Though the Steam Controller broke Valve’s storefront, and the Steam Machine otherwise stealing the show, I’m most looking forward to Valve’s VR headset, the Steam Frame. Until its release date is announced, however, the brief look at the headset’s Welcome Tour software, allegedly leaked to Reddit, will have to tide you over.
Over on the Steam Frame Subreddit, someone has shared what appears to be the first few seconds of the headset’s first boot (via Notebook Check).
It says, “Welcome to Steam Frame”, and gives a brief overview of the controllers, how to hide and show the UI, and how to pair the device with your PC. The Reddit user credits LabeVR, but doesn’t cite where exactly the information came from.
First look of the Steam Frame Welcome Tour from r/SteamFrame
Notably, it’s captured via the Valve Index and not the Steam Frame itself, hence the coloured pass-through. The Steam Frame only offers black and white passthrough, which makes its AR use a little lacking in comparison to the Meta Quest 3 or Pico 4 Ultra. Naturally, it’s a gaming VR headset, and designed for that purpose, first and foremost.
Once booted up, the Steam Welcome Tour shows an overlay of the user’s Steam Library, displaying VR games first. It’s all fairly efficient and smooth. Just turn the headset on, connect it to the PC, and start playing games.
That is the major selling point of the Steam Frame. It has an included USB Type-A dongle that then wirelessly tethers the device to your PC, and this all gets transmitted to a dedicated antenna in the headset.
The video feed sent to the headset is naturally very demanding, but Valve has implemented foveated streaming to ease some of the processing. Effectively, with built-in eye tracking, it can pump up the quality of whatever you are directly looking at, whilst toning down whatever falls into your peripheral vision.
This software being tested is a good sign that we are nearing the device’s eventual launch, especially as Valve just last week affirmed the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be shipping this summer.
How many units it will ship, what price they will be, and the specific date have not yet been announced. That said, summer is set to end in just a few short months, so we’re likely not far away from the official reveal.
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