I don't know if every other gamer in the world was also captivated by launch announcement of the handheld Steam Deck yesterday. I'm a crazily pro-Pc gamer, and so the idea of being able to play a good chunk of the indie and lower power demanding games like Wildermyth or Battle Brothers whilst on the move without a fully fledged gaming laptop is something that is close approaching gaming Nirvana for me!

It is hard to believe that when I first started gaming several decades ago, that anything even remotely similar to this would be possible. I've always had a handheld console (like the current Nintendo Switch), but I've always been a bit disappointed by the lack of depth in comparison and the high prices and platform lock-in our the games themselves. However, I've always figured that that is the compromise that you make to have gaming on the go in a small package.

Well, now it looks like that I'm no longer going to have to compromise! Steam Deck seems have enough grunt to be able to handle low to mid range games, and even more demanding games will cope on the low resolution screen (it isn't 1440p at 120 Hz!) at lower details. I'm not totally I would play FPS style games on the Deck though, less to go with the format than the fact that I'm a complete klutz with controllers and that can be pretty damn frustrating when I'm pretty handy with a keyboard and mouse.

So, I had been waiting for the new Switch hardware announcement earlier in the month to see if it was worthwhile to pick up a new Switch Pro or just hung around for a Lite. Our girls are both getting into the Switch games (Animal Crossing and Mario...) and having only a single console can make for difficult moments. Although, I am happy to say that it generally works okay. More problematically, I've not managed to take the Switch with me on work trips anymore! That was always the train/plane gaming machine, but the XMG Fusion is more than up to the task of I have power points like on most European high speed trains.

However, the recent Switch Pro reveal was incredibly disappointing. No update to the under the hood power, just a better kickstand screen... And more expensive!

So, it looks like Nintendo have lost their momentum (at least with me!) with their misstep and the Deck launch. They had the handheld space cornered for years with the awesome Switch, but the Deck just blows it out of the water with better and cheaper game selection and more power! It is more expensive and I do wonder if the battery is good enough for gaming on the go... But, I suspect that lower res screens and the AMD under the hood is going to be able to sort that problem.

I do like the look of the controller as well, it looks very much like my Dream Controller... Just with a huge screen in between!

I'm definitely going to stump up the 5 euros to reserve a purchase spot! The middle option is the way to go for me, I really think that it is worth the upgrade from eMMC to NVMe SSDs. The difference in speeds is quite a leap, and all of the Decks have expandable storage slots.

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