No prices yet. I may never financially recover from this.
Would love to see Valve do a SteamOS Linux Phone next.
With it coming with an optional phone gaming accessory to use your phone as a controller (with same design/gaming usage as Steam Deck/Steam Controller)
For use with any Valve hardware/software through the connected accessory (Bluetooth/Dongle/Wired)
Don’t have an extra controller? Use your phone with the add-on.
Sidenote: Wonder if PostmarketOS will add support for Steam Frame overtime. Sadly it does not have call support I think but otherwise it would technically be a different kind of device that could function as a phone tok
why is this thing not called Steam Engine?
It’s interesting that the VR headset is ARM based. Maybe that’s a sign that 2027 will be the year of the ARM desktop
Uh-oh…my wallet is in trouble.
I wonder if the steam machine supports hdmi cec.
All I got to say is that the new Steam controller better link to devices as a controller and not a mouse. The current steam controller shows up as a mouse when I connect it to mobile devices via Bluetooth, so I can’t use it with games that have controller integration build in to the game, since they think I am connecting a Bluetooth mouse. The only reason I don’t use my current steam controller as my main controller is because of the mouse issue.
Hope this work great, gaming industry really needs that
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Does it run on electricity or do you have to throw coal in it somewhere?
Yeah, I’ll never be able to afford any of that stuff, no point me even looking at it sadly.
It’s for middle class people who have piles of cash to burn :-(
I’ve been keeping some money set aside for a newer VR system, specifically one that supports wireless connection to PC. Was considering one of the newer HTC models but Linux support seemed… spotty. In glad I waited and have already wishlisted the Frame
Probably never coming to asia :)
I posted this in the other thread, but wanna share here too:
Most interesting thing to me is the Frame apparently runs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and is using SteamOS, implying official ARM support for SteamOS, Steam and Proton! Could mean steam and proton coming to android too.
And the base would be Arch Linux ARM, right? So that should see an uptick in development too.
Arch Linux has been implementing a build system for other architectures. Perhaps they’ll make ARM official by the time Frame comes out.
If I remember correctly Valve paid for this build system specifically for ARM support, so yeah I think that is going to happen.
I’m still a little curious how that will work for games. Are they going to somehow emulate Win32 amd64 games? Do devs have to recompile them in some new way? Will engines support it beyond Unity and Unreal?
It was mentioned in the LTT coverage. Aside from native ARM games they have a translation layer(FEX) to play x86 games on ARM. They’ll have a “Verified” tag like the Steam Deck for compatibility. I assume you’ll still be able to force trying to run unverified games.
Edit: FEX is not a Valve thing, but an existing open source x86/x86_64 emulator that Valve is using. It’s not clear if they’re forking it or directly contributing though.
That same video says that “Valve has heavily contributed to FEX”
Well, that shows how well I was paying attention to the video
Yup, FEX to translate x86 to ARM.
The Frame isn’t playing the games on its ARM chip. It’s just streaming audio/visual data from the PC and relaying the controller inputs back to the PC.
That’s the normal mode of operation, but it can apparently also run games locally on the Frame itself, which I guess gives people a portable — if less powerful — gaming option that they can haul around easily if they want.
Hm, guess I missed that part, my bad.
Jeff Geerling is probably having a fit right now.
what does that homophobic ass have to do with it, is he not a fan of ARM or something?
…wat.
I think you must be thinking of some other Jeff Geerling. The one I’m talking about is probably the #1 guy on Youtube for content about ARM stuff, and AFAIK isn’t a homophobe.
Your comment doesn’t make any sense because, even if you were talking about the right person and your accusation were accurate, why would you know some obscure thing about him while being unaware of the thing he’s famous for?
Going back roughly a decade you can find blog posts and some bits on Twitter. I don’t see anything outright gay-bashing but his moral worldview, when he speaks on the matter, seems to be shaped by his Catholic faith. I don’t think he hates homosexuals, and I can’t guess at how his beliefs effect others (who for, or how, he votes and such), but he certainly seems to have a moral opposition and hasn’t since stated otherwise that I am aware.
