This isn’t going to be a high end machine, it’s probably competitive with the PS5, more or less.
You didn’t mention what you have, but you could probably get a decent upgrade competitive with this for well under $1200. The GPU seems to be about an RX 7600 ($250-260), the CPU is about a 7600 ($190), motherboard is $170, and 16GB RAM is $120. So $700-800 mandatory, plus whatever you need to replace from your current rig, and the result should be a bit faster than the Steam Machine. That’s probably a bit more than the Steam Machine, but it’s upgradeable, whereas the Steam Machine won’t be.
Lol, my dumb computer is running DDR3 / no TPM, it’s super old. I have been waiting for video cards to get better/cheaper. I’m totally down with not the fastest. If it plays 90% of my games, costs less than $600. I just read that it’s six times more powerful than the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck can run Cyberpunk 2077, so this will do just fine. Another thing that I really like is that Valve is verifying games for their hardware. The games it can’t run, I guess I won’t play. I’m sold!
The controller would’ve been an instant buy for me if it had asymmetric sticks but I’ll wait for it to come out and give it a try before I make a decision.
That was my feeling too. That PS/Wii U scheme feels so uncomfortable to me. Like over-extending your left thumb which I use much more than my right thumb on the analog stick.
But I realized I’m semi used to it on my Steam Deck and it feels okay. If I could, I would switch it out, though.
I’m down to buy the new controller. I have a Steam Deck and it’s very comfortable to hold, other than the weight. This thing is basically the Deck controls without the screen and a bunch of the weight.
Plus, I’ve personally found the gyro, trackpads, and back buttons to be extremely useful for games that don’t have controller support, or for simply easier use of existing buttons (like putting L3/R3 on back buttons). I’m really looking forward to this, looks way better than the 2015 Steam Controller.
Lastly, that charging connector / wireless adapter all-in-one combo is just nice.
My only concern would be haptics. This really needs to have good rumble motors, and not just trackpad haptics like the deck. The pad haptics are good for subtle effects, but near useless for conveying actual heavy vibration, explosions, stuff like that. Sounds like they accounted for this though:
High definition rumble
Steam Controller’s powerful motors are capable of handling complex waveforms for immersive, accurate haptics.
That sounds closer to something like the PS5 DualSense enhanced haptics, and if so, I’m here for it.
My experience with the Steam Deck and the Index controllers are the only thing keeping me from writing it off my mind all together. I have faith in Valve’s team when it comes to ergonomics so I hope they surprise me.
That said, I hope they improved on the Steam Deck because the face buttons on the Deck are so close to the edge that it’s challenging to do quick presses for games like rhythm games.
Yeah, Sony really nailed the haptics with the PS5 controller. The high-fidelity motors feel nice while still having punch, and the adaptable triggers give a nice satisfying squeeze when game designers use it properly.
The newer God of War games had a few good examples, with the adaptable triggers getting harder on more “difficult” stuff. If Kratos was using a lot of strength for some quick time event, the triggers got harder to pull. It was a nice touch that helped add immersion and suspense to a game that was already very visceral. When Kratos cleaved into an enemy during a kill animation, feeling the trigger relax afterwards was a nice satisfying capstone to the “you just beat the crap out of this enemy” animation.
No Man’s sky supports the adaptive triggers on PC (Steam) and when they are used, it really does make a little difference! I just always feel like it’s going to break the triggers for some reason. I don’t trust Sony, so that may be why. lol
Exactly. Sony insists on having symmetrical sticks, even though Xbox figured out asymmetric was better back in 2001. Every third party controller has asymmetric switches. Even Nintendo Pro controllers do. Why did Valve choose the objectively worse solution?
Now I understand. But how are symmetrical sticks ojectively worse? Valve’s design team built dozens of prototypes for the first controller, they probably did the same for the second one and still opted for symmetrical sticks.
The outermost spot is easier to reach with the thumbs. The most used elements of the controller are face buttons and the left stick. Having the left stick in the “secondary” position makes no sense.
I’m sure the team gathered some proof in usability and ergonomy tests before deciding on an option. After all, the controller needs to adapt to many possible layouts, not just for right-handed avatar movement.
