I found an old PSP in my room the other day and it made me realize how much I miss the days of handheld consoles. Since mobile gaming really took off about a decade ago, the PS Vita flopped due to poor marketing and support and now Nintendo's efforts are the only real handheld consoles remaining outside of emulators and expensive handheld PCs. 

Now Valve are entering the withering handheld gaming market with the newly announced Steam Deck. It might look like a Switch but it's supposedly powerful enough to run the latest AAA games, with 16GB RAM, a 7" 1280x800 screen, 2-8 hour battery life depending on usage, and Steam Controller-style trackpads. It runs on an upgraded version of SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system used by the ill-fated Steam Machine, plus an updated iteration of ProtonDB for running games meant for Windows. It can also be used as a regular PC if you hook it up to a monitor or peripherals. It's not even limited to Valve services; if you really want you could install other game stores or an entirely different OS. Valve Designer Lawrence Yang said it's more like "a small PC with a controller attached as opposed to a gaming console."

Publicity photos proudly show off people playing recent, graphically-intensive games like Control and Doom Eternal, so it'll obviously be more than capable of running any hentai VN or eroge on Steam. You could always fill it up with all the porn games you desire and have your own portable wank bank if that's what you need.

Valve President Gabe Newell has a strong vision for the Steam Deck, saying "Our view is, if we're doing this right, we're going to be selling these in millions of units, and it's clearly going to be establishing a product category that ourselves and other PC manufacturers are going to be able to participate in." 

The Steam Deck will be priced at US$399 for 64GB of storage space, $529 for 256GB and $649 for 512GB, yet all versions come with a MicroSD card slot for expanding storage. Reservations are currently available on Steam for a $5 deposit. It's expected to start shipping to North America and Europe this December, with other regions finally getting it next year.

Do y'all think it'll do well enough to revitalize handheld gaming? Or is it a load of hot air just like the Steam Machine? Let us know what you think below!