From 3DS to Steam Deck - Die Shrink Telegrams

Hi Tom and Dan, As a slightly older gamer, I fell out of portable gaming around the end of the DS/PSP era. I did eventually get a 3DS and Vita, but well after launch of both to get them cheap. I actually like both devices now as both of them have console exclusives that likely won't be ported anytime soon. Having ports of PS2 era games were nice on the Vita, though PC emulation now is getting better enough to run the original versions better than the Vita can run its own ports. It seems the future of portable gaming may be in the hands of a Steamdeck or Aya devices. Do you think a device like a future Switch can compete with SteamOS/Windows devices on game exclusives alone or do you think it needs to have another differentiating feature?

Woody Chang

The PS Vita sold less than 15 million units (over 5 times less than the PSP), making it the least successful Playstation system ever made. Not to mention it had the least impressive linup of games, especially by Sony's standards. Its kinda like the PSP is the cool, successful older brother that everyone likes while the PS Vita was the 'Fredo' of the family. In your humble opinions, do you believe that the PS Vita was a flop that should have never been made? Could Sony have done more to save the Vita?

ManBearPig

I never had any portable gaming devices as a kid, as my parents were pretty anti-gaming, so sneaking stuff onto the family laptop was about all I could get away with. All I could do was look with envy upon my friends GBA. When I bought a Switch in 2019 it was my very first portable as well as first console period. I've had a few gripes with it but all in all really love it. Being able to pull it out and play a few minutes of Breath of the Wild at my office on my lunch hour, or on the train on the way home, is really amazing, particularly with the ability to instantly turn it on and off and have it be right where I left it. The co-op options of the switch are also awesome. Being able to easily toss it and some extra joy cons in my carryon and then have it to play a few rounds of Mario Kart when visiting family is awesome. I just got my Steam Deck last week, so while I'm still getting to know it I can say that it's also a really fun device. Is it amazingly powerful? Of course not. But is it good enough to be able to play a huge percentage of the hundreds of games I already have in my steam library from Humble Bundles or Steam summer sales etc, but never got around to? Absolutely. The controls are awesome, particularly the grip buttons, and the form factor is pretty great. I have little interest in gaming laptops, as they're way too bulky and the battery life is usually terrible, so having the convenience of PC gaming in my backpack is going to be really amazing.

Alexander

Tom, I'm actually, as of June 1st as I say this, am getting the Steam Deck tomorrow or Friday, I guess my pre-ordering has paid off, which is pretty nice. I was figuring out something interesting to ask, and then it just hit me, we all know that not that long ago, GPUs were out of stock and priced up the roof, as GPUs often avoided the concept of preorders and queuing, besides EVGA for the latter, instead focusing on stocking shelves periodically. On the other hand the Steam Deck went with a queue-based classical pre-order system not unlike what physical games, at least during the early 2010s and earlier, had. You pay some reservation money, and come launch or later, you get back to the store to pay the rest and get your game. The Steam Deck's method of preorder has been praised by many, especially by the many enthusiasts that gunned for once when they opened, but as I begin to get mine I reflect on the many that are interested in the device just now, and can't get one. There's no chance they can buy one, not even via some random chance via a Shuffle or dumb luck. They must reserve, and wait for potentially years for a Deck to come. Is there really a right way to sell products when stock is low, or no matter what you can't make everyone happy and there are always problems? Is the way GPUs did sales possibly "better"?

Anyone else feel like they get enough gaming in at home and don't need something to take around with them and game everywhere else too?

qhfreddy

"Thoughts on handheld gaming between 2011 to NOW"? I find this ageist discrimination! I'll have you know that in 1992 I was blessed with a Sega Game Gear by my Godmother, you know, the one with glorious 8-bit COLOUR! And that immediately catapulted me to the cool kid in town, where the best anyone had at the time was a Game Boy. The Game Gear was the original gaming Master Race, deal with it kids. /rant over ;)