If you need a smoking gun, here’s a quote from Twitter around 2017. Context is that this apparently stemmed from the removal of developer Larry “Crell” Garfield over “Gorean” (?) beliefs or participation in that subculture. Relating to some BDSM, male-domination, female slaves “Gor” novel series, that I cannot be assed to dig deeper into, and concerns he’d carry the “misogyny” into into the workplace. Anyway:
The Drupal community is treading perilous waters right now. Risk of excluding more members than just Crell. Careful with moral equivalence! It’s a heck of a lot more nuanced than that. But basically, if the criteria for being part of the Drupal community anymore is “Must both publicly and privately support Gay marriage, etc.” then… I think I might be excluded.
As an atheist looking in, I find Abrahamic faiths fundamentally incompatible with homosexuality. Having a gay Christian marriage, for example, is an absurdity to me. To be clear I’m not personally opposed to it. I find very much wrong with his faith but I don’t believe Jeff is wrong about his faith. But kudos and power to whoever wants to lie to themselves and retcon Christianity in order to believe (what I perceive to be) a bigger, more comforting lie. If we can keep eroding at it maybe we’ll finally get over the hatred and hangups it causes, or at least no longer be able to point to it as a justifying source.
Well, that’s unfortunate re: Jeff, but it’s still weird to me that the other commenter would be aware of that about him (which you mention having to dig through a decade of blog posts and old tweets to find), without at some point also finding out that he’s ‘the Raspberry Pi guy.’
It’s like knowing that Hitler was a vegetarian but somehow not knowing that he was the dictator of Germany who started WWII – it just doesn’t make sense for a fact to be that isolated from its context.
A bit odd I suppose, but he’s also “The ansible guy” and a solid “proxmox/truenas” guy. It’s not unlikely they could’ve become aware of him looking for information on automation or virtualization. That’s actually how I first came across his content. The Pi and other hardware reviews are okay but I care more about the how-to’s and what I’m actually running on my toys over the toys themselves.
Anyway, I didn’t dig real deep but I’m not ready to nail him to a cross. I’ve met Christians who “don’t approve” of whatever while simultaneously acknowledging someone else doesn’t need their approval in the first place to be who they are. That it isn’t their place to thrust their moral beliefs upon others. Not to say I don’t still find their worldview problematic either, and their level headedness is being drowned out by Christofascist rhetoric as of late, but time is still sanding the edges off their faith and it remains light-years ahead of other parts of the world.
I know Jeff does raspi stuff. I know about his colostomy. I’ve used one or two of his scripts and took some Home Assistant motivation from him. I liked his gentle sounding voice and mannerisms until I learned he’s a religious freak.
I know Jeff does raspi stuff.
Then why’d you ask if he’s not a fan of ARM? Were you unaware that Raspberry Pis use ARM CPUs?
I’m not trying to defend the guy or dispute you, BTW; I’m just still confused about why you’d say that.
No, I know exactly who I’m talking about.
I’m pretty sure there are genetic dispositions towards different kinds of sexual behaviors and patterns—just as there are genetic dispositions towards such things as alcoholism, racism, elitism, etc. A genetic predisposition towards homosexuality does not make homosexuality a ‘good’ or a ‘right,’ or even ‘okay’ for some people. Just as with every other human behavior, a wider worldview must be used to judge the righteousness of a human action or behavior—including acting on homosexual tendencies.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2011/exodus-app-–-pulled-app-store
That whole article reads like he was a reasonably intelligent person who was born into a christian family. So he’s been conditioned to automatically see homosexuality as bad, and been educated in writing eloquent arguments to support his position, but he’s just aware enough to not take a stand and actually say what he thinks because that would get him in trouble.
Even just considering your snippet:
I’m pretty sure there are genetic dispositions towards different kinds of sexual behaviors and patterns—just as there are genetic dispositions towards such things as alcoholism, racism, elitism, etc.
This is just an opinion and the logic seems sensible. But why make the comparison to only negative traits and vices?
