Gamepass is now getting a fame of having "gamepass quality" games tho. I'd rather buy good quality games in a Steam sale and have a backlog available in my Steam Deck.

XCloud functions pretty well and is included. Otherwise, you can install/dual boot into Windows if you are so inclined to get game pass, can't you?

You can put Windows on a Steam Deck, including dual boot. That seems to be the go-to way to play GamePass on the Deck.

I didn't know that! I feel like I couldn't do that to a machine that shipped with Linux. Like, it hasn't known original sin.

You can use XBox Could gaming perfectly well on the Deck. Microsoft themselves provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

I stream from my XBox to my deck, and that works very well!

all the kids I know want or have a nintendo switch. Basically all the steam deck owners are 30+ year old men with disposable income.

Because you can trade switch game cartridges with your friends.

Name any other gaming platform where you can legally and conveniently share almost all available games with friends.

Only if you buy the physical cartridge. More and more people are opting for digital only libraries.

And even if you do have a physical copy of a given game content for it may require paying for extra DLC. That can't be shared.

I fully expect Nintendo to do away with game cartridges on their next console. They are not consumer friendly.

Physical's much better for single-player games if your family has more than one Switch, due to how Nintendo's family sharing for digital games works, which is that the account that buys the game can play it on any Switch, but others can only play it on that account's designated primary switch. And, I can't recall for sure, but I think you may only be able to play one game connected to that account anywhere at a given time.

For multi-device multiplayer, you need multiple copies anyway, so might as well go digital.

Admittedly, this may be a niche concern, but OTOH I don't think Nintendo wants it to be a niche concern, since they're pushing the Switch as both a TV-connected console and a Gameboy replacement.

There's also the matter that you can recover a fair bit of the value of a cartridge by selling it, while you can't do that with digital games, and you can buy physical copies used. Between those, digital is effectively quite a bit more expensive, since they sell them at the same price as physical.

We have one "legal" switch, then other .. less than stock switches. We buy the games on the legal one. What happens after that is between me and my other switches.

Nintendo is better at couch co-op or split screen games. Anything Mario (e.g. Kart), the common casual games (Overcooked), etc. And these games are easier to setup in split-screen mode. The Deck is awesome but 4 Bluetooth controllers is super painful (which one needs re-pairing? who's on controller #1?).

The Deck's wider capabilities (emulators, Minecraft) are also harder to setup and use for kids. The Switch is way more limited but little kids perhaps deal better with a flat "no" than a "maybe, you'll need to work for it".

I think GP's point holds. I'm loving my Deck but my kids are more drawn to their Switch, the Deck intimidates them.

While that might be part of it, I think a huge amount is just brand awareness. Nintendo is known for handheld gaming and has been known for it for 4-5 decades. The steam deck is pretty neat but steam is a computer gamer brand and they just dont have the recognition of nintendo.

Steam's family sharing is definitely not as convenient. Especially because their system doesn't so much share games but entire libraries: only one person can use a library at a time. I could be playing a free game like Dota 2 and my entire library will be locked out of my family share. This makes it impossible to actually build a big library that you can share with multiple friends compared to a physical game collection.

Because the Nintendo switch is an out of the box great experience you can easily buy at retail stores.

While the steam deck is an expensive tinkerers device that’s usually sold out.

I have a steam deck and haven't really tinkered with it (aside from installing a 1tb SSD to replace the 64gb memory it came with). I would not call it expensive, though.

Mostly I play steam games I already own, although I have picked up a a double handful of inexpensive platformers during various steam sales.

I suppose if you're trying to get it to run the latest and greatest games that may require some tinkering, although it seems like an increasing contingent of games seem to be launching steam deck aimed updated and setting configuration.

I would guess my relatively anccient desktop i7-7600k and gtx 1080 is still a more capable gaming PC but doesn't fit as nicely in my backpack or in bed.

I just had a look. The listings I could see for the steamdeck had it at $800AUD minimum. For the switch I can buy it from a few different stores in my area for $370 AUD. That's very expensive and inaccessible.

I'm not trying to hate on the steamdeck. I think it's super cool and would love to have one. But it's too expensive for me and I'm not sure they even ship it to my area. While the switch is super affordable and a just more out of the box works experience. I know every game I buy for the switch will work great on it, meanwhile I can expect most games I have on steam will not have great controller support or may not run well on the system so its a bit more of a "at your own risk" platform.

Your issue is that you live in australia, where valve doesn't sell steam decks (yet?). So every steam deck listing you see is someone who imported it and is selling it at a premium since you can't get it in aussie land. I suppose not being able to buy one is a good reason to buy an Asus Ally instead, though, assuming you can stomach the higher cost and windows machine status.

I paid $350 canadian for a 64gb steam deck and paid another $100 canadian for a 1tb 2230 format ssd (thats only $80 now). I think the canadian dollar is slightly more valuable than aussie bucks right now but not double as valuable. 1 canadian dollar is $1.12 kangaroo bucks.

So your evaluation of the cost of the steam deck is just wrong. Its way cheaper than you imagine.

Also, valve has put literal years into Steam Input, which lets developers set up controller support, and also lets you load community sourced controller setups for your games. The Steam decks touchpads also let mouse driven games work pretty amazingly in a way that an xbox controller or switch can't.

You're just kind of wrong about the input situation. steam has basically the most sophisticated input software you can get and most of the time it just works, and when it doesn't you just load a community setup and play.

The Switch OLED is 320 euros, the Steam Deck is 420 euros for the 64Gb. Yes it's more expensive, but not "different magnitude" expensive.

Also there was a queue for the first few months, but now you can order it and get it shipped right away.

Also you can tinker if you want but you don't have to. Just play verified Steam Deck games and it's as simple as a Switch.

Expensive is relative, and compared to other consoles the Steam Deck is competitively priced. Despite the high level of hackability it's not "just a tinkerer' device". It has a purpose that it accomplishes quite well. Outside of installing Dolphin and Yuzu I haven't done anything with it outside of Big Picture mode. Haven't really felt the need to more, but it's nice to know I could.

Why some people are so hell-bent on seeing the Deck fail is a mystery to me. Either they are simping for some company in competition with Valve/Deck, or they are bitter about people having fun. I could understand the criticisms of it, of which there were many upon initial release, but overall it's a pretty good experience these days.