This is just talking about games approved through Valve’s verification process. There are a lot of games that work that are “unverified”, not to mention the entire history of gaming available through emulation.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/21835717
That difference seems far lower than I would have guessed.
Oh. The “verified” status accounts for the difference. That’s fair.
My initial mental math was including unverified Indie games I already bought for my PC, most of which happen to work perfectly.
I expect that difference to go up fast over the next few years as more indie devs discover that they don’t actually need to change many of their old games to get verified.
Yeah, even the “playable” tag i have to check what they mean by that. Psychonauts 1 and 2 are “playable” but both need you to manually pull up the keyboard and show xbox controls… Like okay? That’s all? They play perfectly.
I also downloaded an indie game “tonight we riot” and its not even tested. Want to geuss how well it plays? Spoiler, perfectly fine.
I’m genuinely greatful for steam personally pushing for more games to work well in linux even if the game needs a compatibility layer like Wine or proton.
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Given that most game developer don’t even target the Steam Deck, it’s quite impressive. The Switch and Deck have a lot of junk games too. And both are handhelds, capable of docking to the tv/monitor. While both systems are vastly different, they have lot of in common and people might buy only one of the systems. Therefore comparisons fair or not, are still comparisons people make and decide.
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That can be said about any console too. The fact is, people have limited money and time. Some people have to decide which of these devices to get and it makes lot of sense to compare them. Off course they differ, but that is why people need the comparisons. But in the end both machines are handhelds with screen, battery, controls and both are here to play games.
Lets do a car comparison! Imagine someone looking at two different cars, one traditional and the other electrical car. Both are vastly different, but both serve the same. And have lot in common, despite some of its technology is lot of different and the user experience also differs lot. But people still can afford only one car and need comparisons to decide which one. And that is a similar situation with the consoles or handhelds.
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Switch and SteamDeck are consoles. Just in a handheld form. Like any other system, the experience will be different. That is exactly the reason why people do comparisons, to find the right system for them. The size of the library might not be important for you, but maybe for someone else. Games are the reasons why people buy these systems. It makes sense to compare different things about the games, including its number of available games.
It is very important to know, because SteamDeck is based on Linux and historically there were only a handful of games (we talk about a few hundred) playable. So for people who wasn’t informed before, its a good information to know that the library of playable games grew significantly.
but this is truly apples and oranges.
For you maybe. But the fact is, which you still ignore, that people are here to decide which of these systems to get. Both are handheld gaming systems and it makes sense to compare them, regardless of your feelings. Because people need these comparisons to find the correct device.
But saying one is “better” is kind of difficult.
Without comparing them, it will be impossible to answer which system is better. And I know which one is better for me, because I informed myself before purchasing stuff. And I’m sure there are lot of people who don’t know how many games are playable on the Deck.
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You are disrespectful, not me. Just like you I do not agree and tell you the reason why I think you are wrong. I’m sorry if you feel in any kind of personally attacked by me, that’s not my goal. But with the kind of attitude you give me here with this reply, its probably the best we stop arguing.
Edit: And yes, you was ignoring the points I brought you up, because you kept saying the same without explaining why it was wrong. But I was explaining to you multiple times. Have a good day.
It has some value as a comparison, some people might be worried about buying a deck because they’ve heard that some games don’t work on it because of linux. But no one would think the Switch is lacking in games.
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You say that, but I can keep my deck in docked/gaming mode, and my son who’s only 7 has been playing away it like its a switch.
I think people just like to make excuses for their spending habits, which isn’t wrong at all. It just becomes disheartening when you say such blatantly wrong things.
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Generally speaking you’re either playing docked, or sitting down. Not typically both, but I know what you mean. Even then though, any of the games he plays just automatically readjust the resolution to handheld mode and works just fine. Then when you plug it back in, it knows to stop using the steam as monitor 1 and switches the output to the TV.
Not sure how you’re doing it, but its worked fine for me.
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What? Didn’t realize it was such a draw, but irregardless as I said, you just unplug the screen. Its as easy as that with a hub, just like a switch. I do it daily.
I dont see why not. Especially with the switch 2 coming out eventually, I think the value proposition of the deck goes up for consumers who might want to make a choice
Well I think neither of the numbers mean much since in my opinion a majority of those games on both systems are just slop. So the numbers of available games is irrelevant to anything to me. It would be like stating or bragging about how many words can be made from the alphabet.
I really hope to get one of these at some point
I’m tired of waiting for valve and soon will be getting one on the grey market.
Waiting for what?
The Deck is not sold in most parts of the world. This includes certain parts of Asia, Latin america, Australia, some European countries, and most of Africa. Essentially, if you’re not from the US, Canada, China or western Europe, buying a Deck directly from Valve is impossible. Import and distribution is also an impossibility. Region locking it still one of Valve’s biggest hurdles.
So, to acquire one I have to pay an overhead to a reseller willing to sell it to me, foot the import bill, the local tariff, pay the courier, and at the end of all the device will be under no guarantee, support or protection. I have to pay more for a device that Valve could decide to block, the only reason I’d still do it is because I trust they won’t. But they could if they wanted to.
They really couldn’t, it’s just a Linux PC. Worst case scenario you could format the drive and install regular arch Linux on it (SteamOS is arch based, and you can add the repos for all of the custom steam packages to a standard arch install). Unlike the switch, you have direct, firmware level control over the hardware, which is why I bought it. I want to encourage more manufacturers to not lock down their hardware
Hell, you could install Windows on the thing if you really wanted to.
Don’t forget about emulation. You can basically emulate anything you like, including Switch games. Ryujinx supports over 3K Switch titles.
Does 29% include the 99% of switch games the deck can play?
The steam deck library includes the entire switch library via emulation, so Yeah Obviously. (Ik they’re not counting emulation, but my point is that the steam deck is a PC, which makes it much more versatile)
It plays way more than that, I play all sorts of “unsupported” games all the time - mostly they run fine or even great (never mind all the emulators lol)
I wanted to buy a switch for the longest time, but after Nintendo being cunts, I will buy the deck and simply emulate any and all Nintendo games. They don’t deserve any less
My wife adamantly refused to get a Steam Deck for herself, saying that she would never give up her Switch.
Cut to one year out from buying one for her, and the Switch has been in a bin almost the entire time.
@Fubarberry My one wish is they (Valve, Nintendo, etc.) could make discovery easier and more useful. It takes a lot of effort finding new games to play that aren’t the usual major releases and obvious indie titles.
Edit: The two resources I use are https://bestofsteam.com/ and https://steam250.com/
