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Valve is working on a handheld game console named 'SteamPal'

Wonko_C

Wonko_C

Member
A few months ago patents were found for both wireless and standalone VR headsets. Could be the latter.
 
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VN1X

VN1X

Banned
Fuck yes more grifting on twitter!



Yeah Baby GIF by memecandy
 
yurinka

yurinka

Member
How do they know "Neptune" and "SteamPal Games" are refering to a handheld? Maybe it's a new smartphone app or a streaming subscription service that may run on mobile too, or a standalone VR headset.
 
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Gamezone

Gamezone

Gold Member
Hardware will surely be limited. Meanwhile cloud gaming for mobile devices are improving, and new services are being released left and right. Is there a marked for handheld consoles if you're not Nintendo?
 
VN1X

VN1X

Banned
Holammer said:
I know you want to shit on rumormongering for clicks, which is something I fully endorse. But this ain't it, chief.
This is not a rumor, this is datamined info found in the Steam Client Beta.
Click to expand...
Congrats. Shit is mined all the time from Valve games/software. Especially in the case of Valve it means nothing. Even worse, aside from their foray into VR all their other hardware ventures have been half-assed nothingburgers. Those Steam Machines sure did set the industry on fire!

Also no one in their right mind is going to get a VR headset from Valve any time soon, not when you can get a more than decent experience from Oculus these days.

In other words, stop putting any weight behind Valve 'leaks' or announcements and let them actually release something worthwhile again.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to assume they are making a "portable console" rather than just an UI/client for pre-existing handhelds and mobile, frankly.
 
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Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
VN1X said:
Congrats. Shit is mined all the time from Valve games/software. Especially in the case of Valve it means nothing. Even worse, aside from their foray into VR all their other hardware ventures have been half-assed nothingburgers. Those Steam Machines sure did set the industry on fire!

Also no one in their right mind is going to get a VR headset from Valve any time soon, not when you can get a more than decent experience from Oculus these days.

In other words, stop putting any weight behind Valve 'leaks' or announcements and let them actually release something worthwhile again.
Click to expand...
Chill Leopard GIF
 
VN1X

VN1X

Banned
Foorbits said:
Chill Leopard GIF
Click to expand...
Aside from Alyx (something 90% of the rest of us peasants can't even play) they've not released anything of note over the past few years. This is *after* they boldly came out with their new website's redesign and slogan "We Make Games". Oh great, we got two of the most cynical cash grabs not too long after in the form of Artifact and DOTA Underlords; both of which died on their arse (deservedly so).

It sucks to say but it's the truth no? I mean I used to be the biggest Valve fanboy in the world but now they're a mere shadow of their former self. I'm glad they 'sort of' support CS:GO still but I'm not holding out any hope for AAA titles from them any time soon, if at all. Source 2 has been DOA as well and it's only because of the community that we now have some semblence of 'dev tools'. *slow clap*
 
Alexios

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I don't see how there can ever be a Steam "console", people said the same stupid bullshit for the Steam machines, it always has to be PC if it's to have the Steam library to any worthwhile extent. If they partner with whoever to make a nice form factor and implement their controller ideas and everything and their own Linux distro etc., like a fancy GPD Win or whatever, sure, cool, that's still a PC. There will be the same old tinkering and spec and compatibility checking (rather than expecting AAA games that technically support the platform to work fine for the next x years as if it's a console with its own special version library) and all that is PC territory, no matter how fancy the form and the UI of it is. It's going to be just like any other brand's small/portable/tablet/whatever form factor PC. Like Surface, Yoga, Thinkbook or whatever, designed by Valve. And if one likes it and also understands everything that comes with it, good and bad compared to any other model, they don't even need to care whether it sells like a console or not either, it will still work for them regardless. I guess you'd care if it's not a success so there's no updated 202x model when you inevitably need to upgrade assuming the smaller form factors won't be easily or extensively upgradable like any laptop or smaller form AIO PC, but not for any other reason, as if it will not get many game ports like a failed console. Like some rushed to lol @ Steam machines as if the people who got one suddenly didn't have a functioning PC like any other prebuilt user because they didn't sell so hot (they weren't even released worldwide iirc). Calling anything like this a console is disingenuously misrepresenting its purpose to users and undersells what it is. I hope Valve won't do such pr bs.
 
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A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
VN1X said:
Congrats. Shit is mined all the time from Valve games/software. Especially in the case of Valve it means nothing. Even worse, aside from their foray into VR all their other hardware ventures have been half-assed nothingburgers. Those Steam Machines sure did set the industry on fire!

Also no one in their right mind is going to get a VR headset from Valve any time soon, not when you can get a more than decent experience from Oculus these days.

In other words, stop putting any weight behind Valve 'leaks' or announcements and let them actually release something worthwhile again.
Click to expand...

A lot of shit has turned out to be real games from mining. I remember for example ports of Vanquish and Bayonetta which seem unlikely back then. Other many have turned out to be untrue (so far), of course.

