Mere hours before preorders began on the new Switch OLED Model, Valve preempted the festivities with a big announcement of its own: the Steam Deck, a portable gaming PC that bears more than a passing resemblance to Nintendo's popular handheld/console hybrid. The shot across the bow may or may not have been intentional, and preorders are opening soon. Either way, Steam's new device seems inspired by, if not a direct challenger to, Nintendo's popular console. And fresh off the community's disappointment over the lack of Switch Pro news, Valve could be taking the opportunity to get out ahead of the competition.

In fact, the Steam Deck is being positioned as similar to the Switch in many ways. The starting price for the Steam Deck is $400, just above the price of the Switch OLED but with significantly more power (albeit with an LCD screen). The device itself looks similar to a Switch, though the full analog sticks and track pads make it a bit wider than a Switch equipped with the already-large Split Pad Pro. There's even an optional dock to plug it into your TV, the marquee hybrid feature that serves as the Switch's namesake.

Valve is also making sure to accent the power proposition. It's no coincidence that its promotional videos have shown games like Control running on the Steam Deck, with a promise that it's running natively on the device. Contrast this with the Nintendo Switch, which has offered hit-or-miss cloud-based versions of games that often come with compromises--including Control.