
Think of that as an out-of-the-box starting point for anyone who wants to treat the Steam Deck just like a Switch or Vita: turn it on, log on to Steam, and start playing from a streamlined menu interface.

The Steam Deck runs on SteamOS, a dedicated operating system “built with Steam Deck in mind and optimized for a handheld gaming experience,” according to Valve.
#The wild case steam Pc
From a distance, it looks a lot like the Switch, with a left-right controller setup and the ability to function in home mode with a (separately purchased) dock or store a battery charge for gaming on the go.īut the rest of its similarities veer toward the PC side, with a generously customizable control setup (including four assignable grip buttons on the back), a pair of touch pads that can mimic the function of a desktop mouse control setup, and a Linux-based platform that comes out of the box with a tailor-made operating system built specifically to make dialing up your Steam library feel as easy as booting up any gaming console.
#The wild case steam portable
The Steam Deck certainly looks like a portable gaming console, incorporating some of the design savvy that Valve already has under its belt with previous hardware like the Index VR headset and the now-defunct Steam controller.
#The wild case steam free
There’s a lot of significance in that seemingly all-encompassing description, though: The Steam Deck may be built to make playing Steam games easy and seamless, but unlike a closed-ecosystem device like the Switch or Vita, owners will be free to use it just as they would any other PC - even if that means playing games from the Epic Store (Steam’s big PC gaming competitor). Half-Life maker Valve, better known these days as the corporate brains behind the Steam store, unveiled the Steam Deck this week as a Steam-optimized handheld console that just so happens to double as a full-featured PC. The Steam Deck is coming, and, like the Switch, it’s a hybrid all-in-one device that’s just as happy operating in handheld mode as it is casting games to a big screen from its drop-in docking station. The Nintendo Switch is about to get some company in the portable gaming console space it’s had all to itself since the demise of the PlayStation Vita. We'll even throw in a good old-fashioned board game every now and then! Check in each Friday for news (and occasionally even views) on everything from sprawling RPGs to Metroidvania platformers to the latest in VR and free-to-play.