I have a Steam Controller and could never get used to it. I don’t like the track pad D-pad on the left, since it’s uncomfortable to use for camera control or as a D-pad, it’s just awkward. The right one is okay, but in a weird spot, since it’s annoying to jump all the way down to the buttons.
The new one looks a little better, but I’d still prefer the left stick to be higher (maybe seap with the D-pad?). I love the Steam Deck, so maybe in practice this is fine.
The whole point is the trackpad and gyro. It really does take a lot of getting used to, and that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, which is fine.
The thing is: if people want a regular controller they can buy a ps 4/5 and Xbox controller and use it. Everything steam has supports that.
Which is consumer friendly as fuck and actually awesome.
But if you don’t want to use the controller as it was designed, or can’t get used to it, then it’s probably not a great choice for you. Which is al totally valid.
The DS4 has a gyro though, so I can do gyro aiming w/ it if I want. Steam Input makes configuring it quite easy.
I thought I was the target for the Steam Controller because configurability sounded fun, so I picked it up w/ the Steam Link in a bundle w/ Rocket League and I ended up not using either (and I bailed on Rocket League after EGS bought them). I think it was a cool idea, but I ended up not liking it as much in practice. I keep trying to give it a second chance, but each time it just feels weird.
That said, I love the Steam Deck, which is a natural evolution of the Steam Controller. It has capacitive joysticks to make the gyro better, the track pads don’t get in the way, and the triggers and shoulder buttons feel better. The main thing I miss from the Steam Controller is the button in the triggers. Everything else on the Steam Deck is a straight upgrade, and the extra back buttons are enough to make me not miss the button in the triggers.
I might end up getting the new Steam Controller, but I wish they would’ve put the left thumbstick a bit higher and the D-pad a little lower. But since I already use a DS4 and have been considering a DS5, this is a natural upgrade for me.
I find asymmetrical sticks more comfortable to use. The natural position of my thumbs is in the top corners of the controller. Since the D-pad is rarely used, the left thumb stays in that sweet spot and the right jumps between the stick and the buttons.
I use a DS4 on my desktop, an Xbox 360 controller on my retropie box, and a Nintendo Pro controller on my Switch, and the DS4 is way less comfy than the other two. I only use the DS4 because it had better compatibility with Linux and other features (mostly gyro) when I shopped for one when I moved the Xbox controller to another room.
I’ve considered buying the DS5, but would much rather wait for something better, like a new Xbox controller with a gyro.
That’s your preference though. I prefer Sony’s symmetrical sticks. It’s ok to have your preference, no need to state that it’s the objectively better one.
I actually prefer Sony’s symmetrical design, but that’s probably because the PS1 was the first console I owned as a kid. I played other consoles like the NES/SNES/N64/Saturn/DreamCast at friends’ houses, but the PS1 was the first console that was truly mine. And I went straight from the PS1 to the PS2 in my early teens. The DualShock controller was the one I grew up playing the most, so it’s the one I’m most familiar with using. The Xbox 360 generation definitely tends to prefer asymmetry though, which is really just a matter of preference.
The Xbox was my first, and I prefer the asymmetric design. However, the controller I use on my PC is a DS4 and it’s fine, and I use it because it had better Linux support at the time.
The only thing ever called a Steam Machine before was the PC architecture they tried to push over a decade ago that was more or less just cheaper PCs of various builds that all ran on the original SteamOS. None of them were made or sold by Valve itself.
The only other steam hardware that was cancelled was the Link; because you can do what it did through an app without the need for specialized hardware now.
Yeah, I really wanted to like my Link, but it was plagued by random FPS lag spikes that made it unplayable. Sometimes a game running at a perfect 60FPS on my PC would just suddenly drop to like 2-3FPS on the Link for a minute or more. Frame times were suddenly measured in hundreds of milliseconds.
In my router and on my PC’s traffic data, I could see my PC was still sending the same amount of data to the Link. And on the Link’s detailed stats, I could see it was receiving the data. So everything was sending and receiving just fine. But the FPS would just suddenly tank for no discernible reason.
It seemed to get worse over time, (maybe as the hardware aged) and it made the Link completely unusable after a while. And the only real response I ever got from Steam about it was “have you tried updating the firmware on your Link? Or try using the app on your TV instead.” Notably, my TV at the time didn’t have the Link app available.
