In the 2010s, Valve was at the forefront of a virtual reality revolution that looked to some like it would upend the gaming industry. The Valve of six to ten years ago seemed committed to being a major player in the world of PC-connected VR headsets, first through its \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d with HTC on the impressive-for-the-time Vive headset (plus the SteamVR platform standard that powered it) and then years later with its own Index headset (and proof-of-concept adventure Half-Life: Alyx). Then came the Meta (previously Oculus) Quest, a low-powered, low-cost headset that proved the vast majority of VR-curious gamers didn\u2019t want to bother with being literally tethered to a bulky, expensive gaming PC. As the Quest line carved out a modest niche through the 2020s, Valve seemed more or less satisfied to let its earlier VR hardware and software ambitions wither on the vine.<\/p>\n
Those years of Valve\u2019s benign neglect of VR make the imminent release of the $1,049 Steam Frame\u2014which starts taking reservations today\u2014more than a little surprising. Now that virtual reality\u2019s hype-fueled, revolutionary promises have decidedly not played out, Valve is somehow ready and willing to limp headfirst into the world of standalone VR headsets\u2014today, in 2026. And after spending a week or so with Valve\u2019s latest foray into gaming hardware, the Frame somehow feels simultaneously overengineered and underbaked, depending on how you look at it.Read full article
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