• GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    The announcement did not include Copilot? No mention of 300 useless AI features being shoved down our throats??!

    It’s wild how by virtue of the fact that Valve isn’t a publicly traded company beholden to shareholders, the same Valve which has a history of putting out half-baked goods and which has an always-on DRM client called Steam, seems poised to surpass most of its competitors both in the user privacy and hardware hardware spaces with just straightforward products. They have a product to sell, and that’s it. They don’t need to micro-optimize for bullshit like seemingly every other large tech company does.

          • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            6 months ago

            BTC is neat and I do have some, but I didn’t get into LLMs, no use case for me at this point. But I think VR is in a completely different bucket. VR was so fucking awesome for my partner and myself to chill out in with our friends in 2020 when we couldn’t go out and see peeps. It’s also easily the best most fun form of exercise.

      • Noxy@pawb.social
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        6 months ago

        VR has actual staying power though. It genuinely adds a lot to a game or a simulation. VRchat especially is like a deeply emotional thing to folks who don’t feel like they belong in their real bodies and can exist in VR a more true representation of themself

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      That’s because they make an insane amount of money by taking 30% of every sale on their platform, which nearly everyone uses because they’re a near monopoly and the alternatives are terrible. Around $3.5 Million per employee, nearly 5x the next highest company, which is Facebook at around $780,000 per employee.

      https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/valves-reported-profit-per-head-from-steam-commissions-is-out-there-and-at-usd3-5-million-per-employee-it-makes-apple-and-facebook-look-like-a-lemonade-stand/

      • ysjet@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I should note that 30% is incredibly standard in the industry, and Valve offers a LOT more for that 30% than literally any other digital publisher. Physical publishers take substantially more, and the only digital store that offers less is EGS, which is simultaneously absolute dogshite and also has been trying very, very hard to astroturd the ‘30%’ thing for ages.

        Nintendo, Sony, and Apple all take 30%. I think MS does as well, but don’t quote me on that one.

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          don’t forget google. that applies to all paid apps, in app purchases and donations on the play store, not only for games. google also forbids you from showing any other donation option on your website if you link to it from your app.

          • ඞmir@lemmy.ml
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            6 months ago

            Can confirm; my app was removed from the Play Store due to a donation link to my PayPal. Absolutely insane.

          • ysjet@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I’m going to be honest, I have no idea how I forgot google. They also definitely take 30%.

        • adr1an@programming.dev
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          6 months ago

          Fwiw, GOG has no DRM for their titles (its own niche space, not competition). Not sure if they charge 30% too, but even in such case they’re giving you more because of the lack of DRM.

          Steam is quite virtuous, they gave us Proton. But is far from being based.

          • ysjet@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            GOG has no DRM, but they also don’t offer the same kind of services, like workshop, updates, cloud sync, etc.

            Not trying to say they’re worse or anything, I love GOG, but it’s really kind of comparing apples to oranges here.

          • strongarm@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            6 months ago

            GoG also sold the modern hitman games which have DRM.

            There are also many games on Steam that are DRM free, you may need to use the Steam Client to download them (but possibly also Steam CMD) but then you can copy the files off as a backup and run them without Steam

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        6 months ago

        It’s fucking wild. Like, I love Steam, don’t get me wrong, but holy shit just suck less (edit: than other stores do) and charge less (edit: of devs) and you could gobble up a lot of that market share. But none of them do.

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Around $3.5 Million per employee, nearly 5x the next highest company, which is Facebook at around $780,000 per employee.

        that’s a bullshit metric only useful to incite hatred. why the fuck do you want to say that valve is “this many times worse than facebook!”? it is obviously false.

        only thing this proves is that they have relatively few employees. which also probably means that most of them do real work instead of being overloaded with managers

        • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          The numbers just show that they are 8x as efficient. I only referenced Facebook because they’re the next closest company for comparison.

          I never said they were worse than Facebook. That’s your assumption, reading what you want, not what’s actually being said.

            • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Which is also one of the reasons so few new things get done, and why they (until now) haven’t been able to count to 3.

              To get anything done you either have to be able to do it entirely by yourself which is unlikely, or get enough others organized and on board to make it happen.

