TECH NEWS – With surprisingly good results, a Steam Deck user relies on game streaming instead of playing directly on the device.
A Steam Deck user has set up a unique game streaming system. It allows him to project gameplay from his desktop PC to the handheld console itself. The main attraction of Valve’s PC-console hybrid has always been the ability to play games natively. Now it seems that local home streaming has advantages and disadvantages.
Valve’s Steam Deck is capable of playing an extensive range of PC games natively.
Users have to choose between performance and battery life to get the most out of their devices. Balancing the two extremes is not always easy. In addition, some game developers either do not support SteamOS or have chosen not to include the operating system in their anti-cheat software. Game streaming can nicely circumvent these problems, albeit at the cost of some delay.
However, according to Reddit user jeremiah1119, latency isn’t that big of a problem for Steam Deck players using Moonlight. Moonlight is a game streaming application. It allows users to transfer their native desktop environment from their PC to another device, such as a mobile phone or the Deck itself. Jeremiah1119 acknowledges that latency can be a problem for competitive multiplayer games. But his video shows that it’s perfectly acceptable for single-player games that would otherwise require a Windows installation on the Steam Deck, such as Destiny 2.
It’s worth noting that the Razer Edge is marketed with this same option in mind.
It will be a dedicated Android-based cloud gaming device that cannot run PC games natively in any quality. As jeremiah1119’s video shows, local game streaming through apps like Moonlight can do wonders for single-player titles. Of course, it goes without saying that the specific latency is entirely dependent on the user’s local wireless network. Which in some cases may be too slow to stream games.
Of course, Valve’s own native Steam Streaming feature could probably provide similar results. Deck owners interested in taking advantage of this feature should try both solutions to see which works better on their local network.
It appears that Steam Deck is already available without reservation in most markets.
This means interested players can get their hands on one of Valve’s handheld PCs in relatively short order. Whether for home game streaming or native PC gameplay on the go, the device can handle both tasks with ease.
Source: Reddit
Example of the lack of Latency using Moonlight to stream games from SteamDeck
