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hey nerd Nest we've got more leaks
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thanks to data miners valve it seems is
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working on a set toop box that is code
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named Fremont this is coming along with
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a controller code named IEX we spent a
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very long time talking about this Ibex
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controller on the most recent episode of
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the nerd Nest podcast I will leave a
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link to that episode down below so that
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you can check it out if you've missed it
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but I think these two things together
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spells the return of valves Steam
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Machines 10 years after they failed
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miserably only this time I think valve
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has set themselves up to do it right so
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let's take a look at these leaks and
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then I'm going to tell you why I think
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it is going to work this time around why
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valve is the only company that I can see
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actually being able to pull this off and
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what I want to have from Fremont plus
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how this could be good for the entire
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industry but first lately I have been
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showing off Indie titles in my videos in
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order to give them a a little bit more
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attention and I've got the names of each
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game in the on the screen as it pops up
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so if something looks cool be sure to
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wish list it on Steam I will have links
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to all of the games in the video down
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below that like button and uh while
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you're down there if there's a game that
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jumps out at you that uh you think I
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should include then let me know in the
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comment section and then click on
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subscribe it's free it helps out a ton
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and I would love to hit 100K by the end
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of next year so all of that said let's
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jump into it starting with this tweet
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from Brad Lynch AKA sadly it's Bradley
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for those of you don't who don't know
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who's who Brad is he has a YouTube
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channel mostly about VR stuff and he
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data mines Steam on the regular to find
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out information about what's going on
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with the upcoming VR headset AKA Deckard
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from valve um but while he's in there
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digging around he often finds out a lot
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of information that almost always turns
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out to be true give you an example
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before the steam deck OLED system came
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out he was leaking all kinds of
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information that turned out to be for
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the OLED steam deck so I think that Brad
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uh or Bradley has some really really
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good credentials and I think that a lot
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of times when he leaks stuff it turns
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out to be true so here's what he said
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valve Fremont has more evidence of being
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a new Steam OS Hardware device foxit fox
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in my Discord and when I say my Discord
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I mean Brad's Discord because I'm
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reading his tweet found more connections
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of Fremont not only having its own
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firmware being worked on f7f we will get
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to what that f7f means later on in the
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video but also that Quant computer which
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is the manufacturer that is making
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valves steam deck they are giving
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feedback on it and you can see in the
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tweet that there's this little thing it
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says bring in debug changes from quanta
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okay so what about this makes us think
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that this is going to be a set top box
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and not another handheld from valve
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maybe one without track pads you know a
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steam deck light as it were and here's
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the thing that jumps out uh to Brad and
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to me uh he's got this second tweet
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where he says all references to Fremont
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ensure checks for a full siiz HDMI type
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a port that you would see on TV focused
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consoles and other desktop computers you
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don't typically have HDMI ports
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especially full-size Type A HDMI ports
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on handhelds because space is at a
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premium and those ports are really
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really big so you will usually see USBC
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uh serving as the way to get video out
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or you'll see micro HDMI on some some uh
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some devices uh the steam deck uses a
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USBC so if this device is going to have
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a fullsize HDMI type a port then that is
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the kind of thing that you do in a
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device that number one you don't really
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have to worry about how small things are
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going to be and number two you want to
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save money because the bigger parts are
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probably a little less expensive than
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these smaller parts so I think that this
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is uh almost a Lynch pin into the
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argument that valve is continuing to
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work on a set toop box that you can plug
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into the back of your TV and then play
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all of your steam library from without
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having to sit at your desk or something
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like that and somebody might say Bill
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why would I want that when I can just
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use my steam deck and that is a
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perfectly valid argument for you but
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there's a lot of people out there that
