Bruh. Can we please just go back to talking about video games? I’m tired of this circle jerk. I’m happy for you that you bought an OLED, I’m happy that everyone is happy with themselves for buying an OLED. Pat yourselves on the back. Good job. I’m proud of you.

Can we please talk about video games now?

I bought 2, returned 1, and I’ll play the other one eventually. It’s just a little 2 hour narrative game.

I’ve found a pretty decent tactic. I try not to browse the shop when there are sales. I wishlist things, and when they go on sale, I start to consider them.

When I was younger, I had all the free time and the limiting factor was the number of games I could access. Now I have unlimited access to games and the limiting factor is the time I have.

I don’t need every game I would enjoy playing, I just need enough enjoyment to fill my free time.

In the hands, it feels very comfortable. Only complaint is the bumpers are a bit difficult to reach compared to a dual shock or xbox controller.

But the weight of it, and having to hold it with my elbows slightly bent to have it in a good position aggravates a persistent elbow injury I have. Though this is also aggravated by holding my phone too long, or sitting too close to my keyboard, causing my arms to be too bent for extended periods of time. So not necessarily the SteamDeck’s fault.

That said, picking it up and playing it an hour or 2, I’m not bothered at all. But when I first got it and spent an entire weekend glued to it I definitely and embarrassingly was injured.

I have tennis elbow from climbing that comes back every now and then, and the SteamDeck definitely aggravates it unfortunately. My elbow just doesn’t like to be slightly bent while carrying the weight of it. I have to rest it on my lap while sitting on the couch, which then means I’m looking down into my lap and causing some neck discomfort.

And I always want to hold it closer to my face to see better.

I’m only 32, make it stop please 😭

I’ve learned to love it, after I learned to not touch any settings I didn’t fully understand. Early in when trying to set up my desktop mode how I wanted, I ended up, like, deleting the bar at the bottom? And somehow totally screwing up the resolution on an external monitor and the relation between it and the deck as the main monitor or something. I’m decently computer literate, but Linux will watch you jam a fork in the electrical outlet and say nothing to stop you.

As someone who similarly fell out of gaming and then got back into it but is a very casual gamer, I think the SteamDeck is a great choice.

Handheld and suspending a game to be picked up later is great.

You can tinker with it if you want, it’s a PC after all, or you can treat it as the Valve Steam Console, buy only games that you know will run well, and have a pretty effortless time.

There will definitely be hiccups. Less than a windows PC, but more than an Xbox. But valve is constantly improving it. Maybe it’ll just decide to restart and need internet access to reboot, leaving it useless for your flight.

If you want to play newer AAA glitzy and glammy games, this won’t be a good choice for you. But if you’re looking at simpler, less demanding games, then you’ll find more of them and at a lower price on the Deck.

This is honestly what’s keeping me out of emulation. I have limited play-time available to me, and I know if I started emulating on my deck I would spend all that time just finding ROMs and testing them, and being like “oh neat I can play chuchu rocket” but then never playing it again.

It’s on a good level by default for me. After the update I seriously thought they changed the homescreen or something. Like, I knew something was different, and better, but couldn’t place my finger on it. Like when someone gets a new haircut and it takes you a bit to notice.

Cobalt Core is even more gorgeous now.