Steam Deck – Syndication Server

The best Steam Autumn sale deals to grab this Black Friday

Steam Autumn Sale deals are live, with discounts on some of the best PC games, indie hits, AAA classics, and a whole lot more

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Steam Autumn Sale deals are in the air, as Valve celebrates Black Friday with an almost overwhelming number of PC game discounts across the site. Anything’s fair game (ha), whether it’s an indie gem, recent hit, or an AAA classic that you’ve hoped might get discounted for months now. Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman, some of the best anime games, classic Yakuza, and more are all up for grabs, and best of all, pretty much everything we’ve listed in our roundup works on the Steam Deck and the newly-announced Steam Deck OLED.

Steam Autumn Sale deals are live now and run through Nov. 28, 2023, at 1 p.m. Eastern.

The best Steam Deck alternative just got a big Black Friday discount

The Asus ROG Ally, one of the best Steam Deck alternatives and handheld PCs on the market, is discounted for Black Friday at Best Buy

The Asus ROG Ally, one of the best Steam Deck alternatives and handheld PCs on the market, is getting a nice discount for Black Friday at Best Buy. The Ally Extreme – the handheld’s more powerful variant – normally goes for $699.99, but Best Buy is offering it for $619.99 from now through Nov. 25, 2023.

That’s roughly $50 more than the Steam Deck OLED with equivalent storage (512 GB), and Best Buy Plus and Total members can get an extra $20 discount.

While it might be slightly more expensive than the Steam Deck, you’re getting better performance and stability. The ROG Ally Extreme comes with AMD Extreme Z1 CPU, with eight cores and 16 threads, an RDNA 3 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. In normal speak, that means you can play some of the most demanding PC games in full HD – that’s a 1920×1080 resolution – at medium to high settings and, depending on the game, still manage to hit 60fps or near it.

Very demanding games, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2, hover around 30-40fps on high settings.

It also has higher brightness settings, so while you might not get an HDR experience, you can still get the most out of the Ally’s 7-inch screen. The downside is that the battery life is, like the Steam Deck, a bit on the short side.

Still, if you’re after a strong handheld PC and don’t want to wait two more years for Valve’s upgraded Steam Deck, the Ally is a strong choice.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Valve announces ‘experimental’ new Steam Deck OLED

Valve announced a new Steam Deck, the Steam Deck OLED model, with better battery and an HDR OLED screen – but no GPU improvements

Valve announced a new Steam Deck OLED model, featuring a small set of improvements and a big change to the screen – but you might not be able to get one. The Steam Deck OLED will release as an experimental launch first and just in a small number of markets on Nov. 16, 2023. Valve said if the reaction is positive, it will roll out in more markets later on.

You can get a Steam Deck OLED with 512GB SSD storage for $549 or one with 1TB SSD storage for $649. The original Steam Deck model with 512GB of storage goes for $449.99, but Valve is phasing it and the 64GB model out.

The big thing with the new Steam Deck is the OLED screen, which comes with high-definition refresh (HDR) as well. That alone is a pretty big step above the original Deck’s screen. It’s 0.4 inches bigger and supports up to 90Hz, the latter of which should lend itself to higher, more stable framerates.

It boasts a 1,000 nits rating with HDR on and 600 in standard. Even the standard rating is still 200 nits higher than the original Steam Deck. What that means in normal speak is a much brighter, more vivid display, though the 1200×800 resolution remains unchanged. Your PC games will still look better, but if you’re looking for a more powerful Steam Deck, this isn’t it. You’d probably want to opt for the Asus ROG Ally instead.

The CPU, GPU, and screen size are all the same, though instead of the original Deck’s 6 nm AMD APU, the OLED uses a 7 nm AMD APU. It also features WiFi 6E, which Valve says will allow for nearly triple the download speeds of the original Deck and more stable online play. The fan is bigger in this model, so it should run cooler, and Valve promises the battery life will last between 30 percent and 50 percent longer.

The original Steam Deck’s battery can last up to two hours or so, depending on how demanding the game you’re playing is, so you’re looking at maybe an extra 30-60 minutes of battery life here.

All Steam Deck accessories work with the OLED mode the Steam Deck OLED comes with an “exclusive opening movie” and virtual keyboard theme.

It looks like pre-orders haven’t opened on the Steam Deck site yet, and Valve didn’t provide a list of countries where it plans to sell the Steam Deck OLED. Like the original handheld PC’s launch, you can sign up for a reservation list should you miss out on orders during the first round.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Steam Strategy Fest sale deals: Best strategy games to plan on buying

The Steam Strategy Fest sale is here, with discounts on some of the top strategy games on PC, and we’ve picked out some of the best choices

The Steam Strategy Fest sale is here, with discounts on some of the best strategy games on PC. The usual suspects are all here, from XCOM to Frostpunk, but there’s a few surprising inclusions this year as well. Newly released Shadow Gambit is discounted, Square Enix threw in a recent game for good measure, and there’s an overlooked gem from some of the Civilization makers as well. Some of them even work on Steam Deck.