A genetic predisposition towards homosexuality does not make homosexuality a ‘good’ or a ‘right,’ or even ‘okay’ for some people.
Stating the obvious then referring to 3rd party opinions. Doesn’t seem to do much other than keep up the negative tone.
Just as with every other human behavior, a wider worldview must be used to judge the righteousness of a human action or behavior—including acting on homosexual tendencies.
Whoa, I agree! And using my view of the world and society at large I hereby judge that we need to lay the fuck off of people who act on their homosexual tendencies and focus on actual problems! I wonder if the author can say the same.
Also, I just want to point out and give a “fuck that” to the heavy focus on “choosing” and “acting” rather than simply existing. In my experience that is a very common step in the short process of dehumanizing somebody and mentally writing off their concerns and rights.
Dehumanizing somebody for a trait they were born with is obviously doable, but it is still a tougher sell for some people than dehumanizing a person for an intentional act. Even if that act didn’t hurt anybody or anything.
I’ll leave the whole train of thought of “how can you punish people for acting like the thing they were born as” as an exercise for the reader.
As homophobic as this indeed is, it’s also from 2011. As a pansexual trans woman, I’m pretty sure I might have sais some very transphobic/homophobic stuff in 2011 as well, thankfully I was not posting it online.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I respect that you may not be inclined to do that. I have possibly too much faith in humanity.
But also, let me say this : acting on your homosexual tendencies is pretty damn righteous 😎
I love acting on my homosexual tendencies!!
Oh shit he’s homophobic?
Yikes
It is fascinating and a huge step, but I want to keep expectations low. It will work, but it will not be as compatible as x86 Proton, not at all. It is first and primarily an OS for streaming games and running VR. That is the VR rendering from the streaming computer, not the VR game itself. In other words, they only had to get exactly one app to run well enough for public use. According to the developer, it is working with a surprising amount of games. I agree, one game is surprising, but trust me when I say you will not be running Windows x86 games in ARM Linux for a long time.
It’s using an x86 compatibility layer, pex i think it was called. So apparently you will be running windows x86 games on it.
Edit: fex! https://github.com/FEX-Emu/FEX
Edit 2, from tom’s hardware article:
The company also showed off the x86 version of Hades 2 running standalone (as in not streaming from a PC) on the Steam Frame. And the game ran just fine and looked good at what Valve reps told me was 1400p in a window inside the headset
Wonder how long it could run standalone on decent fps.
That is nice, but Hades II is hardly my idea of a hard benchmark to clear. Looks like a fun game, though !
I think that for running games locally on the Frame, for anything other than games designed specifically to be gentle on a battery — and many games are not, unfortunately — you’re also really going to need to leave it plugged into a powerbank. The internal battery just isn’t that large relative to what the device can draw.
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/steam-frame-specs-availability/
The battery included on the Steam Frame is a 21 Wh model. The Snapdragon system-on-chip gobbles up around 20 W at full power—that’s how much it’ll likely use while playing a game locally in standalone mode. From this, we can expect around an hour of playtime without additional charge.
I want backpack sized battery banks.
You could probably put a 400 Wh powerbank in a backpack (search for “power station” on Amazon).
Attach a decent rumble pack and you have total immersion in your military/adventurer game!
Steam/Proton on android would be quite something, I would finally be able to play something decent on my phone that wasn’t originally released for the PS2
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Dang. The new Steam Controller has a D-pad, buttons, thumbsticks, gyros, and trackpads.
And the thumbsticks are TMR (like Hall effect, but nicer).
As long as it’s comfortable to reach all that stuff, that’s gonna be a new bar for PC game controllers.
EDIT: and grip sensors.
EDIT2: and four haptic feedback motors, two in the trackpads.
Now if it just had a replaceable battery…
It does! Verge reports that battery pops out like old cellphone batteries
Nice!
Edit: do you have to disassemble the controller (with a screwdriver or something) or is it accessible with just my hands? I swap (rechargeable) AAs on my XBox360 controller quite a bit, and part of why I like it is that I can do it quickly if the battery dies while playing.
