WOOOO!
Steam surprisingly announced the (Steampal) device as 'Steam Deck'. Nice! It seems its fairly affordable in three various packages. Standard, medium, and high end with internal SSD. I'm going to go middle route just so I can play Rising World on it, among other games. I can't always rely on my PC, nor can I play games into the late hours as I used to. It be quieter, handle humid weather, etc while my PC howls like a monster. It would wake people up, and I can't VR as I used to, as much as I loved boasting about that. VR is still awesome, but that is beside the point.
If things go well, it'll be my own Christmas present.
With this device it shall be interesting to see how Rising World shall be tuned to this. It should run these games no problem (as devs & IGN have said), and it can even be tweaked to your liking. You can use Steam workshops, you can insert external mods, and you can do whatever you want with this gadget. This shall be fun.
Check the specs:
https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech
Processor
AMD APU
CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
APU power: 4-15W
RAM
16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s)
Storage
64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1)
256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot
Display
Resolution
1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
Type
Optically bonded LCD for enhanced readability
Display size
7" diagonal
Brightness
400 nits typical
Refresh rate
60Hz
Touch enabled
Yes
Sensors
Ambient light sensor
Power
Input
45W USB Type-C PD3.0 power supply
Battery
40Whr battery. 2 - 8 hours of gameplay
Expansion
microSD
UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC
External connectivity for
controllers & displays
USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB 3.2 Gen 2
Size and Weight
Size
298mm x 117mm x 49mm
Weight
Approx. 669 grams
Software
Operating System
SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based)
Desktop
KDE Plasma
If you can't play it on PC, you can play it on this device now. I'm in! I know I could buy a new PC but I just can't. It would take up space, I can't splurge freely. This is a two for one, and it'll allow me to play Rising World among other games Just like the Switch, it has gyros allowing us to mine with a pickaxe by nudging the device in a direction. Precision mining ftw heh. It should hopefully allow me to fight bandits and aim properly by aiming the device, using the pads for mouse control, etc. Nothing beats the PC, I however still need this for Rising World, and I bet others do also. Not everybody is rich. I can't openly replace my PC or else I'd be hung (people helping me in my 2020 situation).
I want to hear Red51's thoughts on this to see how he views this. How he may or may not have to lightly tune things to make things work even better on the Steam Pal device. Its a far bigger beast than the Nintendo Switch ever will be. As much as I love the Switch, it just doesn't do what it should and this fills in that void.
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(On second thought I moved it into discussions because it relates to using this device for Rising World while also not being "news" for the new update. Sorry for the confusion and obnoxiousness.)