230°

We're Not Ready For A Steam Deck 2 (and the Switch 2 leaks prove that)

Shaz from GL: "Valve is waiting for a "generational leap" for the Steam Deck 2, which may end up being the right choice."

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ZycoFox180d ago

These handheld PCs are only going to be any good for low/moderately hardware heavy games at med/lower settings if you want decent performance, and there are games suited for it.. just don't expect anywhere near even a mid level PC. Though with rumours of the Switch 2 being similar to the Deck I imagine Nintendo will get leapfrogged by a new Deck within maybe a year or so at most.

That said, Nintendo will have their first party games and if they can smash those out the park then that's what they need, as long as they don't go recycling the same tired stuff.

Neonridr179d ago

not only that but they have the power of DLSS to help really push their games. FSR isn't anywhere near as good yet.

ABizzel1179d ago

DLSS can only do so much, especially without DLSS 3.0 (no frame-gen).

That being said the PS4 still produced great looking games at 720p - 1080p@30 - 60, and with Nintendo having a much greater focus on art-style and performance their games should be able to scale 1440p - 4K @ 30 - 60, which is honestly more than most could ask for.

swedishMeatwad179d ago

If Switch 2 ~Steam Deck plus gimmick, that sucks. Yes, big N's art style demands less, chosen 'cause it's cheap. They live and die on their ace devs (who could do so much more with more power). I was hoping we'd get at least something like PS4 Pro specs with a good upscaler and good framegen. Not ideal, especially considering we are mid-gen of this generation so Switch 2 will be with us for many, many years to come. We are lucky to have companies like Sony (and MS, except series-s) to push the envelope and take a loss for the first 1-2 years of release. I wish Nintendo would do the same so more art styles and CPU/GPU gameplay possibilities could be explored.

just_looken179d ago

@Neonridr

dlss only works on nvidia graphics cards 0 of these mobile handhelds have a team green chip except the switch but that was made way before dlss tech. Now if you go with msi there handheld pc's are suing intel mobile chip set's some of them support xess intel's ai upscale tech.

Majority use amd which is great they got great power 2 performance ratio and all of them can use fsr including the intel based chipset ones.

Neonridr178d ago (Edited 178d ago )

@just_looken - the Switch 2 will very much be able to leverage the power of DLSS, that was my point.

@ABizzel1 - we don't know yet what DLSS tech it will or will not support fully. Latest rumours said it would support 3.5 in terms of ray tracing reconstruction, so it would be odd that it would support that but not 3.0 for frame reconstruction. Especially since that is where they will probably get the most bang for their buck. Time will tell of course.

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ABizzel1179d ago (Edited 179d ago )

This Article is kind of all over the place technologically, but later comes to a more realistic point.

Strix Point is a series of APUs not just the 890m / 880m which are the lowest end. That being said the low end of Strix Point is equivalent to RX 470 / 570 / 480 / 580 / 590 (PS4 Pro / Series S) etc… at their max potential.

What tech reviewers were excited for was Strix Point at the high end which could ultimately change laptop & desktop gaming how we know it going from a 16CU 890m up to a 40CU APU which is basically PS5 levels of performance at @Ghz (but with memory bandwidth issues). That’s why Strix Point is being hyped. The range is again around Series S performance at the low-end to PS5 performance at the high-end (max wattage).

The problem here is there’s huge distinction between mobile, laptop, and desktop hardware. While the 890m can be used in a desktop / laptop / and mobile device the performance will be very different in the mobile device due to having to use lower clocks, lower wattage, in order to maintain thermals and battery life which can literally cut performance o f the mobile chip in half.

Expecting Series S performance was never on the table especially with Nintendo. We’re lookin at PS4 / XBO level performance backed by DLSS 2.0 which for a handheld is great. Having a high-end handheld is nice, until you only get 1 - 1 1/2 hours of battery life. If Nintendo uses the same battery in the Steam Deck and cap their wattage in portable mode at 10 watts, then that gives them around 4 hours of gameplay which is the battle they’re more willing to choose, over best spec 2 hours battery max. Not to mention it usually cheaper to produce, and like always they will sell it for a markup.

My concern is how much is the Switch 2 going to cost. It should never be more than $399 with the dock because I can’t see Nintendo finding success in the +$499 range like Sony can (and to a lesser extent MS).

Giga_Gaia179d ago

Handheld PC are really good for indies and emulation (the steam deck runs switch games better than the switch itself), but for AAA games? No thanks.

ABizzel1179d ago

It depends on the system and what “APU” is powering it. Low settings in today’s AAA games is basically equivalent to PS4 / XBO graphics which still look good, and the high-end handheld PCs can do up to 1080p@60fps in games like Forza, or even 1080p@30fps in Cyberpunk.

The problem is the battery life, which FSR 4 is aiming to help with, but we’ll see.

LucasRuinedChildhood179d ago

With indie games being extremely popular on the Switch, I wonder if a lot of people will try get a few more years out of their current Switch before upgrading.

