Half-Life Alyx is the greatest gaming experience I have ever had the pleasure to witness. I now occasionally VR golf. It's a steep price for a niche with not a lot of games.

GamersNexus released a video comparing the Frame VR vs Meta Quest 3 today, worth a watch for the Frame review alone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcerOYY_K1g

I know everyone is singing the praises of the Steam Frame's wireless capabilities but honestly, I just want my wired VR experience back.

I had a Rift 2, Reverb G2, then Quest 2 and eventually Quest 3. Despite the Quest 3 having a resolution similar to the G2, it looked more like the Rift 2 than the awe inspiring G2. Wireless gaming never looked as sharp and streaming over USB was also a very poor experience, with input latency and artifacting.

Wireless headsets also _suck_ for simulators and productivity - where a battery only adds weights and a wire is not noticable.

Personally, I would love to see a wired headset that resembles the bigscreen beyond but with inside out tracking and a universal face gasket. For wireless experiences, I'd love to be able to plug my phone in, put it in my back pocket and use it that way.

That sort of "head mounted display"-first approach would make it practical to use the device for productivity / screen replacement while gaming would be dependant on your phone or computer.

Hacker News should be all over this device. They won't lock it down like the Meta stuff. Go ahead and install BeOS on it.

I do hope Valve's work on ARM64 for this, alongside improvements to performance in Honeykrisp, make for a dramatically better experience with Linux on Apple Silicon Macs.

They're very lovely devices with big GPUs, and I would love to (one day when ram prices go back to normal!) repurpose my M3 Max as a under TV Steam Machine when I upgrade.

I've never been interested in VR headsets and am not very educated about it.

Can someone explain why you'd want to actually run things on it instead of having a much lighter screens-and-headphones-only unit that plugs it into a more powerful machine that renders things for it? What's the benefit of having to strap all this extra hot hardware and batteries to your face.

Is it just about it being wireless? Surely there are wireless protocols that can stream high-bandwidth videostreams from your PC to VR goggles.

Not trying to be snarky or facetious, but genuinely curious.

If use for solely VR Gaming, and you don't care a ton about the privacy aspect, it is a hard sell against a new or used Q3. However, for myself personally I love the idea of it as a device I can tinker with and have full control over. I would love to also replace my laptop with it while traveling. Especially with a small wireless keyboard it has a good chance to replace my laptop for tinkering/gaming on the go.

With the price increases it is likely not a good value for an average person, but for myself and some other tinkerers I think it is very acceptable.

For these devices, I always enjoy Adam Savage's Tested videos. Here's the one they posted today for the Steam frame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9JyWAVj94E

It's full of technical details and down-to-earth analysis, and includes interviews with the Valve engineers.

Wish Valve would make enough of something so that everyone that wanted one could get one. I wanted to get an Index headset when they launched that. I would check the Steam store page every few months, for 5 years. Every time it said "Out of Stock". It's still out of stock in France today. They design great products, but are useless at getting them produced in quantity.

I've been astounded by how many older games are suddenly getting surprisingly good VR ports/mods (I suspect AI-assisted tooling is playing a role in some of this) There's a youtuber Beardo Benjo who has been documenting a bunch of them where some are tethered to a PC while others have been ported to run natively on the Quest.

A few of the more interesting ones, newest to oldest:

Left 4 Dead VR [9/14/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-blXLU_oy8

DOOM [9/11/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkxVI2KEKrk

Call of Duty Zombies VR [9/2/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9VjFpInLiU

Dead Island 2 VR [8/28/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notfg5bjUdM

The Simpsons: Hit & Run VR [8/26/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJZKjkRzyI

GTA: Vice City VR [8/18/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH5k5Un8_HE

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time VR [8/6/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzhbhrotI1Q

Cyberpunk 2077 VR [8/4/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXho2LdD1qo

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild VR [5/17/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Mpqk2X3ww

Pokémon VR [9/1/2026]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlEl1IVU8PA

Ready or Not UEVR Mod [9/8/2025]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnGfQBQJP8Y

Also exciting, Valve has finally started shipping native ARM/FEX builds of Proton 11: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/vr/valves-latest-proton-11-bet...