              • CatsPajamas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                6 months ago

                What? Valve released CS2 like last year? They do stuff all the time. They have like three games they’re actively maintaining while making HL3 and three new pieces of tech? This is a wild, unfounded take and feels ideologically bound.

                • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  That was 2023, and one of very few things made not to specifically promote their hardware or as a cheap spinoff of existing IP. And define “actively maintaining”, because general bug fixes for decade old multi-player games and managing item marketplaces doesn’t require much manpower.

                  Going further back there’s Aperture Desk Job which was a tech demo for the Steam Deck in 2022. Then an extended cut version of Artifact originally meant as a sequel in 2021, which is a Dota 2 card game, but still remains unfinished, so effectively abandoned. Then Half Life: Alyx in 2020 which 90% of gamers can’t play because it’s VR only, and clearly made to further promote their VR hardware. Dota Warlords in 2020 which was originally a community game mode. The original Artifact in 2018, which had abandoned iOS and Android ports. The Lab in 2016 which was made to promote the launch of the HTC Vive. A zombie CS spinoff in 2014, Dota 2 in 2013, CS:Go in 2012, Portal 2 in 2011, and Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009.

                  If you remove the spinoff and niche stuff from the list you get game releases in 2023, 2020 (arguable since it’s VR only and thus inherently niche), 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009.

                  That’s a pretty big gap of not much for the last decade game-wise. Its been previously documented and published that Valve has issues getting games developed because of the flat organization structure. Articles like this.

      • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You‘re getting downvotes for no reason. Also anyone who ever had to contact Steam support felt how criminally understaffed they are so it makes sense they make tons of money per employee I guess.

    • brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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      6 months ago

      They need their products to be as clean as possible to hook people into microtransactions and their proprietary platform. Valve is a for profit company and the ceo owns a fleet of mega yachts

      • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Luckily unlike monopolies in other sectors, Steam doesn’t involve itself in evil oractices that more or less stops others from competing.

        Someone just needs to make a better store, but they can’t because no company big enough to compete is willing to be as user friendly.

        Epic, probably the second biggest store people thing about, can’t even make a good platform. They try underhanded practices like bribing developers and customers… maybe they should make their store work properly first.

        • obsoleteacct@lemmy.zip
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          6 months ago

          I’m rabidly pro-consumer about most things but I struggle with how we define a market when we talk about steam. In order for steam to be a monopoly you have to drill down through super categories of software sales and then video game sales, to the platform level.

          If you look at all digital delivery video game sales they still don’t have a monopoly. You don’t have to deal with steam to play a video game. It’s only PC video game sales where they are close to a controlling market share.

          But Steam has far less power over PC gaming than Apple, Sony, or Nintendo do over their respective platforms. Gamers and Devs basically HAVE to deal with those companies to have access to their markets.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            And even then, most games are available on multiple platforms, for similar prices. So you can get the same game from Steam, GOG, or EGS in many cases, plus all of the stores that sell Steam keys (and Steam probably doesn’t get a cut of those sales).

        • MashedTech@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Also, public companies can’t make good products because they don’t have long term vision. They don’t have long term vision because they need to have good short term profits and profit margins. Look at Xbox eating itself just because they need to have a 30% profit margin right now!

        • Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de
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          6 months ago

          Yet

          Yet, unlike other sectors yet.

          High chances that this changes. Monopolies are built friendly and get enshitificated later, one baby step at a time.

          Market will get harder and harder to join as studios optimise their processes for releases on steam and users get even more trained Games -> Steam.

          Especially when Steam manages to kill PS and Xbox, where I see big potential that this happens.

          • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            That’s always a possibility, but if it was going to happen, it would have already by now.

            It’s very obvious to me that Valves leadership cares about the end goal of making gaming accessible and as easy as possible for everyone.

            If they ever become evil, I feel it’s guaranteed to be because of leadership change to someone who is secretly corrupt, we just have to hope the reigns are handed down to someone good.

            And if they do become evil and their product suffert as a result, they are going to create an opening for the others to fill.

            The market gets harder to join as Steam makes their platform better and better. This is very very good compared to other companies that get to the top and then add physical and legal barries to others to stop them becoming competition.

