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Well, there were a lot of fundamental steps that had to be completed first, not least of which was a high pressure vessel. This all took a lot of materials science, advancement in seemingly unrelated fields, etc., etc. Not unlike fusion technology… The difference is we have 2000 years more advancement than they had when they invented the steam engine.
It’s surprising how well the Steam Deck plays new games and how much support has been added to older games for something with a form factor similar to the Switch and a price point that is lower than most computers or consoles with similar capabilities. It’s a big change to the cost/benefit calculation.