Steam News & Updates

[Alan]

It’s very nice and small! It’s like a GameCube size and I’m sure it will be known as a Gabecube. If that’s 400-500 I’d be interested but the way AI is slaughtering hardware pricing :/

[Raid]

I've already seen Gabecube from multiple sources.

It's a nice looking little machine. They're giving a 4060 as a comparison point for its graphical power, and say it should be capable of running all current games at 4k using frame gen stuff, so it sounds like a perfect replacement for home consoles. I'm expecting it to be more expensive than current-gen consoles, but given how cheaply you can buy PC games if you're happy waiting a few months, you'd easily make back the difference on the hardware cost in no time.

Valve's ecosystem is just better than all of the other gaming options, particularly if you use multiple devices. They've now got home PC gaming, VR gaming and mobile gaming options, all of which will have automatic cloud saving letting you play wherever you want if your wallet supports it, and you only have to buy the game once. I also love their insistence on letting you completely customise their controller layouts, even when you're not using their own controllers.

[Wrathbone]

I know I don’t need any of these announced items, I’ve very little use cases for them, yet somehow I know I’m going to end up with at least one (probably two) of them.


EDIT - And inevitably I've already convinced myself I could do with a Steam Machine. The price is going to be the deciding factor, though it looks like they're keeping costs down in exactly the right ways: a lower storage option with room to upgrade, the controller is sold separately and performance is targeting 4k60 with upscaling rather than native resolution. It's all very appealing and I think visually it looks excellent too. I'm guessing £700-800 for the entry model, which would not be vastly unreasonable for what you're getting.

The controller and the VR... I dunno. The original Steam controller was an abomination and the Deck controls are decent if unremarkable, but I've never found the trackpads to be anything other than a necessary evil. I kind of hate them in principle and they look hideous on this new controller. I'll probably stick with a Dualsense and a mini wireless mouse/keyboard for convenience. As for VR, I'm still not sold on it. I've had fun in my Meta Quest 3 (though I strongly agree that I'd prefer it to be anything but Meta) but it's still a massive chonking thing on my face that isn't comfortable for more than 30 minutes, even with a quality 3rd-party strap. I'm not built for VR as it currently stands.

[Animalmother]

Yeah if its reasonably priced and not impossible to get hold of, I'd definitely be interested. Does it come with the controller?

[Wrathbone]

Sold separately, apparently.

This is a really cool feature:

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/valve- ... m-machine/

TL;DR, if you install your Steam games on an SD card, you can swap that card between Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Steam Frame and the games will all just work. Makes sense if you think about it, but you can guarantee if this was Microsoft it'd be a proper rigmarole.

[Alan]

That generally works on windows too, you just need to add the card to your steams library locations so just slightly more seamless here.



https://www.theverge.com/news/819863/db ... chine-skin

Well played dbrand….



You know, the more I think about having a box under the telly with the quick resume features of the steam deck/modern consoles the more I want one. I could replace my Nvidia gpu with an AMD and do something similar with my main PC but controller wake etc… This thing is becoming more appealing the more I think about it. I don’t really give a shit about power since I see so few new AAA titles I’m even a wee bit interested in and would be fine with FsR doing the lifting there.

Really hope it’s around 500!