Let’s say the PC doesn’t count and you aren’t taking into account backwards compatibility, emulation, online play, homebrew games, and the cost/availability of games.
I feel like I’d want to choose the PS3. Like the Xbox 360 it had a decent lifespan and a lot of games were produced for it. A lot of which are already some of my favorites.
The only things that would make hesitant are I feel like a lot of modern games are larger and have open worlds which I feel like that could be nice in the long run and many of my favorite games for the PS3 have been re-released.
No not really. Steam Deck I can actually use fully as a desktop replacement, since it is a full Linux desktop and can have Windows OS installed on it too. Can’t do the same with a Switch or PS5 or Xbox. Doesn’t matter what peripherals you attach. Console hardware being locked down holds it back. Even jailbroken ones.
A phone is closer to a desktop equivalent than a console. Especially Samsung with stuff like Dex.
There is no strict definition of what a console is. Just because the linux OS is not restricted and the hardware can be used as a pc with extra steps are we excluding the SD from the console topic?
I just consider Steam Deck more PC than console. Even getting games to work requires more tinkering sometimes having to switch proton versions. Console tends to just work in comparison.
I just go by what traditional consoles have been capable of. And only console that comes to mind that even came close to the full functionality of the Steam Deck productivity potential was the PS3 with Linux support before they removed it.
Similarly I think people were installing Linux and Steam on their PS4s.
yeah psr could run it if you have an exploited console.
the only console to officially at some point allow for it was the PS3 though.
Alternatively, any xbox one/series is technically capable of running windows in the cloud so you could theoretically get a very expensive cloud pc running on it.
I would say the Steam Deck is excluded. I specified against PC knowing people would either mention the Steam Deck or the Henry Cavill preferring PC meme.
I feel like otherwise Steam’s old Steam machines could also fit under the definition of being a console.
I suppose the unique portable hardware does make a good argument but the way I look at it game developers, for the most part, aren’t making games for the Steam Deck. They are making them for PC and I feel like that’s a big reason why I don’t consider them consoles. I also feel like that’s why devices like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck are considered handheld gaming PCs and not handheld gaming consoles.
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