Will be super interesting to benchmark various ARM chips and see where they land performance-wise!

At basically quest 3 levels of on device performance, this thing better have amazing software. This price is way too high.

Our expectations have been warped by Meta's decade long subsidization of VR hardware

I want this for one reason and one reason only: DCS.

Anyone know how well it works/doesn't work yet?

I've waited for years to get a VR heads for DCS (its a flight simulator folks) .. and now, maybe, this is it.

At current hardware prices, this is worth buying to use as a server!

I think the price is very reasonable for what’s on offer (especially given the current memory crisis), and given that Valve doesn’t subsidize the cost of anything, it really shows how much Meta values your privacy and biometric data for advertising purposes (~$600 in subsidies).

One thing I keep seeing reviewers skip over is VR Chat, which is weird since it’s a core VR experience that continues seeing average player count increases YoY compared to the boom-bust cycle of most VR games/experiences. It’s also an experience the headset seems uniquely targeted for - wandering the home or apartment streaming over 6GHz Wi-Fi, hanging out with friends or going to raves, no umbilical needed or dodgy Quest support limiting the experience.

For VRC alone, $1300 is a very respectable price for the experience on offer, especially compared to the $1k “entry point” of the Index. Common man VR this ain’t, this is targeting the VR serious as well as those who value privacy higher than what Meta offers in subsidies. The 2D support is a clever way of justifying the higher price though, and giving folks a more private way of enjoying their libraries in non-gaming spaces.

The Meta model (of cheaper hardware, highly subsidized) is probably not long for this world, with the recent increase in component costs.

Lower volume with consumers fully covering the device cost will probably become the norm, which doesn't bode particularly well for this industry (at least in the short term)

Kind of bizarre tbh, given the software market for VR seems absolutely dead. Announcing it with a 7 year old game is like, what? What's Valve's plan here?

I don't game much nowadays; can I just use this to replace my monitor, and work within high fidelity VR?

Actually more reasonable prices than I assumed. I know it’s a position of privilege, but just pre ordered the 1TB.

It's absolutely wild to me that they didn't include, and have devs ship profiles for some of their games, SuperDepth3D or some other depth map shader officially in some form in the Steam UI for this. If a big focus is playing your pancake library on a huge screen (due to there not being not many native VR games), having that huge screen be 3D would be a huge value add. And they're big enough to get some developers to ship profiles for their games officially guaranteeing some form of workingness(?).

Isn't it bit odd that there is no basic wired connectivity option? Or am I just old-fashioned? As far as I can tell you only options are 6GHz streaming or stand-alone mode

> Reservations are currently not available for customers who have not made a purchase on Steam before Mon, April 27, 2026.

As someone who made a purchase on steam (that I can't even play) after the release of the Steam Machine, but before the release of the Steam Frame, in the hopes that the date would be later, I am disappointed that they used the same date, such that that purchase still does not unlock the ability to order.

Hopefully it's possible to use eye tracking as a pointer in desktop mode. I'd like to connect only a keyboard and use binds to emulate clicks.

With the software being open source I wonder if the quest 3 will get owned so that eventually we can run steam frame sw on it

With every VR release I check the resolution per eye to see if I can use it as a work desktop replacement. IMO the current Meta Quest 3 is not there, and this roughly matches it. I am not sure what the resolution needs to be to render good text...but I'm hopeful we get maybe 50% more pixels at some point in some version. Unfortunately, i think the screen stack at that level is well outside mobile usecases so there is kind of a chicken and egg. Manufacturers don't want to work on advanced VR display tech without demand, and it can't be used for work purposes until display tech improves.

