Join Rich for his initial reaction to the excellent specification of the handheld Valve Steam Deck. Is this the Nintendo Switch Pro we were hoping for - or actually something a whole lot more exciting?
Spec Analysis: Steam Deck - can it really handle triple-A PC gaming?
There had been rumours, rumblings and actual, solid reporting of a handheld from Valve for some time now, but the hardw…
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In there here and now though, from my perspective, there are three key areas where Steam Deck has to prove itself. First of all, it's about the unit's functionality as a handheld. This thing is truly large: the ergonomics need to work, the screen needs to deliver and the battery life has to be decent. Secondly, compatibility is key: if Valve is talking about accessing your Steam library, that needs to just work - and that's where the apparently vast improvement in the Proton compatibility layer really needs to deliver. And finally, it's all about performance. The fundamentals are there to ensure that games run - but how well are they going to run? We are in a time of cross-gen transition in the industry: if the titles of today run fine, what about the games of tomorrow?