I’ve considered looking into whether or not I can flash something new onto the Link, to at least repurpose it into something else. I have like three of the damned things knocking around in a box, because my first one worked great and I got a few more. Then they slowly started getting those FPS drops, so I quit using them. Maybe a Bluetooth hub for Home Assistant? Or I could try to use it in a project like a Raspberry Pi.
When I listen to my interview audio, I find an additional hint from Griffais: “We intend for it to be positioned closer to the entry level of the PC space, but to be very competitive with a PC you could build yourself from parts.”
Poking around the web, I find I could probably assemble a computer with this performance for $800, not including labor. But it could easily consume half the room under my TV. A compact system with a similar GPU can cost $1,000 without storage, memory, operating system, or a gamepad.
Which makes it reasonable to assume it's gonna be at least within that price range. And that is personally way too much for me.
I would guess lower than 800 for the base model. The steam deck entry price is low and they probably will try to have the machine affordable. They know no PC gamer that can build their own PC will buy it if it’s not competitive.
Since they’re OEM integrating parts, I can guess around 550-650 for the base model but that will also depend on the US tariffs that week.
Well, their customers are PC gamers so it makes sense to target them. Not all gamers build their PC themselves (I’d say most don’t as I have built most of my friends pc). Having a plug and play solution, without risk of hardware/driver/software issues, can be attractive to some. The market for these is not hardcore gamers, but couch gaming.
But if the hardware is more expensive than a pre-built, no one will buy it.
They said in interviews that some steam deck users primarily use it docked to a TV (like I do), and that showed them there is a market for such devices.
It looks cool, but to me, if it’s not being offered for around $500, then it’s just a pc replacement in my eyes. From the questions he asked, it definitely seems like it’s going to cost more than $800.
Good timing though, get your system out first before the next generation starts releasing at the end of next year or 2027. From what I have seen, the first to release generally does the best.
My problem seems to be how much it talks about the ps5. It’s been 5 years, so of course, better hardware can fit into smaller space. My problem with that is generally any hardware that compacts it this much will run into heating issues a few years into owning it so I would absolutely prefer the bigger ps5 anyday which has shown no issues so far. Also, they were comparing it to the ps5 alot which is a 5 year old system. I would hope it does significantly better!
I also would like to know more about the OS. Is it just the steam deck OS slapped on this, or is it customized more? I would want/hope they deliver the things that a console offers and more that make it more convenient than just a PC.
Overall, I am interested in this, but if it really does costs as much as I think it will, I am not sure who this will ultimately be marketed to, and I could be wrong, but I doubt it will sell enough for them to say it was a success lets make more. They do have the money to throw at it though, so I guess that was enough for them to take a stab at it after the success of the steam deck.
While the main cooling system is important, the thermal interface material they pick is also a big deal with systems intended to not be user serviced and with long lasting lifetimes like consoles… It honestly depends a lot on what TIM they decided to go with. Traditional thermal pastes are cheap but almost always dry out after just a few years causing much higher temps. Liquid metal is great, but more expensive and you must design it right, vertical orientation can cause leakage if not properly designed (some laptops end up having issues because of this). Phase change material is probably the optimal middle ground for ease of installation, and simplified design.
Watch the gamer nexus video if you want more info on the cooling. Iirc they use phase change TIM for the CPU and paste for the GPU.
They also talk about how they designed the case to avoid it being choked
It sort of is… I collect consoles, I have everything from the 2600 to PS3/Wii/360. I quit after that because the XBone and PS4 were just horrible shitty PCs that ran games like garbage and had insane load times. I like the newest XBox and PS5, but I’m done collecting consoles forever because they’re just locked down PCs now. The Steam Machine is a console for computer game players with MUCH LESS locked down OS than a PlayStation or XBox and I love that idea very much. I have four high-end computers for games at my house (maybe five, one is old but still works great with linux) and I would still consider a Steam Machine in my house as another first computer… but it does really taste like a console (in a good way)
I’m excited but i won’t accept it until I see the price. If it turns out good this would be a stark upgrade to my PC, but it has to be comparable in price.
