That's not the same product category. Entirely different OS. Otherwise, the 3DS is the same category. The NVIDIA Shield also didn't have built-in joysticks. It was just another Android tablet. All Android tablets can pair with a controller. Despite coming out in 2015, and not getting an update when the desktop variant did (i.e. the NVIDIA Shield TV), it does still get updates, at least. They added DualSense and XSX/XSS controller support in the last update.
Handheld PCs have existed for half a decade-- even longer, really, if you count the failed window tablets. They've never been anything but a niche afterthought with no impact on the world of gaming. Ergo, if you want that to change, you have to change the strategy. You have to change the branding and marketing. You need a vanguard product to establish this, and you need for this product not to be confused with opportunistic wannabes. All of this strengthens my argument to clearly segregate products not made by Valve so as to not confuse the consumer.
How many qualifiers need to be checkboxed for two products to be in the same product category?
For this discussion (not argument), lets classify all mobile PC gaming products to be in the same category, regardless of IOS.
They've all failed to achieve mass-market success because they were over-priced and half-assed.
I don't care if other companies make handheld PCs. Those aren't "Steam Decks". By virtue of running Windows any of them may access Steam. That isn't the same as running this latest, specific version of SteamOS, which Valve absolutely could maintain as proprietary as they see fit until a later date. It isn't the same as being marketed as a "Steam Deck" which they can trademark.
I am not calling 'decks' not made by Valve 'Steam Decks' and I highly doubt Gabe Newell is giving other multi-billion dollar corporations permission to infringe on his copyright, despite how literal the title of this PC Gamer article title is.
You don't seem to be grasping the argument, because no, they don't. While "smartphones" have a million competitors, most of them bad, there is only one iPhone. They didn't allow competitors to call themselves iPhones, or to run iOS, and they aggressively policed this. That product's reputation is what launched the product category.
You don't seem to be grasping the argument, because no, they don't. While "smartphones" have a million competitors, most of them bad, there is only one iPhone. They didn't allow competitors to call themselves iPhones, or to run iOS, and they aggressively policed this. That product's reputation is what launched the product category.
Yes, you absolutely can stop it. Patents and trademarks exist for a reason. Proprietary software is legal, and effective at excluding competitors.
*Sigh*
Ok, I think you're misinterpreting me.
We agreed on more mobile PC platforms being good, right? I don't mean several different companies making Steam Decks, I mean several different companies making several different mobile PC platforms with the product category called 'deck.'
Hell, how was the name 'desktop' or 'laptop' agreed to across the industry? Did someone try to copyright it?
For now, for the lack of a proper name for the product category, lets just call them 'decks.'
That isn't inevitable at all. Why would you assume that? That irrefutably did NOT come to fruition with the Steambox. Allowing all the shit competitors to dilute and taint the brand before it became a success is what killed it altogether.
'Inevitable' is a strong word, and that word has lost alot of its credibility after Thantos used the word to describe himself, and then he died.
But judging on the online reaction to Steam Deck, it seems overwhelmingly positive, and as I previously showed Dell already has a prototype shown at CES2020.
Yes, the Switch is why Steam is making this thing. They're hoping this appetite is that much greater. We'll see. That appetite obviously existed for desktop and laptop PCs when the Steambox launched, as we can see how massively that market has grown, and yet the Steambox was a humiliating failure.
Steambox had its issues, obviously, and its biggest issue was that practically everyone that wanted to play PC games on their flat screen TVs already were doing that with the desktops or laptops with HDMI cables.
And whoever designed that Steam controller should be dragged out to the street and shot.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is pursuing the backdoor into the largest market, mobile phones, through cloud gaming. That will put console games on every smartphone and tablet in existence.
A while ago you said GamePass was a 'game changer' and I was skeptical. Even without Microsoft's buyout of Bethesda you were probably right anyway about it being a 'game changer.'
You were right, I was wrong.
So, that being said, I am very skeptical about cloud-gaming being legit because of internet speeds, connectivity, and latency issues still being a large issue across the world.
Stadia was a failure on its release day because basically no one believed Google would fix these issues, and they were right.
So, if you're right about this and I'm wrong, again, I'll paypal you enough to buy a six-pack of your favorite craft beers, ok Mads?