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Looking forward to the impact these releases are going to have on the software side of things.

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The gamepad looks cool, it's a shame it doesn't run on simple rechargeable AA batteries. I have a hard time with gamepads where you can't easily change the batteries. There's nothing worse for me than wanting to play and running out of power.

The Steam Machine looks nice. But it's really entry-level equipment. It will certainly be successful if it's sold cheaply, between 400 € and 450 € depending on available storage. But if its price is too high,, it's likely to be a flop. I hope also they'll update Steam OS to ensure compatibility with Grub2, allowing for the installation of other operating systems in a multiboot configuration on this Steam Machine.

Regarding the virtual reality headset, I'm not a fan of this kind of technology to begin with. I'm a little worried that screens so close to my eyes might damage them over time... And since I wear glasses, I'm not sure they'd be compatible with such a headset. However, they've done a good job with its weight, it seems much lighter than the competition's. If its price is affordable, it will certainly delight fans of this type of technology.

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Well this is a nice surprise

Finally VR looks appealing to me. Linux first VR at that! This is quite exciting really.

My TV (Samsung) has been blocked from the internet at my router for some time (sneaky privacy invading, ad infested firmware upgrades etc.) so I think I'll get a Steam Machine for watching streaming services primarily and for some gaming.

As for 8G VRAM... I've been playing Stalker 2 with firstly an 8G RX 6600 and now a 16G RX 9060 XT and guess what - it still doesn't use more than 8G VRAM (according to Mangohud). Not an issue for me anyway. I have a 4K TV but it's rarely gone above 1080p and I'm not bothered.

I can see some late Xmas pressies coming my way

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You can wishlist it already. Scroll down far enough on the new hardware page and they each have a star under them.

Doesn't work for me. I get a star... and then its away again.

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Note that the problems with newer nvidia drivers apply to both SteamVR and Monado. Downgrading to a 550 driver also means you'll have to downgrade your kernel as its modules won't compile on newer kernels. On Kubuntu 25.10 (kernel 6.17), I couldn't install 550 due to an endless list of errors (seems like the module build system changed). Going back to kernel 6.14 only leaves one compilation error that needs to be fixed (you need to comment out one line from one of the source files). But after that, everything is smooth again.

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It's another take on game bundles, something we really used to love long time ago.

We would get a bunch of games at low price, but of course, you wouldn't want to play every game in the bundle. So people started trading unneeded keys between them and resale key sites popped up. This made developers less interested in bundling games, as it would eat into their sales.

So, we need to square that circle, how do we get cheap games and the developers still get paid. Digiphile's idea is to not give you the Steam keys, so you can't trade/sell them. But if you already own the game on Steam, you can trade it into credits which you can exchange for games from previous bundles.

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Interesting trade back system.
Closer to what I want to see like a building credit system with a subscription and monthly special sales for subscribers so you can always wait out for the next deal.
This might be a bit better in a way though it requires going all in regardless.
I am rather tired of Humbles just "it expired, deal with it" approach as of late.

Fanatical has been really killing it this year and those build a bundles are straight up wonderful but this isn't a bad idea either.

Hope they do well.
Tempted to try them out, get the full pack and see how they do.
I want to support this new style and see it grow.

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A Steam Mug

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Steam Controller 2 finally, but dang it next year?
Take my money now!
Oh wait no dual stage triggers, deal breaker.
I kid I lived without it on the steam deck I guess I can deal.
Would love it in green hmm.

I may have to save up for that VR set, finally a more open standalone VR that just runs what I own and whatever else.
Wonder how the emulation situation will be or if proton will handle the linux ports from x86 to ARM.
Hoping compatibility will be similar to the Steam Deck but at least they will be ways to make things work.

Steam Deck I bet will have an upgraded version soon I hope cause I want some of these new controller things on deck and I'd like my Deck to be visible by the VR set too.

The Steam Machine I don't need too badly but I'd love to get one just to have one.
Hoping there will be a way to upgrade in the future but dang loving that front panel.

Next year should be great but dang it, I want that controller now I've been skipping out on new controllers all year.

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I think I am going to buy every three products.
Performance-wise the Machine is on a par with my current PC, but way smaller and uses less power. :-)
This is not a real argument, but how long have I thought about the Deck, that I do not need it and now the performance is really bad. But actually I want it.
Wanted to buy the Orange Pi Neo, but hell, it is still not available.

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@chr , why make it more complicated than it has to though? ;)
Have it simple and then offer the option to built fancy stuff on top of it for those that want to invest more time.

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Calling the PC "Steam Machine" again, is this stupidity or some severe balls?!?

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Me this morning to family:

Yes, I'm going to get VR!

Then, misreading:

Oh no, it's just a streaming device!

Finally, reading further:

Yes, I'm going to get VR!

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So what you're saying is that 2026 is going to be super-expensive for me then?

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@GustyGhost if the price is competitive i might buy one for my partner who is more into casual gaming and wants to move away from the isolating 'big box PC stuck in a small room experience' to play in the living room. And also it should be great for streaming to from a much more powerful big box PC.

