become relevant if and when a Deck 2 releases, and at that point it will be the same problem to solve with or without third party hardware.
You are assuming that all non steam deck handhelds are going to be better than the steamdeck performance wise. While this may be the case with the ROG Ally I don’t think it holds true with all handhelds so there is possibility for a hand-held with less performance than the steamdeck to be verified
It's 100% true of all Windows handhelds released after the OG Steam Deck, yes. This is not because the Deck is bad, it's because they all are running the same two or three APUs, all built on the same AMD architecture. If it came after the Deck, it's a 6800U with a 780M or slightly better than that, and no new handhelds going forward will launch with anything significantly worse than that.
So beyond retroactive support for first-gen AyaNeo or GPD handhelds that are older than the Deck, I don't think this is a major concern. And if you're on one of those, which were incredibly expensive at launch compared to the Deck, I think you should be pretty well used to underwhelming performance by the time SteamOS verifies them, if ever.
It's really not a realistic scenario. Our floor for performance is well established and this is coming so far down the line that we shouldn't expect to return to it at this point.
The GPD Win 4 is roughly the size of a thick PSVita and that ran on a 6800U as well and they released newer ones all the way up to 8800U without increasing the size. Ditto for the Ayaneo Flip, which is still chunky but it's clamshell, so I guess you could cargo pants it.
Ayaneo also makes the Air, which is supposed to be exactly that, and I think there is a model that targets a smaller APU and is super thin, but the next in line already jumps to the 7840U and is comparable to the Deck. I have to imagine that even small PC handhelds will match that performance going forward.
There are pocketable handhelds out there, but they're generally Android-based, which makes a lot more sense. I think for PC we'll see people trying to hit this level of performance in a compact form factor, but I'd be shocked if people tried to go back to sub-6800 performance on PC on new devices.
Again, the point of the Deck is standardized performance, and it quickly became exactly that. Things will get messier once the Deck is replaced by a higher spec, but in the meantime, if it's certified for baseline Deck you're either probably fine or in such a tiny niche (you own 5840u version of the AyaNeo Air? Who are you) that you probably know what you can do with it.
I would not be shocked to find that people are willing to go back to sub 6800 performance in exchange for something the size of those Android devices. There are tons of 2D and low spec 3D games that are very popular that they would run, and pocket sized handheld x64 machines are a niche to fill to stand out from the Steam Deck.
You won't be shocked, though, because like I just told you there is already a couple of those and they didn't do well, only to be replaced by 7800U variants in the same form factor (plus a tad of battery chonk, perhaps). This is not a hypothetical.
Seriously, man, just read what people are telling you. If somebody is threatening to tase you unless you're immediately contrarian irrespective of the information being presented to you blink twice and we'll send someone.
Hi. I'm the guy that wants a low-spec model that fits in my pocket. I exist. Just gimme something that can run my favorite 2D indie games and I'm happy.
I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus last year and ended up loving it far more than my Deck, which is actually just gathering dust still. And now I dream of seeing SteamOS in that size.
But nothing you're describing will fit in that kind of form factor. So if you want to enforce minimum specs, you're really telling me I can't have my dream handheld.
To be clear, I'm not advocating to enforcing a minimum spec. I'm saying that there isn't a need to add a performance rating to a SteamOS certification or to the SteamOS compatibility badges because if they're all based on Steam Deck performance they will be valid for all the other certified devices by default. At least until a Deck 2 is released.
I love small handhelds. The Retroid Pocket Mini is great (shame about the bad scaling on the screen). But those are typically Android handhelds for a reason. I don't think a PC handheld in that form factor is worth it. You can just run Linux on ARM and get the form factor without the whole thing running like a hot potato for 15 minutes before it dies. There's a lot of native ports of small PC indie games in that space and ongoing work for per-game port support, too.
Now, all that could change if the upcoming mobile chips we get are great at running at very low wattages and somehow get amazing power management options on the software side out of nowhere. But... I just don't think that's a priority for anybody specifically because ARM chips already have a well established ecosystem to give you basically what you want without having to tie the X64 platform in knots for the sake of running this over Steam instead of Android.