They were always known as being a crunch-heavy studio. The only reason they weren’t pulling their current mtx-riddled, always-online modal before is that the tech wasn’t there.
That’s unfortunately the reality of it. For a lot of topics where you think you’re only semi-well informed/confident, you’re still much better informed than 90% of people.
Now that doesn’t mean you should not still take action when you can, but you have to come to terms with it that even if all of the currently informed people take action, it often won’t even be noticed by the company/government for years or decades (until enough awareness spread that it starts making a difference)
You should feel absolutely zero guilt about pirating “triple-A” software. It’s a morally neutral act. The money they would’ve got from your purchase is so insignificant to them that it wouldn’t even show up on their annual returns. Assuming they file them.
I understand it’s not just impacting US developers, as the price of these development kits is also going up across Europe and elsewhere. That’s likely because those “macroeconomic” conditions extend beyond just US tariffs, with currency fluctuations, production costs, and other elements impacting pricing.
I’m thinking they don’t sell that many dev kits so maybe the price is going up for Europe also simply because all of the kits ship from China to Redmond and get distributed to the rest of the world from there. Like, I kind of doubt they even build and sell enough in a year to fill a single shipping container.
That and they likely also would donate to the orange man fund to avoid impacting the businesses related to them, f the people that actually pay for it (given that those people likely have no choice).
Wow this was always the plan, wasn’t it? They were probably “operating at a loss” when the price was actually reasonable. Honestly glad I never bothered with it at this point.
AG Pam Bondi twierdziła, że aplikacja została „stworzona w celu narażenia agentów ICE na niebezpieczeństwo”, czemu zaprzecza jej twórca.
Richard Lawler, 3 października 2025 r., godz. 1:57 UTC
Firma Apple usunęła ze swojego sklepu App Store aplikację ICEBlock, która działała podobnie do Waze, ale służyła do lokalizowania agentów ICE, o czym informował wcześniej serwis Business Insider. W poście opublikowanym przez twórcę aplikacji przekazano komunikat Apple App Review dotyczący zakazu, mówiący: „Właśnie otrzymaliśmy wiadomość od Apple App Review, że aplikacja #ICEBlock została usunięta ze sklepu App Store z powodu „nieodpowiednich treści”. Jedyne, co możemy sobie wyobrazić, to presja ze strony administracji Trumpa. Odpowiedzieliśmy na tę wiadomość i będziemy walczyć!”.
Aplikacja ICEBlock znalazła się na szczycie listy przebojów App Store tego lata po tym, jak stała się celem ataków urzędników administracji Trumpa. Sekretarz bezpieczeństwa wewnętrznego USA Kristi Noem nazwała ją „utrudnianiem wymiarowi sprawiedliwości”, a prokurator generalna Pam Bondi stwierdziła, że „nie jest to wypowiedź chroniona”.
Dzisiaj Bondi przypisał sobie zasługi za usunięcie aplikacji, mówiąc Fox News Digital: „Skontaktowaliśmy się dzisiaj z Apple, żądając usunięcia aplikacji ICEBlock z ich App Store — i Apple to zrobiło. ICEBlock ma na celu narażanie agentów ICE na niebezpieczeństwo tylko za to, że wykonują swoją pracę, a przemoc wobec organów ścigania jest niedopuszczalną czerwoną linią, której nie można przekroczyć”. W tym samym raporcie cytowany jest twórca ICEBlock, Joshua Aaron, który twierdzi, że aplikacja ma ponad 1,1 miliona użytkowników i że „Apple twierdzi, że otrzymało informacje od organów ścigania, że ICEBlock służy do wyrządzania szkód funkcjonariuszom organów ścigania. Jest to ewidentna nieprawda”.
Apple przedstawiło podobne twierdzenia w 2019 r., kiedy usunęło aplikację HKMap, która umożliwiała protestującym w Hongkongu śledzenie ruchów organów ścigania. Dyrektor generalny Tim Cook poinformował pracowników, że „w ciągu ostatnich kilku dni otrzymaliśmy wiarygodne informacje od Biura ds. Cyberbezpieczeństwa i Przestępczości Technologicznej w Hongkongu, a także od użytkowników w Hongkongu, że aplikacja była wykorzystywana w złych zamiarach do ataków na poszczególnych funkcjonariuszy oraz do nękania osób i niszczenia mienia w miejscach, gdzie nie było policji”.
