Gaming handheld prices are out of control, except for the Steam Deck
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The hype train for hl3 is so off the rails that valve can't release it. It would never live up to the hype, so it's a pretty sound decision not to make it.
They should make the game where, after the opening credits, it just says "There, we did it. Fuck off" and then rolls end credits.
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Probably the biggest advantage they have is that they can sell devices at cost or even at a loss and still profit from increased Steam game sales, like how other console makers operate.
3rd parties can't compete with that. Not even close. If there's no profit from the device itself, there's no motivation to make it. And apart from the hardware cost, they also need to pay for the R&D and corporate maintenance. They can't compete with the Steam Deck. If they made an exact Steam Deck clone, they'd have to make it, idk ~$40 more to make a profit, but no one would buy it because the Steam Deck is the same for less. They have to give it slightly higher specs to give it a niche. That might take hardware cost up to $500 and then charge $150 more to make up for the distributor fees and then $100 to make it actually profitable. But at that point, they've already lost most budget and casual gamers, they might as well aim at whales and enthusiasts and make profits $300. If a $950 device sells half as well as a $750 device, it's still more profitable.
Edit: more realistic numbers
They could sell them at a loss assuming the average Steam outlay per device exceeded the loss. This figure would be dragged down by people buying them as generic portable PCs, using them solely with emulators, using them as drone controllers (apparently the Ukrainian military do that), and such.
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There are loads and loads of really cheap Android-based emulator handhelds. The YouTuber TechDweeb does lots of reviews of these devices. These things have effectively spawned their own retro gaming ecosystem around them.
An alternative is to pick up a used New Nintendo 3DS (New being part of the name, distinguishing it from the original 3DS which is way less powerful). This device can be hacked to run many different emulators and play thousands of games. While the screens are not as good as the best Android handhelds, the form factor is ideally suited for running DS and 3DS games (which obviously run natively on the device) while still being great for older single-screen systems (the unused touch screen is excellent for emulator controls such as pause/resume and save/load state).
Yeah, but I hate android and want to run steam natively so I can play indie games.
Where is my small Linux handheld for steam. Something not targeting the AAA games?
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Yeah, but I hate android and want to run steam natively so I can play indie games.
Where is my small Linux handheld for steam. Something not targeting the AAA games?
I believe a lot of the folks into these retro handhelds ditch the default Android system and install a community made distro specifically for running these retro emulators! TechDweeb talks about them.
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In that form factor/size are the android handhelds better screens worth the trade-off of what I assume is better build quality from Nintendo (I've never used a ds so I assume the build quality is better)
I’m not sure actually. I’m into the hobby but I have only a New 3DS. I plan to get one of those handhelds at some point but I’m not there yet!
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Could there be an argument about the R&D costs not being factored in there? So for companies that can't compete, its literally a skill issue.
Not like the companies releasing these things have been making PCs and peripherals for decades or anything lol
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I would love to see a lower powered and low budget focused one. Powerful enough for locally running a web browser, normal Linux stuff like SSH and some low spec games like CDDA. Otherwise most games would be played by streaming it from your desktop.
I just want something that runs Minecraft so I don't have to keep up to date with workarounds on the Switch that Nintendo keeps trying to block
also fuck bedrock edition
my switch exists primarily for Minecraft. I don't use it much because the experience is terrible. if there was something that did the same thing but for Java, I'd buy it
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I would love to see a lower powered and low budget focused one. Powerful enough for locally running a web browser, normal Linux stuff like SSH and some low spec games like CDDA. Otherwise most games would be played by streaming it from your desktop.
This is a neat idea and contrary to what the other commenter said, I still think it's a valuable proposition because many folks, myself included, would rather have a Linux device rather than an Android one.
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The price of everything is out of control, because it turns out the people who set wages have a different idea of inflation than the people that set prices.
This is the only gen I can think of where console prices have gone up from what they were at the start. And that's before you get tariffs from everyone's favourite orange dickhead.
And PC component prices are even worse.
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I would love to see a lower powered and low budget focused one. Powerful enough for locally running a web browser, normal Linux stuff like SSH and some low spec games like CDDA. Otherwise most games would be played by streaming it from your desktop.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I do this with my RK36XX emulation system (powkiddy RGB30). It has a port for the moonlight streaming app
It even plays stardew valley and quake 3 arena through the onboard ports really really well
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Fair enough, Gabe has even said they don't have a tie-in ratio, just that pricing was both painful and a test. Thin margins is the conclusion I came to as well, but knowing they expected to expand game sales with it, too.
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The price of everything is out of control, because it turns out the people who set wages have a different idea of inflation than the people that set prices.
This is the only gen I can think of where console prices have gone up from what they were at the start. And that's before you get tariffs from everyone's favourite orange dickhead.
And PC component prices are even worse.
A big part of console/computers getting cheaper has been thanks to decreasing transistor sizes (aka moore's law). But we're seeming reaching the physical limits of how small transistors can get, and as a result hardware won't get cheaper simply from being remade with smaller chips.
