Such a weird article from Nintendo Life trying to defend the Switch 2 over the Steam Deck. And itās so cringe.
First letās talk about the contention that the Switch 2 has better value because itās comes with a dock.
Look, I can hook my Steam Deck up to my TV using a USB-C to HDMI adapter and use the Steam Deck itself as a controller. As for a dock itself, sure the official Steam Deck Docking Station costs C$109. However, I can buy a 3rd party docking station off Amazon for C$40. So thatās not much of an argument.
The Switch 2 has a bigger screen that runs at 1080P. That great. But the Steam Deck has an OLED panel which the Switch 2 does not.
In terms of performance, the Switch 2 probably has a better GPU. However, it lacks the Steam Deckās CPU power. And it only has 12GB of RAM compared to the Steam Deckās 16GB of RAM. Will games look better on Switch 2? Only if CPU and RAM donāt serve as bottlenecks.
The next thing: Switch 2 is supposedly better because a joy-con can act as a mouse. But theyāre really grasping at straws here because I can use an actual Bluetooth mouse with the Steam Deckāone which is more ergonomic too. Oh, and unlike the Switch 2, I can also use a Bluetooth keyboard too with a Steam Deck.
Apparently, the Steam Deckās touchpad so ātoo awkwardā compared to the Switch 2ās mouse. But you donāt use a mouse in handheld modeāno one does. Touchpads, on the other hand, do work in handheld mode. And I find them much more suitable for FPS and RTS games than an analog joystick.
Now for the articleās final point: the Steam Deck canāt play Switch 2 games. This is actually the most legitimate point. However, it cuts both ways too. Switch 2 canāt play decades of PC games, all which are accessible on Steam Deck. And I should know because Iām able to run literally thousands of games on my Steam Deckāmany which donāt even run on Windows anymore without lots of modding.
Can Switch 2 play F.E.A.R. without needing to jailbreak and emulate it? Nopeāso in terms of game library, Steam Deck has the win.
But ultimately, this is a silly comparison because the Steam Deck is already three years old at the moment. Of course the Switch 2 will be able to do some things better than Steam Deck. It shouldāitās the newer piece of hardware.
However, when the Steam Deck 2 comes outāprobably next yearāhow will the Switch 2 compare? I donāt know, but it will likely have all the advantages that the Steam Deck still has but with giant generational leap in terms of performance.
Right now, if I wanted to, I could get a Lenovo Legion Go S. And it would be leagues better than a Switch 2. It has a AMD Ryzen Z2 Go APU, 32GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storageāwhich absolutely wrecks the Switch 2 in terms of raw performance.
But the reason Iām holding off is because I think the Steam Deck 2 will be even better.
This doesnāt even touch about many points that makes the Steam Deck just plain better. The games are cheaper. You donāt have to pay for online multiplayer. You have access to multiple storefronts like GOG or itch.io. You can use it as a PC in desktop mode. I can go on.
Now do I think the Switch 2 is totally lacking in value? No. If I had a young child, Iād probably get them a Switch 2 simply because itās more kid friendly.
However, Iām a full grown man. As for my kid? Sheās turning 12-years-old in a few weeks so I think sheāll do just fine with a Steam Deck.
Both systems have pros and cons. This article isnāt bashing on the Steam Deck at all, just making the case for what the Switch 2 has going for it.
They say up front that this article is a response to the frankly obnoxious amount of āmy gaming platform can beat up your gaming platformā circlejerking that has been going around - which youāre kinda perpetuating.
The Deck does not āobliterateā the Switch 2, and a headline like that makes you part of the problem.
For me it does. But I know thatās not objective fact. Just my subjective opinion.
The truth is, if what you want is ānewest Nintendo gamesā, well, the Switch 2 is amazing.
I adjusted my mindset on games years ago. There are lots of games that Iād love to play, but because they arenāt on PC, I donāt play them. Because I already have more games than I could ever play. Hype and FOMO are powerful drugs, ones that Iām not immune to. But I am at least resistant to them.
I dislike a lot of things about the Switch 2, but one thing I give them is that now it has arguments to win in several fields to the Deck (which it should be fucking given lol) and I thought Steam Deck users would be a bit less loudā¦ But I think I was wrongā¦ Regardless I eagerly hope for a Steam Deck 2, and hopefully Iāll be able to get it officially in Mexico ffs.