Mark's Thunks

Alright, it's finally time to quit screwing around and see what the Steam Deck can actually do. And by that I mean, here's an incredibly dry run-down of how Steam works on the Steam Deck, for people like me that salivate over UI screenshots. When you boot up the Steam Deck, this is the first screen you see- Your most recently played Steam games, across all your devices. Scrolling down shows news, what your friends are playing, what games have been updated recently, and what Steam thinks you should play from your library. At the top is a universal search function, plus easy access to Wi-Fi, battery, and account settings. The universal search function is accessible via most screens and lets you search across all your games, friends, tools, and the store itself. The Steam library looks and functions exactly like Steam's desktop app, whose user interface (UI) was originally overhauled towards the end of 2019. Tags and collections set up on your desktop are also available on th...

Alright, with the history lesson out of the way , let's actually take a look at this thing. What exactly is the Steam Deck?     On the outside, we've got a directional pad, ABXY face buttons, a Start/Menu button and a Select/Back/View(?) button, a pair of joysticks, a pair of shoulder buttons, and a pair of analog triggers- Typical of most console controllers. Underneath each thumbstick is a square trackpad- Just like the Steam Controller, these are usually employed to move a mouse cursor around the screen of a PC game that doesn't support console controllers, but they can be customized for any kind of purpose. The reverse side also sports four back paddles- the Steam Controller had two, but they ended up infringing on a patent that resulted in a $4m fine and the controller itself being taken off the market . These four non-infringing paddles can be mapped to any kind of input you'd expect to find on a computer.   Closeup of the Steam Deck's ABXY buttons, menu b...