I have a Steam Deck and love it… But part of me really likes the idea of the Pocket (not necessarily the aluminum one). It’s rough, cuz I’ve never gotten into FPGA stuff before, and this run is going to be a one-time thing. I guess I’ll hold off until the regular plastic ones are available again?
Specifically the form factor. I have a lot of nostalgia for the GBC and SP, and the smaller size means it’s much easier to carry and whip out while traveling. Currently, my Steam Deck is used for when I’m on a long (6+ hours) flight or when I’m staying somewhere for a weekend. I don’t feel great about bringing it out while taking a bus or train, and it’s a bit much to bring out while sitting at an airport gate for 45 minutes.
That being said, I would hate to split all my saves and progress between the two systems, so maybe I’ll just remain on the Deck.
Interesting take, I think my Deck is a great size and it easily fits in my shoulder bag, I bring it everywhere. Don’t have a want for anything smaller honestly, it feels so good in my hands, anything smaller just gives me hand aches after a bit. But I can understand your perspective.
I’m a shorter dude (5’8"), so while I’m in love with my Steam Deck, it’s definitely a little much for me sometimes. Heavy to hold up, and I carry it in the OEM case. That being said, I’m a HUGE fan of the new case and basically only use the inner case, leaving the outer shell at home.
When they came out with the OLED (and the special edition) instead of giving the regular shell, it was 2 shells. 1 thinner one that’s a bit thicker than the deck, and then the big one with a handle and the elastic covering a space to carry the charger. The small one actually velcros into the big case.
In my previous comment I mentioned the OLED LE, that stands for the OLED Limited Edition you mentioned. And no, there’s no inner case I somehow missed. It’s just the one large one.
RIP my impulsivity and FOMO. Ordered a black one. Though I may have an out, since my credit card company flagged it as fraud and said they cancelled the transaction.
I have a steam deck, and have used a friend’s analogue pocket. They aren’t even the same category of device, and the analogue is literally the best emulation experience I’ve ever used. The screen, by itself, is a better emulation experience for GBC games than the steam decks default experience.
Yep, ask anyone who owns both. Nobody is playing a Gameboy game on a Steam Deck when they have an Analogue Pocket. Experience is much better, it just feels right on it.
That being said, if that’s not an important thing to you then a Steam Deck will play Gameboy games with near perfect accuracy and no issues, as well as do a million other things. So it’s indisputably a better value.
I would never pitch an Analogue Pocket at someone because if its the kind of thing you want, you already know about it and probably have one.
and the analogue is literally the best emulation experience I’ve ever used
The Analogue Pocket doesn’t use emulation. That is literally the entire point of that device, and the reason they can charge 10 times as much as you would pay for an Anbernic device with the same form factor
Obviously piracy would be terrible and nobody would do it, but imagine how great GBC games would be on the Steam Deck if such a thing were possible! I’d probably play those pretty regularly!
Or if you really want the feeling of playing those original CARTS on new hardware funny playing sells a GBC fpga board, shell and buttons for about $100. You just can’t play GBA.
If your concern is “value for dollar” you wouldn’t be buying an FPGA console in a limited edition material. Seems like a weird comparison. You can also get an R36S for like, $30 on AliExpress that will play everything from N64/PS1 and earlier.
A standard Analogue Pocket is much cheaper, this is just an option for those that really want a metal shell. Also, a metal “unfolded” shell for a GBA SP (which is I’m sure is what inspired this offering) is like $150 so it’s not even that crazy a markup.
Newer, cheaper competitors like the FPGBC are finally muscling in on the Analogue Pocket’s market, so I guess they’ve decided to double down on being the ‘premium option’.
Yea, if you look at your purchases you probably spend less than 20/month on average for games. Plus many of the “big” games aren’t on game pass, so you are paying even more.
I’ve done the math; for what I currently pay if I play two full price games on gamepass a year I come out ahead. Now that’s only because codes are cheap on cdkeys and eneba but once that changes I’ll jump ship
That also assumes you benefit from playing them day one.
There are plenty of games that I would play day one if it’s available. But if not, then I would happily wait and buy it when it’s cheaper. Also, the ownership adds to the value if I’m not keeping it all the time.
So if I would have waited until the game is $40, I’m saving $40 max. But also, I’ll still have it 2 years from now when it’s worth $25, assuming I want to play it again. So it maybe saved me $15, depending how you look at it.
Agreed. I guess it’s that value proposition: if you have the time to play, and you play their whole catalog and have a blast, that’s $16.99 well spent.
As for me I love owning my games (where possible due to licensing and DRM), so the value isn’t there. But my spouse and I certainly took advantage of the heavy discounts they offered like the $1 month. I planned it so that I could try as many games as I could during that period and ended up buying them on GOG or Steam if I really loved them.
If their whole catalog is refreshed and they have another heavily discounted offer for 1 month, I’ll pick up a month just to try those games. But I definitely would never be a long term customer, I’d be a parasite loss-leader lol.
The problem with these things is that it usually works out being a net positive for the company. Like when Netflix stopped allowing households to share passwords. I cancelled, and hoped that drives of other people would cancel too. But Netflix did their research just like any other company would, and they ended up getting more subscribers and more money because of it. The era of good deals is over. The era of squeezing customers for everything they’re worth is here. There is no more competition, and thus no reason for them to offer good deals.
Yeah I pirated a lot when I was younger, then things became more easily available and cheaper so I started buying all my games and movies again. And now they’re going in a backwards direction and making things sorta expensive again and there are a dozen different subscription services so now I’m back to pirating again.
Same here man. We were up to about $70 per month for streaming services, which was right back to cable TV type of shit. When Netflix pulled the password stunt that pushed us over the edge and we’ve been real-debrid ever since.
And games are gimped on gamepass. When palworld released I had to purchase it on steam anyway to be able to play with my buddies. Also patches are late. Very late. I will not be renewing.
Yeah Xbox game pass uses the Xbox version of the game which is sometimes different. Deep rock galactic on game pass won’t let you play with deep rock steam players and vice versa.
Or just do what I do. Sign up for game pass once in a blue moon when friend wants to play games. Cancel it after 1-2 months once friend eclipses into non gaming mode for a while. Dispute the charge on card and say MSFT didn’t cancel trial. Get money back every time. Rinse and repeat as needed.
Regardless of how you feel about Game Pass, shouldn’t Microsoft (and the game’s publisher and dev) get paid for a game rental service you fully used and benefited from?
With my morals, that’s not something I could do. Definitely doesn’t sit right with me.
Fair enough, megacorps certainly are amoral in their decisions, which generally leads to evil outcomes.
Have you considered what happens to indie game devs, which aren’t megacorps? They list games on Gamepass to increase exposure. Microsoft takes a cut of the monthly fee and the rest is dispersed to the publishers and then all the way down to the game devs getting a small slice of the monthly fee.
When OP issues a charge back, the game devs aren’t getting paid. Is that fair to indie game devs? They don’t get paid if Microsoft and the various publishers don’t get paid.
Granted, I’m not justifying subscriptions. I personally dislike Games-as-a-Service as I prefer to own my games. But using a paid service, and then charging back against the company? Especially when it’s smaller game devs on that platform, too, hoping to make it big one day.
I don’t think indie devs should eat your ass, or the original commenter’s ass. Frankly, they need money to eat and pay their bills just like us plebs.
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