this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Gaming

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In case you're out of the loop, the old Steam Deck had Philips screws that screwed into self-tapping plastic holes. This lead to occasional stripped threads and often stripped screwheads.

Valve absolutely did not have to change their screws, and its probably actually against their best interests. While other companies around the world are constantly in search of new ways to screw their own consumers, Valve goes out of their way to update their screws to make them easier to install/remove by changing to torx screws and added metal threads in the backplate. Those who know anything about mechanical engineering know this is not an insignificant amount of effort they put into it.

This is a small change that makes a huge impact, and speaks volumes about the ethos of the company. It says:

  1. We want to make our devices last longer, and be easier to repair.

  2. If you want to buy the cheaper tier and save yourself a few bucks by installing whatever SSD you want, go right ahead.

  3. We trust you to make decisions for yourself.

  4. Most importantly, we respect you, the consumer, and want you to fully own and control the devices we sell.

Valve is by no means perfect, and there's plenty more they could be doing, but they've earned my respect and my patronage and I won't buy games from anywhere else. I will buy whatever future products they sell, even if I don't think I'll use them regularly.

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[–] [email protected] 229 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Less of a rant, more of a rave.

Cool upgrade for hobbiests.

[–] [email protected] 96 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Ya from the title I expected OP to be complaining because they don't own a torx head screwdriver/bit.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Was expecting the same and I didn't even know they switched to torx. Philips screws are bad. I go out of my way and spend extra money to avoid them.

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[–] [email protected] 125 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When Gaben dies there will be fucking riots.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

I really hope he's cultivating at least one successor within the company to carry on his vision.

[–] [email protected] 117 points 11 months ago (9 children)

Valve is possibly the closest thing to a non-evil company in the world today.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is why Gabe is my billionaire of choice in the forthcoming billionaire mercenary wars.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When the corporation wars start over the remaining arable land and drinkable water, I'll be joining the Steam Corps

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Maybe this is going to be the real Half Life 3. You thought it was scary in VR? Get ready for IRL.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 11 months ago (2 children)

One of the benefits of not going public, I guess

[–] [email protected] 64 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

But it only works as long as the replacement for Gabe Newell has the exact same ethos about the business. Changing hands always risks changing how things function at a company. Unless Newell has been practically grooming a successor for years, it's very likely that a replacement will want to "shake things up."

When Newell retires/passes, things will change. Time will tell if it will be for the better or the worse.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Unless Newell has been practically grooming a successor for years

Supposedly he's doing this with his son. Only time will tell though.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When GabeN dies, shit gonna hit the fan.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It's my understanding that Gabe's son is being prepped to take over when the time comes. Hopefully he shares his father's values.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Dear God. Because Nepotism has worked out so well so many times in the past. /s

Just shut down the company now, Gabe.

From an interview with his son:

"If it's one thing I'd like to see Valve do, it's push it with more their ideas," he said. "The people there are the smartest I've ever met, the hardest working, the most inspiring. The culture at Valve is a very good one but they've kind of found this point where they're a working machine. And that's good, but I think they should reach out and do something scary. Do something that they don't know what the outcome is going to be.

"They make incredibly smart decisions, but sometimes you have to do something stupid. Sometimes you have to have a stupid crazy idea and say 'fuck it', go with it. Valve has a mindbogglingly enormous amount of resources at their back, and I hope they find the courage to throw it at something new. I want to see them push the envelope again."

Yeah this chucklefuck is going to break shit day one, guaranteed.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Eh, it sounds more like he wants then to go back to the roots and developer a groundbreaking game, like Portal, or HL2, again. Which doesn't sound like a bad thing. To do something groundbreaking it probably helps if you dare to do something that is scary.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (6 children)

They literally already did that with the SteamDeck, it's absolutely groundbreaking. They created a whole new product category, but it took years of planning and patience and watching the market. It happened with prototypes like the Steam Controller, the Steam Link, and the original vision for Steam Boxes, as well as the nearly decade of work they've done on Proton to get Windows games to run well in Linux. It didn't happen with a "stupid crazy idea" that they said "fuck it, go with it." It started with a smart idea, well executed, over a long period of time, with many bumps in the road on the way to success.

Steam Boxes were originally announced in 2012, this is the result of a full decade of work.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I love their approach to Hardware and Linux but have we collectively forgotten that Valve had a huge part in pushing loot boxes and underage gambling? Far from being the least evil company, but still a net win for consumers and I appreciate that they exist.

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 11 months ago (2 children)

While other companies around the world are constantly in search of new ways to screw their own consumers

You bastard, take that upvote.

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 11 months ago (11 children)

Yeah what Valve is doing is great. Hopefully they will become more mainstream in the future and become more known with the super casual crowd. Nintendo definitely needs more proper competition in the handheld market.

Also FYI it’s Phillips with double L, Philips with one L is the Dutch electronics company.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

I actually thought they invented those screws, thus linking them to their company. Glad to be enlightened

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

As someone who used to run a louis rossman electronics repair business for a couple years before i burned out.

LG G5 was and still is my point to for perfectly fixable devices.

Motorola is trash because you have to dismantle the phone from the back layer by layer just to reach the front screen.

HTC was even worse with two tier motherboards and octopuss ribbon cables were a nightmare to navigate.

iPhone was/ is possibly the easiest fucking phone to fix, ironically...however by the iphone 8 and onwards apple found increasingly shitty ways to make 3rd party repairs nearly impossible.

windows phones, nokia, and others were hit or miss. tablets were long winded affairs but generally easy due to their inherent size.

ive been out of the game since 2019 when covid dropped. id really like to hear the inside baseball on any current operators running repair business.

i used Repair Shopr software to manage my customers. idk if thats still the go to or if another has bested it.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (4 children)

When I couldn't repair my Nokia and replace the 5 € USB-Port because there happened to be a small crack in the screen (of course you have to remove the glued on screen to accese the innards), I caved and bought a Fairphone 3.

Worst decision ever. The stupid thing refuses to break to let me even use the better repairability.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I wonder if the decision has anything to do with selling refurbished units. It’s a good change, glad to see this!

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[–] nieceandtows 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I haven't even made an account on Epic to get free games from there. Valve almost single handedly made Linux a viable gaming platform and I'm grateful for that (I know wine has existed far longer than proton, but the difference before and after proton is day and night).

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago

Even before Proton Valve was heavily invested in Linux gaming.

SteamOS has been around way longer than Proton, and the Steam Client had a native Linux version for such a long time, I don't even remember when it was published. Also, the Steam Linux Runtime is something worth mentioning - it is a common base that game developers can target instead of the various different distributions.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago

Torx screws and threaded inserts is not really that much effort engineering side.

It has more significant impact on the cost. Millions of torx screws and threaded inserts cost more than self tapping Phillips into plastic.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago

It’s almost like Valve doesn’t absolutely hate their customers.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Strange how a company with infinite money just produces stuff they like huh?

Every company should try that.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Look at the shit Apple produces and understand it is not only a function of money.

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