ABizzel1179d ago

I think it boils down to the cost of the Switch 2. The current Switch OLED is still $349 and that price has been there since the launch of the original. Realistically all models of the Switch except maybe the lite should be at bare minimum $50 less than the current asking price, which hopefully means at most the Switch 2 in $399 MAX.

anast179d ago

They could do the generational leap right now, but they are going to milk it.

jwillj2k4179d ago

It all depends on what the consumer will pay for. There’s only so much they can do keeping it around 5 to $600 price range

anast179d ago (Edited 179d ago )

The could do more and keep the price okay. The customer spending all that money that can barely run old games isn't worth it. Something has to give.

blackblades179d ago

Pc handheldd are already being milk, everytime I turn around there's a new one. Its like the old day of so many generic consoles being thrown out with shyt games. At this point night as well have a pc handheld that you can self upgrade

Tacoboto179d ago

My OLED Deck is running Middle Earth: Shadow of War at 60fps. I'll see tomorrow how well DA:TV runs on it as a day-one verified title.

Even if it doesn't run today's games as well as we'd like, it still runs AAA titles from the PS4/Xbox One generation at a high framerate and my backlog is big enough that I'll be good for a good long while.

Honestly the biggest issue is a single black dead pixel near the center of the display. Better than the 3 bright dead pixels on my first LCD Deck though - so my hope is Valve won't bring out a Deck 2 until they fix their ABYSMAL quality control.

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220°

Steam Deck Community Is Appalled That The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered Is Verified

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered just dropped, and it's Steam Deck Verified! Well, the users aren't satisfied with its performance.

Inverno2d ago

People need to understand that the reason it's verified is cause it runs on proton. If anyone actually bought this thinking that an U5 game was going to run smoothly on hardware too weak for it then idk what to tell ya… well I do know what to tell ya but it isn't something nice.

Eonjay2d ago

It wouldn't put it on a consumer to know that Verified means 'it boots up'. Perhaps they should be more upffront on the product page to better mangage expectations.

Inverno2d ago

Maybe, but I've played games on my Deck that say it's verified but run like shite. If I can come to the conclusion that hardware limitations is something that will effect a games performance then so can everyone else. People don't need to be spoon fed, they need to use some common sense.

JEECE2d ago

That's why the real argument here is a broader one that the criteria for "verified" should be changed to better factor in performance. The steam deck site uses this general explanation for verified games: "The game works great on Steam Deck, right out of the box." Given this description, the criteria to meet "Verified" status should factor in performance. So no, it isn't that people should expect U5 games to run well on Steam Deck. It's that U5 games shouldn't meet the criteria for "Verified."

Tacoboto2d ago

It's not like Valve produces a more powerful unit themselves that can run this game in an acceptable way (if reports are as bad as the headline suggests).

Deck Verified should mean and imply that it will not just open but run in that acceptable way on the one hardware they make where that label is of any relevance. And for future hardware that is more powerful, or new OEMs, that label will mean that the game not only runs, but will run better than the baseline.

FPS_D3TH2d ago

How is it the consumers fault for not looking deeper into this sort of technicality. This is still misleading the consumer.

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Profchaos2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

There seems to be a misconception about what the deck is capably of.

Not sure what people expect its a portable PC did people expect it to run every new PC game for the next decade. It's not a bespoke console where Devs will target that SKU and optimise for it specifically the thing about pc gaming is that eventually you'll be forced to upgrade or be left behind.

The steam deck hardware was fantastic for running last gen games but modern games are now starting to push into a new level of requirements (finally!!!).

I think the verification system for the deck does need an overhaul though as it's not the first game to be approved which clearly shouldn't

CrashMania2d ago

Yeah exactly, it's a PS4ish level device, dunno what people expect tbh.

anast2d ago

It's not running PS4 games, not even close.

BlueDaBaDee2d ago

@anast Pretty sure this was a PS4 game, and it's running it. Better than the PS4 even. https://youtu.be/hb9JeNYfXI...

PanicMechanic2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

@Anast

"It's not running PS4 games, not even close"

Stop being a dumbass. I've played and finished spiderman remastered, miles morales and Days Gone at a near perfect 40fps on the steam deck.

Cyberpunk 2077 also runs great on the steam deck. In fact, it's a better experience on SD than on ps4

Shiore2u2d ago

Anast has been on a roll lately with the dumb comments. More so than usual. Some event must have transpired recently to cause him to overcompensate so much.

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anast2d ago

I already said this on an article trying to sell it for the Steam Deck.

PanicMechanic2d ago

If you’re a steam deck owner, you would know the ProtonDB rating (platinum, gold, silver, bronze) is the accurate measure of performance on the SD. If something is verified, you would know that doesn’t mean stable 30fps or 60fps is guaranteed.

A savvy SD owner will download and make use of the decky plugin in steamOS. But you have to own a steam deck in the first place to understand this

SegaSaturn6692d ago

Baldur's Gate 3, FF7Remake come to mind as well. I love the device but it struggles games from the modern age.

dazzysima2d ago

Verified should mean that it runs on Proton and doesn’t dip below 30fps at any point.

But that would mean a huge drop in sales so no dice…

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40°

Can the ROG Ally X Handle Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

The Outerhaven writes: The mighty handheld gaming PC holds its own with SNK's latest fighter, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and does better than expected.

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40°

Minecraft splitscreen mod comes to Steam Deck and it might be possible in other games too

Playing Minecraft splitscreen on the Steam Deck is possible now, thanks to this script that automates everything for you.