This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Phoronix article: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Machines-Frame-2026
Also listed here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/hardware
Valve has already sent support for the new Steam Controller upstream: https://www.phoronix.com/news/New-Steam-Controller-SDL
Valve really listened to Saejima's advice:
Steam Synapse when?
Finally, another worthwhile controller with symmetrical sticks. Now to find out how to get my hands on one...
I typically just have one hand on each side
Since the Steam Machine is more like an entry PC and not a console (and will be priced as that), does that mean that SteamOS for desktop will be officially supported?
In their announcement video, they specifically called out that you can install whatever software you want and showed somebody working on CAD. So, yeah, definitely.
I forgot where but some time in the last 3 hours I read that the goal for steamOS is to be supported on all PCs, though it's an ongoing effort.
That's a big challenge, but a worthwhile one. The reason that Microsoft exploded in the DOS era was because it ran on everything that was "IBM compatible" aka x86. Meanwhile Apple was over there with a competitive product, but you could only run the software on their OS that ran in their hardware. People were able to get cheap third party x86 compatible computers and run MS-DOS (and later Windows), and they were not locked into a specific vendor doing top to bottom hardware/software support.
If they do this right, they'll be the go to option for a lot of people who generally use their PC primarily for gaming.
FEX is the most exciting thing for me!
Right? It's a huge bridge between x86 and ARM, it just opened up a potentially huge market for lower power consumption gaming devices. You could have like a Gameboy that runs silksong or something.
Why does the controller look very uncomfortable to use? I hope it's not.
Im hyped for a new vr headset.
Me too. I bought the first quest before Facebook acquired it. Now that Facebook/Meta own quest and stuff ... I've been staying away from VR for now.
I'll definitely be doing my best to get one as soon as it's available. Everything about it sounds hype.
FYI, technically Meta/Facebook had already owned Oculus for something like five years before the original Quest came out. They just started getting really blatant about the branding shortly after that time, probably to acquiesce to Zuck Zuck and his huffing of his "metaverse" crack pipe increasingly frequently.
I’m really hoping that the price of the vr headset meets or beats the Facebook models.
I do too, but I'd highly doubt it will. It's well known that Meta sells every headset at a loss and funds the expenditure via revenue from their gargantuan advertising and spy network, specifically to squeeze out competitors and make it harder to enter the VR market as a newcomer. Zuck Zuck still thinks all the prime real estate in the metaverse is going to be his, because he only read the first half of Snow Crash.
Gabe is a rich man and I assume he and his company could take this approach as well if they wanted to, at least temporarily. But based on their pricing for their past hardware (particularly the Steam Deck), I predict they won't.
I’m curious about the “it’s a PC” aspect of the Steam Box. Because a device that plays all Steam games but isn’t a Windows computer is extremely appealing, but I admit if I can’t install a few non-Steam games on it, that’s a spoiler for me. But if the whole “it’s a PC” provides some avenue to that, I’m definitely ready to stop building a gaming PC every 5 years.
Yeah, you can. SteamOS is basically just a customized arch Linux. It's what runs on the steam deck, which you can install non-steam games on. They integrate really well into the console experience as well.
Steam Box
Ahem, it's a GabeCube.
It's going to be like the steam deck, I've yet to find a old Non-steam game that I couldn't run on the steam deck.
Short of explicit developer lockout
Time to sell my never used old steam controller
Never fear! I will happily spare you the trouble, and take that old thing off your hands - free of charge! ;D
I loved that controller. Best damn gamepad I ever had. It was a sad day when it finally gave in, and broke, last year.
