Valve has announced new hardware, including a new VR headset, Steam Machine, and controller. All devices are designed to usher in a new era of PC gaming, with Valve’s common focus on the player. is a slim VR headset that connects wirelessly to your PC and has a built-in battery to rid you of those pesky cables. The focus on freedom extends to frames working as a standalone device, like the Meta Quest.
Plus, the company has revived one of its longtime favorites (but not as widely successful). This new model features semi-custom AMD silicon that is capable of running 4K games at 60 frames per second. Valve says it is about six times as powerful as its portable unit, the Steam Deck. Completing the list is the controller, which looks like a Steam Deck with the screen cut out. But that’s not a bad thing, especially as it has TMR sensors, which promise the same benefits as a Hall Effect stick, albeit using a different underlying technology.
Not being on the particularly game-y end of the spectrum, I use announcements like this as an exercise in seeing how much to get excited about. I would beTo that end, I’m curious how much Valve will charge for this gear when it makes its debut early next year, On the one hand, the performance promises made here are quite significant, but on the other hand, this is also a company that sells the base model Steam Deck for less than the Switch 2,
That said, I would definitely get off the couch if there were a new Half-Life game on the way, and that seems plausible here. Nathan Ingraham certainly has some hopes for a Steam Machine revival, too.
-Dan Cooper
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