this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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Steam Deck

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[–] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

I've got some points about this one.

  • they pitch a "deck that could actually play Fortnite" - game from a company who's CEO actively hates linux for whatever reason (maybe it kicked his dog, I dunno)
  • they talk how games bought on stores other than Steam will be "first-class citizens" which... you can already do on Steam Deck
  • they promote being free of hackers/cheaters because of immutable file system... something Steam Deck also has (though they do mention some additional digital signatures)
  • they want to be not only on handhelds but everywhere (laptops, tablets, phones, TV, cars...) - pretty ambitious for a company that didn't deliver anything yet
  • it'll be running on an ARM processor - we'll see how this works out (has anyone tried making a handheld like this?)
  • already mentioned no desktop mode - why is this mentioned as a positive exactly?
  • they want help from linux power users (feature requests, contribute code) but they don't know how open-source they want to be
  • they stole Witcher 3 video from some dude on YouTube

I'd like to think these are just screw ups/growing pains but nothing I've seen so far gives me any good vibes about it. We definitely need more choice and competition - this however does not look like an honest attempt at that. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Edit: Ah, how could I forget! Kirt McMaster, CEO of Playtron and the man responsible for killing CyanogenMod. Sounds great...

[–] metaldream@sopuli.xyz -1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Since when are non-Steam games first class citizens on steam os? You have to enter desktop mode to launch them.

Most of your complaints seem very nitpicky tbh. Valve needs competition badly and I'm glad to see another company entering the Linux gaming space.

[–] lambda@programming.dev 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't have to enter desktop mode to launch them. You have to enter desktop mode to install them and add them as a non-steam game to your steam library so that they'll show up in handheld mode.

[–] metaldream@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

So a bit easier but still not first class citizens citizens, by definition. It is called steam os after all, so I don't necessarily expect anything different, but this company wants to offer something new. Seems like this os is less dependent on steam integration, which I would view as a plus.

[–] lambda@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

I agree. But I'll believe it when I see it.

[–] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As another user already mentioned, you only need desktop mode to install/add them as non-steam game.

Other that that yeah, it IS nitpicky and I agree Valve needs competition. It's just... if your pitch starts with misrepresenting said competition ("Steam Deck is locked to Valveverse"), promising improbable ("Fortnite on linux" when we know the Tim Sweeney hates it and already said supporting linux would be too much work), stealing content to show a proof of concept (Witcher 3 video) and have someone like McCaster as one of the members just doesn't instill confidence in me.

I really hope I'm being too cautious and cynical about this but it's on them to ease those worries, not on me to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[–] metaldream@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair enough. There's really no reason to not be cautious with any company, especially startups, so I can see where you're coming from. I guess I'm just glad to see someone else seeing market value in gaming on Linux.

[–] Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I can see how my initial reply could be read as a random rant by a Valve fanboy since, well, these people exist. I do hope I'm wrong and this turns into another major player pushing Linux to the forefront as well. Time will tell.

[–] oni@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Competition is good. But I'll be glad only when that competition is viable and pro-consumer. So far I've seen a bunch of gimmicks and misrepresentations of facts from Playtron. So I am not glad yet. We'll see when they actually release something.

[–] metaldream@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I guess I'm just happy that the market is big enough that someone that is trying to get into it now.

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