As a longtime handheld gaming fan, I'm fascinated by the sudden influx of "handheld gaming PCs" like the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, etc. -- but I worry about futureproofing on anything that's not playing games specifically designed for it. I can pop a Tetris cart in my GBC and load it right up. How well will those handheld PCs stand up in 5-10 years? #HandheldGaming
@trixter Took me a sec to grok what you meant but yeah I agree. Part of what’s always made PC gaming viable is that the platform is modular/upgradeable and the handheld versions are…very not that.
Personally, the appeal of a steam deck or whatever is the back catalog effect, which stays the same as long the the console is still functioning, but yeah, I’d be a lot more hesitant if I was buying it for new and upcoming stuff.
@jepyang It does seem like there's a pretty good catalogue of lower-spec games for PC these days -- I've certainly got Switch ports of some of them. I just wonder what it's going to look like if you get one off ebay in 7 years. Will you have to dig for updated drivers?
@trixter For the more obscure handhelds, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that become a major issue.
Not sure about Steam Deck tho. They seem to be selling a decent number of them, and with the vertical integration it gives Valve a lot of incentive to keep supporting the hardware. And probably the user base is large enough for hackers to pick up the slack where valve leaves off (which is not gonna be user-friendly in the same way a game boy still is, but it’s something).
@jepyang@trixter IIRC SteamOS is built on top of Arch Linux / Arch derivatives. There's a whole lot of open source in their stack.
I almost bough a SteamDeck as a platform for making music. I wasn't sure about the handheld form factor or buying a dock. So I ended up getting a 2-in-1 Chromebook instead.
It's too heavy for a handheld but it'll run all the Linux audio software.
@trixter Given they're just like other low spec PCs it's going to depends on what yoyr expecting to play, how slow your willing to put up with and how the OS fairs. I doubt most people are going to use them after 5 years unless they're realy into low spec gaming though.
@ShadowInTheVoid I know there's nothing about handheld gaming that requires a long potential lifespan, but I feel like that's always been part of the vibe, and it feels antithetical. The Nintendo Switch is still a thriving platform 6 years after release, with only aesthetic upgrades.
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