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[BennyBlanco]

The Steam Deck is already the emulation system of my dreams

It's not just a portable PC. It's a portable retro console wonderland.

www.pcgamer.com

This desktop comes with a pre-installed app store just like macOS and Windows (except everything here is free). It's called Discover, and it's conveniently pinned to the taskbar.

And all the emulators I wanted are in there, installable with a click:

• Dolphin, for GameCube/Wii
• DuckStation, for PlayStation 1
• PCSX2, for PlayStation 2
• PPSSPP, for PlayStation Portable
• Yuzu, for Nintendo Switch
• bsnes, for the Super Nintendo

There are some other emulators available in Discover, too, including mGBA for the Game Boy Advance and Citra for the 3DS. The best bit is that these aren't just one-off executables you're installing—when new builds of the emulators are released, you can update with a single click, too. It's honestly a godsend. Because of the way Valve set up the partitions and file permissions on the Deck, installing emulators or any other software via the terminal is pretty locked down unless you have some serious Linux skills.

Once I had my chosen emulators installed, I launched the desktop version of Steam and used the "Games > Add a non-Steam game to my library" menu to add each emulator to Steam so that I could access it from the SteamOS interface. (One note here if you're also installing Duckstation: it has two interfaces, and "DuckStationNoGUI" is the one you want to add to Steam. It's built to play nice with controllers.)

• Most of the emulators will automatically recognize your gamepad, making input bindings easy or outright unnecessary
• The Steam controller configurator provides all the extra customization you need
• You can press the power button at any time to put the Steam Deck to sleep and your game will still work when you wake it up, even in an emulator
• The Steam menu and quick settings overlays still work

Keep in mind this is pre-launch and will only get better with time. No reason to install Windows for me now.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Very interested to see MVG put this bad boy through its paces and see how well it performs, specialty in Yuzu and Cemu...

 

[BennyBlanco]

Very interested to see MVG put this bad boy through its paces and see how well it performs, specialty in Yuzu and Cemu…

Hope Ryujinx finds its way to their “app store”. It’s been way better for me.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Everything works great considering it only launch day. By the time I get mine in Q2 everything should be even better(*cope*).

Phawx had a cool video where he showed RPCS3. Demon Souls runs pretty fucking good for day-1.

 

[GHG]

Literally why I'm getting one along with for indie games.

 

[Teslerum]

Hope Ryujinx finds its way to their “app store”. It’s been way better for me.

It's not *their* app store. It's just the native linux packages for their distro. Flatpak.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It's not *their* app store. It's just the native linux packages for their distro. Flatpak.

Using the article’s verbiage but yea you’re right

 

[Saber]

A portable emulation machine sounds like a dream to me. I could play all the old titles from my childhood.
I hope theres a word from L4D games too, would love to play them with it.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

As soon as we get one

LET US PRAY SONS OF BITCHES

 

[SeraphJan]

Even certain game from PS3 is playable with RPCS3 albeit 30 fps

Steam Deck is a truly amazing machine, with $400 you can't even get a similar handheld PC half of the spec.

 

[FingerBang]

Fuck, this sounds like an amazing machine. Ordered my 512GB version, though I don't really believe in the Q2 date they've given.

 

[Moses85]

Cemu

 

[kingfey]

My wallet be like

Guess, i will have to wait 2 years, before I buy this system.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Waste of money.

 

[Teslerum]

Waste of money.

Comparatively PC hardware would cost you way more.

So, nah.

 

[kingfey]

Waste of money.

I would like cheap system, which can play those games. My pc is getting old, and I cant afford 1k pc. Especially on this environments, where graphics are expensive.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Goddamit i have so much FOMO for this little shit, should've just preordered anyway the day they came out.


Now some filthy scalper is probably getting a bag from me at this point.

 

[Holammer]

Yuzu got Vulkan support working. Should mean full speed Switch emulation. A teaser here..

VULKAN NOW WORKING FOR YUZU ON STEAM DECK!!

www.youtube.com

Not fully emulation related, but I watched a few videos on this channel and it's pretty neat, seeing Crysis run on the thing without an "impossible port".
Will it run crysis? YES

 

[Notabueno]

Such a shame it's a horrendous aesthetic, ergonomic and industrial design as Valve would.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Such a shame it's a horrendous aesthetic, ergonomic and industrial design as Valve would.

I'm waiting for your absolute genius design that I know you've got at the ready to back your claim.

 

[Ozriel]

Such a shame it's a horrendous aesthetic, ergonomic and industrial design as Valve would.

Not a single person who has held one has claimed the ergonomics are ‘horrible’.
The industrial design is also top notch. Very repairable too.

0/3 for you, I’m afraid.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Steam deck put emulation on high alert emulation and steam deck isn't news.

 

[Kilau]

Looks good, just not sure if I should hold on to my Q2 order or wait for the gen2 version.

 

[daveonezero]

Nice. I’m interested just to have a more portable PC as an alternative to a mini razen box. Would compliment my macOS laptop well.

