Lol you have no clue what you're talking about bud. Steam doesn't force any of the games sold on its storefront to be exclusive to their store. Developers are completely within their power to publish their games to other marketplaces and, in fact, many titles are readily available elsewhere, such as GOG, Humble Bundle, Jolt, itch.io, Epic, and soon even Discord will have its own storefront. They are simply a marketplace; they don't have a monopoly just because they are the most popular marketplace. Not their fault developers don't like the non-DRM pushing spaces, which is the only complaint I have with Steam. Meanwhile, you're comparing that to Nintendo which develops games in-house and deliberately keeps them exclusive to their proprietary consoles. Last I checked, I can't buy the new Mario Kart or Donkey Kong on my PS5 or PC.

You sound very confident for being wrong, which is about par for the course for libertarians. Nintendo actually makes games to sell their hardware. Valve coasts on having a monopoly. Having irrelevant competition doesn’t mean you don’t have a monopoly, you just need a dominant position that allows you to leverage it to hold on to it. It would be okay if they were some benevolent dictator but they use it to sell gambling apps to children.

Lol. I am not a libertarian, I am anarchist. Learn the difference. Also, go fuck yourself you pompous, corporate shilling twat.


The switch 2 is a disgrace period.

I and my kids value the exclusives, especially Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, Zelda, and Kirby. I could emulate those, but getting local multiplayer working is tricky and not something I expect my kids to do with their friends. We also share games with neighbors, which is nice too. Most of my time and gaming money goes to my Steam Deck, because that's what I play when the kids go to bed. In fact, I never play the Switch without my kids watching. We have maybe 20 Switch games, and I have hundreds of Steam games. I see value in both ecosystems.

I use my Steam Deck primarily for emulation, especially Nintendo IP. NDS, 3DS, N64, Gamecube, Switch. It's the best Nintendo device that I've ever owned and it hasn't been bricked or even threatened with such.

N64/GC sure (if you’re okay with letterboxed screen) although not the most efficient use of battery. Switch is debatable since compatibility is not there and won’t improve anytime soon. With DS/3DS you must be joking, it’s a different form factor entirely. Do yourself a favour and get a DS Lite and a flashcart, they’re dirt cheap and it’s just super convenient device. I’d say the same for 3DS but they are ridiculously expensive these days for some reason, glad I got mine years ago.

Is it more or less convenient than just not having it at all??

I've been playing Switch games just fine on my SD. Currently playing Fire Emblem Engage which runs flawlessly, Three Houses also runs well. The Same is true for many (most) of the Switch library. I already have a 3DS but the Steam Deck can handle those games too. Likewise NDS games, the games play just fine. I only play a handle of games on each system. It's nice to have my entire game library on one device, especially on the road.

I like companies that make games, sure, but I also like companies that make it easier for me to play games, which Valve does. You can use Steam OS to play PC games you got from anywhere and the Steam Deck is a handheld PC that provides a console-like experience. You're too hung up on Steam itself, which you don't even have to buy into at all to use a Steam Deck to play games.

>par for the course for libertarians. golly i didn’t realize identity politics had such a large role in console preferences, TIL

I can get a lot more than that out of my OLED.

Depending on the game, I can get 4 hours or so on my OG Steam Deck, but AAA games can burn through it in under 2 hours.

What the fuck does economics have with idpol.

i reckon the disconnect came around the initial labeling. you GOTTA understand it’s not apolitical to call someone a libertarian in your opening line, right? also you’re literally putting someone in a box *as an opener*. folks generally don’t like that. like if this reply started with “par for the course for a centrist”, you wouldn’t think i’m a cool and understanding guy for saying it.

Approach to monopolies is a political thing and that was as free market approach as you can get. Guy self described himself as anarchist in the next comment so I was right to label him that.

i had no idea anarchist and libertarian were synonyms, TIL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition_of_anarchism_and_libertarianism

if they felt the need to correct you, then your explanation of why they were wrong in doing so isn’t gonna tell me anything other than how stubborn you are. i’m unsure of who you’re trying to convince what at this point.