Some games don’t really use it in a meaningful way, others make it a key component of gameplay. Sometimes gimmicky, obviously. For example I tried Mario Galaxy on the Deck, there’s a puzzle that requires finding the right spot with the HD rumble. The Deck has the same kind of haptics, but it didn’t translate at all into something meaningful, so that one puzzle cannot be solved. Old school rumble is ok and nice, but modern devices (Steam Deck, Switch, PS5, something like last 10 years of iPhones, obviously the Steam Controller) have proper haptics and can really do weird things. Click on the trackpad of your Deck when it’s off. The click is faked with haptics, so there’s none when it’s off! Main problem is that both Microsoft and Nintendo are strikingly dumb, so Microsoft is still clinging to 30 year old tech with the classic rumble, and Nintendo has HD Rumble only on the real Switch… so developers can’t expect everything to have proper haptics, and fall back to rumble.

Not much. On one hand, I don’t want to get too used to something that isn’t available anywhere else (controllers with back buttons are usually just able to be used as double for the face ones) and on the other hand… my main use is, as I found out, better to be avoided on the Deck. American Truck Simulator. Right now I don’t remember what I set them to, but I certainly have some cruise control options there. But the problem is that, if I’m tired at all, using the Deck if I end up doing a delivery at night, I fall asleep lmao. Learned that I am in fact not capable of shrugging off drowsiness while driving, glad I found out with a game…

Lately, not really. But I’m in a weird mood: I mostly play on the PS5 (the same thing I’ve been playing for most of the decade), stream an even older game with GeForce Now on my Mac (instead of playing far more recent stuff that has a Mac version), my gaming pc sits idle, and on the Deck obviously I play Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League when I feel like it.

Yeah, weird mood.

The main thing I can see being wrong with my idea is that, if enough publishers do it, it’s going to be a pointless badge.

That or adding to all the games from the same publisher that are verified a badge meaning “has intentionally made become games unsupported in the past”

Wow, wtf? So far Sony’s been good to the Deck, and while I don’t mind the psn requirement (when it’s upfront!) this seems either dumb or somewhat of a slip up. Hopefully someone will fix this (either Sony with an update to lose the Windows dependencies, or Valve with Proton sorcery). It is after all in Sony’s best interests to not encourage people to use systems from their competitors, so supporting Linux would make sense…

Select is the one exclusive for Amazon, my understanding is that it’s meant to help with counterfeit ones, as only Amazon has them. Very good cards either way.

Not sure how it compares price wise right now, but look at the Amazon basics ones too: they’re made by the same company that bought Lexar and makes the emmc inside the 64gb Deck. Mine has been going strong for about a year now. Speed wise they’re essentially the same: the standard used in the Deck tops out at 104 megabytes per second, so any claims of extra speed are just marketing.