cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5252004

What are your thoughts?

Also, TSA officer, bleh

  • hypercracker
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    I will be fucking pissed if it doesn't have touch-sensitive thumbsticks (same for every other nextgen console). Steam deck is the prototype, there's no going back.

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Steam Deck sounds great, but it's also expensive (outside of the US).

      Besides Nintendo have to also think about thinks like if they want to make it a competitive price, battery life, over heating, etc.

      I'm just saying there's more to making a console than cramming it full of power, there has to be a balance. There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on despite being way more powerful than the Game Boy.

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        3 months ago

        There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on despite being way more powerful than the Game Boy.

        As a teenager during those years I cannot emphasize just how much more of a juggernaut reputation Nintendo had than any other home or portable consoles at the time. Nintendo/Gameboy was synonymous with console and portable gaming. Like yeah, Sega was finally making headway in the home market with Genesis but the Lynx/Jaguar era was kinda the deathnell for Atari iirc. And that's despite Atari working with Time Warner Cable to package Jaguars with their Full Service Network Interactive TV that let you download games for it. Part marketing, part name recognition, part IP exclusivity; Nintendo just owned the market for years.

        Fun note: when I was a kid I used to go dumpster diving behind Time Warner's Network Operation Center, along with a bunch of other tech companies in that commerce park.

      • ashinadash [she/her]
        ·
        3 months ago

        There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on

        Nintendo currently mains a "handheld" console wider than the Game Gear with comparable battery

        • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
          ·
          3 months ago

          Game Gear was lucky to get 2 hours of actual play on battery. We had to get the extended battery pack for mine as a kid. I frequently get 6 or 7 out of my switch.

          • ashinadash [she/her]
            ·
            3 months ago

            Depends on the batteries you used imo, before mine died I'd get like 4+ ish hours of Sonic 2 8bit on alkalines. Also maybe you can get 6-7 hours of battery on a revised Switch playing indie games, but on a launch model playing Breath of the Wild, 3 is more likely susie-heh

            • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
              ·
              3 months ago

              Oh man, I forgot about different battery types. You’re probably right, my parents always got me the cheapest ones because I burned through them so quick anyway, at last until they got me the battery pack.

      • hypercracker
        ·
        3 months ago

        Oh yeah I don't care about the console power, I mean the steam deck controls. They're amazing, a huge part of why it's so great.

          • hypercracker
            ·
            edit-2
            3 months ago

            There is some nice haptic rumble in the thumbstick area, yeah. Some other unique/nice things about the steam deck controls:

            • touch-sensitive thumbsticks
            • really precise gyro
            • trackpads on each side
            • grip buttons (same as on the "pro" console controllers) so you can press buttons without taking your thumbs off the thumbsticks
            • touchscreen
    • Wheaties [she/her]
      ·
      3 months ago

      so what, it knows when your thumb is on the stick? What's the benefit, what can you do with that?

      • hypercracker
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        Gyro aiming. Take thumb off the stick to temporarily disable it so you can reset the orientation of the console. Probably other things, idk kojima for example loves using all the features of the controller (infamously using the variable pressure sensitivity of the playstation controller thumbsticks when holding guards in the metal gear series, for example).

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          ·
          3 months ago

          All I can think of is how gimmicky controls like those just make things annoying to emulate down the line

          • hypercracker
            ·
            3 months ago

            Gyro aim isn't going away. It is a permanent replacement for the boomerific halo-style console FPS controls.

    • Makan@lemmygrad.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      3 months ago

      Steam Deck also has Linux.

      And it's a good machine.

      Coincidence?

      Heh. I think not.