            Xbox has killed itself and I can’t see Playstation going anywhere anytime soon. Steam machines could take some tiny % of Playstation users, but if they do, the users stolen might have been people who wanted to swap to PC anyway. + you can access other stores on a steam machine

            • Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de
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              6 months ago

              But it is exactly the same as with monarchies:

              There are some good ones, until there is one evil, and then you can’t do really something against it except whining.

              Allowing monopolies is like allowing a dictator to rule in my eyes.

              • dogs0n@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                The difference is that a monarchy usually rules over everything and has the last say.

                Steam is a monopoly only because every competitor has tried but failed to make a new compelling service.

                Steam does have the last say within their platform (usually it’s the correct say), but they don’t disallow competition by lobbying or with other anti-competitive practices.

                Some company just has to make a better service.

                It’s not impossible, just no one wants to do it because they can’t make bajillions like they usually do in their other sectors where they can freely abuse the customer because there isn’t someone like Steam looking out for them.

                So I agree with you, but someone must make a better service before the pc gaming marketplace marketshare can be more evenly distributed, but no one will or has. But keep in mind that Steam isn’t doing anything illegal and by no means should they forcefully be separated or anything by the government (they are not an illegal monopoly like google for example, they are simply a monopoly because they make the best service and no one is competing).

                • Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  6 months ago

                  Monarchy only works because every competitor who tries to change something has failed.

                  Monarchies would as well not have been established, if they where not making better services than competitors, and when they reached power the got out of control.

                  Same will happen to steam, it is just how things are, it is just a matter of time, until centralised power gets abused.

                  Our legal framework does not protect us from this, most monopolies are not illegal in current law.

                  The current state of capitalism is that companies try to get good brand recognition to get support and establish their monopol position, ant then, the enshitification starts slowly.

                  Back to the monarchy similarity: Most monarchs had great support at the beginning or even for generations until that power gets abused.

                  If we have no tools against an entity that can abuse power, we have to establish those tools while we don’t need them, or it gets very hard to do something against it when it happens.

    • nforminvasion@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It will be able to run android apps, any steam games, and because it’s going to run Steam OS, you can run lutris or heroic launcher as well. So emulation and a whole variety of older games.

      Also because it’s a stand alone, but can pair to a pc, you will be able to work straight on it with KDE desktop and whatever applications you want to run.

    • Blaster M@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      even more nuts is that it will support pc games via FEX, an emulation layer that runs x86 windows games on ARM in Linux

      In addition to streaming from your battlestation

      • chrash0@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        pretty sure it’s SteamOS, an Arch Linux derivative, on a fairly popular Snapdragon platform. probably not too difficult to hack on it.

        • Cooper8@feddit.online
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          6 months ago

          It days right in the marketing text that the headset is “a PC” which to me implies full SteamOS distro with no limitations on installing a different OS, if you can get the many hardware drivers to work.

      • vodka@feddit.org
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        6 months ago

        They talked about streaming VR games from the SteamOS based steam machine to it.

        So with that I’d assume we’re finally getting some much needed progress to SteamVR on linux.

        • Walk_blesseD@piefed.blahaj.zone
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          6 months ago

          Yeah, this is what I’m most looking forward to in the immediate sense tbh. It’ll be nice to play HLA without crashing every time it loads a new level as it currrently does for me in SteamVR (Monado doesn’t have this issue, but I can’t use my left-handed controls without Steam input :-|)

      • aski3252@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The headset itself is running linux and it is meant to be used with the steam machine, which also runs on linux.

    • Baggie@lemmy.zip
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      6 months ago

      Right? It’s a huge bridge between x86 and ARM, it just opened up a potentially huge market for lower power consumption gaming devices. You could have like a Gameboy that runs silksong or something.

  • Opisek@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    6 months ago

    There are a lot of specs missing from what the streets were hoping for from the holy grail of VR headsets, but I’m starting to believe that they are not going for that. It seems they want to win in the mid-range market competing directly with Meta. Honestly, “Quest 3 without Meta” is already very compelling. I guess it’s not all down to how competitively they decide to price it. “Cheaper than Index” is already good news for my wallet at least.

