tl;dw/r:

3 new pieces of hardware revealed coming “2026”.

  1. Steam Frame is a standalone VR headset. Release “early 2026”. ARM processor. Runs SteamOS. (Yes this translates games made for x86 on Windows into Linux on ARM using Proton and FEx). Inside out tracking. Up to 144Hz. 2160x2160. Can also run Android APKs. Includes 6GHz stick for wireless streaming.

  2. Steam Controller. Basically what we’ve been expecting. Just took the controls off the Steam Deck and bolted them to a controller. TMR magnetic thumbsticks. Has a weird like magnetic charging/pairing dock thingy that sticks on the back, but can still just be charged with USB-C.

  3. Steam Machine. Cubic, softball-sized mini PC (like, literally its just a computer, much like the Steam Deck). AMD GPU. Obviously runs SteamOS as well. No word on HDMI-CEC that I can find. 300W power supply. 6x more powerful than Steam Deck.

I’m going to keep updating this thread with links as I find them. Add more in the comments.

Videos:

Valve YT video

Gamers Nexus video (long and comprehensive)

Articles:

The Verge

Ars Technica

RockPaperShotgun

Polygon

Tom’s Hardware

Phoronix

  • FishFace@piefed.social
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    17 hours ago

    I’ve kept a windows machine around for gaming for decades, and always built it myself. Next time it gets tired I will be checking out whatever iteration the steam machine is…

    Shame that the controller is coming out next year, I need a new one.

    • lemonySplit@lemmy.ca
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      15 hours ago

      When it gets tired (or now) just slap steamOS or Nobara or Mint or PopOS or insert distro here on it and keep using the same comp for another 5 years with the extra overhead reclaimed

      • FishFace@piefed.social
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        14 hours ago

        Not gonna try and deal with Nvidia drivers on Linux if I don’t have to. Having to reinstall all games would itself be annoying.

        • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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          13 hours ago

          Nothing to deal with, either use a distro that comes with them or download them during install.

          You will have to reinstall with your other solution.

          Though if you have it on a separate drive you can add them to lutris or steam and use the existing install.

          • FishFace@piefed.social
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            2 hours ago

            The other commenter was suggesting I replace my perfectly writing setup right now. And you don’t need to reinstall applications when you replace hardware - but windows binaries will not run directly on Linux hence they’ll need reinstalling in that case.

    • artyom@piefed.socialOP
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      17 hours ago

      I can’t recommend anyone buy a Steam Machine, honestly. I’m glad it exists for those who think they need it but you have a giant choice of hardware otherwise that you can simply slap SteamOS or a number of other distros with “Handheld/Game Mode” on them.

      That is, unless it comes with console-like features like HDMI-CEC, updates while “off”, etc.

      • FishFace@piefed.social
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        17 hours ago

        Eh, if it has decent hardware then there is an advantage, just like with deck, of having games tested on that hardware.

        • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
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          17 hours ago

          That is the most important bit here. Valve, effectively, launched a new gaming console that just so happens to be compatible with more games than any console out there. If they can use the install base of this platform to force developers to build compatibility like what they’ve done for the steam deck, this is going to be huge.

        • artyom@piefed.socialOP
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          17 hours ago

          I’ve never seen games that run on Steam Deck that don’t run on any other Linux device, unless the devs specifically made it that way, in which case you give it the ol’ steamdeck=0