4 ms·

Isn't the point of owning a switch to play games that aren't on the Steam Deck? Zelda, Mario, etc.?

by irrational 2y ago

joshstrange 2y ago
With emulators those games can also be played on the Steam Deck.
- cmcconomy 2y ago
  you can see why they are so aggressively pursuing emulators
- basfo 2y ago
  Obviously there isn't a switch 2 emulator yet, and probably will be a while until one is released. The challenge will not be hardware emulation (if it's a nvidia tegra 2 based SOC that will be easy) but hack the OS/security to make it usable. So don't expect to play mario kart 9 on your steam deck anytime soon. Edit: with easy i don't mean that it will not demand a really top of the line computer to run it. But that isn't completely undocumented or custom hardware, like i don't know, ps3 or sega saturn.
- xyzzy_plugh 2y ago
  Sure, but you cannot play online, though. You can't trade Pokemon for example. Tetris 99 got a lot of play in our house. It heavily depends on what you're chasing.
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    You can't play online on an official Switch either, unless you subscribe to Nintendo's "we give you an internet connection" monthly service offering.
- SecretDreams 2y ago
  Which is also a gray area. I personally am fine with it for older, depreciated consoles. But I won't emulate current gen games unless I'm also buying the game.. especially on the Nintendo platform where the games still have some "magic" to them, compared to the more generic games on other platforms that prioritize graphics over seemingly all other attributes.
  - Dylan16807 2y ago
    "You need to buy the game" hardly makes it a gray area.
    - Manuel_D 2y ago
      Even if you buy the game you need to bypass encryption in order to dump the game data to run it on an emulator. A big part of why Nintendo prevailed in their lawsuit against Yuzu is that they proved the emulator could not be used without extracting encryption keys and bypassing copy protection. So no, there's no legal way to use a switch emulator. At least not for playing commercial switch games, I guess you could theoretically home brew your own game to play on an emulator.
      - Gigachad 2y ago
        In the US. Most of the world doesn’t have these laws.
      - eredengrin 2y ago
        > A big part of why Nintendo prevailed in their lawsuit against Yuzu is that they proved the emulator could not be used without extracting encryption keys and bypassing copy protection. Not a lawyer but as I understand it, the case resulted in a settlement and as such no legal determination was made. They didn't prove anything in court and no precedent was set regarding the legality of emulation.
  - felideon 2y ago
    Just so you know, it’s _deprecated_.
    - SecretDreams 2y ago
      It was a solid autocorrect typo on my part, mb. But fair callout!
- maronato 2y ago
  Why pay for the Steam Deck, though? Buy it online and claim it never arrived to get a refund. I’m yet to hear a moral argument for emulating current games you don’t own unless you’re poor and need to choose between buying Zelda and starving.
  - tshaddox 2y ago
    What if I emulate current games that my friend owns, but I make sure to never play the same game at the same time as he does?
  - skeaker 2y ago
    I already own those games and can only fit one device into my bag
  - ZeWaka 2y ago
    What if you buy the game secondhand, cheaply? My friend got Animal Crossing with their switch for free with a bundle, but they don't like playing the game. This would be much better than paying full price for a game that never will go on sale.
    - Manuel_D 2y ago
      Buying a used game means the original owner can no longer play, and has to repurchase if they want to play as again. The same is not true for emulators
  - cesarb 2y ago
    > Why pay for the Steam Deck, though? Buy it online and claim it never arrived to get a refund. If you do so, the seller has one less device. If you copy a game, the seller still has the same number of games. Your analogy clearly doesn't work. A better analogy would be possible if we had Star Trek replicators: replicating a full Steam Deck.
    - tshaddox 2y ago
      > A better analogy would be possible if we had Star Trek replicators: replicating a full Steam Deck. Well, we literally invented Star Trek replicators for information, and we've seen what happened. If we had Star Trek replicators people would be complaining that replicating food, medicine, etc. is immoral because you should be paying the "original creator" for their intellectual property.
- tshaddox 2y ago
  Switch emulation works surprisingly well, but it has its quirks and some titles are barely playable. I love emulation primarily because it's necessary for long-term archival of game libraries, but emulating modern systems is not a super user-friendly process (not to mention the qualms around piracy).
- alonsonic 2y ago
  The audience of people that would get a Steam Deck and then emulate Switch games is so small that this is a no-issue for Nintendo. If you can do that you're probably not the target audience to begin with.
  - petersellers 2y ago
    > The audience of people that would get a Steam Deck and then emulate Switch games is so small that this is a no-issue for Nintendo Given how Nintendo handled the situation with Ryujinx and Yuzu, they clearly thought it was an issue for them.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
numpad0 2y ago
One could in theory switch from Steam to Switch platform, rebuying everything. Doesn't make a ton of sense from PC gamer standpoint but that's PC gamer standpoint.

