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Steam Frame starts at $1059

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#271

Post by crooked-v »

jader201 wrote: post #264
bentt wrote: post #232

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.

It's still VR. It's still niche. There are still many issues that VR hasn't solved (and may never solve). - You still have to wear a device on your head - You still (can) get motion sickness and/or headaches - There is still not a lot of great content around VR - Many people still prefer the flat screen medium and content The openness/closeness is only one of the many issues this solves, and it doesn't matter when al…

The motion sickness in particular is something that's been mostly solved by using non-stick locomotion, like Gorilla Tag (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1533390/Gorilla_Tag/). Both the 'big name' developers and the various flat-to-VR mod makers still insist on stick locomotion, though, even though that actively makes the experience worse.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#272

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

RomanKornev wrote: post #244
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.

You can even run Half-Life Alyx on Steam Frame itself (standalone mode), albeit at around 36FPS according to Tested https://youtu.be/C9JyWAVj94E?t=3330

36 FPS makes running it on the device a rather theoretical possibility for a VR game.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#273

Post by andybak »

moffkalast wrote: post #206
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.

Same. I'd say it's ridiculous to even mention it as a feature, it's more like a compatibility fallback. A shitty monitor showing an even shittier monitor while you have a fat brick strapped to your face. Maybe this gen is better, but from what reviewers say the practical hardware changes are very minimal. What's more interesting is that it's a linux desktop open for tinkering. Maybe lots of virtual desktops all aroun…

You don't need 4k in the headset panels to simulate a 4k monitor. The virtual screen isn't glued to your head.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#274

Post by IshKebab »

bentt wrote: post #232

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.

Is that confirmed? Arm devices tend to be awkward to install your own OS on in general. E.g. look at Android phones.

I mean Valve definitely are very open-source friendly but I wouldn't just assume.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#275

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

bsoqk wrote: post #204
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.

Tangentially related: If I wanted to play Half-Life: Alyx, and spend as little money as possible whilst still having a good experience, what do I need? (I already own a beefy desktop computer)

Quest 1, the built in native streaming, with a wired connection from the beefy desktop to a WiFi 5 AP on 5 GHz in a low noise environment worked sufficiently. I'd get at least a Quest 2 if you're getting something new (not sure if the 3 is better than the 2).

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#276

Post by crooked-v »

wlesieutre wrote: post #216
bsoqk wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially related: If I wanted to play Half-Life: Alyx, and spend as little money as possible whilst still having a good experience, what do I need? (I already own a beefy desktop computer)

Probably Quest 3S, and unless things have improved with the native solution you'll want to pick up the "Virtual Desktop" app for better wireless streaming. It's not very good resolution by today's standards but it's the cheap entry point. Quest 3 (non-S) has resolution comparable to the Steam Frame but costs $250 more. If you only want to use it for streaming, you might look a used Quest 2, which has similar optics a…

Of course, if you get a Quest you're also paying with the sheer amount of personal data shipped off to Meta the entire time you're using it.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#277

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

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.

The Arizona Sunshine series are also really great VR-native games. Not AAA but far closer to a complete game than most VR games.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#278

Post by k4rnaj1k »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #54
LarsDu88 wrote: post #7

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'm ready to pay it to not be forced into using Facebook's terrible desktop software that they frequently break the PC Link functionality of. The way it's Windows-only also sucks; it's one of the few things that's prevented me from switching my gaming PC to Linux. And yes, I've tried third-party solutions like Virtual Desktop under Windows and ALVR under Linux. Even with some of the best WiFi 6E hardware available st…

[dead]

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#279

Post by simoncion »

vablings wrote: post #122
teach wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've been Linux-only on the desktop since the early aughts and trying to get the Valve Index working was so frustrating and inconsistent I eventually gave up. It sits collecting dust and I've still never played more than the first fifteen minutes of HL: Alyx (because no game is worth installing Windows for). Very much looking forward to maybe actually being able to use VR on my gaming computer.

VR on linux has really turned a corner in the past 3 years. Last I played in vr with linux it was perfectly acceptable.

Yeah, I used my Index on my Gentoo Linux machine like six months ago and it worked fine. FWIW, I'm using an AMD video card. Perhaps it doesn't work at all on Nvidia hardware, but -absent sabotage from Nvidia- there's no reason why the type of video card should matter at all... the thing's a wide-ass screen with some sensors attached that the graphics card has absolutely nothing to do with.

Re: Steam Frame starts at $1059

#280

Post by bsimpson »

moffkalast wrote: post #227
ripdog wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For good reason. Last time I checked (this year), Alyx crashes Mesa (i.e. your Vulkan layer) when the player enters an in-game load zone. This happens with native linux and the proton windows version.

Ah, definitely a subtle reference to Black Mesa. Bravo Valve.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_(computer_graphics)

Started by not-Valve in 1995

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