Looks like you’ll have to remove the entire bottom shell. From GN’s video:
The shell doesn’t seem to have a separately removable battery cover, although I don’t see a reason why someone wouldn’t be able to just cut a hole or 3D-print an accessible shell. Dbrand comes to mind. Or that’s just a show piece and the retail product might have a battery cover.
It also looks like the screw posts don’t have threaded metal inserts, which is concerning.
That is a bit of a shame, I was excited to see the Steam Frame controllers simply use AA batteries.
I wish more things used those, or maybe some new standard with more energy density. Swapping batteries immediately is one thing I miss from the Wii days…
FYI you can just post the link without shilling for your preferred search engine
but kagi is a good search engine
Companies are not your friend. Also a single douche can ruin the company.
You can also not whine when people mention it. FYI.
Also, if they said “googles” or “ddgs” I doubt you would have complained. They don’t use either of those presumably.
It probably will. Watch Gamers Nexus’ video, it has a short clip that shows the battery, and it looks like it’s held in a receptacle like removable phone batteries. Valve have already said that you’d be able to disassemble the controller with a screwdriver, but no word yet on replacement parts. But based on the Steam Deck, I would be shocked if they didn’t offer at least replacement batteries.
I personally think the Deck is very comfortable given its bulk. I have a lot of faith in the controller ergonomics.
The first time I held a deck I was kind of amazed at how comfortable it is to hold. Bricks shouldn’t be that comfy to hold, but, it is. The ergonomics are spot on. Gotta handle the Steam Controller V2 myself before any verdict, but I have high hopes.
The 8bitDo Ultimate 2 has TMR sticks too, best controller I’ve used. Better than the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2. I do wish the 8bitDo had 4 underside buttons instead of only 2, but it’s still better. The sticks are insane.
~$25 for an 8bitdo ultimate 2c! The price is just too good. I know it doesn’t have TMR or the extra buttons, but it just works and feels really good to me compared to the xbox elite controller that got the shoulder button issue within 3 months for me.
The trackpads are unnecessary imo. Games made for controller aren’t going to expect the deck touchpads, they’re gonna expect xbox and playstation controllers without it. The touchpads just fit a very specific niche of people who want to play with the steam deck on a TV in games that are not fully controller supported and don’t have a keyboard and mouse paired for that use case. Always better to have options I suppose.
I have carpal tunnel syndrome and mouse heavy games hurt, but playing with a controller is great. If this can easily replace a mouse and keyboard setup then I’ll be playing with it a lot, and those track pads are a big reason why.
They’re also good for emulating certain consoles with quirky controllers, like the N64.
It can’t really replace mouse and keyboard though. Not unless developers start designing games to work that way, and these touchpads are exclusive to an ultraminority of the hardware market share. The deck gives you that virtual keyboard which kinda works with the touchpads but it’s not ideal.
There’s no shortage of amazing games that are fully compatible with controllers though, thankfully.
Btw have you tried a trackball? i’ve been using a thumb based one like a logitech M575 for the better part of 30 years, ever since I saw one at CompUSA. Professionally 100% of my time is spent with one, and I used to have top tier KDR in counter strike 1.X back in the day (though I use normal mice for gaming usually nowadays.)
The 8bitDo Ultimate 2 was like $40–50 or something, so cheap compared to the Elite 2. I got the dirt cheap 8Bit just to try it out for giggles because I’d never tried TMR sticks before. Bro I haven’t touched the Elite 2 since unpacking the 8bit.
Trackpads give options. Sure most first person games have controller support. Coming from mouse and keyboard, I still can’t stand playing those with a stick though. Trackpad + Gyro is an absolute game changer, I prefer that even over a mouse now.
Literally just got one the other day!
I’ve been using OEM controllers forever, and after the Xbox Elite controller crapped out on me after ONE year, I gave up on “premium” controllers. It had everything I wanted in a controller EXCEPT durability.