Isn't the point of owning a switch to play games that aren't on the Steam Deck? Zelda, Mario, etc.?

joshstrange 2y ago

With emulators those games can also be played on the Steam Deck.

cmcconomy 2y ago
you can see why they are so aggressively pursuing emulators
basfo 2y ago
Obviously there isn't a switch 2 emulator yet, and probably will be a while until one is released. The challenge will not be hardware emulation (if it's a nvidia tegra 2 based SOC that will be easy) but hack the OS/security to make it usable. So don't expect to play mario kart 9 on your steam deck anytime soon. Edit: with easy i don't mean that it will not demand a really top of the line computer to run it. But that isn't completely undocumented or custom hardware, like i don't know, ps3 or sega saturn.
xyzzy_plugh 2y ago
Sure, but you cannot play online, though. You can't trade Pokemon for example. Tetris 99 got a lot of play in our house. It heavily depends on what you're chasing.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  You can't play online on an official Switch either, unless you subscribe to Nintendo's "we give you an internet connection" monthly service offering.
SecretDreams 2y ago
Which is also a gray area. I personally am fine with it for older, depreciated consoles. But I won't emulate current gen games unless I'm also buying the game.. especially on the Nintendo platform where the games still have some "magic" to them, compared to the more generic games on other platforms that prioritize graphics over seemingly all other attributes.
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  "You need to buy the game" hardly makes it a gray area.
  - Manuel_D 2y ago
    Even if you buy the game you need to bypass encryption in order to dump the game data to run it on an emulator. A big part of why Nintendo prevailed in their lawsuit against Yuzu is that they proved the emulator could not be used without extracting encryption keys and bypassing copy protection. So no, there's no legal way to use a switch emulator. At least not for playing commercial switch games, I guess you could theoretically home brew your own game to play on an emulator.
    - Gigachad 2y ago
      In the US. Most of the world doesn’t have these laws.
    - eredengrin 2y ago
      > A big part of why Nintendo prevailed in their lawsuit against Yuzu is that they proved the emulator could not be used without extracting encryption keys and bypassing copy protection. Not a lawyer but as I understand it, the case resulted in a settlement and as such no legal determination was made. They didn't prove anything in court and no precedent was set regarding the legality of emulation.
- felideon 2y ago
  Just so you know, it’s _deprecated_.
  - SecretDreams 2y ago
    It was a solid autocorrect typo on my part, mb. But fair callout!
maronato 2y ago
Why pay for the Steam Deck, though? Buy it online and claim it never arrived to get a refund. I’m yet to hear a moral argument for emulating current games you don’t own unless you’re poor and need to choose between buying Zelda and starving.
- tshaddox 2y ago
  What if I emulate current games that my friend owns, but I make sure to never play the same game at the same time as he does?
- skeaker 2y ago
  I already own those games and can only fit one device into my bag
- ZeWaka 2y ago
  What if you buy the game secondhand, cheaply? My friend got Animal Crossing with their switch for free with a bundle, but they don't like playing the game. This would be much better than paying full price for a game that never will go on sale.
  - Manuel_D 2y ago
    Buying a used game means the original owner can no longer play, and has to repurchase if they want to play as again. The same is not true for emulators
- cesarb 2y ago
  > Why pay for the Steam Deck, though? Buy it online and claim it never arrived to get a refund. If you do so, the seller has one less device. If you copy a game, the seller still has the same number of games. Your analogy clearly doesn't work. A better analogy would be possible if we had Star Trek replicators: replicating a full Steam Deck.
  - tshaddox 2y ago
    > A better analogy would be possible if we had Star Trek replicators: replicating a full Steam Deck. Well, we literally invented Star Trek replicators for information, and we've seen what happened. If we had Star Trek replicators people would be complaining that replicating food, medicine, etc. is immoral because you should be paying the "original creator" for their intellectual property.
tshaddox 2y ago
Switch emulation works surprisingly well, but it has its quirks and some titles are barely playable. I love emulation primarily because it's necessary for long-term archival of game libraries, but emulating modern systems is not a super user-friendly process (not to mention the qualms around piracy).
alonsonic 2y ago
The audience of people that would get a Steam Deck and then emulate Switch games is so small that this is a no-issue for Nintendo. If you can do that you're probably not the target audience to begin with.
- petersellers 2y ago
  > The audience of people that would get a Steam Deck and then emulate Switch games is so small that this is a no-issue for Nintendo Given how Nintendo handled the situation with Ryujinx and Yuzu, they clearly thought it was an issue for them.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

numpad0 2y ago

One could in theory switch from Steam to Switch platform, rebuying everything. Doesn't make a ton of sense from PC gamer standpoint but that's PC gamer standpoint.