Right now it’s way too expensive for me, but that’s because I currently have a PS5, Steam Deck, Switch 2, and PC that was mid-range in late 2021 that were bought when prices were reasonable. Once games I want to play come out that I can’t play on my current hardware, we’ll see where the market’s at and what makes sense, price-wise. I might have to go without high-end games for a while or even for good if prices never become sane again. Hoping I can squeeze several more years out of what I have now.

If someone had no way to play games and wanted to start gaming on the TV now without having to build something, a Steam Machine still would be a hard recommendation when the Switch 2 exists at a decent price, with the added benefit of being portable. The Steam Machine’s only worth it at its current price for people who like to tinker.

As companies greedily try to control what I have already purchased more and more, that’s exactly where I’m going.

Yes, it’s less than ideal, but still preferable to having NO way to sell or trade a license while the servers are still up. Games are becoming too big to fit on a single Bluray anyway.

For me, the locked ecosystem of consoles was justified by a lower price for the hardware and the option to sell or trade the software. Now that neither is going to be a thing any more, my 40+ years of console gaming will be ending after this gen. It’s gonna be dedicated PCs plugged into the TV from here on out.

Maybe not the Steam Machine itself, but a dedicated PC plugged into the TV using SteamOS, certainly. That’s going to be my “console” going forward after this gen.

That’s odd, my Fallout 4 was on a disc for PS4. Did you get it for PC?

Allegedly it’s because Rockstar doesn’t want leaks, which strikes me as a very stupid reason. So fucking what if gameplay is released a week early? If anything it’s free advertising.

They’re easy to emulate, just do that.