Sounds like its making no-one all that happy.

I mean it's your money, but if you already have a portable handheld with better screen, better battery, and that can run the whole of the steam catalogue... why spend $450 (or whatever) on the Mario Machine, is it just for the exclusives?

I commited a blasphemy against a huge digital store with a monopoly in their niche, an unforgivable offence amongst PC gamers.

Nothing, I’m third week into a T-break and I quit smoking nicotine 10 years ago, thanks for asking.

I read it after a day of train travel with Switch 2 so that articles hit a nail on the head for me although you’d be hard pressed to get just 2 hours, more like 2,5 for heavy titles with WiFi. Zelda TOTK could be stretched to almost 3h in the airplane mode with brightness slider in the middle. Very similar to Switch v1/Erista that I never upgraded out of because it’s so easy to hack.

While I appreciate USB-C port at the top so you can rest your Switch on your legs and charge it at the same time, that’s not exactly convenient.

Batteries don't get better the more you use them

Yeah, as my Switch v1 can no longer carry me through my entire commute I expect same to happen with S2, which is the worst part of this.

Yeah, what a snivelling sycophantic headline.

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.