How many times have you taken your Switch or Steam Deck out of your house to play games?

Thread: How many times have you taken your Switch or Steam Deck out of your house to play games?

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Franky Family

Franky Family

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Platforms
  1. Xbox
  2. PlayStation
  3. Nintendo
Wanted to see how comfortable other gamers are with bringing their Switch or Steam Deck specifically out of the house and play games either outside, maybe at work sometimes, or relaxing in your car, maybe while on vacation, etc.

It's a lot easier to take and play a 3DS anywhere to play, but with a Switch or Steam Deck, I've never played outside of the house. In my opinion it's too risky and dropping the system could mess it up beyond repair if unlucky. Plus, I think my Switch's battery only lasts two hours maybe a little bit more, maybe closer to three hours
 
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Taken it on many plane rides/trips. Ig you're on a plane for a few hours and waiting to board for a few hours, why not get some gaming in? Also use it at work during down time. Have occasionally brought it along to places if I know I have a long wait for something (passport office). I game as an adult in public, I don't give a shit. It's way more enjoyable than scrolling through social media feeds or other garbage.
 
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Never. They're too big and I worry about breaking them or scratching the screens, not least of all because they're so big there's more likelihood of things hitting, scratching or bending them.

My go to systems for taking on trips are my DS Lite and n3DS. Being folding devices they're much sturdier and keep the screen safe while minimising how much space they take up in bags and pockets. I have taken the Vita out a couple of times, but I have to take a carry case for it to protect the screen.

Saying that, I took my GBC to work yesterday, but primarily to show off the OLED screen to a couple of other nerds I work with.

Damn it, this thread really makes me wish for Nintendo to go back to the folding DS design at some point. It's the peak for handhelds.
 
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We do like "game nights" 2-3 times a month and it's usually board games or card games, but sometimes we do the rooftop ad scene. We'll have 4 Switches at a dining room table or in the family room.

So it's not all that often, but I actually do take the Switch away from home sometimes.
 
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I voted occasionally, but I don't leave my house a lot unless it's to go to the store/church/job. I wouldn't dare bring a Switch or Odin 2 to the job anyway. If it's the odd/unusual journey from the homestead where I think I may find myself stuck and unable to progress my quest further until some point further in time, I shall bring the gaming device.
 
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The wife took the Switch out to the front yard once to play Pokemon in a hammock, but I've never taken it out of the living room. Too many distractions in the outside world for me to bother.
 
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If I'm really invested in a particular game I'll bring a handheld/portable with me to get some time in during lunch or whatever. Last game I did that for was Tears of the Kingdom.
 
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Occasionally, if I have somewhere to go and I know there'll be waiting involved, I'd bring the Deck and play for a bit in the car while waiting etc. I would bring something smaller if I had another handheld, but not because the deck is too big, but rather the type of games I would want to play to pass time in these conditions are games that I feel work better with a smaller form factor. I'm looking at these Powkiddy handhelds I just heard about recently and they look perfect for that kind of thing.

Other than that, the deck is the defacto game night/sleepover party console, with friends who never agree on getting the same thing, being able to connect PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and other 3rd party controllers and play together is super good, combined with the seamlessness of a pre-configured deck, and the experience is unmatched.
 
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If I'm leaving to go to work, meet friends or do daily tasks then I rarely take a console, usually I'll take a book or if I don't want to bring a bag just use my phone. If I'm leaving on a trip for a day or more, especially if there's travel like flights involved then I'll pack my steam deck or my switch, sometimes an older handheld but never more than one device. I recently tried taking my deck, a dock, dualsense controller, a keyboard, mouse and all the necessary cables as well as a standard laptop on a longer trip to see if it could work as a full blown replacement. It worked okay but you end up with a very small screen and having all the stand-alone parts floating around your luggage isn't great. Plus I stayed in a few places without a TV at all meaning I couldn't make use of the dock. I'd be hesitant to sacrifice the laptop and just take the deck with the intention of using it as a PC.

I have been thinking about picking up a smaller handheld to emulate up to and including PS2 but I struggle to justify the expense when I already have a steam deck that can do it anyway.
 
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Switch - I find it uncomfortable to use as a portable, so I don't travel with it. The only time it leaves the house is on holidays when I take to whoever is hosting for some couch co-op games.

Steam Deck - I've only had mine since January, but I haven't traveled with it much. It's an interesting concept, but I'm finding it to be too large as a portable device. It takes up a lot space in carry-on bag/backpack, plus the size makes it awkward to use in a coach-sized plane seat.
 
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My wife takes the switch when we go camping, in case it rains and we're stuck in the tent. I actually take the Wii U of all things, state parks have electric on site. Shit is ballin.