Foveated Streaming seems to be buried on the page, this feels like a true game changer, especially for PCVR. Coupled with eye tracking it unlocks about 2-3x more compute for rendering. Now sparkle DLSS-like upscaling and you can render 144hz native resolution PCVR games without buying a 5090. Truly exciting stuff.

I still remember Michael Abrash's talk from 2016 where he talks about Foveated Rendering + Eye tracking as one of the key pillars of next-gen headsets https://youtu.be/o7OpS7pZ5ok?t=5438. Interestingly, his prediction was that it would be widespread as of about 5 years ago. Is next-gen finally here after 10 years?

I wonder how well fex will work with older 2d-3d games before, say, 2003, of the PS2/Xbox era and earlier, and whether controling mouse pointer is viable using the default controller.

For me personally steam frame would be worth it if only for running these kinds of games on a large virtual screen, watching movies and intermittently using it as a linux computer (with a limitation that text is likely not readable if the screen is comparable with Quest 3). And some VR native apps like Alyx.

Basically the stuff that Steam Deck already does save for all the new games (which run worse and worse with each year anyway)

Damn that's expensive but well now if they made the streaming stuff openly accessibly for any headset that would be nice.

I see no reason meta quest headsets couldn't do it next gen.

My personal ambition is to see VR/AR be cheap enough.

Why they decided to include standalone functionality is beyond me. It's a $1000 dollar VR headset. 99.9% of people buying this will already have a beefy gaming setup and will much prefer to stream from that instead of play standalone. You're not traveling with this thing, you're not using it on the go, it's not heavily subsidized like Quest headsets...

Including standalone and an SSD and ram and stuff does nothing but jack up the prices drastically, for functionality that nobody's gonna use. Rest assured, I will not be buying one.

>Your Steam Frame headset easily pairs with your Steam Controller. Stream from your PC, laptop, Steam Deck or (coming soon!) Steam Machine for an immersive experience with any of your favorite games.

How are they even intending for the Steam Frame to be used with the Steam Deck? As far as I know, it’s not meant to be used with a cable, and the wireless adapter it ships with is USB-A.

I wanted so much to play with VR back in the 90s, but most 3d games give me motion sickness. I could barely play 5min of Goldeneye on N64, 2min playing Metroid and I was sick to death (headache, vomiting if I forced myself, feeling sick for hours).

Although I can play many, it's really a hit and miss. And thus I avoided VR not really knowing how it would render me useless.

This feels like kind of a weird set of trade offs. I'm sure they'll be able to fix a bunch of polish issues in software later (better gamepad support, adding hand tracking, etc). And the enthusiast crowd will likely fork out the money for the ecosystem advantage alone. But I feel like I'd be hard put to convince a non-enthusiast

That’s a better price than I thought it would be, but still quite high. I will consider buying it someday, but today it’s a luxury I can’t afford…

Underpowered where it really counts. The GPU is barely better than that in a Quest 3 (Adreno 750 in Steam Frame vs Adreno 740 in Quest 3,) and while the CPU is almost 250% better overall than what is in the Quest 3, CPU power hasn't really been the limiting factor in most VR games I've played, it has been the GPU, both in PCVR and in standalone devices.

> This item is not available for purchase in your region

:(

The Steam Frame looks like a heck of a device. At the cost, though, I question why they didn't include a better pass-through camera. A device with onboard processing and a good pass-through camera would be very neat. If they were trying to make this an affordable device I'd understand, but it's over a thousand dollars.

Great news: SteamOS running on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, ARM64

Bad news: I'm poor. Just wish I had pocket money for niche products like this.

I'm so happy that they DONT SELL TO 75% OF THE WORLD(No options in Asia, Latin America or Africa. 3 ENTIRE CONTINENTS)

I'm a little late to the party but is there any list for recommended VR games?

I had Quest 3s for a couple weeks but I returned it because I didn't liked it and wanted to buy the Quest 3, but at the end I just decided to wait for the Steam Frame.