Well, yeah, I get that, but honestly, if you can't get what you want on that front from a GPD Win 4, an Ayaneo Air S1 or Flip... well, then what you want is better Windows on ARM support. These are still laptop chips we're cramming into handhelds, it's not a matter of size vs performance at that point. There's a reason the Steam Deck is that size.
Honestly, at that point I'd try streaming, which those smaller ARM devices will do just fine. But even that I don't think is worth it. That's mobile hardware territory.
Cool? I mean, it changes nothing. Whether you run the ARM handhelds on Android or barebones Linux and the X64 handhelds on Windows or Linux the results are the same. Bazzite, JelOS, Windows, Android, whatever. Go nuts.
Heat is still heat and batteries are still batteries, though.
Nintendo having hardware with some oomph? Bullshit. Their thing is making cheap consoles that appeal to anyone who isn’t an edgy teenager. Dlss, Ray tracing, etc is still too new for them.
More importantly too battery draining. I can’t imagine them making a much bulkier switch but it could be that DLSS and Raytracing is docked only or optional with battery warnings if used undocked.
I mean the Xbox Series S will be a 4 year old non-high-end console by the time the Switch 2 will be released. I can definitely see them go in that direction.
Maybe it will have more RAM, but it will most likely have slower/cheaper RAM. LPDDR5 or LPDDR5X instead of GDDR6. Should also be more power efficient.
Ram is easy to believe, but imo raytracing and dlss are still too new. That said, something I hadn’t thought about is that with the OG Switch using Nvidia’s tegra, it’s entirely possible that Nvidia pushed them to adopt a next-gen version that includes dlss and rtx support.
Neither are too new. Both features are technically available for volta gpus or newer. The switch was maxwell, and unless you fully believe the switch 2 will use pascal (2016), then it is at the very minimum, using volta, which means it can use rtx/dlss (but i dont expwct it to ACTUALLY use rtx)
Raytracing, no chance just from a performance standpoint even if it “supports” it, but DLSS is a given. If anything, I’m worried they’ll end up relying on DLSS to get games “playable”, just like what’s happening on PC.
I bet the Switch 2’s SoC will include a GPU based on Ampere or newer, which means RTX 3000 series capabilities which. Nvidia Tegra Orin from 2019 already included that much.
Of course it will be very likely more limited than even a 3060 mobile chip, but it could include both RT and DLSS 3.5 if they wanted to. I doubt they use RT but DLSS would make a lot of sense.
Having more RAM than the series S doesn't translate to "having hardware with some oomph". The series S is memory starved. 10GB was a small amount even when it launched.
DLSS or the AMD knock-off would actually be pretty good for them.
RT is kind of pointless in low end hardware though.
Be interesting to see if they support VRR since they control what screen goes into it. A lot more PC users accepting 40fps since Steam Deck. Forcing everything into 30 or 60 is kind of limiting.
Uhh… for their steam deck I’d think 😂 not that it’d be a primarily mobile gaming device, but no reason not to put your mobile games on it if you like them
Stock “news” is stupid, the Switch 2 announcement has been expected for a year. The only news is that the company confirmed it will launch this year, which was already expected. Real news is when we start hearing what games will be available at launch (or soon after).
Yup. If there even WAS a measurable stock value drop (too lazy to check) it was not because the switch 2 basically had a “this is the 2025 version of a phone. It is slightly different. Buy it” ad.
It was because the next major news will come in April. Which means it ain’t launching until May, at the earliest. Which means all the anticipation of a shadow drop of a console (because that would somehow be a thing…) is gone and the artificially increased value of the stock has diminished.
I just wonder whether they want to use DLSS for more FPS on the handheld or whether it’s simply their future way to upscale from the native handheld resolution to 4K when docked.
Surely DLSS would be very taxing on the battery life, but it would be great to improve the docked experience which is often rather bad (stuttering, etc.) with the old Switch.
And that trend will continue, which is why console sales are well behind where they were last generation, and it’s why the next Xbox will just run Windows.
