The Valve Steam Deck handheld gaming computer is set to begin shipping to customers in December. But it’s an unusual device for a bunch of reasons. It has a form factor that’s not quite like any other gaming computer, thanks to Valve’s built-in game controllers and trackpads. And it ships with the Linux-based Steam OS rather than Windows. So in order to make sure that as many games as possible run well on the platform, Valve has begun shipping development kits to game makers for testing purposes.
In other recent tech news from around the web, Microsoft has released an update to its Xbox app for Windows 10 that brings support for streaming games from an Xbox console on your network or from the cloud (for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers), South Korean antitrust regulators have levied a fine against Google for abusing its dominance in the smartphone space, and Ben Thompson has one of the better explanations I’ve seen for why last week’s ruling in the Apple v Epic case was a big win for Apple, even though many headlines focused on the one part of the case the company lost.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- Steam Deck dev-kits are on the move [Valve]
Valve has begun shipping Stream Deck development kits to game makers for testing. The hardware is pretty much the same as the retail versions that will ship in December. - Xbox App for Windows 10 adds game streaming support [Xbox]
Now you can use the Xbox app on Windows 10 to stream games from your Xbox (via remote play) or the cloud (with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate). Streaming over the internet lets you play console-quality games on PCs without gaming-class specs. - Google fined by South Korean anti-trust regulators for abusing smartphone OS dominance [Yonhap News Agency]
South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Google $177 million for using its dominance in the smartphone OS space to stifle competition. For example, phone makers who want access to the Play Store have to agree not to use forks of Android. - The Apple v. Epic Decision (and why it’s a win for Apple) [Stratchery]
Ben Thompson’s take on why the Apple v Epic Decision was a “near total victory for Apple.” Despite ruling that Apple has to allow developers to include links to outside payment methods, the court found the tightly controlled App Store model to be legal. - Official Chuwi CoreBook X Pro page is misleading and embarrassingly full of errors [NotebookCheck]
A series of mistakes on the Chuwi CoreBook X Pro laptop give potential customers the wrong idea about the fan, display, cooling system, and even ports for the 15.6″ laptop with a Core i5-8259U processor. - Bootable USB Creator Ventoy Gets A Native GUI For Linux [Linux Uprising]
Ventoy, a tool that lets you create a bootable USB flash drive by dragging and dropping a Linux distro ISO to the drive, now has a native Linux GUI for setting up the flash drive in the first place. The Linux version was previously command-line only.
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The picture showing the USB-C cable sticking vertically out of the Steam Deck is one of the few things I dislike about it. It looks like it would put an excessive amount of lateral tension on the USB port.
It’s unfortunate that they didn’t put a USB-C on the bottom, to interface with the dock directly. The Valve branded dock that is being released is apparently going to have a cord run up the backside of the device, and plug into the top.
Hopefully we’ll see some better designs when some PC makers start making their own Steam Decks. I’m sitting out on the OG Steam Deck, and I’ll wait to see what other choices appear.
Excited for the Steam Deck. My household has 2 reserved.