W tym czasie politycy z obu stron sceny politycznej wypowiedzieli się przeciwko „cenzurze aplikacji przez Apple”. W liście podpisanym przez senatora Rona Wydena (D-OR), senatora Toma Cottona (R-AR), senatora Marco Rubio (R-FL), senatora Teda Cruza (R-TX), przedstawicielkę Izby Reprezentantów Alexandrię Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), przedstawiciela Izby Reprezentantów Mike’a Gallaghera (R-WI) oraz przedstawiciela Izby Reprezentantów Toma Malinowskiego (D-NJ) napisano: „Przypadki takie jak ten budzą poważne obawy, czy Apple i inne duże amerykańskie korporacje ulegną rosnącym wymaganiom Chin, aby nie stracić dostępu do miliarda chińskich konsumentów”.
Obecnie administracja Trumpa ogranicza wolność słowa w ramach walki z niejasno zdefiniowanym zagrożeniem ze strony „antify”
Jak napisały dzisiaj Elizabeth Lopatto i Sarah Jeong:
Antifa, zgodnie z opisem zawartym w memorandum prezydenckim dotyczącym bezpieczeństwa narodowego (NSPM), jest jednocześnie wszystkim i niczym. Jest obecna na forach, w mediach społecznościowych i podczas spotkań osobistych. Jest obecna w organizacjach edukacyjnych i instytucjach non-profit. Jest obecna podczas protestów („zamieszek”) nie tylko w Portland, ale także w Los Angeles, niezależnie od tego, czy są to protesty przeciwko polityce imigracyjnej Trumpa, czy też odrębne „zamieszki antypolicyjne i przeciwko wymiarowi sprawiedliwości w sprawach karnych”. Jest to ujawnianie danych osobowych zamaskowanych i uzbrojonych agentów ICE. Jest to „retoryka” dotycząca pocisków, które rzekomo zostały wygrawerowane przez zabójcę Charliego Kirka – odnosząca się, jak się wydaje, do nieużywanego łuski pocisku z kombinacją przycisków z gry wideo.
Antifa może więc być dzieckiem w czarnej masce rzucającym cegłą w kamerę CCTV w placówce ICE. Antifa może być babcią na chodniku trzymającą tabliczkę z napisem „DONALD TRUMP JEST FASZYSTĄ”. Antifa to ACAB. Antifa to Fuck ICE. Antifa to No Kings. Antifa może być grupą czytelniczą, wykładem, apelem o wzajemną pomoc na Instagramie. Antifa może być aplikacją ICEBlock, a App Store może zapewniać materialne wsparcie dla terroryzmu.
Aplikacja ICEBlock ma służyć do anonimowego zgłaszania przypadków pojawienia się funkcjonariuszy amerykańskiej służby imigracyjnej i celnej (ICE) oraz przeglądania zgłoszeń z obszaru o promieniu 5 mil. Twórcy aplikacji twierdzą, że oferuje ona „całkowicie anonimową i bezpieczną” platformę, na której deweloper nie przechowuje żadnych informacji, co jest możliwe dzięki ekosystemowi Apple. Co najmniej jeden badacz potwierdził poprzez inżynierię odwrotną, że aplikacja nie udostępnia bezpośrednio danych użytkowników.
Jednak inni krytykują jej przekaz, na przykład twórcy systemu GrapheneOS opartego na Androidzie, którzy twierdzą, że twórca aplikacji może być „w błędzie co do prywatności zapewnianej przez iOS”. Inżynier ds. bezpieczeństwa i dziennikarz Micah Lee nazwał aplikację „teatrem aktywizmu”, twierdząc, że wiele twierdzeń Aarona zawartych w przemówieniu na temat aplikacji i jej bezpieczeństwa jest fałszywych, i zauważył, że serwer, który obsługiwał, działał na przestarzałym oprogramowaniu z znanymi lukami w zabezpieczeniach.
Firma Apple nie odpowiedziała jeszcze na prośby serwisu The Verge o oficjalny komentarz dotyczący usunięcia aplikacji ICEBlock.
theverge.com
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