The Ultimate 2 is amazing so far! For $60, I can’t complain. Much better than the PS5 controller I had been using for over a year. Nothing terrible with it except te battery. It seems to need to be charged on a wall outlet to fully charge… but that could be because I’m using Linux, but it also happened in Windows so…
Excited to continue using it for the next few months to really wear it in, but I am legitimately impressed with it so far!
Cheers!
I’m super pleased with it, rock solid performance. Very snappy input lag as well, not even detectable, and I play games that require very precise timing on inputs.
Wish I could disagree with you on the durability of the premium controllers from Xbox. So bad. I got the Elite 2 like I said, but I exchanged it for a new one literally an amount of times that I can’t even remember, and it took place over almost a year. The issue was with its sticks. They were either drifting or had some kind of gap where the stick wouldn’t sit still in its socket. Both left and right sticks, or one or the other.
Eventually I had enough and settled on one that had very little of the issue, on the left stick (less used), because I just wanted to freaking play my games because I was without a controller all the time sending them back.
8Bit? Third of the price, first controller sent to me was flawless.
I’m not experiencing an issue with charging though. In what way do you notice that it doesn’t charge fully? The charge light never switches off?
Sorry, I probably made it confusing on which controller was acting up in which ways!
The Xbox Elite 2 controller had the RB button go out on me, and that means I couldn’t play games that required that button (which is surprisingly a LOT of the games I play!). I think it gave out on me on Dark Souls 2 or 3 since that is a RB button heavy game for the light attack. I tried using the paddles to replace the RB button, but even that wasn’t enough to keep me using it, so I put it away. I’m sure I could fix it somehow, but I have a very limited amount of time when I get home from work and just want to chill and play a video game, so tinkering isn’t something I would really want to spend my limited time on at this moment in my life.
For the PS5 controller, it basically refuses to charge when connected to my desktop computer. Specifically, it would never seem to charge, even when turned off fully and then connected to the charging cable. Now, when I read a Reddit post about someone else having the charge issue (without a PS5, apparently…), they said they had to plug theirs into a wall outlet to charge it. It actually charged it to 100% over night, and was able to last an entire 3-4 hours of gaming in one go, unlike before where it would ding me on KDE that the battery was low, IMMEDIATELY after unplugging it from the desktop cord to use for play. It was such a shitty experience that I had to look it up on Reddit! lol
This 8BitDo controller is absolutely fantastic so far, and like you, I must’ve gotten a good one from the warehouse! I saw some of the reviews saying it had some issues, but I usually chalk those up to user error unless it has some convincing pictures to go with it. Anyway, I have only had the 8BitDo controller for two days so far, BUT:
The sticks are literally the best feeling sticks I’ve ever used. I was actually able to turn my dead zones on both sticks to 0 (or negative in Steam? I’m not entirely sure how that works, as it looks like it goes into the negatives?) and can feel every little turn in game. Can’t believe I’ve been playing my games in an inferior manor!
The hall effect triggers are also amazing! I’m playing GTA4 (with FusionFix mod) on openSUSE Tumbleweed, and I have never had better feeling triggers before. When I can barely press on the right trigger, and the vehicle (Comet, in game) actually starts going slowly? That was something to see with my own eyes, and feel with my own hands. I can’t describe it well enough, but if you are reading this, it made a HUGE difference in feel!
I can’t tell you about battery life just yet, since I only get 3-4 hours after I get home, but I’m sure with it’s charging stand, I won’t need to personally worry about that!
The only thing I can say I don’t like is that I have decent sized hands, and can accidentally press the back buttons just by gripping or rearranging my grip on the controller, so I have those turned off in Steam for now until I relearn how to handle a controller like this since I have been using a PS5 one for so long now.
Sorry for the huge wall of text, but I just can’t believe I have been missing out just because a few controllers gave me issues! Plus, I just love talking about gaming! Thank you for taking the time to reply! :)
I read every word. 😉
But yeah, it just goes to show that the mass production vs caring and dedicated production really are playing in different leagues altogether. Mass produced stuff is just shit no matter how expensive, and this controller-centric company blows the big dogs out of the water for a third, quarter, eighth of the price!
