GoKawiil
Tech News
Following Valve's official Arm64 SteamOS release for its Steam Frame headset, open-source developers have expanded the Armada project to bring a similar Linux-based Steam experience to Android gaming handhelds. The system combines the Linux kernel, Valve's Arm64 Steam build, the FEX emulator, and Proton to run Windows x86 games on Arm hardware, with support already available for devices from Ayaneo, Ayn, Retroid and Konkr.
Remedy Entertainment launched Control Resonant on Thursday for $60 across Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox platforms, with a Mac version planned later this year. The sequel shifts protagonists from Jesse Faden to her brother Dylan, moves the setting from the confined Oldest House to an open world, and replaces the shape-shifting service weapon with melee combat.
Tom's Hardware tested AMD's BC-250, a 2021-era APU originally built from defective or downgraded PS5 silicon and later sold as a cryptomining card. A community-developed BIOS and driver set now lets hobbyists turn the card into a Linux-based gaming system with 16GB of shared GDDR6, at roughly half the cost of a comparable built system once a power supply and other parts are sourced.
Airbus is using a Steam Deck handheld PC to operate its prototype ExoMars rover during development and testing at its Stevenage, UK facility. The setup was shown in a video by YouTuber Tom Scott, with the Deck's thumbsticks, triggers and face buttons used to drive the rover, which is intended to operate autonomously once on Mars.
Valve is rolling out its $1000 Steam Frame headset slowly through a lottery-based reservation system meant to curb scalping, similar to its earlier Steam Machine launch. In the meantime, gamers with existing VR hardware from Valve, HTC, Meta or other brands can already play VR titles on Steam using the SteamVR app, which connects headsets to the Steam launcher and unlocks features like SteamVR Home and dashboard settings.
Airbus is testing its ExoMars rover prototype with a Steam Deck as a handheld controller, as shown in a video by YouTuber Tom Scott touring the company's UK facility. Engineers used the device's sticks, buttons and triggers to drive the rover in real time during ground testing, while a laptop was used for another prototype in the same demonstration.
Newegg is selling Microsoft's black wireless Xbox controller together with a $50 digital Xbox gift card for a combined $80. Since the controller alone usually costs $50 to $60, the deal effectively prices it around $30 once the gift card value is factored in.
Valve's Steam Frame VR headset, previously expected in early 2026, has shipped now starting at $1,059. The Verge's review found it fun for both VR and flatscreen gaming but noted ongoing instability and bugs, echoing the rocky launch of the original Steam Deck.
Valve's Steam Deck supports a built-in factory reset option accessible through Settings > System > Advanced, without needing a PC or USB drive. The reset process takes about 10-15 minutes and requires an internet connection if reinstalling SteamOS afterward, while microSD cards remain unaffected but should still be removed as a precaution.
Valve has released the source code for Lepton, its Android compatibility layer that lets developers run existing Android games on the Steam Frame VR headset without rebuilding them from scratch. The code, hosted on Valve's GitLab, reveals how Valve customizes an Android environment for VR on SteamOS, including graphics access, developer tools and debugging support. It follows the Steam Frame's launch and Valve's earlier announcement of Lepton alongside Steam Frame Verified certification requirements.
Tom's Hardware Premium's weekly roundup covered Valve's release of the Steam Frame VR headset with an interview of its engineers, an investigation into worsening DRAM and NAND shortages now hitting SLC and NOR Flash, and PieceMakers' Taiwan stock debut pitching hybrid-bonded chips as an alternative to HBM for AI inference. The issue also detailed a public dispute among AI leaders after a former OpenAI and Anthropic employee warned advanced AI could threaten humanity by 2030, prompting rebuttals from Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang.
Valve says it's actively working to bring functional Nvidia graphics drivers to SteamOS, the Linux OS behind the Steam Deck and Steam Machine, but the effort could take years to complete. Internal testing has already gotten Nvidia drivers running and rendering graphics on certain GPU generations, though performance still trails AMD hardware.