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aren't really interested in a handheld
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and even if they are interested in a
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handheld they aren't interested in the
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limitations of a handheld when they plug
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it into a TV because a handheld you have
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to worry about the battery you have to
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worry about the heat you have to worry
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about the size the portability you have
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so many things that you have to take
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into consideration that you don't have
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to worry about with a set top box so if
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valve puts out a set top box that can do
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all of these things and play all of
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these games at higher performance
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profiles than you can on the steam deck
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then I think that there's going to be a
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lot of people out there that find that
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compelling and I am absolutely one of
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them back to f7f which I mentioned
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earlier in the video uh what is f7f well
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it it has to do with the way that valve
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has been Cod naming their Steam OS
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devices the things that are quote
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unquote powered by Steam OS that valve
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is making themselves and right now there
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is a board uh seems like a developer
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board that's currently being worked on
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until they actually get the first
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Fremont based board finished uh that
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board is called AMD lilac and AMD lilac
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keeps coming up in the leaked files as
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f7f so what is f7f well in order to and
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understand what f7f is we got to talk
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about the original steam deck which was
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known as code named Jupiter uh which
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turned out to be the LCD steam deck
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originally in the codes that thing was
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called f7a or aith which is named after
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you know aith the character in Final
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Fantasy 7 then there's
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f7g which was Data mined and later
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turned out to be Galileo or the OLED
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steam deck well now we've got f7f the F
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stands for Fremont we don't know what
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this device is but if it has that
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fullsize HDMI type a port then it's got
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to be okay it doesn't have to be but I
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think that the chances of it being
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anything other than a set top box are
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really really low if you have ideas for
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what else it could be let me know in the
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comments down below that like button now
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that we're all on the same page I want
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to rewind 10 years and talk about when
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valve tried the Steam Machines the first
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time around and they they they tried
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something big but they didn't have the
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building blocks in place that they do
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now and it failed spectacularly and the
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reason it failed spectacularly were for
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two reasons the first reason is proton
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for those of you that don't know proton
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is a translation layer that allows you
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to run Windows games on Linux back 10
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years ago we didn't have proton or at
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least it wasn't in the state that it is
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now where you can play most games on
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Linux using proton and
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because of this valve selling Steam
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Machines running a Linux operating
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system meant that most games wouldn't
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run on this system valve was hoping that
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developers would buy in but developers
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said no we don't want to do the extra
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work for such a small user base we're
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not interested no thank you valve
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learned from that and now we have proton
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and we'll talk more about that in a
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little bit the other big reason why the
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steam machines failed in my opinion was
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because valve didn't make their own
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Hardware instead they partnered with
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thirdparty manufacturers to make
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hardware and those third party
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manufacturers priced themselves out of
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Interest so if you wanted to pick up a
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steam machine you were paying a pretty
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penny and the reason you were paying a
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pretty penny I think is because the
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thirdparty companies that were making
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this these these Hardware machines they
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didn't have steam as a way to to offset
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the cost because if valve makes hardware
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and they sell it for less than it costs
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them to make it that sounds like a
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terrible idea Until you realize that
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every time you buy a game from Steam
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they make 30% no matter what game what
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the game is all the thirdparty
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manufacturers that were making Steam
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Machines didn't have access to that and
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because of that they were way too
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expensive so you have way too expensive
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can't run Windows games huge failure
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it's a flop fast forward 10 years
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now valve is in the hardware business
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they've made the steam the steam deck
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they made the steam deck OLED and they
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are doing really well with those devices
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and you take a look at the entire
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handheld industry valves is usually the
