Agree with all that. “The year of Linux” will be built up to incrementally; and the fact that gaming is so good on Linux pushes that a long way.

The Steam Deck is what pushed me to change to full-time PC Linux myself. Having hardware with pre-installed Linux that works flawlessly has been great.

Mine was a pre-release preorder as well.

I wouldn’t upgrade it now. Knowing me, I’ll probably end up waiting till 2027 and buy a secondhand device from 2026.

I mostly play indie 2D games, so games I want still work fine. The revised Deck has a bunch of improvements I would have liked (OLED, WiFi 6, etc). If there are enough improvements in usability (screen, WiFi, size, battery, hardware power), then I’ll upgrade and give the old device to my kids (who currently use it for more than 75% of the time anyway).

I hope so too, but I don’t think a shift that big is coming any time soon.

Linux users are still a tiny proportion of the online player base. Steam Deck sales are negligible compared to Switch or console sales.

I hope it happens eventually,but I think it’s going to take much longer for AAA gaming corps to take Linux seriously.

Hyped about the devices we’re going to see over the next year or so. Should be just in time to replace my first release Steam Deck as a noticeable upgrade.

My family culture as a child was that sleep was sacred. If there were plans and places to go, but someone was tired and fell asleep on the sofa, then the light would be switched off, a blanket fetched, no one else goes in the lounge and the plans got delayed or cancelled.

Now I’ve married a woman who wakes me up to ask me if I’m sleeping.

My younger one (4) gets scared by Bowser and comes to me. I have to do the same stages over and over for him. But he’s getting better.

The older one (6 now) finished Super Hexagon (all stages) and Ori to 100% completion at the age of 4. He used to ask for help with the last stage of Super Hexagon… That was way beyond my abilities. Really need to get this kid onto Street Fighter to male use of these skills.

I haven’t tried yet. I think there are videos on YouTube showing Moonlight working well. Don’t know about other apps. I’ve installed Steam Link expecting that WiFi 6 should give a good streaming experience.

Works perfectly

AliExpress is really good and reliable now. I get plenty of stuff off there. Linus Tech Tips even recommends it as one of the best places to pick up a bargain on a desktop CPU. They give you a refund if items are undelivered. I look for items with plenty of pictures and detailed descriptions and picture reviews, and I’ve never been disappointed.

The other thing is that lots of deals end up being discussed on HotUKDeals.com and forum users will report back (e.g. cuing a Crucial NVME drive for £30 and posting speed tests and that it’s the real thing).

These plans for tariffs are going to affect Americans badly though. eBay is recommended in that case.

Pocketability is the biggest bonus for me. This doesn’t replace my Steam Deck, it supplements my gaming by making games available in situations where I can’t carry around a giant Deck.

The other issue is that my 4 yr old son has really gotten into gaming (Mario Odyssey) and takes the Deck off me a lot of the time 😄

You’re right, ergonomics aren’t great, but I’m fine with that because it prioritises portability. Better ergonomics can be added with the grip attachment. Although I have giant hands and I’m OK playing extended periods without grips.

Tony Hawks Underground 2

Wipeout Pure

Tetris Attack

Super Mario Galaxy

Balatro

Enter the Gungeon

Into the Breach

Binding of Isaac

Super Meat boy

Got so many games in active rotation on this thing.

Yes, Switch Emulation. The emulation app is called Sudachi (works better than Yuzu).

It’s going to be served by a white faced clown holding a red balloon.

I’ve gotten this feeling back recently when I started playing Fragpunk. I would highly recommend it. The unranked PvP modes are chaotic, fast paced and have tons of action with crazy ability cards you can add. It’s been a great change from the sweaty FPS gaming that’s so universal now.

I’d like to thank Apex for banning Linux, otherwise I would have never bothered looking for Fragpunk.

I would also like to thank Marvel Rivals for being an unbalanced hell and forcing my hand to ditch it. It got tiresome having a team full of people who don’t bother staying together or coordinating, who run into the line of fire one by one. In Fragpunk unranked games I don’t have to care at all what the team is doing. Like old CoD lobbies or Team Fortress 2 lobbies, in Fragpunk you can just go out there and have fun and look at the scoreboard at the end to see what other people did.

Tik Tok vertical videos?

Someone who does not spend excessive amounts of time on specific kinds of social media to consume memes and get steeped in the current internet “culture” and in-jokes.

Nobody wants “nobody”.

1. I’ve really been getting into retro emulation recently and would highly recommend it.

2. Pixel graphics are the best even in modern games (Enter the Gungeon, Dead Cells, Stardew Valley, Celeste, etc).

“Good thanks, you?”