Games

The Switch 2 footage of Elden Ring did look better than what I can get out of my Steam Deck. I wouldn't be surprised if it has a performance advantage (perhaps thanks to native DLSS and frame generation) for the next year or two.

A Deck has two touchpads that work as mice.

And they suck trying to use them for an FPS.

I am a huge proponent of the steam deck but there are a few things you’re kind of leaving out here

1. You would be surprised how many people actually don’t have a mouse on hand. But if they do, you do have to calculate that into the cost.

2. you need a dock or at least a cheap USB-C dongle unless the only thing you plan on hooking up to the steam deck is your mouse, which would be feasible but unusual.

3. The deck is getting a little longer in the tooth. I love it, I use it a ton, but it is definitely starting to show its age.

4. It can’t play Nintendo switch/switch 2 games natively, which many people who shit on Nintendo (I am one of those people don’t get me wrong) tend to forget is a pretty huge part of the appeal of Nintendo platforms.

5. if you plan on doing Couch multiplayer, the steam deck is really not a viable option compared to the switch unless you invest in a bunch of other stuff

$90 per game. That's an instant deal breaker.

The biggest feature of a game console is always the games. So ya, buy it if you think the games are worth it.

You really, really want to play Switch 2 games soon

Or without having to learn to emulate. Or play coop/multiplayer with the joycons.

How well is yuzu on the steam deck to run Zelda games?

From the article:

Though the livestream demonstrated the Joy-Con 2’s mouse function on flat surfaces, a press release shared by Nintendo to Business Wire confirms that sliding the Joy-Con 2 controllers over a pair of pants will also work.

People use mouse on Xbox. There will always be some

Not exactly?
If they make it work nicely on surfaces that aren't perfectly straight, you could use it while playing on the couch.
Would be particularly amazing if games support switching between modes instantly, so you could for example be playing a game, open your inventory, slap your joycon on the couch to organize your stuff w/ mouse mode, close your inventory and pick it up resuming play in joycon mode 🤯

I doubt that no one will use it. If you make a good input method that works with a decent variety of games, some will switch to it. Perhaps Nintendo could even sell some sort of tray/mousepad that lets you use the mouse decently well while sitting on the couch. It seems odd, but I think it has potential.

Turn based tactics or 4x games would absolutely benefit from both, and the touch screen. Being able to play Fire Emblem with any of the three depending on what's comfortable at the time would be wonderful.

Sure, that's a valid point. But in this case there can be actual mice for the Switch 2 because the games Will support mouse mode.

First, if they already have a PC port your point is moot. They would still need to make a controller version for the Xbox and PS5, but the switch can use both.

Secondly, some games are simply not released on consoles because it simply doesn't translate well without a mouse, like RTS games, for example.

At that point they might as well let you plug in a mouse to the console and then you might as well just buy a Steam Deck anyway.

Oh absolutely

But that controller comes with the console.

But that's an alternative, and the games obviously aren't made with that in mind.

This is an integral part of the system and obviously games would specifically work with it.

It's a small game changer (IMO).