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cheapest why is it the cheapest it's the
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cheapest because valve can subsidize
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that cost by making money on every game
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that is sold on top of that we also have
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proton so before valve required buyin
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from developers developers had to make a
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Linux version of their game and they
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didn't want to now they don't have to
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valve said fine I'll do it myself and
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that's why we have the steam deck and
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proton and it just works which is
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awesome does it work for every game no
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absolutely not there's multiplayer games
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that it doesn't work for because of
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anti-che there's DRM that doesn't work
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but I don't know about you but for my
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library I can play almost every single
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game on my steam deck or at least
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they'll all run even if they won't run
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well depending on the power is needed
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for a game so if valve does ship a set
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top box that plugs in via VIA a type a
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HDMI port and you can play games from
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your couch well this time it's going to
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be a lot cheaper and this time it's
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going to be able to play almost every
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game on Steam and because of that that
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is really compelling I think to a lot of
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people myself included earlier I said
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that I wanted to talk about why I think
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that valve is the only company that can
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pull this off and here's the reason why
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Val tried this 10 years ago and they
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fell on their face the only reason that
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they can try again is because they don't
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have investors valve is able to do
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things that other companies can't
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because they are a private
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company investors always want money now
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they want an immediate return on their
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investment they don't actually care
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about the long-term because all they
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want to do is buy a stock when it's
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cheap and then sell it when it goes up
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they don't care if it's going to go down
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after they sell they don't care about
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the company they just are trying to make
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money and I'm not saying that valve
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isn't trying to make money but because
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they're a privately owned company they
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can think longterm whereas companies
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with investors in the stock market they
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can't think longterm they can try to
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think longterm but a lot of times the
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you know their investors will get in
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their way and that's the reason that I
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think is uniquely suited to attack this
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and bring PC gaming into the console
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space and you might say to yourself well
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bill I don't want a console what makes a
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console a console a console is a console
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because it's locked down so is valve
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going to lock this thing down I don't
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think that they will I think you'll be
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able to install whatever the hell you
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want on it but for for a lot of people
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they want the Simplicity of a console
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and for a very long time now I've been
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saying that the steam deck is a computer
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it is a PC but it feels like a console
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because it's simple to use yes you can
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boot into desktop mode and you can do
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whatever the hell you want with it you
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can go crazy with that thing that's why
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it is a
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PC but it feels like a console and that
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is what is compelling to a lot of people
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yeah you can build your own Steam
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machine and install your own Steam OS on
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there I did it with bite but I would
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prefer to just buy a box plug it in and
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walk away and never have to really think
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about it and that's what I really want
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to see from Fremont and so let's talk
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about what I want to see from Fremont
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number one it needs to be way way more
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powerful than the steam deck the steam
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deck is a fantastic system but it is
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hampered by the limitations of being a
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handheld system meaning you have to
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consider the screen you have to consider
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the battery you have to consider heat
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when you are talking about a computer or
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a console they can be much much bigger
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so they can use a lot more power in fact
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the I'm going to put on screen right now
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the amount of power that an Xbox series
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X uses the amount of power a PlayStation
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5 uses the amount of power that A PS5
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Pro uses and compare that to the steam
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deck which only uses 15 watts at its
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maximum draw that is really really
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impressive what we can get with 15 watts
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with the vano chipet imagine what we
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could do with a device from valve that
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is not limited to 15 watts it would be
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really impressive and that's why I'm
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excited for it which brings me to number
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two it needs to ship with the steam
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controller or AKA Ibex this is a
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controller that supposedly has trackpads
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in it it needs needs to have all of the
