Alone I Game.

With a New Year emerges new, usually domestic challenges. Increases in tax. National insurance. Rent. Utility bills. Inflation. Unemployment. All while wages stagnate, the economy fluctuates and the government flaunts its privilege while extorting the poor to fund next year’s extravagant New Year’s Eve party. I’ve often considered the possibility of deserting the congestion of residential monotony and living life off the proverbial grid. To seek refuge in the sanctity of a cabin, furnished with a kettle, decent WIFI connectivity and an accessible delivery route, if it meant avoiding all social interactions or humanity in its entirety. I believe that such nurtured abstinence would leave me a very contented mammal. And this inherent desire for social forfeit has only been further epitomised by the festive break.

Much of my gaming is economised by trivial domestic responsibilities, a province that afflicts many burgeoning diversions. And though Christmas permits much needed respite from the rigidity imposed by work, your patriarchal duty is satisfying your family’s demands. Now this is certainly my preferred environment, with food, booze and all of the festive hospitality you’d expect from a Christmas gathering. But the excesses of this socially repressive period affords little time to indulge in your own coveted seclusion. As someone as introverted as myself, thrust into awkward conversations with peripheral members of my family or indeed those inherited through my partner, can be a stifling. And even the obligatory moment of synergetic narcolepsy that afflicts every family unit post Christmas feast, provided scarce refuge to indulge in my gaming proclivities. Even with my transported Steam Deck for comfort.

The aforementioned Steam Deck enables a versatility impeded by the conventional console systems. Sure it’s not the most subtle device, one that evidently attracts the attention of even your cataract afflicted grandmother, and is considered a major social faux pas, but a necessary reprieve from the “invigorating” family congregations. But what suddenly occurs to me during this bustle of congenial levity, is that gaming really is as intimate as reading a book. I lack the requisite discipline to suppress the ambient revelry around me, that in turn disrupts my capacity to engage with the words on the page with any comprehension. It could be the noise from a television or a simple conversation, I just can’t concentrate. And the same applies for gaming. There is just too much activity encompassing you to fully immerse yourself in a game, and zone out for a few hours. Which has always been a prime incentive. Despite the versatility and portability of a device like the Steam Deck, it’s just not the same unless you can play it alone.

Sadly, unless I inherit a small fortune from a wealthy Uncle I “accidentally” murdered, I’m probably going to have to stop being so selfish.

The Steam Deck Is The Perfect Device, For The Busy Parent.

With the arrival of the Steam Deck I think the industry needs to redefine the abbreviated definition of “PC”, to “personal convenience”. Because that is what this device provides. “Want something to engage you whilst you’re dropping the kids off at the pool?”. Play the Steam Deck. “Is your daughter watching back-to-back episodes of Bluey?”. Play the Steam Deck. “Partner fallen into a sugar induced coma?”. Play the Steam Deck. And possibly contact emergency services, but that’s at your own discretion. With Steams diverse catalogue of games, a library that now boasts over 4,500 verified or playable titles, the Steam Deck is a practical alternative for those console peasants that covet the resplendent superiority of PC gaming, without the sense of sanctimonious imperialism you’d otherwise contract.

It is worth noting however that as liberating as the Steam Deck is for many people’s sizeable steam library, there is a subtle, yet critical distinction between “Handheld” and “Portability”. With its limited battery capacity and its sluggish heft, the Steam Deck sadly falls into the former category. As comfortable as the ergonomics are, it is a rather bulky device to grip for long periods. Not that such extended jaunts will be a regular endeavour if you’re not permanently tethered to a socket. Tinkering with the resolution and frame rates will halt the rate of depletion, as will a wealth of accessories to prolong the batteries concessions. But fundamentally demonstrates the limitations of this power guzzling unit.

This isn’t a device furnished for transit, but for the rigid manoeuvrability of the home. It’s a device for the busy parent. The guardian with only brief sabbaticals between tending to garden maintenance, household chores and other domestic responsibilities. All while you acquiesce to your child’s coercive demands. Gaming for any prolonged session just isn’t a practical hobby afforded by child rearing. The Steam Deck, even with its demanding power consumption, is a pragmatic solution to satisfy those abiding gaming compulsions, without it becoming a detriment to your own domestic responsibilities. These short, focused bursts permit fewer streamlined experiences that are more effective for cursory engagements. At least that’s what I tell myself.

The ambiguous nature of this machine makes it difficult to define who its intended audience is with any discernible accuracy. Is it for casual new adopters to PC gaming? Or established one’s with aspirations of liberating their games from the shackles of a static gaming rig? Personally it’s both and neither. The Steam Deck is the first multi purpose device, that has no set purpose. It does what you need it too, even if it is compromised by it’s own formidable power. But for my purposes, simple as they may seem, the Steam Deck is just the right device at just the right time.

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Do you own a Steam Deck? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers.

Steam Power: Why A Console Gamer Will Be Getting A Steam Deck.

PC gaming has always been somewhat of an outlier in my very console specific psychology. The notion of using a mouse a keyboard to play games is as baffling to me as steering a car with a trifle. Being a “console peasant” affords me the opportunity to game, with availability limited by the natural domestic responsibilities we all prioritise. Even if I wasn’t inhibited by the restraints of life or the deficiencies of money, with the limitations of my router and it’s localised remoteness, there simply isn’t anywhere for a PC to go, without considerable logistical alterations. So when the Steam Deck was announced you’d think I’d regard it with the same bemoaning apathy as any other elitist related hardware. Yet the reality is that I’m rather intrigued by the device. So much so that I even reserved one.

The Steam Deck, which I confess sounded like a wallpaper stripper when it was first trending, is a portable games console/PC developed by Valve, equipped with GPU’s, AMD’s and APU’s, as well as other industry standard abbreviations I’m too technically feeble to comprehend. The hybrid device which, when docked can be connected to a monitor or television, comes in 3 base models with differing internal storage options. The most expensive version is the format I’ve chosen.

The appeal to me as a console peasant, is a having a device that facilitates access to a service previously restricted. Steam has an extensive catalogue of titles I’ve never had the opportunity to play. As well as title’s that I have experienced that I can now play on the go. With the mobility, docking alternative and a huge library provided by Steam, this device has the potential to be the preferential alternative to my PlayStation. But the Steam Deck seems like a strange aberration for a community fanatical about the processing power of a PC?

Perhaps I’m wrong here, deceived by a generalised misconception, perpetuated by the elitist snobs in the gaming firmament. But this hardware, with it’s diminished power and console aesthetic, is a bit like selling plimsolls from “Shoezone” to a cobbler! Why would a PC gamer, bred with the habitual elitist attitude that is repelled by anything less than 60 fps, want to buy an inferior machine? It’s portable, sure. Provisioned with multi-touch capacitive, designed to replicate precision mouse control. But is that enough? That’s rhetorical really, I don’t have any answers. I’m not an analyst! I’d like to think that PC gamer’s don’t believe great ideas are limited to raw power.

Despite my extensive proclivity for frugality, I do on a occasion experience intermittent breaches of impulsive whimsy and capitulate to spontaneous desires, with mixed results. But with a Q2 2022 availability reserved and it’s scheduled release likely to be months before I’ll even receive confirmation of it’s acquisition let alone have the device dispatched, I have ample time to consider early reviews before committing a substantial cost. But I’m optimistic that the Steam Deck can provide an alternative to the current console ecosystem and rigours of their respective jurisdiction. Here’s hoping.

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Will you be getting the Steam Deck? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers.