right before the holidays I got caught up in No Man’s Sky on the Steam Deck for a little bit, first time experience after following the whole fiasco. I’ve had it from a Humble Bundle or something for some time now, and I needed some diversity from Rivals and it did okay. Runs well on the Steam Deck without much effort changing anything, was able to use it in offline mode easily for my flights. Was really nice. Wasn’t on my year in review though since it was after that date, lol.

Otherwise, my year in review “You played on a Steam Deck!” shows Phantom Brave 71%, Children of Morta 16%, Sonic Mania 4%, Hero’s Hour (fun game) 3%, and Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel at 2% lol. Oddly, ReVita isn’t on there probably for not technically being verified. I played that quite a bit this year though, so much so it inspired me to start trying to work on a game for a little bit.

Haven’t played a lot of games this year, 16 on Steam Deck and 18 on PC.

“it was not sexual in nature”

Censors

Ah, a better option for you I just thought of. Look into the DeckMate, it’s an attachment that can be connected to different things, and comes with attachments to stick to other things.

For example, you can have a portable battery connected to your Deck. But also, a VESA compatible back that you can just screw into a regular Monitor Mount, and boom, Steam Deck stand with any angle you want at roughly any height you want.

Bonus, you have a lot of things you can mount the deck to!

Is the official dock not what you’re looking for? I’m not sure I know what you’re looking for.

Do you mean, 45 degrees the angle of the screen?

Maybe something like a Nintendo Switch or Wii U stand, there are ones that have adjustable backs

My favorite use of back buttons is in games where there’s long, pretty, treks of exploration. From Monster Hunter: World to Red Dead Redemption and more, I always set up a back binding to an auto-walk.

Press and hold to toggle, adjust the timing to something a little longer than normal, and revel in stoned pleasure at the sprawling landscapes while you pack another bowl without losing time towards your next destination. It’s awesome! If the game allows, you can set up sprinting this way too even for those pesky tap to run ones (looking at you RDR).

The press and hold to toggle is important because it allows me to keep the button bound to a roll, which is often nice for games like Monster Hunter where I can keep my fingers on important camera control and direction/attack inputs while keeping a getaway button available

Depending on the game, R1 and L1, and other times just the usual ABXY with some per game adjustments.

Good, we shouldn’t get one until there’s massive improvements all around. Give it 7 years

The Deckmate, super easy to play with portable batteries attached to the back.

Ratings are based on somewhat trivial things, such as whether there is a website link in the main menu

In way way did valve stop supporting streaming? Did they mean in-home game, remote play, friend remote play?

They used to have these for star wars and similar games. May not have come with a screen though

It definitely could be, it just seems like there’s a pattern of fallen leaves surrounding EA. Also, EA is great to work for, that’s why they are so bad. I know that sounds silly, but I mean that in the sense of they offer the developers so much and all the dev needs to do is add a little MTX here and there.

Then all they need to do is do it again, but maybe follow something that’s trending. Then see if maybe the full game could be cut into pieces, to sell as DLC. Then see if you can implement more MTX, maybe this time add some smoke effects that you can pay to change the color of.

That said to your point, NFS Heat has MTX that were so bad and hated that EA again like with SWBF2 got the message and didn’t include MTX in Unbound. I wouldn’t really actually mind them too much in a way but it’s also somewhat more of a core aspect to the game that having it is just so… Odd.

But that’s the thing about EA. Why did it happen again. Why didn’t they keep the message they got the first time from SWBF2. Or Andromeda with $100 payment options for a lootbox system to get you to spend more.

These were all before Heat released, and EA still was fine with doing it again.

And don’t even get me started on The Sims. They have broken and killed so many copies of sims games for people that there are cracks specifically to circumvent patches. They don’t want people playing older games so they delist them, release a patch to break it (I’m not even joking, The Sims Medieval), and the user has to move on or never the game they paid for again. It’s cruel.

So maybe a tree is just a tree. Or maybe it’s a pattern that’s ebbs and flows and EA toes the line of what they can get away with nickel and dimeing players before they throw a fit, all while leaving studios to rot while the IP they bring to EA is marionetted every 8 years, 3 if it sells well.

Not only does this behavior always return, but it encourages other companies to follow suit – and moreso when you learn that all these executives just swap between companies and EA owned 20% of Ubisoft for a edit:decade wasn’t deleted before I posted 6 years ('04-'10).

So those are some examples of what EA does, and I’m critical because they are good to work for, and their force in the gaming industry should not be the monolith of MTX but the big stick that delivers AAA games instead of junk that destroys a developers vision and standing with the gaming community while we beg for EA to get it through their thick skulls that games are better when you put passion into them. Anthem having flying be the best part of the game suggested by EA is like the bare minimum of what a leading studio should be accomplishing.

One last point that should indicate EA’s behavior is how they treated Star Wars games. When the mouse was breathing down their neck, they came out with Star Wars Squadrons without a single hint of microtransactions. The mouse was so peeved from the SWBF2 that EA wouldn’t dare add MTX.

And yet they don’t give that respect to their small studios. Bioware doesn’t get that pass. Dice doesn’t get that pass. Respawn doesn’t get that pass.

Anyway, hey: https://gamejobs.co/MTX-Software-Engineer-Intern-Apex-Legends-at-Electronic-Arts

EA has been hiring for Interns looking for Software Microtransaction Engineers. Still leading the charge in battle passes!

Sorry if this comes off as rambling. I’m trying not to.

What you described for the Shield is also how I have my Steam/Switch -> Splitter -> Denon -> Tv. Also my apologies, it’s late, I’ve had a long day and my grandfather gave me a nightcap, so I’m just going to ramble. Be warned, because I’m away from home and this is all from memory. It sounds like we have a similar setup sans TV model, so hopefully this just gives you things to look for.

Are you using the beta or the stable build? And LCD or OLED (can’t imagine it would really matter but it could - I have both so I could look in a few days).

Is there a setting on your Denon regarding HDMI audio, or another user mentioned eArc which I also have on my TV, unfortunately can’t remember how I have that set up. I do vaguely remember playing with those settings to get sound working. I’m fairly sure it was specifically HDMI audio in a settings menu of the receiver itself, but possibly in conjunction with the TV settings too… Could also try to use CEC, which is the handshake to allow devices to control the TV - it has caused problems for people before for the Nintendo Switch, so it could be something like that.

What’s the model you have? I have an AVR-S570 Bluetooth, if they’re both denon I imagine it can’t be too different. Do you view the Denon Receiver HDMI channel when you are connecting the Steam Deck? Does the TV the Denon Receiver, or is it an HDMI1-4? I have a Roku TV so it has has the menu where it can show the content without being on the channel as a preview.

I think my course of action would be to try a different build on the SD (sort of refreshes things and is quick), try your current set up, then try a new setup with different HDMI port (both Denon/TV) or possibly cable, that’s another common oddity. It happens to me so often, I just throw them out in the donate box when that happens, almost always 2.0 or whatever standard failing to perform

If that still all doesn’t work with newest HDMI standards (2.2?), then I would go searching through your receiver and TV audio settings to check if anything is amiss with CEC and HDMI Audio or something along those lines. Make sure that the TV/Receiver/HDMI port are all showing expected things. Good luck, and sorry for the rambling. Basically trying to run down what I remember and pick apart what of my setup was Steam Deck related and what was Roku TV woes. As the other user said, eArc is also a possible boon amongst all of this.

If you have any other questions, I’ll be happy to think more on it

I use the official dock

Hm I have not. I have a Denon that I use with a HDMI splitter. Splitter goes into the Denon, Nintendo and Steam Deck go into the splitter.

You may need to look for a specific setting for HDMI audio, I’m vaguely remembering

Bioware cancelled Shadow Realms because Mass Effect and Star Wars MMO was more profitable.

"Today I’m sharing some important news about Shadow Realms and our BioWare Austin studio. We’ve made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow Realms. We fully recognize that this news is disappointing to some of our fans, so I want to explain more behind this decision.

"While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.

"These include additional ongoing enhancements to the award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as the next game in the Mass Effect series and other new IP. But the biggest focus for our team in BioWare Austin will be on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As every Star Wars™ fan knows, this is a massive year in the Star Wars universe. We have some great plans for expanding this epic game this year, and look forward to sharing the news about those plans with our players in the coming weeks.

Read between the lines. EA canned it so the studio would give us Andromeda and more Old Republic. Oh but sure, “it wasn’t EA’s decision”.

Big stick.

Are you familiar with the US foreign policy proposed by Theodore Roosevelt? “speak softly and carry a big stick”

EA may speak softly, but they carry a big stick. Bioware has clearly catered to EA, intentional or not, and their games have suffered from it.

Mirrors Edge was not a success either, btw.

DICE marketing director Martin Frain initially projected Mirror’s Edge to sell a total of three million units be sold across all platforms.[56] According to Electronic Arts, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions had combined sold over one million units by February 2009.[57] In October 2010, a court document pertaining to the legal conflict between Electronic Arts and Edge Games revealed that Mirror’s Edge had sold over two million units, with over 750,000 of those units having been sold in North America.[58] EA revealed the game had sold around 2.5 million units by June 2013.[59]

It took them 5 years to reach their initial projected sales, and that’s after combining every available edition. That’s a commercial failure.

They did still chase it with followup games, btw.

This was followed by Mirror’s Edge 2D, a browser game adaptation by The Fancy Pants Adventures developer Brad Borne.[41] A prequel to the game, also titled Mirror’s Edge, was released for mobile devices in 2010.[42]

Catalyst was going to be included, as it was shown at E3 in 2013 and 2014. And delay, delay, delay, all the way into 2016. Catalyst was quite literally EA chasing the money, because Mirrors Edge has only really gotten recognition long after its release – in terms of sales, and it’s availability on Steam really helped solidify it’s presence as a cult classic. The game of course was received well, it just didn’t sell (not much marketing and it’s not a game of the era, so to say, it is not an action heavy shooter game). So now after 8 years of letting this IP rot in development hell they said oh we can add some MTX and make another one, hm, let’s make it open world that’s what gamers like these days. It was actually decided in 2015 that it would be open world, since that wasn’t seen in any of the 2014 promotional. So 1 short year, since June 2016 is the games release.

