• Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 months ago

    Steam Deck sounds great, but it’s also expensive (outside of the US).

    Besides Nintendo have to also think about thinks like if they want to make it a competitive price, battery life, over heating, etc.

    I’m just saying there’s more to making a console than cramming it full of power, there has to be a balance. There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on despite being way more powerful than the Game Boy.

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on despite being way more powerful than the Game Boy.

      As a teenager during those years I cannot emphasize just how much more of a juggernaut reputation Nintendo had than any other home or portable consoles at the time. Nintendo/Gameboy was synonymous with console and portable gaming. Like yeah, Sega was finally making headway in the home market with Genesis but the Lynx/Jaguar era was kinda the deathnell for Atari iirc. And that’s despite Atari working with Time Warner Cable to package Jaguars with their Full Service Network Interactive TV that let you download games for it. Part marketing, part name recognition, part IP exclusivity; Nintendo just owned the market for years.

      Fun note: when I was a kid I used to go dumpster diving behind Time Warner’s Network Operation Center, along with a bunch of other tech companies in that commerce park.

    • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      There is a reason the Game Gear and Lynx failed to catch on

      Nintendo currently mains a “handheld” console wider than the Game Gear with comparable battery

      • Bartsbigbugbag
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        3 months ago

        Game Gear was lucky to get 2 hours of actual play on battery. We had to get the extended battery pack for mine as a kid. I frequently get 6 or 7 out of my switch.

        • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          3 months ago

          Depends on the batteries you used imo, before mine died I’d get like 4+ ish hours of Sonic 2 8bit on alkalines. Also maybe you can get 6-7 hours of battery on a revised Switch playing indie games, but on a launch model playing Breath of the Wild, 3 is more likely susie-heh

          • Bartsbigbugbag
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            3 months ago

            Oh man, I forgot about different battery types. You’re probably right, my parents always got me the cheapest ones because I burned through them so quick anyway, at last until they got me the battery pack.

    • hypercracker@hexbear.net
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      3 months ago

      Oh yeah I don’t care about the console power, I mean the steam deck controls. They’re amazing, a huge part of why it’s so great.

        • hypercracker@hexbear.net
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          3 months ago

          There is some nice haptic rumble in the thumbstick area, yeah. Some other unique/nice things about the steam deck controls:

          • touch-sensitive thumbsticks
          • really precise gyro
          • trackpads on each side
          • grip buttons (same as on the “pro” console controllers) so you can press buttons without taking your thumbs off the thumbsticks
          • touchscreen