Every now and then I'll click somewhere on Steam and see that I have some wealth of Steam Points, I think it's something like eight hundred and sixty thousand, and get curious about what can be done with them. Not much, friends! Not much. You can buy gifs and stuff. You can also award people's posts with badges you buy with them or some shit. They could be sort of a profound thing with all kinds of ramifications but I don't really think anybody "owns" that internally. At least, I hope they don't! That would make everything else I said very hurtful and mean. It could be ballin', an industry defining loyalty program I would actually give a shit about, but it isn't and I guess it doesn't have to be.
My friend Eric was talking about how the Steam Deck has removed his need for a console psychologically, just excised it. He doesn't understand why he would ever buy a console again. I think this is mostly correct in a way that you might not get if you haven't used one. PlayStation 5 stuff eventually comes out on PC. The only counterclaim I might make is Nintendo, practically a genre in and of itself. And Xbox is just GamePass, which is also on PC. Right? Everybody gets that?
I felt confident that I didn't need a Steam Deck. Technically, that's probably still true. I can breathe, etc. Once you have touched one, I think it's difficult not to understand it. I bought one more or less immediately. It may be that I bought it too soon, honestly, because the OLED hardware refresh is low-key fire. Sorry; one of my daughters is fourteen. But with an external monitor and a Bluetooth kb/m situation, it's also a complete computer after two or so button presses. Technically, one of those is a hold. But you feel me.
They proved the claim beyond a shadow of a doubt now, to the extent that other players even have a recognized space to target with hardware. My friend Kris Straub has a ROG Ally, for example, and he loves it - being a windows machine makes it easier to do certain things. They aren't impossible on the Deck with a very small amount of wizardry - but the Steam Deck being absolute in its Linuxian inclinations has improved the whole platform for gaming. These are eternal contributions. It also seems a little cranky and taciturn to forego Windows, but cranky and taciturn in a likable way, like a trench-hardened veteran. Which Gabe Newell absolutely is.
(CW)TB out.