Fascinating that the linked page leads with specs rather than customer experience.

Many of the comments here do speak to the experience, which is helpful!

> 2160 x 2160 LCD (per eye)

The 4K we've all been waiting for - the (2x2)K.

I think this is a good chance to try and port Alyx (ARM64 build) to visionOS and run it on my Vision Pro headset which has been running around unused for the last two years xD

Aussies are getting it at a premium, too.

USD$1059 (256GB) should be AUD$1483, retailing for AUD$1609 - a AUD$126 premium.

USD$1299 (1TB) should be AUD$1819, retailing for AUD$1969 - a AUD$150 premium!

Anyone recommend light-weight VR (or AR) setup that’s just good for watching movies on a big screen? Nothing fancy just good for that and portable.

> Steam Frame starts at $1059

I see no price in the linked page. I only see "This item is not available for purchase in your region."

(Still waiting for the Steam Deck...)

For those in Japan who are interested but getting blocked (or waiting) for access via Komodostation.com:

199,980 base 256GB

244,980 1TB model

considerable markup even over the current USDJPY rate

It's SteamOS on ARM64 platform, which means now you can run PC games on phone chips, definitely should be a revolution product.

This might be a stupid question, but presumably this (and similar devices) won't cater to people without 3D vision?

Not being very savvy about VR glasses, am I assuming correctly that this device can't do AR, as the cameras are only used for tracking?

You can get a used or cheap headset for a similar experience. VR has a couple of games you get bored of pretty quickly :0

been there

That’s a remarkably cheap storage upgrade too. First time I’ve ever thought the upgrade would be worth the money.

No better than the rest of the VR headsets that came before it and almost no-one wants them. These headsets will end up collecting dust with the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest Pro.

We gave VR headsets enough time and this is just going to be a repeat failure of the previous ones.

Glasses such as the XReal on the other hand have a far better future than these VR headsets.

Man, the increase in price really killed the post-deck steam hardware

I think the only way this is really compelling is if it's able to effectively function as a virtual Linux desktop with a reasonably clear floating monitor in front of you.

I'm not sure that's appealing to me for a couple reasons that mostly boil down to "I don't really want a computer strapped to my face for hours at a time", but I'm the right kind of weirdo who sees the appeal in being able to eliminate the 32 inch monitor from my desk. I'd love to have all this desk space back to put "not computers" in. Or even just leave it empty.

Outside that, so much of this feels very ... I dunno. Answer in pursuit of question. Sure, I can play my Steam library "anywhere" (* caveats apply), but how often do I really want to do that, and especially how often do I want to take the very expensive gadget around to do that?

I've got a Lenovo x86 handheld purchased for around $500, which I'd already be a bit reluctant to drag out on the train or wherever public. For an even more expensive headset with optics and other difficult-to-clean parts, much more so.

VR games themselves are very "meh" to me. Some are insanely cool, but they just aren't enough to rationalize buying a headset. I've got a CV1 that's collected dust for years because it's just not worth it.

It looks like this does support a pretty robust sort of virtual desktop environment, though. That could make this almost compelling, I think. But that's a steep price for "it's almost interesting"...

Anyone knows how the passthrough compares to visionpro with the add-on?

Who are they targeting with this product?

What’s the appeal? Can someone enlighten me? :)

10 years later and VR headsets are still too heavy, hot and sweaty. Short of having brain implants or magical contact lenses, nothing will ever change that.

Can't be used more than 30min without major discomfort for most people. Any talks about it replacing monitors are lies.

It has 16GB ram so the device is only like $500 actually.

I'm wondering how long the battery is in one charge.

If only it were OLED

Maybe Im just poor

Does anyone make VR games anymore?

Just duct tape your smart phone to your face for free

This is everything and much more than i wanted from a VR system, it feels like its designed exactly for me. Also tbh i thought after the steam machine price shock i got that this will be like 200 more.