Anyway, I hope you get more free time for yourself soon, so you can enjoy it more. 😌
I’ve been dreaming of this since the first steam controller released! I absolutely loved the first one but it definitely had it’s quirks and issues. This seems just like the upgrade that I wished for in every way possible with some nice additional stuff on top. I just hope it won’t be $100+
I got the Steam Controller (OG) when it was $5. I wanted to love it so bad, but never could get over the full replacement of the thumbstick on the right side with a trackpad. I could even get over the “cheap” feeling plastic, but that non existent right thumbstick was just too weird for me to get over.
I’m a life long controller gamer though, so maybe it was the best thing ever for some, but I am happy they went with the Steam Deck layout, as that was what I was hoping for!
I understand that feeling and a lot of people shared it, but I was someone that loved it regardless despite generally being a controller gamer as well.
I think to get a good experience you had to be very willing to play with the settings a lot. Not unlike the Deck now, but the software wasn’t as accessible and the users not as accustomed to it. Of course it would never feel the same no matter what, but it was definitely responsive!
I understand exactly what you mean by it not being as accessible. They really outdid themselves with the Steam Deck. With EmuDeck, it installed so many different profiles that each have their own little sections in the radial menu. If I had known that was a thing, and if I had some time on my hands, I’d probably have used it a little more!
Either way, we have the best of both worlds now with this controller, so I can’t complain at all now! :)
But it’s missing a 3.5mm headphone jack bizarrely.
Only one company has apparently learned how to print money and not be ghouls.
To be fair, they say they made a lot of tradeoffs in the name of being price conscious, but they haven’t put a price on it yet.
I’d say it’s priceless.
That’s a great deal, I’ll take the full set and throw in some extra controllers thanks
conscious*
Thank you. Didn’t notice I screwed that up.
They have haptic grip sensors and ALL the sticks and pads, I wonder what they traded off lol
Valve and therefore Steam is still privately owned, never went public. No share holders demanding things surely is a major factor.
I’m aware. Once Gabe retires or dies, I’m going to start distrusting Valve. Once they go public, it’s over.
Privately owned still means shareholders. Ultimately it comes down to the board and the rules around it, not so much as to whether it is publicly listed.
Yeah sure I love their hardware and contributions to software, but I’d say profiteering off of children gambling for over 10 years is pretty ghoulish.
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I mean, they get a sizable cut from the majority of games sold on PC. I think that’s their business model.
I hear you about loot boxes and skins and stuff. It’s just, that has to be a small part of their total profit.
Why does it have to be? It’s basically free money for them, whereas they have to make deals and curate their store front a lot more. Games take time and energy (if you don’t just want AI generated slop, at least), so to get that to market takes time. Whereas microtransaction garbage is basically hit it and quit it and generates insane amounts of money.
Um, no?
I guess this must be surprising to hear, but it’s just easier to sell content of actual value than bullshit. Yeah… some people will buy bullshit, and yeah, one can take advantage of those people, but having actual products is still a better business model.
But hey, if you’ve got these things all figured out, totally start your own game studio/global digital distribution system. Go make bank on microtransaction garbage.
Sorry, clearly you are far more knowledgeable about such things, despite having nothing more than I do to back it up. I apologize for contradicting your opinion on the internet, that was my bad.
Hey, if I’ve offended you, I do apologize for that, it truly wasn’t my goal. But I do strongly disagree (which is allowed).
And I think it’s pretty obvious that microtransactions could never, ever, possibly be more lucrative for Valve than selling games. It’s just a numbers thing. I mean, dlc can sometimes make more money than game sales for some titles, that’s a fact. But Valve has what, a dozen games that they could potentially sell dlc for? That’s a pretty hard limit. Whereas they also make money on every title sold in the store, and there are currently over 10,000 titles available from the steam store. That’s just like, a lot more than a dozen…
Any data to back that claim? I thought most of their income is from Steam and games(including those with pushing gambling on children) is a very small share.
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