Valve's popular handheld gaming PC recently passed 14,200 officially rated games, meaning there's never been a better time to own one.

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

  • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldEnglish
    86·
    6 months ago

    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)

      • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        6 months ago

        I have not even begun to fuck with games outside of Steam yet. My backlog of stuff I want to play is insane. I probably could not play through even just the fully supported games before I died, never mind all the other stuff.

    • Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      8·
      6 months ago

      Given that compatibility improvements can essentially only be expected from Ryujinx now though, does Ryujinx run as well as Yuzu on the Deck? Ideally I’d like to switch to it entirely unless a viable Yuzu successor emerges, but I’ve heard that it’s not as resource efficient in comparison.

      • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
        9·
        6 months ago

        In my opinion it’s not “as good” as yuzu, for now. That said it still runs about anything I throw at it, but yuzu did it better with higher frame rates.

        • Chewy@discuss.tchncs.de
          2·
          6 months ago

          It doesn’t seem like there’s much ongoing work on suyu, which isn’t surprising since emulators are difficult to develop. Not many people have the necessary knowledge and are willing to work for free.

          So yes, suyu is there for people who need it for it’s performance, but it seems likely that Ryunjinx continues to improve while suyu won’t change much in terms of performance and compatibility.

          It’s great for the games that are already running well though, especially on low end hardware like the Steam Deck.

      • gh0stcassette@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        3·
        6 months ago

        Yuzu is better overall, but Ryujinx works weirdly better for certain games. Like, Mario Wonder runs about 40% better for me on Ryujinx for some reason.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      192·
      6 months ago

      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.

        • Zoot@reddthat.com
          51·
          6 months ago

          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.

            • Zoot@reddthat.com
              3·
              6 months ago

              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.

                • Zoot@reddthat.com
                  3·
                  6 months ago

                  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.

    • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
      5·
      6 months ago

      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.

        • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
          2·
          6 months ago

          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.

            • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
              1·
              6 months ago

              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.

                • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
                  1·
                  6 months ago

                  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.

    • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      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

      • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        6 months ago

        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.

  • TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    331·
    6 months ago

    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

  • Everett@reddthat.comEnglish
    31·
    6 months ago

    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.

  • gh0stcassette@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    291·
    6 months ago

    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)

    • Bogasse@lemmy.ml
      9·
      6 months ago

      They just talk about Steam games that were verified by Valve’s process. So yeah, as you said, it’s much larger for people who are willing to do a tiny bit of tinkering 👍

    • thingsiplay@beehaw.org
      7·
      6 months ago

      Valve actually does a lot to make discovery easier, compared to Nintendo:

      You really can’t say Valve wouldn’t do a lot to help with discovery.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      I’ll check those out. I’ve been doing the “steam discovery queue” for awhile now though, and it feels like if you do it enough you won’t ever miss anything of interest. I think it can work pretty well for game discovery, you just need to invest some time in it every day to get through all the more “common” recommendations.

    • ferret@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Steam has a built in discovery queue that contains a list of games it thinks you might like (and it it infinite, so it technically contains every game on the platform)

    • Jediotty@beehaw.org
      1·
      6 months ago

      I haven’t touched my desktop in months, but my steam deck usually gets a little love every few days, it really does make it easier

      • EnderMB@lemmy.world
        92·
        6 months ago

        That’s not fair. The switch is a great console for indie games.

        Obviously, so is the Steam Deck, but that doesn’t discount the Switch for having a solid library of games outside of the usual Nintendo shite.

      • Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        To be fair, some of the mobile ports are improved with controller support added to them. It’s just frustrating that some of them aren’t subsequently ported to PC as well.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      8·
      6 months ago

      According to this website, there are about 11k switch games. There are some duplicates on that list though, games which have multiple “editions” will have an entry under each version. For example, Xenoblade Chronicles DE is listed 4 times to cover different regional collectors editions.

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
    81·
    6 months ago

    I like the Deck, but lately been using my Switch again because I like the battery life and the smaller form factor sometimes. I hope Valve releases a Deck that is a little easier to slip into a bag and that can do a bit better than 1.5-2.5 hours of battery life.

    I’ll still use my Deck, but in some cases where the same game I want is available on Switch and I am traveling, I will choose the Switch for its form factor.

    • 3aqn5k6ryk@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      For me, I have come to appreciate switch lite form factor to be honest. I like the deck too but its too bulky for me personally. I fucking love vita and 3ds lite but small size has it cons such as underpowered cpu, battery etc but damn it i like it fit enough on most pocket and easily slid into bag.

    • AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip
      31·
      6 months ago

      Battery life seems a tad low unless you’re playing somewhat demanding games. The Steam Deck does have some power optimization settings you can use to up your battery life, and you can set them on a per-game basis. I haven’t played with them myself, but I think they’re in the menu that comes up with the … Button on the right side.

  • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
    5·
    6 months ago

    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.

    • drcobaltjedi@programming.dev
      3·
      6 months ago

      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.