Eleriam

I honestly didn't really consider getting a portable gaming system until rumors about the switch 2 started to come out, which I thought would be a good buy whenever were to come out. But, around this time, a better option fell into my lap -- the steam deck. I reserved one on the first day, and got my 64gb Steam Deck about a month ago. So far it has been amazing, especially for $400. I go camping a lot and this summer I will travel a lot, and I will say that the Steam Deck is very useful for travel and even just lying on the couch playing some game that isn't too immersive to begin with. The controller is honestly one of the best ergonomically I've felt in a while and it is overall a pleasurable experience to use for any game that is not a twitch-shooter, or requires the mouse a lot, like Hearts of Iron 4. That being said, in my opinion, the Steam Deck with its combo of ergonomics, surprisingly good speakers, decent performance (40hz mode is awesome), and the lack of buggy-ness post launch, I think the steam deck is an amazing step in the progression of hand held pc gaming. Another thing to mention is that I think that the Steam Deck is a good $550 or lower product, but I don't think it is a good buy with the highest end model. I'll be honest, I was shocked with how big the steam deck was when I unboxed it. If you were to hold it vertically, you could use it to deck someone, it's that big. That being said, I find that after the first few weeks, especially if you know you'll be in a place where you have the opportunity to play, you will make space for it. Either in a backpack or in its really good carrying case. It is kinda like a pair of over the ear headphones in your backpack in the sense that it may take up a lot of space, but honestly it is not the worse thing in the world if you enjoy using them on the go. I remember Dan mentioning that it was somewhat underpowered, and to be honest it is, but the 40hz-60hz slider eliminates most of those worries as of now. With most if not all AAA games, you can lock it at 40hz, and get a enjoyable gaming experience. Yes, its not 144hz or even 60hz, but it is substantially better than 30hz, and it feels closer to 60hz than 30hz imo.

Hey Tom and Dan, I feel like the modern surge of PC gaming handhelds has a lot to do with the death of the PS Vita, strong mobile processors, and the rise of the M.2 SSD form factor. While I never had a PS Vita, I did have the PS TV, and the main thing holding both devices back was the proprietary storage media, which made going digital inconvenient until the OS was jailbroken and people could use SD card adapters. Then Sony abandoned the Vita/PS TV, and until the Switch, there wasn't really anything around that was capable of decent gaming performance if/when you didn't want to use a gaming laptop. For a while, I did try out playing 2D turn-based games on a 8in Android/Windows 10 tablet, but between the Atom processor, the baked in storage speed, and the fact that it only had 32GB and couldn't install Windows 10 updates after a certain point, I think it's safe to say tablets won't be replacing handhelds for anything beyond really basic games. But nowadays, between AMD's mobile APUs and fast, high capacity M.2 SSDs, it makes sense to try to make something in the PS Vita's mold. Storage isn't as cheap as I would like it, but you're getting a lot for your money and can easily upgrade due to broad availability, and the processors blow the Vita's out of the water. And the Vita/Switch form factor is much easier to deal with than a big flat tablet. Admittedly, no one has gotten around to making a PC gaming portable as small as the Vita, but I can't really blame them when the Switch is the more modern point of comparison. But I appreciate them filling the niche the Vita left abandoned and giving the Switch more competition to force Nintendo to step up their hardware game.

Cleansweep

Hello Tom and Dan! Since the Switch launch I feel like there hasn't really been a small or really portable handheld gaming device (like something you might actually use at school/work during your breaks). Do you think companies will ever produce a console like the DS again? And if they do, will companies feel like they need a gimmick (like 3D on 3DS) to take people away from their smartphones and switches/steam decks or equivalents. Smartphones are ok for some really quick time killers, but they don't have controllers and generally have much a worse game selection (excluding emulators) than their console counterparts.

Salutations Dan & Tom! The number one handheld in the world is the cellphone. It's the most used and yes many of us game on it, though not very well. I haven't heard anything about the AMD/Samsung collaboration. Do you have anything? Any thoughts??

Dr Forbin

Howdy Tom and Dan. What sort of developments do you want to see in the world of handhelds? Or, rather, what do you feel is missing?

Gwen Farron

I don't particularly agree with the premise that the state of handheld gaming was bad before the Switch came out. I just feel like handheld gaming has bifurcated into two different styles. When I was in junior year of university in 2004, the DS came out and it somewhat changed the game in pocketability Here was now a handheld full of really enjoyable games that really "got" the portable aspect right. That is, sitting in the lecture hall before class, could play a few turns of Advance Wars, Pokemon, or Fire Emblem, or a few scenes of Phoenix Wright. The second the prof walks in, I could close the clamshell and the game immediately stops, can sleep (with minimal battery drain). I could then open the clamshell, resume playing anywhere, on the bus, on the train, whatever, and if the lighting changed as the train moved, I'm not going to die, these are not "real time" games. The DS fit in any coat pocket easily, and later the DS Lite fit even in jeans pockets. At the time I never would have wanted something that could play 3D games based on my home console with controls such that if I get distracted for even a moment I would die. Even the real time games on the DS often had short levels like Mario Kart, so you didn't get upset over losing progress due to someone jostling you. I didn't think the Switch "saved" mobile gaming, it re-introduced a different style of gameplay that only the PSP had before it... and in a different time. Today nobody needs a handheld console to do the instant-on casual turn-based gaming that the DS did, because we have smartphones... but the DS and even 3DS had their place doing what they did. (for the record, I have a Switch and I tried and failed to play Breath of the Wild on the go in an airplane/airport. It's just a terrible experience, as so many areas are dark, lighting changes make it almost imperceptible at times. I ended up playing it at home. What do I play on the go on the switch? still Fire Emblem mostly)

Crast