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Steam Frame starts at $1059

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#251

Post by ehe78qhe »

tapoxi wrote: post #134
njovin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is missing maybe the biggest point - this isn't just a VR device. You can run some/many (depending on your library) of your regular Steam games on a 'flat screen' inside the VR environment, which makes this much more like a SteamDeck with a giant private screen for a lot of people.

This machine runs Linux, it comes with KDE. This is the open Apple Vision Pro alternative that you can use as a real computer. It comes with a black and white passthrough camera but you can add on a 5K color one. There's ongoing work for a full Plasma XR mode, so you aren't restricted to a "virtual desktop" experience: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/8671

The Frame's screens aren't good enough for general computing. This is purely an entertainment device.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#252

Post by rjh29 »

grahamburger wrote: post #235
sporp wrote: post #16

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.

I played a few hours of Alyx and, I'll be honest, it started to kinda freak me out. I noticed myself getting a bit of anxiety when putting the headset on to play, and a relief when I took it off to see the real world was still there! I've never experienced something so immersive, but I haven't picked it back up to finish it yet. Someday. I also still mini golf regularly. It's such a fun, low effort way to hang out wi…

I know that feeling. I had it with Resident Evil 4 and other full games in VR. It's almost too immersive and I can't play more than an hour or so.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#253

Post by bonestamp2 »

jayGlow wrote: post #104
JeremyNT wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly my VR glasses are older, but for me this is a really terrible experience. If a game lacks native VR support, it's far more comfortable to just use my widescreen monitor in the real world.

I'd agree even if the resolution is closer to a real monitor I'd really rather not have a headset strapped to my face to play the same games I could play on a tv or monitor.

For sure. I think this is more for someone who wants something portable though.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#254

Post by teravor »

sunaurus wrote: post #199
RomanKornev wrote: post #195

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…

Not quite: foveated streaming only affects the bitrate of the stream. For improving rendering performance, there is a similar technique called foveated rendering. It's still somewhat unclear how well that works while streaming, though. In theory, it should work, but no reviewers seem to have covered it for some reason.

you would probably need special engine optimizations to really make use of it, and VR hasn't been exactly an attractive option for AAA games.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#256

Post by MayeulC »

daemonologist wrote: post #106
manlymuppet wrote: post #72

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

You could do it, but the resolution isn't high enough for it to be a good experience. (2160x2160 per eye sounds like a lot, but with a 110 degree fov it's only ~19 pixels per degree. Which is like sitting very close to a 27" 720p monitor.)

Usually the pixel density is higher in the center of the FOV though (more distortion due to the lenses on the sides). It's what set the original Oculus apart from existing headsets at the time: cheap lenses and correct the distorsiin in software. It's also a feature, as the actual density is better in the center :)

I do wish they used micro-LEDs for that kind of display though. I guess that they could be manufactured at the same time as a metamaterial acting as a lens sitting on top.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#257

Post by bonestamp2 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #107
Waterluvian wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not trying to proselytize an opinion here, but every time I think about VR Goggles + a virtual flat screen, I think about how entire industries exist to make us comfortable while we watch our real flat screens. A VR option would allow me to just lay comatose-like in my bed, goggles affixed to my face, as I watch whatever. It terrifies me, partly because of how good I bet it could feel.

I have an "image sorter" web application that works great on desktop, tablets, phones and... my meta quest 3. I can bum around the spare room on the couch and have three big windows hanging in the air. If your "click" targets conform with WCAG AAA standards such an app is easy to use with controllers. It's particularly fun to watch 3d movies with the headset but with several decent TVs in the house I'd watch movies m…

> with several decent TVs in the house I'd watch movies most of the time with one of them

Once these headsets have comparable image quality, I could see them being very engaging for TV series, sports, and movies. I often wear headphones at night when I'm watching content to avoid waking my family. Being able to do that in any room, with an even larger "screen" would be really useful in some cases.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#258

Post by yencabulator »

ehe78qhe wrote: post #251
tapoxi wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This machine runs Linux, it comes with KDE. This is the open Apple Vision Pro alternative that you can use as a real computer. It comes with a black and white passthrough camera but you can add on a 5K color one. There's ongoing work for a full Plasma XR mode, so you aren't restricted to a "virtual desktop" experience: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/8671

The Frame's screens aren't good enough for general computing. This is purely an entertainment device.

As far as I've kept track, a good-enough-for-reading headset doesn't exist yet. So it's not like Frame bad, it's whole industry still bad.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#259

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

rwz wrote: post #186

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…

When you’re in VRChat you can be your fursona

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#260

Post by simoncion »

kakacik wrote: post #56
njovin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is missing maybe the biggest point - this isn't just a VR device. You can run some/many (depending on your library) of your regular Steam games on a 'flat screen' inside the VR environment, which makes this much more like a SteamDeck with a giant private screen for a lot of people.

How long is that comfortable? For sure not couple of hours in 1 go

> How long is that comfortable?

It depends on the person. I can wear my Index on my head for like all day. I'm not sure what my longest Elite: Dangerous session was, but it was quite long. Other people find the same headset to be either too heavy or improperly balanced for wearing more than an hour or so at a time.

As far as motion sickness goes, it has been my experience that you can train yourself out of it. Recommendations:

1) If it doesn't do bad things to you, consume some Dramamine beforehand.

2) Don't play games that launch you through the air or otherwise induce a lot of mismatch between your virtual motion and your physical motion. Seated piloting (car or otherwise) games are one big exception to this recommendation, as most folks have a lot of brain training with "I'm sitting in a vehicle that's moving me around.", so one's brain doesn't freak out so much when presented with those visuals.

3) When you start getting nauseous, stop immediately. If you're still game, come back to play after the nausea is gone, but not before.

Newbies will attempt to power through the nausea, but it's not something you can power through... you'll just make it way worse, which sets back the whole "Convince your stupid brain that the minor mismatches between the visuals and the inner-ear sensations are not the result of poisoning, so it doesn't need to make you puke your toenails off" training that you're doing by easing into this and -if possible- using OTC anti-nausea drugs.

[0] For me, Dramamine is very helpful to prevent motion sickness.

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