Re: Now Even Microsoft Is Making a SteamDeck

On Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:38:46 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On a tangentially related topic

    [read: I don't think it's a subject worthy of an entirely
    separate thread :-)],

               there's news that while the next Assassins Creed game
will be fully compatible on SteamDeck

    [This is the only bit that's related to the topic]

                  which is great news, except for one minor thing: if
you play the game on SteamDeck, you won't be able to change any of the
graphics setting.* Now, from a technological angle, this makes perfect
sense: the SteamDeck is a platform with fixed hardware, and knowing
that developers can finangle their game to run optimally on that
hardware. Giving end-users the ability to tinker with the settings
will almost certainly result in a less-optimized game. I mean, you
aren't given any real options to tweak the graphic settings on the
XBox or Playstation or Switch; why should the SteamDeck be any
different?

Except... the SteamDeck isn't really the same as those. At its heart,
it's a PC, and the ability to tweak our settings

                         [sounds kinky!]

      is considered an inherent right by gamers on that platform. And
while Valve's SteamDeck is a single, homogenous hardware platform,
that won't be true for soon-to-be-released competitors, like the
Lenovo Z2. I myself would be infuriated by this restriction; I put
more emphasis on eye-candy than framerate and not being able to up the
visual fidelity at the cost of a few (dozen) FPS probably would make
me avoid the game entirely.

   [You know, if I wasn't already doing so because, well, it's
    Yet-Another-Ubisoft-Open-World-Game and I've no need for
    another one of those when I have so many in the library
    already]

And just the idea of letting big-name publishers trojan-horse this
sort of consolitis into games, first under the guise of making it
easier for SteamDeck users, is not something I'd like to think about.
Sure, it's great for publishers (it makes support _soooo_ much easier)
but too many games in the 2000s and early 2010s lacked even the most
basic ability to tweak the game's settings because they were console
ports, and I really don't want to return to that era of gaming.

But -at least for now- it is an issue with SteamDecks. They look like
consoles, play like consoles, it's no wonder some publishers are happy
to treat them like consoles. AS much as I don't like the form-factor,
I do hope that different OEMs start pushing out variations to Valve's
own machine so that this idea started by Ubisoft can be nipped in the
bud before it takes off.






* read the story here
https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-deck/assassins-creed-shadows-locked-settings