      • e461h@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Personal privacy is always worth the cost. The ‘subsidies’ can go away anytime, so better to not be locked into an expensive spyware platform to begin with.

    • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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      6 months ago

      ”Quest 3 without Meta” is what I’ve been dreaming about. I feel like Steam Frame could be my entry to the VR space, if the price is decent.

    • Cooper8@feddit.online
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      6 months ago

      I don’t see it in the hardware design, but from a software perspective the groundwork is there for modularity. Offloading the core compute to the PC frees up onboard processing to run peripherals like full color front cameras (onboard are black and white / IR) and more advance proximity detection, hell hook up lidar and go nuts with full body tracking.

      That said, all of that would depend on decent I/O. 2x USB4 ports would go a long way.

    • lobut@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Me too. I bought the first quest before Facebook acquired it. Now that Facebook/Meta own quest and stuff … I’ve been staying away from VR for now.

      I’ll definitely be doing my best to get one as soon as it’s available. Everything about it sounds hype.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        FYI, technically Meta/Facebook had already owned Oculus for something like five years before the original Quest came out. They just started getting really blatant about the branding shortly after that time, probably to acquiesce to Zuck Zuck and his huffing of his “metaverse” crack pipe increasingly frequently.

        • lohky@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          They said it will be a direct competitor for the Meta Quest 3, so I’m guessing around $400. I’ve been waiting for Valve to drop exactly this!

  • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Not gonna lie the controller looks ass but maybe it feels fantastic so I‘ll wait with my final judgement. I‘m interested to see how they will try to push VR since most users are still incredibly uninterested in it.

    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      I’ve wanted to get into VR for the longest time but they all seemed like extremely walled gardens. This sounds awesome to me.

      • FatVegan@leminal.space
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        6 months ago

        I really want to love VR, but it’s just not for me. And i don’t think i’m alone with that. To me, VR is something you try in a mall for 20min and think it’s cool and not something you want to play around with home.

          • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            That doesn’t mean they’re not having fun, but it’s quite physically demanding and the experience just doesn’t translate to 2D.

            • FatVegan@leminal.space
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              6 months ago

              I love Half life alyx. I played maybe half an hour, and i don’t think i’ll ever play more. Just the thought of putting the vr headset back on puts me off. I thought VR would be great for me, because i do a lot of sports anyway and i like to move around. But sweating while playing video games isn’t as fun as it seems. Especially when you sweat a lot in and around the goggles. Like i said, it’s an experience, not really more. On a side note, i also learned i’m a huuuge pussy when it comes to VR games. I really don’t know what it is, i was never scared of a movie or video game or anything really. In vr looking into a dark hole where something might jump scare me, really isn’t for me at all.

              • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                Fortunately I don’t sweat that easily, Alyx was fine for me so far (about 2 hours in). What REALLY gets me going is (modded) Beatsaber. I can only play it wearing briefs and it’s a serious workout if you want to challenge yourself, but it’s so much fun that I’ve managed a few play sessions that lasted for over 3 hours.

      • Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        For most of my life VR has been, ‘VR is a great way to experience shitty games and you just have to pay a grand or more for this interactive tummy ache, and your unit may not be supported next year! Buy!’

        I’m going to hold out until I can pick up one of these at the pawn shop for a bill.

        • zqps@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          I got an Index for cheap last year and was very excited to play a number of my favorite games with optional VR mode. Turns out:

          1. the Index ecosystem is more accessible than expected.

          2. the games I was looking forward to all played like ass and made VR seem like a stupid gimmick.

          3. In a desperate move that felt like sunk cost fallacy, I tried several VR-only games, and got TOTALLY hooked on modded Beatsaber. This itself made the buy-in worth it.

          • TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz
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            6 months ago

            VR-only games

            For the most part VR “ports” of traditional games are not worth buying. The developers usually put 0 effort into them. There are exceptions like sim racing titles, but for the most part games developed specifically for VR will be way better designed

        • Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Edit! I’m a 90s kid, and I’m really disappointed that VR hasn’t taken off the way scifi suggested it would. Back then, being absorbed in pure information sounded awesome, but now it is just going the way of 24/7 misinformation advertisements and micro transactions.