Once I get a case for the Portal I'll try that via hotspot from my phone but that device was bought specifically for home use.
 
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I'm mostly docked, but had some great portable experiences:
- I had a whole setup where I strapped Switch to the headrest in my car and played Zelda BOTW in the backseat on lunch breaks... pretty sick.
- I played Hollow Knight on my balcony with headphones in the summer with fireflies and mosquitoes out -- also pretty sick and very immersive:)
- Splatoon 2 and Smash in a hotel room on a work trip -- shockingly good on wifi and a small screen
- ...oh and the rooftop parties with my United Colors of Benneton crew.

Depending on how Switch 2 handles the Switch 1 digital library, I imagine it'll be a modded handheld going forward.
 
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Whenever I go on a trip, or if I'm going somewhere I'm expecting to do a lot of waiting. But yes, back in my nerdier days my SP/DS/PSP was in my nerdy as fuck cargo pants at all times.
 
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teezzy said:
Came to post this again lmao

The opportunity to play these things doesn't arise often in my current life but i own a handful of handhelds. Its as though i yearn for simpler times out of delusion
Click to expand...
We can all go back living in simpler times through sheer delusional states of mind, but I think the world & life in general is demanding us to think & live with a 'higher purpose' 💅🏻
 
Literally never, and I've never seen anyone else do it either. Nobody really plays those things in public, everyone has a cell phone in 2025

But go ahead if you wanna look like a dork.
 
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Played a lot of Vita back when I had to ride the train to work for two hours per day, but that was only for a year or so. Never did it since that.
 
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Took my Switch to hotels a few times but otherwise the furthest it gets is my deck. Mostly just moves around the house to couch, bed, toilet, etc. Seems great for people who spend a lot of time in airports or on amtrak but otherwise it's way too awkward to like take on errands lol.
 
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Pyrate said:
Occasionally, if I have somewhere to go and I know there'll be waiting involved, I'd bring the Deck and play for a bit in the car while waiting etc. I would bring something smaller if I had another handheld, but not because the deck is too big, but rather the type of games I would want to play to pass time in these conditions are games that I feel work better with a smaller form factor. I'm looking at these Powkiddy handhelds I just heard about recently and they look perfect for that kind of thing.

Other than that, the deck is the defacto game night/sleepover party console, with friends who never agree on getting the same thing, being able to connect PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and other 3rd party controllers and play together is super good, combined with the seamlessness of a pre-configured deck, and the experience is unmatched.
Click to expand...

Coming back to this question one year later, I do now think the Deck and other handhelds are in fact too big to carry around. I think those mini handhelds like the TrimBrick UI in the picture below would be ideal for those situations though, like as long as it's palm of hand size and can slide in my pants pocket I can see myself going around with it.

img_1082.jpg
 
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I always have my Switch in my backpack. I'll take it out on long trips. It had plenty of use when my mom was in hospital! Rip mom!!

I'll never sell my day 1 Switch, went through some tough times with it!! ❤️
 
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I take them both on road trips, but only for night or down time when I'm not doing something else. I played the shit out of Breath of the Wild while on a cruise in the Caribbean. At night I'd play it until 3 in the morning out on the balcony of the room. Sometimes, if I know I'll be taking a firm break (not often) I'll bring the Switch with me and play that on lunch break.
 
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teezzy said:
Id rather just read a book or dick around on my phone tbh
Click to expand...

This was always my issue with portable consoles. I rarely ever find myself in a situation outside the house where I could sit and dedicate the mental bandwidth to playing a game like BotW or Metroid.
 
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Alcedor said:
Literally never, and I've never seen anyone else do it either. Nobody really plays those things in public, everyone has a cell phone in 2025

But go ahead if you wanna look like a dork.
Click to expand...

i've seen five people play the Nintendo Switch handheld in public so far. Two of them were the life of the party type personalities. It was refreshing to see honestly, and each time I decided to chat with them and see what they were playing

I see people playing video games in public now more than ever before on their Switch or Smart Phones. It's not a big deal and I doubt anyone cares bro. Most people are probably thinking this in their head for the brief second they notice: "hey look he's playing a Switch, my (insert loved one here) has one of those"

Japan was playing TOTK everywhere. People traveling on planes in Japan were playing TOTK while flying
 
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Many many times. I take it on all my business trips and often on vacations (or more accurately I use to. Kinda stopped a year ago). It's a great way to kill time on a flight.
 
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I voted never but maybe it should be occasionally 🤔 have taken both on the road but not used outside in public and used mostly indoors when relaxing at the end of the day
 
Only time I ever play it undocked would be if I took it to work on my lunch break or at the hospital. Otherwise it remains docked
 
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