Steve's hardware testing is, of course, legendary by this point and it's rare to see him genuinely impressed across the board by a device in terms of its core design and thermal characteristics. However, in choosing Steve Burke from Gamers Nexus to tear down the device and analysis thermal performance, gaming benchmarks and build quality, Valve made a calculated bet that pays off. We're currently looking at Steam Deck ourselves but cannot comment on our own findings until a later embargo is up, while further content continues to arrive from Valve's favoured outlets. The outlook is highly positive overall, but two aspects of the existing coverage definitely need further analysis - battery life and screen quality. Yes, it's a multi-tier embargo, where selected outlets are allowed to post a whole range of content on the machine and a carefully curated range of games.

Another week, another DF Direct Weekly! This one's pretty spicy though as we share our thoughts on the first hardware reviews for Valve's Steam Deck.

Steam deck call of duty