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Netflix expands its game lineup with new titles from Ubisoft and more Between questionable design choices, inconsistent software compatibility, and a weak battery that dampens its ultimate selling point, the Steam Deck is more of a spark than a full-blown revolution. At the same time, it’s very apparent that this is a first draft that leaves plenty of room for improvement. When the Steam Deck is functioning at peak performance, it’s a revelatory device that feels like it could completely disrupt the gaming hardware cycle as we know it. Valve does what it does best here (no, not develop video games) to create a powerful piece of hardware, but the Steam Deck is an alternate vision of the future, not an inherently better one. It’s another attempt to give players unlimited freedom in a sea of competing ideas that range from gaming tablets to cloud services to conceptual home servers.
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While it’s undoubtedly an impressive portable gaming device, it’s important to remember that the Steam Deck is very much an experimental one, too.
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