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things that the steam deck has so that
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it's just like sitting down with a steam
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deck only instead of holding it in your
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hands you're just holding the controller
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and the display is up on the screen
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running it probably I don't know I'm
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going to say 1440p 60 frames per second
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or maybe even higher if you lower your
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resolution you could probably get up to
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120 frames per second depending on what
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game you're playing this is the kind of
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thing that I want from Fremont I want to
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know what you want from Fremont let me
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know in the comments ments down below
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that like button but here's the coolest
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thing valve won't be the only ones
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making these so for me when I look at
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Fremont as something that I want to buy
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I want to buy the first party valve one
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but there's going to be people who want
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a cheaper version there's going to be
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people who want a more expensive version
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I'm sure that valve will have a couple
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of different skews depending on storage
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and that kind of thing but there's going
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to be people who want more or want
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something different different and
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because of that valve is partnering with
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other manufacturers I just put out a
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video about this powered by Steam OS
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branding guidelines that is leaked from
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valve and um I'll leave that linked down
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below so that you can check it out as
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well but the long and short of it is
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basically valve is saying look if you
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want your system to be sold it where it
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says powered by Steam OS it has to meet
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these guidelines and the guidelines are
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that you can bring it home plug it in it
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boots right into Steam OS and you can
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buy and play your games just like you
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can on a steam deck and if valve has
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these branding guidelines then they must
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be working with other manufacturers to
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make these things so not only is valve
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going to be making Fremont but other
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manufacturers will also be making their
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own Steam Machines as well and again you
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go back to 10 years ago the other
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manufacturers were too
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expensive well now they're going to have
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a cheaper version to compete with them
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because valve is going to put out the
00:16:04
cheapest version available kind of like
00:16:07
the current handheld Market yeah you can
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go out and buy you know a Lenovo Legion
00:16:12
go or an Rog Ally or an ally ax and most
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of these devices are all going to be
00:16:17
more expensive than a steam deck a steam
00:16:20
deck you can get as little as like 400
00:16:23
bucks although it often goes on sale for
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less than that and these other systems
00:16:27
are usually much more expensive than
00:16:29
that why can valve get that cheap
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because they make money on the store and
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these other companies like Asus and
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Lenovo they don't make money on the
00:16:39
store so theirs is a little bit more
00:16:42
expensive but if you look before the
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steam deck came out most handheld PCS
00:16:47
were well over
00:16:49
$1,000 now that the steam deck is out
00:16:52
and people have seen that you can get a
00:16:54
handheld for a lower price the other
00:16:56
companies had to lower the prices
00:16:59
I often say that I think that Asus were
00:17:02
and Lenovo were inspired by valve's
00:17:05
steam deck who was inspired by the
00:17:07
Nintendo switch in order to make this
00:17:09
Hardware but if we lived in a world
00:17:12
where valve didn't ship the steam deck
00:17:14
and Asus still made the Rog allyx I bet
00:17:18
it would be more expensive than it is
00:17:20
because we wouldn't have the steam deck
00:17:22
to compare it to and people would just
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assume well I guess that's what it costs
00:17:27
I also wanted to talk about why I think
00:17:29
that this development is good for the
00:17:32
entire industry and here's the reason
00:17:35
why you look at the console Wars you
00:17:38
know you've got Xbox PlayStation and
00:17:40
Nintendo Nintendo they always just do
00:17:42
their own thing they don't care about
00:17:44
anybody else and most of the time the
00:17:46
other PE the the other companies might
00:17:48
try and copy a gimmick that Nintendo's
00:17:51
doing that's succeeding but usually they
00:17:54
just say well Nintendo's doing their own
00:17:56
thing and they're just going to go do
00:17:57
the Nintendo thing and we're going to do
00:17:59
our own thing so usually it's just Xbox
00:18:02
and Sony well Xbox is getting outsold by
00:18:06
the PlayStation I think like 5 to one at
00:18:09
this point I'm not sure exactly what the
00:18:11
numbers are but it's a lot like there's
00:18:12
a lot of PlayStation fives out there and
00:18:15
not nearly as many Xbox series out there
00:18:18
Xbox is failing it's failing enough that
00:18:21
at this point Microsoft is basically
00:18:23
saying okay we're going to be shipping
00:18:25
our games on PlayStation we're going to
00:18:27
be shipping our games everywhere because
00:18:29
we're not just a hardware manufacturer
00:18:32
we're the biggest publisher that there
00:18:33
is and we are going to publish our games
00:18:35
wherever we're going to make money that
00:18:37
makes a lot of sense for Xbox but I
00:18:40
don't like the idea that Sony doesn't
00:18:43
have any real competition in that
00:18:46
console space and while the steam deck
00:18:48
and the steam machine or Fremont I know
00:18:52
that that's not a console it feels like
00:18:55
a console and if valve can put out the
00:18:58
Fremont or the or the steam machine and
00:19:00
have it compete with Sony that will keep
00:19:03
Sony in check and we've seen many times
00:19:07
whenever companies do really really well
00:19:10
they start to push just a little too
00:19:13
hard I often say that they they you know
00:19:15
they turn into Icarus they fly too close
00:19:17
to the Sun and then their wings melt and
00:19:20
then they fall back down to earth and we
00:19:21
all laugh at them for you know having uh
00:19:25
you know being just a little bit too
00:19:27
ambitious so I think that Sony needs
00:19:31
somebody to keep them in check and if
00:19:33
Microsoft isn't able to do it and
00:19:35
Nintendo is just going to do what
00:19:37
Nintendo does I really hope that valve
00:19:40
can step in and not necessarily try and
00:19:44
you know fight with Sony but just to
00:19:47
show that there are other options and
00:19:50
when you look at the ridiculous size of
00:19:55
the steam Library if valve ships a quote
00:19:58
un quote console and it has access to
00:20:01
70,000 games or whatever stupid number
00:20:03
of games are on Val or on Steam right
00:20:05
now that is going to be really
00:20:07
compelling to a whole lot of people and
00:20:09
it might help keep Sony in check so I
00:20:12
think that this is good for the entire
00:20:13
industry let me know what you think in
00:20:15
the comments section down below or hit
00:20:17
me up on the social medias as always
00:20:20
stay rad thanks for watching and I hope
00:20:23
to see you on the next one
