On the 28th, Valve was scheduled to start sending the first available Steam Deck units to the names on the waiting list that were quickest to reserve it last year, after a three-day period in which those interested had to confirm the chosen version and pay for it. Now, when those consoles start to reach their owners, first impressions appear.
What’s wrong with Steam Decks?
Many users, before the launch, commented on internet forums that they wished that Valve had done a good job with the console, preventing any problem that could occur in hardware with these characteristics. And if there is a persistent error in this type of device such as portable consoles or gamepads, that is stick drift . And what exactly is that? Well , an error that in certain situations makes any title that we launch unplayable .
This stick drift is nothing more than an error that tells the console that the stick is pressed when we have already released it. It is a very common problem that can occur for two reasons: the first due to a component construction error that makes its solution impossible unless we replace the part; and the second, because there is some inaccuracy in the software that tells the Steam Deck that the analog stick (right in almost all reported cases) is still depressed when in fact it is no longer.
How to fix this error?
As it seems from the many publications that have appeared on forums like Reddit, in the case of the Steam Deck we are referring to a software problem, solvable through a patch or update, since some affected people have managed to mitigate it by accessing the calibration menu of the Steam Deck. console, defining the sensitivity of the stick and making that drift disappear. In any case, it is not the best solution and surely Valve already has a remedy in store so as not to mess around with its configuration menus.
Of course, the way to access that console configuration menu to tune the sticks is to start the console in Big Picture mode, which, as some of you may know, is the interface design that Valve developed for the Steam experience on a television. or external monitor (and even PC). It would be through this functionality that we could really achieve that, until an official patch from Gabe Newell arrives, we have a solution to this error that, by the way, the Americans have already announced that they had combated it in every conceivable way, building its drift-proof console which, as we say, are very common in portable machines.
Remember if not what happened a few years ago with Nintendo Switch, watchword of the portable video game market, which already in the early days after its arrival on the market starred in a joycongate that made some games uncontrollable. In that case, moreover, the circumstance occurred that the problem had more substance than accessing a simple configuration menu and the Japanese were forced to open a completely free replacement program for each of the affected sticks.
