The new models signal a doubling down on living room gaming for Valve, with all three of its Steam Devices hitting shelves early next year. There’s the all new Steam Controller, the diminutive game trading Steam Machine console, and finally an all purpose VR headset known as the Steam Frame. Pricing and specific release dates will be announced after the new year.
Steam Controller
Taking cues from the success of Steam Deck’s controller, this one includes many similar modern features, precision magnetic thumbsticks, full analogue functionality, trackpads, gyro aiming, and grip buttons. It’s cross compatible with PCs, Steam Decks, Steam Machines, and the new VR headset, and lasts up to 35 hours of wireless play on a single charge.
(Image sourced X.com Deck Ready)
Steam Machine
For TV-locked PC gaming, look no further than the Steam Machine, a lithe six-inch cube powered by SteamOS. And it pairs nicely with the new controller (or other peripherals) as well to make a nice flexible setup. It comes in 512GB and 2TB SSD flavours expandable via microSD and includes an AMD Zen 4 6 core/12 thread processor, a custom AMD GPU, and 16GB DDR5 RAM. Look for it to perform well in 4K/60fps with AMD FSR upscaling options and ray tracing supported.
(Image sourced X.com Deck Ready)
Steam Frame VR Headset
The Steam Frame combines VR and flat screen gaming by streaming titles from your PC or running them standalone. A Snapdragon chip powers it, runs on SteamOS, and has full controller support. Core specs: dual 2160×2160 LCDs per eye, 110 degree field of view, refresh rates between 72 and 144Hz, and 16GB of RAM. Storage options are 256GB or 1TB (expandable via microSD), with controls featuring 6DoF tracking, finger sensing capacitive grips, magnetic sticks, and up to 40 hours of battery life via AA batteries.
Valve said it best in the press release: “We’re incredibly excited about Steam Deck’s reception, and we’ve been seeing potential demand that is on par with what we were accustomed to when Index came out.” “They become part of the Deck as integrated, Steam optimized platforms that actually remain accessible to everyone,” they add.
(Image sourced X.com Deck Ready)