1. It is SteamOS with desktop mode, the SteamDeck made me really miss that feature on any newer console i use like my ps5 or switch 2. Like even if we just limit it to games, playing games like The Binding of Isaac or Minecraft unmodded is a pain for me. Even just using websites for Streaming Services that dont have their app on every system ever, PS5 and Switch 2 dont even have webbrowsers you can just access, I think you have to edit DNS settings to make it think you have to sign up for a free wifi in the browser IIRC.

2. Wireless Streaming without the (Quest 3S) downsides of Wireless Streaming. I have a 6ghz router in my room, connected to my Laptop with an ethernet cable and tried the streaming on a quest 3S. I dont want todo that ever again, it was so inconsistent. It felt like the beatsaber song and gameplay speed up and slowed down like 1-5% in waves to catch up with the stream. Also sometimes my right eye turned into a chess grid of black pixels but i would assume that was more of a Linux Quirk. Also since i use a Laptop i dont want any wires from my headset to the Laptop, I dont want to pull my laptop and possibly more off my desk in the middle of a game. Also for movement games like beatsaber i find cables really annoying when you want to quickly accelerate.

3. Both the Windows mixed reality Headset and Quest 3S had TERRIBLE software. To continue using the WMR i had to reinstall windows like once every 1-2 months. Which just ended up with me stopping to play VR (Like why would i reinstall my PC like 6-12 times a year just to play those 3-4 games. From what i know from the steamdeck, the frame will be so so much better in this regard. On the Quest i wouldnt even have my steam library without connecting to a PC.

4. An ARM linux device that doesnt contain 10-15 year old somewhat mid phone hardware. Like i had been thinking about getting a macbook for asahi linux for a long time now just because it seemed like the best in that regard and i really really wanted a finished, high performance ARM device. And if i can run that many steam games on my non actively cooled phone already without the frame even being out (Since both use the FEX layer) (which has the same chip as the frame) I feel like i will really enjoy it for local Minecraft VR and Beatsaber and probably more.

5. The controllers. LTT complained about the "Default Xbox layout" because reaching all buttons is a bit hard, but for me, both the meta quest 3S and Samsung odyssey + controllers had a severe lack of buttons to bind game actions to. Also i like bigger controllers anyway, I like the Steam controller, I like the Wii u Gamepad, I like the steamdeck and I even like the OG xbox controller. To me those werent big clunky controllers, they were (or are) the most comfortable controllers i have used so far.

The only 2 things im eagerly waiting for more Info on is the "Much better comfort" i have been hearing about and the ability to install .APK files.

Either way im already sold on this thing and believe i will LOVE it for years and years to come.

Fuckfuckfuck. Not now, I will need to now offset this with a present for wife. Not to mention, it will mess with how fast other projects move. Fuck.

Funny, I'm now finding my first thought with new hardware like this to be "how good is it at running AI models locally?"

I mean.. I could consider renting a pair over a weekend or something. But buying? No way

[dead]

[flagged]

Brutal pricing. It would have been brutal at $600.

Having said that, there really is no other game quite like Half Life Alyx. It's so good, immersive and one of a kind. Perhaps worth the price of admission. It's so good that it kind of ruined VR gaming for me because all other games kind of felt like tech demos from that point on.

Yikes, what a terrible price. 55 minutes playing on-device Half Life Alyx. 1hr 30min streaming from a PC with dongle. 3 hours charge time. It's just pretty lame tbh. Damn :(

This is a huge step backwards for VR. The headset is heavy, hot, and worst of all, expensive. This is the opposite of progress for this field.

I don't really actually understand how Valve can answer "no" to the data collection questions.

If they have an inside-out tracking system, then they implicitly obtain biometric and environment data (user height, room layout). If they have a microphone, then they implicitly obtain data about humans talking inside your house. If they have an App Store, then they implicitly obtain data about apps installed on your device and the use time thereof.

Now, what they do with that data after the fact is almost certainly less nefarious than Meta - but they do by definition collect that data.