If I could afford Vive or Cosmos believe me I'd chose that over Oculus any day. SteamVR's experience is pretty good, not sure what you are talking about. It surely beats having to use Facebook ID and being locked out of exclusives (even within their own product families).

Not saying any of this means anything but we can't dismiss it as if every single Steam leak has turned to be untrue.
 
Alexios

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Alexios said:
I don't see how there can ever be a Steam "console", people said the same stupid bullshit for the Steam machines, it always has to be PC if it's to have the Steam library to any worthwhile extent. If they partner with whoever to make a nice form factor and implement their controller ideas and everything and their own Linux distro etc., like a fancy GPD Win or whatever, sure, cool, that's still a PC. There will be the same old tinkering and spec and compatibility checking (rather than expecting AAA games that technically support the platform to work fine for the next x years as if it's a console with its own special version library) and all that is PC territory, no matter how fancy the form and the UI of it is. It's going to be just like any other brand's small/portable/tablet/whatever form factor PC. Like Surface, Yoga, Thinkbook or whatever, designed by Valve. And if one likes it and also understands everything that comes with it, good and bad compared to any other model, they don't even need to care whether it sells like a console or not either, it will still work for them regardless. I guess you'd care if it's not a success so there's no updated 202x model when you inevitably need to upgrade assuming the smaller form factors won't be easily or extensively upgradable like any laptop or smaller form AIO PC, but not for any other reason, as if it will not get many game ports like a failed console. Like some rushed to lol @ Steam machines as if the people who got one suddenly didn't have a functioning PC like any other prebuilt user because they didn't sell so hot (they weren't even released worldwide iirc). Calling anything like this a console is disingenuously misrepresenting its purpose to users and undersells what it is. I hope Valve won't do such pr bs.
Click to expand...
Ars agrees and rightly avoids clickbait by just calling it what it, likely, is. A gaming PC. With x form factor...
arstechnica.com

Exclusive: Valve is making a Switch-like portable gaming PC

We can confirm some, but not all, of what's in store for the codenamed "SteamPal."
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
So, basically this sort of thing, with a Steam logo and SteamOS/big picture instead of Windows or what.


Or it could also just be random alienwaresque form factor desktop, or both, you can do any PC you like.
 
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Wonko_C

Wonko_C

Member
Could it be some kind of Oculus Quest/Nintendo Switch hybrid? (Proposed/speculated by the video, not much else)

 
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Buggy Loop

Buggy Loop

Member
Never know with Valve, as fast as a new product suddenly appears, support and production can also evaporate pretty fast. Steam link, steam controller, remember the attempt at pre-built PCs?

yea..

beard GIF
 
Rikkori

Rikkori

Member
Good. No reason to let Nintendo hog the handheld market, they're an awful company. Time for Chad Newell to show you how it's done!

6p3FdNjF.jpeg
 
Rikkori

Rikkori

Member
Holy shiiiiiiiit! If this rumour is true it would put the handheld like 30% above an Aya Neo at least. 720p 60 fps across the board easy, with medium settings. That's huge!

 
PhoenixTank

PhoenixTank

Member
I want this to be real... so it can't be?
Roundup of the deets:
videocardz.com

Valve SteamPal handheld gaming console rumored to feature AMD APU - VideoCardz.com

Valve SteamPal powered by AMD APU? According to the rumors, Valve is preparing to launch its own handled gaming console by the end of this year. Today it was discovered that the latest Steam beta client features a codename of “SteamPal”, which is referenced under Valve’s unreleased controller...
videocardz.com videocardz.com
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member
Been thinking about SteamPal and I just listened to the Digital Foundry Direct discussion where they talked about the rumor and I think everyone approach the concept from the wrong angle when they expect it to be a piece of hardware like a Switch running games natively on Linux SteamOS.
I have a theory and I'm going to use this thread to lay it out. If I'm right, I'll point to this post in the future and gloat. If I'm wrong, I pray the thread sinks to the bottom never to be necro'ed.

I think the SteamPal is a dedicated streaming device that's half Steam Controller, half Steam Link with a screen and battery. The hardware will contain the bare minimum horsepower in terms of CPU & RAM required to stream video and run a basic Steam client overlay where you have a store, chat, forums etc. The stuff you expect. Why put a bunch of battery draining intensive shit in that thing and fight an uphill battle trying to get developers to work with it? Demanding titles will never work on portable CPUs anyway and you avoid a crip fight with Nintendo.
The SteamPal is paired with your PC for an encrypted connection and can serve as the host, but that's just an option. Valve will also offer its own SteamStream Streaming Service (SSSS for short) where you can access your library and select titles with your subscription. Good if you have a toaster PC and with Valve being Valve, expect it to allow for PSNOW, Stadia and other services running on it.

The idea is to get a cheap product with long battery life built for comfort rather than something slick that fits in your pocket. The device also serves as Steam Controller 2.0 (might even be named that) and games could be developed to use its touch screen similarly to DS & 3DS. Absolutely useless, but it's there.
Well, that was a lot of oddly specific speculation in this braindump. But it's all baseless and the ramblings of a madman. Now lets wait and see what the thing actually is.
 
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