Following on from the success of the Steam Deck, Valve is creating its very own ecosystem of products. The Steam Frame, Steam Machine, and Steam Controller are all set to launch in the new year. We’ve tried each of them and here’s what you need to know about each one.
“From the Frame to the Controller to the Machine, we’re a fairly small industrial design team here, and we really made sure it felt like a family of devices, even to the slightest detail,” Clement Gallois, a designer at Valve, tells me during a recent visit to Valve HQ. “How it feels, the buttons, how they react… everything belongs and works together kind of seamlessly.”
For more detail, make sure to check out our in-depth stories linked below:
Steam Frame: Valve’s new wireless VR headset
Steam Machine: Compact living room gaming box
Steam Controller: A controller to replace your mouse
Valve’s official video announcement.
So uh, ahem.
Yes.
Valve can indeed count to three.
It’s an RX 7600M paired with a 6 core Ryzen. It’s not going to run 4K. It will be a nice 1080p machine, maybe 1440p without raytracing or terribly optimized games. It will be great for emulation, it should handle every mainstream console without issue.
The thing I’m most intrigued by is the Steam Frame. I’ve been running a second hand Quest 2 with WiVRn to stream my VR games on Linux to it and it works well, but I hate having a headset made by Meta.
Can WiVRn be used to use the Quest headsets without a Meta account?
Probably if you jailbreak it.
I hope the bazzite devs grab a dev kit and ensure day one support. I’ve been holding off on VR since there just wasn’t a solution that seemed straightforward.
WiVRn is actually really easy to use. Install Flatpak, add a launch option to VR games, and hit launch. Works for me pretty much perfectly every time.
They should lean into the porn games and sell a waist mounted haptic device call it the “Steam Plower”
We’ve already got
laptopfacetop terminology going on, so…Just affix a giant silicone ass to the faceplate, so you can have your face sat on, very uh, immersively.
… God, and to think, while Valve is doing this, Nintendo…
Nintendo re-released the Virtual Boy.
No real upgrades.
Just, here’s the Virtual Boy, again.
You know, that gimmicky flop from the mid 90s?
…smh…
I’m really excited about that Frame and Controller. Hopefully they’re not too expensive.
Announced the Steam Controller? Hello 2015! The one they released in 2015 was pretty awesome, hopefully this one is just as good.
Yay GabeCube™.
I.
Want.
An actual valve, that goes along with the Frame.
Images you can hear
The first time I saw that guy turn around, I damn near pissed myself.
That would actually be sick, a spigot on the top of steam box that functions as an on/off switch.
The Frame does actually have a uh, back unit on the rear strap, some of the hardware is in the faceplate, some of it is on this part thats on the rear/center of the headstrap.
So, assuming it wouldn’t fuck up the thermals too much, you can just 3d print something that’d clip or strap onto that part.
I’m watching the Gamers Nexus breakdown at the moment, I may have misunderstood something, but I think that’s right?
EDIT:
For clarity, I’m not talking about the Machine, the desktop/living room device, I’m talking about the Frame, the VR headset.
The wirelessly streaming VR headset, that does not need base stations, because it uses monochrome/IR cameras in the headset to model the space you are in.
Could use it as the wheel that tightens the headband!
Kinda missed opportunity to call it the companion cube 😅
But I am sure there will be a custom skin for it that will make it look like one.
The controller is a day 1 buy, if the price is right maybe the cube. 16GB RAM 8 VRAM seems a bit low though.
Good enough for my needs. I’ll start saving right away.
Yeah I’m holding judgement till pricing too, but… cautiously optimistic this thing could be comparable to a 1440p crushing, soldered on chip , small form factor pc, for maybe roughly the same price as doing a minisforum based sff build.
I am guessing that yeah, the Machine will be capablr of 4K60 the way a PS5 is (aka, its not, it does 2K and then checkerboards it), but, if you target roughly that level of hardware at 1440p, take advantage of a semi custom chip achitecture…
Could be good, no real way to know without testing.
But hey, Science is Fun!
4K 60 with FSR. Of course they don’t mention what level of FSR.
Should be perfect for 1080p gaming
It’s a 28cu RDNA3 core running up to 110w. It’s not a mystery how fast it will be, AMD already has silicon out with those exact specs: the RX 7600M. It’s going to run as fast as a current midrange gaming laptop, or about on par with a desktop 6600xt with faster memory and a 6 core ryzen. For some reason there isn’t a comparable rdna3 core out for desktop, but that kinda makes sense as you only start to see the benefit of the extra wattage a pcie card gives you with the 40cu+ cores.
That is to say, it will run 4K like shit unless it’s a decade old game or everything is set to low with FSR cranked all the way up.
Yeah I’m trying to find real hands on reviews especially on 4k TVs without variable refresh. RDNA 3 doesn’t leave me hopeful on games like Indiana Jones. Who knows, maybe eGPUs will be supported
Controller is a day one buy for me probably, although I don’t like the charging solution much, might wait for a proper dock, first or third party.
I might bite the bullet with the headset too. Haven’t got into VR since Oculus DK2 and I’m itching for it again.
I am intrigued, though sceptical on their 4K gaming claims.
The VR looks neat, will be waiting on reviews.
4K (with FSR). It’ll be 1080p upscaled to 4K.
That said, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for something they’ve said is targeting just above a traditional console’s price tag.
Yeah, it can upscale.
Consoles tell us they can do 4K60 as well!
They just weren’t honest enough to actually say “via upscaling” in the marketing for the most recent generation, or bother to explain that 2K checker boarded up to 4K, after being upscaled from roughly 1.5K… is not really 4K the same way a $4000 PC can do 4K.
It literally says in the video “4K with FSR”. They weren’t really hiding it.
That’s what I’m trying to say, they bothered to specify it can hit 4k60 with upscaling, console marketing tends to just skip that qualifier part, misleadingly.