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This is incredibly exciting news! I sincerely hope Valve plans to upstream their contributions, particularly the work done on FEX and the extensive ARM optimizations. Integrating these back into the mainline projects would offer huge benefits to the entire Linux community, not just SteamOS.

A key technical question I have is whether SteamOS 3.0 for the new Steam Frame remains based on Arch Linux. If it is, Valve's work on the ARM platform could significantly impact upstream Arch Linux and its derivatives, such as CachyOS. Regardless of the base distribution, I'm curious to know how these performance enhancements will be shared or integrated into other major non-Arch Linux distributions as well.

It's a huge opportunity for cross-distribution collaboration and advancing Linux gaming on ARM (and hopefully RISC-V in the future too)!

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One of the few factors in the first Steam machine's failures was on the part of fence sitters (people like myself) not moving on the opportunity to buy one.

This is our second chance. Or my second chance, anyway. I will certainly be buying one or several Steam Machines.

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On current-gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X/S), true native 4K (3840*2160) rendering is not common in most AAA games. It's like 5-10% of AAA titles on Series X, even less on PS5, and non-existent on Series S. Dynamic resolution scaling, upscaling, and reconstruction techniques are the norm. 4K is just marketing and extremely rare. Most players can't tell the difference in blind tests anyway (Digital Foundry has proven this repeatedly).

interesting. Not to get too into the weeds here but the thing im wondering here is how a 'real' console operates vs a PC with SteamOS. On those '4k' console games that use native resolution but checkerboarding, DSR the TV is still taking a native 4k signal so no upscaling internally meaning the video DAC is not adding too much latency. However PC games don't really work like that in that you as a user tend to have to manually switch to 4k and then fiddle around for ages trying to get things to work and a lot of games not designed with a specific hardware target in mind (like a console) won't have upscaling options, or DSR built into the game. The likelyhood imo is that people will either run games at 1080p or maybe 1440p and let the TV scale to native 4k.

also we don't know the memory bandwidth yet, my 12GB 6700XT is a 192bit bandwidth cannot realistically do 4k because of that limitation in most cases, the best it can manage without really chugging, even on older titles is 2880 x 1600 , sure in *some* case you can run those games but mostly your getting dips into the 40fps region.

So i do think there will be some latency for folks running on a 4k TV in general where games are not catering for the user like a 4k optimized console game.

However i don't think it is trying to compete with the PS5 or is it .. im confused now.

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If we forget about the VRAM issue, it's a beautifuly made Linux hardware and I'll consider buying it, even if I don't need it (and if I can pay for it), just to support the cause.

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I didn't see a single word about AI.

Valve.

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Half Life 3 Confirmed!!!

Look ->
We have 3 new products...
Announced Wednesday...
3rd day of the week...
3rd week of the month...

From the Devices We have the words --> Machine Control Frame

1. Black Mesa control machinery (Half-Life 1)
2. Combine control interfaces (Half-Life 2)

3.So in Half Life 3 we will have:

Machine Control Frame (MCF) — In automation or industrial networking, an MCF is a data frame or communication packet that coordinates or synchronizes machine actions, such as movement control, safety interlocks, or sensor feedback between controllers (PLCs, robots, etc.).

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Ok, so I'm going broke in 2026...

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I already have this on Steam, but I don't usually play fighting games online. So this doesn't really make a difference to me. I voted with my wallet to support Virtua Fighter and don't regret my decision.

I'll probably double dip and get it on the Switch 2 if I ever get one. I already have vanilla Virtua Fighter 5 and Final Tuned on PS3, then the PS4 release, plus this Steam release. lol

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Probably still 1080p.

Going to largely come down to the game. But I assume it at least has PROPER access to FSR4? lets hope so.

Ultimately I think it will come down to price. People will be comparing this to PS5/XBSX prices and if its double or triple those consoles it may not sell well. Same with the VR headset, if its over 1000usd I think it won't sell as well as VR is already NICHE.

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I don't understand, why did they give Linus Tech tips a review unit and not you? Seems like a huge oversite.

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Day 1 buy.

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What's the resolution on most living room TVs?

Probably still 1080p.

My question is are we looking at a barely disguised Dev Kit for a next-generation handheld that is still a few years away.

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outside of outliner concerns like the PC system memory upgradability and lower then expected fov on the VR headset, oh and how is pitch black? The biggest question is always price.

When Steam Machines flopped back then, it was because Proton wasn't ready.

Actually it was also because the cost kept going up(or varied); if people remember the steam machine was being made by MANY companies and cost a LOT and also didn't even come with SteamOS most the time, as it was Windows.

Basically it just became a prebuilt PC bundle of rando companies ABC. Certainly didn't help that SteamOS was FAR FAR from ready and Windows was just bad for a gaming machine.

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WE ARE SO BACK!!!!!

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As to Steam Machine performance, I guess my question is: What's the resolution on most living room TVs?

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