Definitely the least excited I’ve ever been for a console. 1st month Xbox SX buyer that eventually traded in for a PS5 and it’s incredibly redundant with my PC. At this point I’m happy playing on Steam Deck level graphics settings. Next consoles need a better gimmick than better ray tracing, bigger open worlds, more fetch quests to advertise scale
Pc is the future of gaming. After series x and switch I’m going to a living room pc gaming setup and a steam deck. There’s nothing on Sony or Xbox platforms that I can’t get on pc, and the only thing I like about the switch right now is the portability. There’s only a handful of Nintendo exclusives I care about and I think I’ll just sail the seas for those. The Nintendo platform is just not worth the cost
Same, if my steamdeck can’t run it then I don’t play it. I love portable gaming so much because I can just be around the house or quickly suspend the game if something comes up.
Additionally it seems all the new games are pretty boring, maybe I’m just getting old, but I don’t care about graphics at all, just give me a fun game.
I’m actually playing the original oblivion right now and have no problems or complaints about the graphics, it’s just not important to me.
I have a Legion Go with Bazzite. Happily playing the Oblivion remaster on it. Just have to set the TDP to 20+ to get stable 36fps+ at low settings. Looks good to me
Besides that I mostly play Hades 1/2, Warm Snow, Victor Vran, and turn based JRPG games and the Yakuza games turn based or action. The only thing kind of hardware intensive graphics are the latest Yakuza/Like a Dragon games. Hades and Warm Snow have me interested in trying more rouguelites. Afterimage is getting me into metroidvanias. A bunch of games-games.
Yakuza and the JRPG can be narrative heavy but usually more over the top nonsensical or whimsical which I enjoy a lot more now that I’m getting towards middle age and edgy like I had thought as a teenager and in my 20s don’t feel as “adult” like how I now recognize “adult”
Regardless. Steam Deck 2 is going to be amazing long term because of the Switch 2 being the baseline for power for the next decade. PS4 isn’t dead for popularity yet either
I’ve been playing the Remaster and it looks immaculate, and it’s the same game. Different strokes I know, but I am loving the Remaster so far.
That said, I got Schedule 1 the other night and I put in two all-nighters already so far. That game is addicting - like the crack you can cook and sell in it.
I’m really not getting into it. I’m near the end of the main quest line and it was fun at first, but it’s just become repetitive and it makes just want to play Skyrim again instead.
I’m surprised you think it’s repetitive and it makes you want to go back to Skyrim lol.
But that said, anytime I play an Elder Scrolls game, I always get the urge to play the other ones too, so I get it. It usually ends up taking months of my life away whenever it happens though.
I’m mostly PC. I have a PlayStation, and I just like the rental tryout system of PS+. I still think it’s a nicely cost effective way for someone new to gaming to try a lot of stuff.
But yes, even then you can often get much of the same through Steam key bundles.
Exactly. It’d be cool to have in a few months/years when the exploits inevitably get patched. But there’s no way for me to justify the purchase at that price point.
Yeah that’s the only reason I’ve considered it. However, things have changed a lot since the Switch 1 came out. Existing Switch emulators will likely work well on Switch 2 soon given the similar hardware and the Steam Deck massively raised the bar on what I expect out of a portable system.
Plus the controller still looks like it sucks for adult hands.
Now I get why they didnt want there to be physical Cardridges
This way, there is no way someone can boot it on a day one version if they didnt buy it right now and updated it to v 1.0, effectively making it impossible for normal to use exploits for older versions
That is one of the options, that apparently a lot of the 3rd party devs are using. So far, all 1st party Nintendo titles are announced to include the game on the cartridge (not just a key)
Ah that clarifies a lot actually. I do miss the days where I’d go to a store and buy a physical copy of a game. Then again, they do end up taking up (physical) space of course.
There’s a lot of noise and disinformation floating out there, here’s the simplest explanation:
The Switch 2 will launch with three different types of physical cartridges denoted by serial numbers to describe their purpose:
LB - The cartridge will work on Nintendo Switch 2 consoles only. LP - Game Key cartridges in which a digital download is required LN - The cartridge will work on both Nintendo Switch 1 and 2.
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