The Steam Strategy Fest sale runs from now through Sep. 4, 2023, so if you’re planning on picking anything up, keep that in mind so the deals don’t slip away on you.

Steam Summer Sale 2023: Best roguelike games to play again and again

The Steam Summer Sale 2023 is here, with discounts on some of the best roguelike games on PC, and we’ve rounded up 15 of the top picks

The Steam Summer Sale 2023 is here, with discounts on some of the best roguelike games on PC. The idea might be the same – try your best, fail, and try again – but the roguelike scene features some exceptional creativity and innovation. Whether you’re after deep, story-driven adventures like Hades, quirky horror with survival elements, or classic platforming, there’s probably something for you – and maybe even a few surprises as well. Better still, most of them work on Steam Deck.

These Steam Summer Sale discounts last until July 13, 2023.

Steam Summer Sale 2023: Best Metroidvania games on sale

The Steam Summer Sale 2023 includes discounts on plenty of Metroidvania games on PC and we’ve sorted through to pick out the best ones.

The Steam Summer Sale 2023 includes discounts on some of the best Metroidvania games on PC, and the genre’s popularity in the last decade means there’s much more than just your usual Metroid and Castlevania-style games to choose from. Whether you’re after a challenging adventure with tinges of Dark Souls flavor, a story-driven journey, or a massive world crammed with secrets to uncover, chances are, there’s a Metroidvania for you on sale – and probably a few more you didn’t know you wanted. Most of the picks on our list work wonderfully on Steam Deck as well.

These Steam Summer Sale discounts last until July 13, 2023.

The 23 best Steam Summer Sale deals you won’t want to miss

Valve kicked off its Steam Summer Sale, and we’ve rounded up some of the best PC game deals on indies and AAA games alike

Valve kicked off its Steam Summer Sale, with steep discounts on hundreds of PC games. The sale runs until July 13, 2023, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and features a healthy mix of big-name AAA games, including Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars, and Cyberpunk 2077; smaller hits like Victoria 3 and Octopath Traveler 2; and popular indie games, such as Stardew Valley, Cassette Beasts, and Hades.

There’s a staggering amount of games to trawl through, some with demos and some you have to just try on faith. We’ve rounded up roughly two dozen of the best deals going, ranging from heavy hitters to niche RPGs and a few indie gems as well.

Steam Deck vs Asus ROG Ally: Which is the better handheld gaming PC?

If you’re wondering whether the Asus ROG Ally or Steam Deck is better for you, here’s how they both stack up in terms of specs

ASUS is gearing up to release the ROG Ally, a handheld gaming PC that looks – and likely performs – like a rival for Valve’s Steam Deck. The Steam Deck has been wildly successful as gamers are turning to portables to get their gaming fix. The Steam Deck proved an instant hit with fans who wanted to play their PC games without actually being at their PC, but the platform certainly has its share of issues, including battery life and performance.

Here’s how they both stack up based on the ROG Ally’s official speculations.

How to set up your new Steam Deck: tips and hidden features you might not know

The Steam Deck has all sorts of hidden features and customization options if you’re technically minded, we’ll show you some tips and tricks.

After the Nintendo Switch brought triple-A gaming to a handheld console, the possibilities seemed endless for what the future could hold. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait that long before the Steam Deck came about and showed us that anything really is possible. This is a high-end handheld gaming console that can run most of the top titles, but it can also work as a portable PC.

In a way that only Valve can manage, you can quite easily install just about whatever you want on a Steam Deck, including Windows 11. Whether any of it is a good idea is up to you, but there’s nothing stopping you.

If you’ve got other consoles this holiday season then check out our guides for how to set up your PS5, how to set up your Xbox Series X/S, or how to set up your Nintendo Switch.

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Valve is giving away free Steam Decks during The Game Awards 2022

If you’ve been waiting for a Steam Deck, luck might be on your side, as Valve is giving them away during The Game Awards

Valve is giving away roughly 150 Steam Decks during The Game Awards 2022, the Steam platform-maker announced in a new blog post.

Registration for the giveaway is open now, with the only requirements being that your Steam account is in good standing, you’ve made a purchase at some point between November 2021 and now, and you live in one of the eligible countries – the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and basically anywhere you can normally buy a Steam Deck.

Entrants can sign into their Steam account and head to the contest page, then click the “Register” button to submit their names for a chance to win. Valve said winners may be announced via their Steam user name on The Game Awards live and in the Steam chat during the show. One Steam Deck will be given away every minute during the two-and-a-half-hour show.

Valve didn’t say which variety of the Steam Deck is up for grabs in the giveaway, though, and made no disclosures about prize value to help deduce which one it might be.

The giveaway comes not long after Valve announced you can finally buy a Steam Deck with no reservation, following nearly a year of product shortages and manufacturing backlog.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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