[GameSpot] - You Can Finally Buy A Steam Deck With No Wait

[343iBot]

Good news, Valve fans: You no longer have to wait in line for a reservation to buy a Steam Deck. Instead, you can buy it on demand--you know, the way you purchase everything else in your life. (Well, except that PS5.) Valve has also unveiled the device's promised docking station, which costs $89 and ships in 1-2 weeks.

Since its release this February, would-be Steam Deck buyers had to wait for their order email to appear in their inbox, sometimes waiting months for the opportunity. Thankfully, those days are now behind us. The docking station is pretty snazzy, as it includes not only HDMI, Displayport, and 3 USB 3.1 connectors, but also an Ethernet port.

BIG NEWS today!
Steam Deck is now available without a reservation! Order one, we'll ship it to you: https://t.co/uVdBCpJVuX
The Docking Station is available, too! Connect to peripherals and displays in style: https://t.co/QqLoKsvASs
Plus, lots of new software features: pic.twitter.com/64VzQeisuZ

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) October 6, 2022

In a tweet announcing the move, Valve also noted a few nice features that were added in a recent update. These include expanded docking station options, simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean keyboards, better trackpad typing, and improved stability in offline mode. It also includes several advanced control commands, including remapping certain commands when holding a button, as well as nested menus for more complicated PC games.

Though it's been out less than a year, the Steam Deck has proven quite successful in the PC market. In our Steam Deck review, critic Alessandro Barbosa wrote that the Deck fulfills the promise of high-end portable gaming. "What the Steam Deck excels at is being a mobile hub for your Steam games, giving you enough to work with to get the best out of a selection of games you can't go without while away from your desktop," he wrote. "In that regard, there simply is nothing better on the market right now."

Despite the wait times, Steam Decks have been shipping at a good clip so far. Back in July, Valve promised that all Steam Deck reservations would be fulfilled by the end of 2022.

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