Valve has officially introduced the Steam Frame device.
The company is positioning the new product as a wireless virtual reality helmet with controllers that will run the entire Steam library.
The manufacturer focuses on ease of use. According to the supplier, the device has a balanced weight between the front and rear parts and requires no preliminary configuration. A quick return to gaming after exiting sleep mode was also announced.
The kit includes a 6 GHz wireless adapter with Plug and Play technology, providing a dedicated communication channel for regular broadcasting and VR. According to engineers, two radio receivers will ensure higher connection reliability: one specializes in transmitting audio and video, and the second is responsible for connecting to Wi-Fi, which in theory will eliminate competition between lines for bandwidth.
For optics, custom pancake lenses are installed – two LCD panels measuring 2160 x 2160 pixels, one for each eye with a refresh rate of 72 to 144 GHz. It is pointed out that four monochrome cameras will ensure tracking of the controller and helmet without the need for calibration, and an external infrared LED will ensure that tracking quality does not degrade even in the dark.
Steam Frame controllers are familiar input devices in their class. In addition to the standard D-pad, ABX buttons, sticks, triggers, and bumpers, there's also a capacitive finger sensor that's backward compatible with SteamVR games that feature this feature. Autonomy according to the passport is about 40 hours from one AA battery.
It's worth emphasizing that at the hardware level, the Steam Frame is a PC running SteamOS. It is built on the Snapdragon 8 Series hardware platform and equipped with 16 GB RAM.
With this configuration, according to information from the announcement, it will be possible to launch regular and offline VR games without broadcasting from the PC.
All Valve shell options are available on SteamOS – quick pause and resume, save to the cloud, install your own apps, use the browser, etc.
Projects that have passed verification will be labeled Steam Frame Verified, similar to the implementation with Steam Deck.
The start of sales is planned for early next year. Cost not specified.