          I’ll hold off on VR until there is a decent open source unit that isnt $800.

          • whaleross@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I remember trying the first VR headset game 1990 that ran on a Commodore Amiga in like 7 fps and was terrible in every way.

            • Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              Yegods. My first foray into VR was at a high end arcade at North Pier in Chicago. I think the game was Dactyl. The headset was super heavy and none of the goals of the game were explained to me. I basically wandered around for five minutes, shooting green polygons in the sky, then time was up.

              Dad was pissed that he’d blown $20 on it.

              Edit: For historical reference, in the mid 90s $5 could keep your kids occupied at a regular arcade for a couple hours. $20 could have gotten us a couple of movie tickets and some Twizzlers.

              I’d of been angry too.

              • whaleross@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                I think that’s the same game I queued up for like 90 mins at a computer fair to have a few minutes of very confused playtime and that was it.

            • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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              6 months ago

              I remember seeing the Virtuality kits on TV in the 90s.

              Clearly absolutely unplayable nonsense, and yet I still wanted to play on one.

              It took so long for hardware to catch up.

        • utopiah@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          ‘VR is a great way to experience shitty games

          Have you tried Half-life: Alyx?

          I recommend you give that, or something equivalent, a go without even buying any hardware. Either ask a friend or go to an arcade. You don’t need to shell out a grand to try.

          If you hate it, move on.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        6 months ago

        I mean, you can certainly pick up a used Quest 2 if you wanted to try it out. There’s a handful of exclusive stuff in the Quest store you’d be able to use, but not much of value. Resident Evil 4 VR is about it for the Q2. I think there was a Batman game for the Q3. You’d have access to anything the Steam Frame has access to if you’re streaming from a PC.

        I think the PSVR2 works as well, but it’s wired only.

        Half Life Alyx is certainly worth a blast through.

        • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Stories like Ftumch’s reply, and the fact that it’s owned by Meta 🤮 have deterred me from wanting to try that one.

    • SeventySeven@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Looks can be deceiving. Coming from someone who uses the steamdeck, that layout looks exactly how I hoped and imagined it would be. The steamdeck is incredibly comfortable to hold and this looks like it would be the same!

    • skaffi@infosec.pub
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      6 months ago

      Never fear! I will happily spare you the trouble, and take that old thing off your hands - free of charge! ;D

      I loved that controller. Best damn gamepad I ever had. It was a sad day when it finally gave in, and broke, last year.

  • scarabic@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’m curious about the “it’s a PC” aspect of the Steam Box. Because a device that plays all Steam games but isn’t a Windows computer is extremely appealing, but I admit if I can’t install a few non-Steam games on it, that’s a spoiler for me. But if the whole “it’s a PC” provides some avenue to that, I’m definitely ready to stop building a gaming PC every 5 years.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      I’m sure it will be like the Steam Deck, meaning you can absolutely install non Steam games on it, but they still have to work under Proton (meaning the vast majority of games work, except ones requiring kernel anti cheat).

    • kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 months ago

      Yeah, you can. SteamOS is basically just a customized arch Linux. It’s what runs on the steam deck, which you can install non-steam games on. They integrate really well into the console experience as well.

    • CarrotsHaveEars@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      Allow me to be pedantic here. What you were referring to here, “PC”, stands for “personal computer”. It’s a device on where you can perform computation. Sometimes that computation is to render video streams encoded in H.264 onto the screen, and sometimes it happens to take in your control signal to alter that video stream, like video games. You are free to perform any kind of computation on it.

      “PC” has no implications of Microsoft or Windows.

      • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Insufficient pedantry detected.

        The PC platform is an extension of IBM’s Personal Computer architecture, which was not a description of what it was so much as it was literally the brand name. It’s long since been forgotten that this is now a shorthand, and the full name of the platform arguably ought to be PC Compatible. Unless you bought your machine from IBM, anyway, which these days would be quite the trick.

        Being PC compatible was a big deal back when the original PC was also a big deal. Probably slightly less so now, since it’s the assumed default.

        It should go without saying that the original IBM PC, model 5150, did not run Windows… Because Windows did not yet exist. It didn’t even necessarily run the then-nascent PC-DOS provided by Microsoft, because IBM also supported running CP/M and and UCSD Pascal on it.

