this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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Steam Deck, because it is handheld, and can run a lot of my Steam games. I can also dock it to a big screen and attach a controller.
Steam deck is just a PC going through a few hoops though.
Aren't all consoles like that, though? They all run mainstream operating systems, and are basically locked down PCs in a fancy box. If anything, the Steam Deck is further from a PC than an XBox/PS, due to being handheld, with an embedded screen and controller, while XBox and its friends require a display and an external controller (like a PC).
All modern consoles are like that, but not necessarily all consoles. Older ones had more specialized hardware architecture
I feel like Xbox is the only console running a mostly mainstream OS. The Playstation series is based off of FreeBSD and but I think that's at a base level and a majority of what's added is custom proprietary code. Considering gaming on FreeBSD really doesn't surpass Quake I'd say it's quiet different.
I've seen the Switch's OS described as
I would say an OS being locked down to prevent normal forms of productivity like Office work or even web browsing at times would be a requirement to be considered a console. They are usually at best a media and game system by design due to the locks in place. So I wouldn't put Steam Deck in the category of console for the spirit of the discussion.
Consoles are more and more like PCs, with many multimedia, productivity and utilility apps and even web browsing, so the Steam Deck IMO perfectly fits the discussion.
Out of the box it has a strict console-like UI and limited functionality for everything else other than gaming. You need to take special steps to use it as a PC (reboot in desktop mode, attach peripherals, etc)
No not really. Steam Deck I can actually use fully as a desktop replacement, since it is a full Linux desktop and can have Windows OS installed on it too. Can't do the same with a Switch or PS5 or Xbox. Doesn't matter what peripherals you attach. Console hardware being locked down holds it back. Even jailbroken ones.
A phone is closer to a desktop equivalent than a console. Especially Samsung with stuff like Dex.
There is no strict definition of what a console is. Just because the linux OS is not restricted and the hardware can be used as a pc with extra steps are we excluding the SD from the console topic?
I just consider Steam Deck more PC than console. Even getting games to work requires more tinkering sometimes having to switch proton versions. Console tends to just work in comparison.
I just go by what traditional consoles have been capable of. And only console that comes to mind that even came close to the full functionality of the Steam Deck productivity potential was the PS3 with Linux support before they removed it.
Similarly I think people were installing Linux and Steam on their PS4s.
yeah psr could run it if you have an exploited console.
the only console to officially at some point allow for it was the PS3 though.
Alternatively, any xbox one/series is technically capable of running windows in the cloud so you could theoretically get a very expensive cloud pc running on it.
I would say the Steam Deck is excluded. I specified against PC knowing people would either mention the Steam Deck or the Henry Cavill preferring PC meme.
I feel like otherwise Steam's old Steam machines could also fit under the definition of being a console.
I suppose the unique portable hardware does make a good argument but the way I look at it game developers, for the most part, aren't making games for the Steam Deck. They are making them for PC and I feel like that's a big reason why I don't consider them consoles. I also feel like that's why devices like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck are considered handheld gaming PCs and not handheld gaming consoles.
The PS2 can run linux. And the PS3 could run Linux too before Sony killed it.
Most consoles from the sixth generation onward can run Linux. The Wii, Xbox 360, original Xbox, Nintendo DS, and PSP can all run some form of Linux.
I'd still say that's bypassing the restrictions of the console so it can be something else. It's like installing DOOM on a smart fridge and calling it a gaming console.
I disagree. It's a gaming console. It is marketed as such. It's primary purpose is to run games. By the way, you can browse on the Xbox. And because it has a full-blown browser, you can even use Office365 if you attach a keyboard and a mouse. So lets disqualify that too? :)
Can it run movie editor, code, blender, etc? How many people could be given an Xbox that doesn't intend to game with it and use it for productivity?
By that loose definition Windows is a console too, since Steam can be launched with big picture mode so the device has a simplistic UI at launch that can be navigated by a controller.
Yes, it can run all that. You may have to jump through a few hoops (just like in the case of the Steam Deck, just different hoops), but it can run all that.
I'll also turn your question back to you: how many people use the Steam Deck for productivity, rather than for gaming, which is its intended purpose? And does it matter?
Like it or not, the steam deck is a gaming console, even if you can run non-game stuff on it too. Heck, even stuff like the Game Boy had (official!) accessories like the Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer, which were both useful outside of gaming. Does that stop the Game Boy from being a (retro) gaming console? There's an ongoing project to provide productivity apps for the Game Boy (though, arguably, it did not ship yet, but you can extend the game boy with a cartridge in whatever way you can imagine).
Or, you can use your SNES as a MIDI Synthesizer (https://www.supermidipak.com/)! No modding or anything necessary, it's just a regular cartridge. Can it be used for fun? Yes. Is it a game? No. You can do a lot of stuff with an SNES cartridge that has nothing to do with gaming. There was even a cartridge that let you play online games on the SNES (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND) - but not only games, it also let you read and write messages to other people. You didn't need to go into "desktop mode", nor install a browser, nor do anything special. You plugged in the cartridge, and it worked. It was far less locked down than the XBox or even the Steam Deck! Does that disqualify the SNES (or the game boy) from being a gaming console?
To me a PC is something that has less restrictions to be able to do what you want out of the box.
If Steam Deck is a console then PC is a console to me too.
So then my answer to the thread for console is PC.
So then a Game Boy is a PC, and so is the SNES, and the SEGA Genesis. Cool, cool, makes perfect sense.
Myself, I think the wikipedia definition is far better than yours.
By your definition I don't see why PC wouldn't be a console, since being to do some things doesn't exclude it. And why exclude PC as console just because it can do a lot of things.
There's a very important difference between what you can do with a thing, and what the thing was intended for, and what it is best at doing.
Wikipedia that you referred to before calls Steam deck a handheld gaming computer. If Steam Deck is a console why wouldn't a gaming PC fall into the category of console.
This all seems arbitrary. It is all subjective anyways. You can see steam deck as different from PC. I'll look at Steam Deck and PC as the same. So to me both are either console or PC.
You can also take it up with valve for their it's a pc comments. Even the reveal they did with ign calling it a handheld gaming PC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtiRGTZvGM
Even the Steam Deck store page description is
At best described as "console-like experience"
https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck
This is also a nice watch of Gabe talking about the openness of the PC ecosystem and how if you want to you can install epic game store or run oculus quest on the Steam Deck. Take what you will from it but I feel like Gabe and the people who worked on the Steam Deck see it more as a PC than console.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kO6Dj2XNfY&t=588