Nah, I enjoyed parts of Catalyst but it’s a shell of its original. Dying Light and Ghostrunner are almost closer spiritual successors in regards to expanding on mechanics. The gameplay was the same but without any actual dynamics (gunplay wasn’t great in ME but it breaks up and gives variety), the writing was predictable and just really not that great, and that leaves new additions… Which you just avoid because it’s an open world and you only have running tools at your disposal. The mechanics of the game are horrible as well, inputs get dropped all the time it’s a huge problem. There’s just so little about the game that’s designed well, which is insane, because the game still accomplishes scratching the itch of Mirrors Edge, just very poorly.

No, what made Mirrors Edge great was the passion. It was a tight knitted and mechanically rewarding. These levels so carefully designed. Catalyst’s paths do not have the same care, they are just rushed together and it shows during the gameplay and how one path flows and the others are just ways you can go. There’s no depth and attention.

The developers freedom to pursue that passion was the very same thing that allowed Bioware to create the games they wanted to make (and like Bad Company 2’s story with DICE before dropping it entirely for multiplayer only).

BF3 may be a fine game, and 4, but you surely understand that they are copy pasted formulas that explicitly are not impassioned. What made Bad Company beloved was its improvements over the previous iteration along with its differentiation from MW2, on top of having a fair single player story. What made Mirrors Edge beloved was its direction and its gameplay. For both of these, these IP’s to EA became no more than how many zeroes they can generate. It’s a pattern with EA, from Mass Effect to Need for Speed to sports games to Battlefield. Once you have a formula you wait for it to be profitable to sell it again.

Mirrors Edge was received well but sold poorly. They tried to profit on some spinoffs, failed, 4 years later sort of began development and turned Catalyst into another open world microtransaction game without any of the heart that made Mirrors Edge work. Battlefield was mediocrely received until it did something better than CoD, then they focused on repeating that over and over, leading to BF3 and 4 and 2042, with the only “unique” Battlefield even available now being Battlefield One. Before Battlefield, it was Medal of Honor.

EA is a plight. I don’t know how you can say it’s not that bad and shift blame to the developers, that their games are their decisions. It’s just unequivocally untrue. Of course Bioware doesn’t have execs breathing down their necks, the execs are selling the game Bioware pitches to them - Mass Effect now with MTX. In that interview they literally even say, “EA wants to buy a company to do something well, if they ruin Bioware then they won’t get money. We make the games we want to make. They give input absolutely but we make our game.” Oh, and he mentions games, Shadow Realms, which never even came out because it was cancelled in 2015. And this is a video from 2013, so it may not have even been 2 years before this video with the timestamp you like is literally proving the point of the person asking the question (Q: Will Bioware be affected by EA’s acquisition; A: No, Bioware makes the games we want to make, EA wants money, EA gives input, Bioware makes the games we want to make) 2 years later, EA: Yeah, you can’t make that.

All that aside, I’m not really sure what the point of the video is supposed to prove… These people don’t even work there anymore if I remember right (head Bioware all jumped ship, no? I may be misremembering)? EA has the big stick. If you devs don’t follow them, you won’t be a dev at EA anymore. The devs at EA are inherently trapped because you cannot expect your game to be made unless it is within the expectations of the publisher, and thus you see the problem. When you pitch to EA, your creative work is already compromised. You think Bioware made the game they wanted to make with Andromeda? Anthem? Psh, Shadow Realms?

EA bought Bioware in 2007/8. EA killed Bioware in under 10 years and is now playing with its corpse. Literally 5 years after the acquisition is this video, the game of which he’s referencing 2 years later is cancelled and 2 more after that Andromeda releases. I really, really think you have mischaracterized EA and their relationship with their studios. EA is very hands off, yes. But they speak softly to you. And they carry a big stick.

You, too, would compromise your passion when working for this studio. It is actually impossible not to, by design.

I lived near EA’s SF studio for many years, that’s really honestly the main reason I even bothered to reply with something this lengthy. I know many former devs part of studios both made with and acquired by EA. It’s insane, they would be a great company to work for in so many ways. But their business practices ruin all of that. The last 20 years of EA being awful are true, just because you can point to BF2BC and say how could they be bad, you can also point to Madden Fifa and SWBF2. EA perfected this practice of seeping out the creatives from the studios long, long before Bioware was bought out.

I have a pair of Sony EXB50’s or something along those lines, wired earbuds. Works great, though some games suffer from audio crackling (possible side effect of resume from sleep). Sound quality is good though regardless, and that’s game dependent in my experience.

Bluetooth earbuds work well too, you can pair your phone to the Steam Deck and pair the earbuds to the Steam Deck and stream music from your phone and play your game. Also haven’t noticed any latency which is pretty amazing, but even if there was a rhythm game worth its salt has a setting to correct that

The Steam Deck almost annihilated the cyberdeck subreddit lol

It’s the same for Samsung’s AI stuff, the only really useful one is it’s smart selecting features - cropping photos, taking out specific images for stickers/collaging.

Everything else though is just the creativity I want to do being done for me.