Back paddles on portable console is genius

Somehow instantly hyped for Steam Deck purely due to the paddles. That is genius, why console manufacturer dont think about this feature when designing their portable consoles. Very easy to reach and incredibly comfy. I can just imagine binding so many FFXIV hotbar to the paddles, already great uses.

I always hate playing Switch undocked (not that I actually even play Switch nowadays) cause the Trigger is in uncomfortable position and sucks ass to push or on the vita where some games or PS4 remote play games requires the triggers and you had to use the trackpad as trigger.

Back paddles on controllers are the best. They give you almost the same freedom as keyboard and mouse with simultaneous inputs, and there are two of them on each side on this thing!

The Switch looks like an archaic POS in comparison🤔This has everything Nintendont.

PC gaming has no room for false gods. Those back pedals won't do the Steam Deck any good when its launch library consists of Valve titles, XCOM 2012, Stardew Valley and a bunch of indie shovelware that deserve to be labeled as such.

@Pedro: too bad xbox dont do portable consoles pedro

Xcloud.😋

@Pedro: not traditional portable consoles tho which what I was emphasizing in the opening, pedro.

console looks a bit boring lookswise.

Portability is now non-traditional with streaming and even this is non traditional.

@Pedro: interesting. What makes it non traditional?

It might eat your Switch. What's your opinion on the matter?

I ain't getting this thing

How many handheld PC are there on the market? Handheld gaming has been almost exclusively Nintendo but now it has diversified with streaming and devices like this.

@Pedro: but there once exist other competitors but as far as I know they all dont do back paddles too. As far as traditional portable console the steam deck using back paddles is very welcomed.

I think vita had some touch controls on the back but I never used them. I have no clue how you'd still manage to get all your hot bars on ffxiv on this thing lol. It's hard enough with a controller.

i put my troll response in the main thread just now.

but basically its this in a nutshell.

My IPhone 12 4K Oled had backpedal also. Shame Valve brings nothing new to the table. They had a chance, but they failed.

No more bumper jumper 🙌

When I do use my Xbox Elite Series 2 controller one paddle always goes to jump, one for melee, one for sprint and the last for crouch. No more taking your thumbs off the sticks.

It is a welcomed. Didn't the Vita have something similar with the back touch?

@Pedro: yeah the vita try to overcome no physical triggers by using the immensely uncomfortable back touch.

Are you going to purchase on these?

Not day one but very likely I will purchase one. To be frank I am highly interested in what is possible in the modding scene with these portable consoles. Would love to play legacy titles of many pc releases and various consoles, portable.

I actually enjoy the forum hype this thing is receiving. You guys will soon realise the definition of an astronomically vocal minority.

This is going to be a cataclysmic flop of the ages. Somebody put Virtual Boy on notice.

@casey-wegner: this is a dedicated forum for gamers and system warriors. Hopefully casuals also take notice of the system.

Everything except the possibility of mass success lol. People acting like this is not dead in the water are simply delusional. Steam boxes say Hi. (O wait....what is a steam box again?)

What was a SteamBox (or whatever its called. nobody remembers)? An overpriced welfare pc. Is the Deck just that? No, its a portable system that is so far ahead of what's on offer from its competition that its comical. Mobile is much much easier to sell than a standard pc build is, so i am not too sure how you're not seeing success, especially since you're able to access your whole steam library and use it as a computer as well. This is a nobrainer success IF Steam markets the shit outta it the coming holiday season.

And yet it will still fail. Get back to me on this. Odd that it is not more obvious to you that this will not sell well. Most PC gamers will see this as nice but redundant since they already have steam at home. This brings NOTHING new gaming wise to the table.

Power and specs are nothing without real reasons to purchase. You will see soon enough.

Who said this is only for the pc gamers crowd? Its a mobile device. Mobile is what sells here. Being able to do some work on it and also play, is not something you should be ignoring.

Yeah I can't see the Steam Deck failing like the SteamBox. The Steam Deck doesn't have the issues the Steamboxes had which was limited Linux game support and varying models/brands that are overpriced and/or underpowered. Valve has clearly learned from their mistakes with the Steam Machines. They've spent years working on Proton so gaming on Linux is much more accessible as every Windows game can be played on Linux through Proton so Steam Deck doesn't suffer from the lacking library like Steam Machines did. There is only one Steam Deck and it Valve branded all different models are just different storage size so no can get confused as much by specs. The cheapest model is $399 so it is very affordable for mainstream audience.

Not about me ignoring it is the market that will ignore it. Get back to me on this one in a year. This flop is beyond obvious. Without any exclusive games to talk about people will forget this even exists in a year.