 

[Notabueno]

I'm waiting for your absolute genius design that I know you've got at the ready to back your claim.

1. Your sophism is so fucking obsolete, "wElL tRy To mAkE oNe"
2. You actually use I algorithm I designed everyday, but it's not a hardware product.
3. This is not a debate, I specifically work on products, Valve has always been mediocre with a design, a trader doesn't discuss with a cashier.

 

[Notabueno]

Not a single person who has held one has claimed the ergonomics are ‘horrible’.
The industrial design is also top notch. Very repairable too.

0/3 for you, I’m afraid.

The fact that it's reparable is usually a sign of obsolete industrial design, I can understand people wanting to, but those are generally people who's opinion about design is absolutely irrelevant, kind of like NFTBros opinion on art or candy crusher players on video games. Sorry, I didn't make this world and it's rules.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

By the time my order notice shows up I doubt I'll be able to afford one sadly. I could sell off my index and just get this I really don't know at the moment because from what I've seen the UI looks slow and clunky.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

I'm waiting for your absolute genius design that I know you've got at the ready to back your claim.

This is such a pointless comment.

“This thing isn’t very good.”

“Well I bet you couldn’t do any better!”

“You are correct, but pointing that out doesn’t make this thing any good.”

Should we only be able to criticise a sports person if we could personally play better than them? How about music? Film?

 

[iHaunter]

Yuzu got Vulkan support working. Should mean full speed Switch emulation. A teaser here..

VULKAN NOW WORKING FOR YUZU ON STEAM DECK!!

www.youtube.com

Not fully emulation related, but I watched a few videos on this channel and it's pretty neat, seeing Crysis run on the thing without an "impossible port".
Will it run crysis? YES

Pretty sure my phone has enough juice to emulate the switch. Pretty cool you can do that though.

 

[ShirAhava]

Such a shame it's a horrendous aesthetic, ergonomic and industrial design as Valve would.

It looks like shit compared to the AYANEO

 

[bender]

The fact that it's reparable is usually a sign of obsolete industrial design, I can understand people wanting to, but those are generally people who's opinion about design is absolutely irrelevant, kind of like NFTBros opinion on art or candy crusher players on video games. Sorry, I didn't make this world and it's rules.

While there is a lot of truth about the industrial design, considering the target demographic, price point of the device and state of faulty analog sticks in similar devices/controllers, I find myself appreciating the decision. I wouldn't consider paying $649.00 for a device with analog sticks otherwise. The bigger question in my mind is the target demographic which to me, feels incredibly small. The size of the device (back to your industrial design point), price point and complexity of use makes me wonder who this is intended for outside of "hardcore" gamers.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

1. Your sophism is so fucking obsolete, "wElL tRy To mAkE oNe"
2. You actually use I algorithm I designed everyday, but it's not a hardware product.
3. This is not a debate, I specifically work on products, Valve has always been mediocre with a design, a trader doesn't discuss with a cashier.

More substance than your initial response. I'll give you that. To each his (or her) own.

 

[SALMORE]

i can't wait to play those Naomi racing games on it

 

[Notabueno]

While there is a lot of truth about the industrial design, considering the target demographic, price point of the device and state of faulty analog sticks in similar devices/controllers, I find myself appreciating the decision. I wouldn't consider paying $649.00 for a device with analog sticks otherwise. The bigger question in my mind is the target demographic which to me, feels incredibly small. The size of the device (back to your industrial design point), price point and complexity of use makes me wonder who this is intended for outside of "hardcore" gamers.

Steam Deck has an amazing potential, the same way all the other dusty products on my shelf like the Link, Controller or Vive, did.

Marketing and Capabilities: on point, you get a "handeld" - dockable gaming PC with emulation capabilities (and maybe modding) around console prices.

But the design, the UX and the engineering is suffering from the same problems all other Valve hardware and even software do.

No company that has any notion of industrial design on the aesthetic, ergonomic and portability would have even dared thinking it's remotely a good idea putting buttons next to joysticks to cram useless thumb pads, or putting side by side flat shoulder button with bulky handles. I just got a Switch Oled as a replacement for the old one: while I'm dissatisfied with Nintendo lazyness, there's a reason why all hardware and controller manufacturers have layout dispositions the way they do, and while the Oled doesn't add anything, the choice of a more efficient screen with minimum bezel is the strict minimum in 2020. Valve just is too far from that, they got slight better with the Index, then stepped 5 years back with the Deck.

 

[Ezquimacore]

I saw a bunch of videos and this thing is not as good as I thought for modern emulation, hard pass.

 

[bender]

Steam Deck has an amazing potential, the same way all the other dusty products on my shelf like the Link, Controller or Vive, did.

Marketing and Capabilities: on point, you get a "handeld" - dockable gaming PC with emulation capabilities (and maybe modding) around console prices.

But the design, the UX and the engineering is suffering from the same problems all other Valve hardware and even software do.

