This is actually my second Steam Deck. I bought the original LCD-screen one back when they were first announced, but they had a nasty habit of the bumper buttons (L1 and R1) breaking. Sure enough my L1 button broke and I just never sent it back to get it fixed. I've just been re-mapping that button to the L2 (trigger) button instead.

Recently, my wife expressed interest in having a Steam Deck (she almost bought her own when they first came out), and she claimed she was perfectly content taking my old one, since she doesn't game as much as me anyway. So I bought a fancy new HDR OLED-screen Steam Deck. It's much more responsive than my first one. And the bumper buttons work! I forgot how nice it is to just play a game without re-mapping buttons first.

I started playing this on PC, but at a certain point, it persistently crashed. A bunch of other folks reported the same problem. I guess non-Deck hardware wasn't a priority for Valve this time.

The plots of Portal 2 singleplayer, co-op, and PTI are very "distant" from anything happening with Half-Life.

From what I understand (it's been a while since I read up on the lore), Portal 1 and 2 take place after the Combine invasion of Earth, shortly after the first Half-Life game. That's why Aperture Science is almost completely devoid of life, minus the personality cores that are attempting to continue running things. It's because of the resonance cascade incident at Black Mesa that Aperture Science is now mostly defunct, and Chell is trapped as a lab rat at GLaDOS' mercy.

So the Portal series is pretty reliant on Half-Life's story to justify their plot, even if it's never directly addressed in the game itself.

Next to Astro's Playroom, this is still one of the best tech demos of all time!

Never have I ever wanted "Portal 3" to be a thing more than after I played this.

That sounds like a great time! I can totally see how the Steam Deck makes it easy to game from bed. Aperture Desk Job seems like a fun way to get to know the device with Valve’s classic humor.

It kind of reminds me of mobile apps like Vegas Sweeps—perfect for quick, casual gaming. You can play slots, blackjack, and other casino games anytime, just like you’re doing with the Steam Deck, but from your phone. Both offer that easy, pick-up-and-play vibe, but with different worlds to dive into. You think you’d give something like Vegas Sweeps a shot while lounging around? Visit vegas sweeps official site to create account and claim=n welcome bonus to enjoy games on vegas sweeps; https://vegassweeps.app/vegas-sweeps-no-deposit-bonus/.

What in the AdSense fuck is this?

TIL there's another little Portal game I'd not heard of!

Yeah I think it was kind of like a tech-demo for the Steam Deck. I had fun with it, but I truly don't remember a single moment from it. These screenshots look completely foreign to me lol.

To be fair, I was probably high when I played it.

I wish more developers would take advantage of the insane features of the DualSense. It's sad that a free tech demo does a better job than 90% of the games.

Valve did the same thing for the Index VR kit. They create these little brief but fully produced games to demonstrate the functionality when they release new hardware, and they’re delightful.

That first paragraph is AI slop as fuck.