Even people on this forum who act excited about this will not buy it for the most part. It will come out and they will be like "well I already play steam at home on steam......do I really need this?"

But that is not why it will fail. It will fail due to it offering nothing people don't already have. You can already play steam on any laptop on the market and take it with you already. It is huge so it is almost the size of a laptop at this point. So who exactly is this for?

@mojito1988: People that want something a little more portable than a laptop. I recently took a trip to Boston by bus and was gaming on my laptop it was a bit cramped having the laptop on my lap and my controller only a foot away from the screen. If I had something like the Steam deck I wouldn't be as uncomfortable. The Steam Deck's starting price is cheaper than a gaming laptop so I can see it appealing to people who don't want to spend too much to play PC games on the go. I do see it very pointless to buy the model that cost $649 because you can get a budget gaming laptop on sale/open box for that price.

Time will tell. I for one am on the record saying that one year after it is launched people will act like it never existed.

it should be an industry standard. unfortunately hori have a patent on flappy paddles (which is BS) which held up in court. this is why the steam controller (which was selling well) was suddenly pulled.

great to see them on the steam deck too (and 4 of them). mapping A,B,X and Y to them would make sense. its not the first to do it though. i think a couple of GPD models have them also.

standard controllers should have them

Exactly. I would rather have back paddles than the Dual Sense additions, but we want it all of course.

@sakaixx: That control layout looks like crap! I mean the B button is practically hanging off the edge of it, the analog sticks are to high, and I wouldn't buy it as is ,I'd wait for a new model which hopefully redesigns the controls. Just my 2 cents how it's design but Valve should have known better why the Xbox controller is popular.

But still, those specs seem sufficient for 720p/60fps at high settings and this is where the Switch "Pro" people really wanted in the first place. I don't know if I'll buy this but I'll keep it in mind and check out some reviews but playing "Jedi Fallen Order" demo I saw looks really smoot.

I liked it to fine tune scoring goals in Fifa aaaaaaaaand that's it.

It was nice in little deviants I guess, for a gimmick.

The reaction so far is positive on the layout but I do think we need to test how it actually feels. The only reason why its like that is to accomodate the trackpads first seen on the Steam controller. Heard lots of good thing about the trackpad is supposed to be the closes thing to kbm on a controller but really, seems like an addition that nobody needs.

@mojito1988: have you tried playing steam games on a non-gaming laptop? I have a nice i7 work machine that has no issue doing Matlab procs and crunching cpu-based ML, and it blows chunks for gaming because of the integrated graphics. We're talking OLD 3d games still run like trash on those integrated chipsets. For all of hardwenzen's sobbing the Switch is literally a better mobile gaming device than my 1300 laptop -> because it's not a GAMING laptop.

So no, unless you're a retro gamer only this will absolutely smoke most people's laptops for mobile gaming and it is only the small market segment with a proper gaming lappy that can look at this and go "I can do better".

Gonna keep my eye on that since my GPU plans went to hell, got quite a few Steam games just lying there, in their virtual vault.

@sakaixx: Depending on the hand on review of the final version, I may consider getting one.

I'm using a wiiu gamepad and switch as a reference as they are the most similar in form factor.

The higher sticks do help with comfort with such a device. the deck is quite a heavy device so if you go with the xbox layout and you are moving the right stick around a lot (as you do) it adds more fatigue to the left hand and right thumb as you try to stop the device from moving around.

I just played around with my gamepad and switch a bit and the higher right stick ends up putting less strain on the thumb and the pressure from pressing buttons is more uniformly pushed onto the strongest part of your grip.

in terms of comfort the gamepad is better than the switch.

The face buttons are not ideal though, agreed. i'm not too worried about the D-pad as you are either using it sparingly or using it a lot (for a 2D game say). most games dont have you jump between them often. but ABXY are definitely not ideal.

Maybe they could swap the trackpad and button placement on the right side, though its probably a bit late now to do it.

@sakaixx: The trackpads are pretty awesome on the steam controller. very very flexible. quite a learning curve though.Portal 2 with a steam controller put a big smile on my face :).

i think they are needed for some PC games. Some just flat out require a mouse and trying to map that to a stick would be very painful to say the least. they help make games ranging from cities skylines to total war games to the likes of pillars of eternity a lot more manageable.

I like traditional controllers without paddles and im not some casual gamer either I just don't like the paddle feelings on products same with mice I like regular mice without extra buttons I tried the razer naga and hated all the extra buttons and paddles on xbox elite.