It's going to be exciting to be in that place again.The Air Plus will use a 6-inch, 1080p screen, making it considerably smaller than both of the previous AyaNeo designs and the Steam Deck (all of which use 7-inch screens).

Thinking about playing the Steam Deck takes me back to how I felt as a kid: escaping to these magical worlds on a small screen, cuddled up on the couch or in bed, holding these worlds in my hand. I decided that the flexibility and comfort of the Steam Deck as a handheld system was way more important to me than the processing power and AAA prestige that could come from the Series X. When I considered buying a console that would only be used on a big screen in our living room, it didn't feel as exciting or personal to me. I have 3 young kids, and I enjoy being able to sit in the living room playing on the Switch while they build with Lego, or just picking it up to play for 15-20 minutes if that's all I have time for. It sounds dumb, but I own a Nintendo Switch and have played it nearly exclusively in handheld mode. This realization should have been more obvious. I realized that, even though I'm a 34 year old adult, the nostalgic power of handheld gaming is deeply ingrained in who I am as a person. I owned the original Gameboy, the Gameboy Color, and the Gameboy Advance. That meant that many, many happy hours were spent playing Mario, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and later games like Golden Sun and Advance Wars. Surprisingly, for reasons I don't fully understand, the humble Gameboy was allowed.

I have memories of sneaking into my dad's closet and staring at the pictures on the box, wishing I could play the games depicted on the packaging. My aunt got me a Nintendo 64 for Christmas the year they came out, and my parents made her return it. I grew up in a house that didn't allow video game consoles. I started thinking about what I love about gaming and how I currently play to help make the decision easier, and I discovered something pretty huge for me personally.

I am very excited to play Starfield, the upcoming game from Bethesda, and wondered if I should perhaps not get the Deck and try to get an Xbox Series X instead. I got a reservation in the day they went live, and for a while I had a bit of a dilemma.

Steamdeck cost