No company that has any notion of industrial design on the aesthetic, ergonomic and portability would have even dared thinking it's remotely a good idea putting buttons next to joysticks to cram useless thumb pads, or putting side by side flat shoulder button with bulky handles. I just got a Switch Oled as a replacement for the old one: while I'm dissatisfied with Nintendo lazyness, there's a reason why all hardware and controller manufacturers have layout dispositions the way they do, and while the Oled doesn't add anything, the choice of a more efficient screen with minimum bezel is the strict minimum in 2020. Valve just is too far from that, they got slight better with the Index, then stepped 5 years back with the Deck.

Just imagine what compatibility, which is already a bit of a mess, would look like without those track pads. I do think it has a little bit wider appeal than some of their other products but not by a whole lot. While the size is terrible, and I'd say the same thing about the Switch, it does sound like the comfort in holding the device is nice (something I wouldn't attribute to the Switch).

 

[Utherellus]

bruh

 

[CrustyBritches]

I saw a bunch of videos and this thing is not as good as I thought for modern emulation, hard pass.

Yuzu devs just got Vulkan working yesterday, the previous videos are outdated already. I'd guess it will take a couple months and most of titles that work well on PC will be in a playable state on Deck. Probably won't even take that long now that it released.

My units don't come until Q2, so everything should be ironed out by then. Did you cancel your Q1 preorder?

 

[Ezquimacore]

Yuzu devs just got Vulkan working yesterday, the previous videos are outdated already. I'd guess it will take a couple months and most of titles that work well on PC will be in a playable state on Deck. Probably won't even take that long now that it released.

My units don't come until Q2, so everything should be ironed out by then. Did you cancel your Q1 preorder?

Well considering everyone has the same steam deck maybe they could do personalized optimisations. I didn't pre order early so I'm on the Q3 boat, but now I'm thinking that's too late and I should wait because they could be developing a new one with a better apu while this one is being used as a marketing machine.

 

[Come On Tars]

hold up. This can emulate switch at full speed?!?!

 

[scydrex]

Maybe will get one next year and if i don't need to install Windows then the cheap one would be good for me. I would want to play emulation on it. Can it play Switch? Nice.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Well considering everyone has the same steam deck maybe they could do personalized optimisations. I didn't pre order early so I'm on the Q3 boat, but now I'm thinking that's too late and I should wait because they could be developing a new one with a better apu while this one is being used as a marketing machine.

Fair enough. If the performance in Switch and PS3 gaming is the only thing holding you back just do a preorder and wait a few months to see whether the emu devs and community can get them up to speed. I don't believe they charge you until your unit is ready to ship. Not much to lose.

 

[CrustyBritches]

hold up. This can emulate switch at full speed?!?!

It's only been out for a few days now. Yuzu on Deck was being shown prior to the dev implementing Vulkan. Phawx showed a little clip and it looked like Mario Odyssey went from ~25fps to maybe 50-60fps. Once it's tuned up and FSR is working I'd expect it to run quite well. Same for RPCS3. Give it a couple months(and a bunch of donations to their patreons) and the games that work well on PC should be quite playable on Deck.

Not to mention that Cemu has a lot good titles that are Switch greatest hits.
---
A little Xemu clip from Phawx. JSRF looked surprisingly playable...

 

[AV]

It's why I want one, but I'm waiting for the inevitable hardware revision in a couple years.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

It's not fair comparing Nintendo to Valve. That's 30 years of handheld gaming experience.
It'd be ironic if the Steamdeck was primarily used to emulate Nintendo games.

 

[Utherellus]

It's only been out for a few days now. Yuzu on Deck was being shown prior to the dev implementing Vulkan. Phawx showed a little clip and it looked like Mario Odyssey went from ~25fps to maybe 50-60fps. Once it's tuned up and FSR is working I'd expect it to run quite well. Same for RPCS3. Give it a couple months(and a bunch of donations to their patreons) and the games that work well on PC should be quite playable on Deck.

Not to mention that Cemu has a lot good titles that are Switch greatest hits.
---
A little Xemu clip from Phawx. JSRF looked surprisingly playable...

aaaaaaand Nintendo ninjas immediately got to work.

 

[CrustyBritches]

aaaaaaand Nintendo ninjas immediately got to work.

Probably some bitter rival ratted him out. There's nothing they can do about the emulators, though, or they already would have.

 

[Dream-Knife]

How is terminal locked down?

 

[BennyBlanco]

anyone tried emudeck yet?

seems quite easy to get everything up and running

 

[CrustyBritches]

anyone tried emudeck yet?

seems quite easy to get everything up and running

Yep. ETA Prime tutorial used the same combo: emudeck to install everything with an automated script, and EmulationStation for the front end. Makes it a breeze to install everything and create all the folders. After it does the folder setup, you can connect a usb drive and drag the parent folder over, then fill it with games on PC, then just move it back over to the Deck. Fast and easy.