        The whole Windows-as-default thing didn’t happen until well after the appeal of the PC specification had escaped containment at IBM and x86 had handily taken over the desktop computing world.

        A personal computer is basically anything you can stick on your desk (or lap) and doesn’t require hooking up to a mainframe to run. But a Personal Computer, capital P and C, implies an x86 compatible platform with architecture designed such that it is technically still capable of running all those decades old 8086 programs and operating systems. (Just, several orders of magnitude faster than their designers ever envisioned, and probably only by sticking your UEFI BIOS in legacy mode first.)

      • scarabic@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Allow me to match your pedantry.

        A “denotation” is an exact, codified definition of a word, commonly thought of as a “dictionary definition.”

        A “connotation” is a less official but culturally understood meaning of a word, often dependent on context or setting.

        “PC” connotes Windows in the gaming world. But thanks for taking time out of your day to tell me what it stands for, etc 🙄

    • Archr@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      If you are looking to get it or try linux gaming in general then I would recommend looking at heroic games launcher which supports games from epic, gog, and Amazon. Past that there is always a huge list of other games (and applications) available for install from lutris’ website. And bottles for specific things, but that is a bit more advanced/nuanced to setup.

    • ygurin@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It’s going to be like the steam deck, I’ve yet to find a old Non-steam game that I couldn’t run on the steam deck.

      • 46_and_2@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I’ve found some, but they’re mostly obscure and older out-of-support stuff. But anecdotally something like less than 5% of my library didn’t work with it.

        • carpelbridgesyndrome@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Some games anticheat supports Linux. VAC, EAC, GameGuard, and BattlEye either run under Linux by default or can be configured to do so, by the game dev, with a toggle. A number: Destiny 2, Fortnight, etc. break it intentionally even though the client could run without modification. Battlefield 6 breaks because it checks the Windows measured boot API.

  • Toes♀@ani.social
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    6 months ago

    I’m really hoping that the price of the vr headset meets or beats the Facebook models.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I do too, but I’d highly doubt it will. It’s well known that Meta sells every headset at a loss and funds the expenditure via revenue from their gargantuan advertising and spy network, specifically to squeeze out competitors and make it harder to enter the VR market as a newcomer. Zuck Zuck still thinks all the prime real estate in the metaverse is going to be his, because he only read the first half of Snow Crash.

      Gabe is a rich man and I assume he and his company could take this approach as well if they wanted to, at least temporarily. But based on their pricing for their past hardware (particularly the Steam Deck), I predict they won’t.

    • notgivingmynametoamachine@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I give 0% of shit how it looks, all I care about it ease of use and performance. Track pads at your finger tips takes getting used to, but it’s a game changer for any game that isn’t classically easy to play with a controller.

      • LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        If a game isn’t easy to play with a controller then I’m probably just not going to play it with a controller to begin with honestly, track pads or no. If I have to mess with stuff in desktop mode on my steam deck then I use the pads but otherwise, I haven’t really found them useful.

        • notgivingmynametoamachine@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          To each their own, but you don’t really need to mess with stuff.

          For me, a game like fallout 3 or NV where I prefer fps style controls but don’t care enough to sit at my pc to play, the steam controllers track pads are perfect.

          I do get it though, it takes practice.

    • Frigidlollipop@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Am I the only one who preferred the “skinnier” style of controller like the old GameCube or even N64 controllers? I loved that grip control, now it feels like we’ve been either trending towards bloated controllers like this one that suck for people with smaller hands or those tiny little joycons that hurt to use long term.

    • AldinTheMage@ttrpg.network
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      6 months ago

      It does look very chonky, and not very aesthetically pleasing.

      However, as a heavy user of the steam deck over the past year, I am super excited. The track pads and the extra inputs on the steam deck give so much flexibility to play games that otherwise wouldn’t work well with controller at all. I’m just hoping it feels better (or at least not worse) than the steam deck in terms of ergonomics. I plan on getting one for my desktop PC.

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Try using Steam link with a regular controller, and put it in mouse mode. You’ll be wishing for those touch pads.