Gaming

Valve recently announced the Steam Machine, and on the heels of that announcement, we have caught some news about the Steam Deck 2, or rather, what Valve needs to release one.

The Steam Deck was released in February 2022, and then we got the Steam Deck OLED in November 2023. Since then, Valve has been quiet on when it plans on releasing the Steam Deck 2, but recently Valve revealed in a conversation with IGN that it intends the next Steam Deck to be a big step up from the original, and that it won't be releasing the second iteration of the console until hardware becomes available that makes it possible to enable a massive upgrade.

On the back of the announcement of the Steam Machine, Valve has said that it's "really interested" in what is next for the Steam Deck, but it won't be releasing an iterative model that is simply more powerful and has more battery life, as Valve wants something that truly differentiates it from the original handheld. Additionally, Valve said that it has been scanning the System-On-Chip (SoC) market for hardware that will enable it to create the new handheld it has in mind, but right now "there's no offering in that landscape".

Despite being one of the best-selling single-player franchises in Sony's lineup, the Horizon franchise had always been envisioned as a multiplayer project.

The surprise announcement of the new Horizon: Steel Frontiers MMORPG caught fans off guard. It's a new free-to-play MMO set in the Horizon franchise, and it's not coming to Sony's PlayStation 5. This has prompted lots of discussions among gamers about what's going on with the series, and now Guerrilla Games' art director Jan-Bart van Beek steps in to clarify that Horizon was always supposed to have multiplayer.

"From the first moment we imagined Horizon, we always thought about it as a multiplayer game," van Beek said on Twitter.

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 can't be paused, and its campaign is online-only, making it a kind of hybridized multiplayer-campaign mashup.

The new Black Ops 7's campaign is ruffling some feathers, and for good reason: It completely breaks tradition, blurring the line between what's considered multiplayer and singleplayer content. It's a kind of experimental mix of DMZ and zombies in the guise of a campaign, but with frictional choices like having no checkpoints during missions.

Enemy health bars, forced multiplayer, no pausing, and having to stay online in order to play. These are all hallmarks of Call of Duty Black Ops 7, the latest from Microsoft's $68.7 billion gem, Activision. From the sound of it, players aren't particularly happy about these features, even if they are required by design. Gamers didn't seem to like it much when Modern Warfare 3's campaign also did something similar by breaking linear missions.

Valve's resurrected Steam Machine continues to fascinate this week, and another smart aspect of this mini PC that aims to rule your living room is custom front covers, with an E-ink solution just coming to light.

Notebookcheck.net noticed (via VideoCardz) that Gamers Nexus talked about the front cover - which attaches magnetically to the cube chassis of the Steam Machine - and how owners will be able to 3D print their own covers.

See the above YouTube video, but the idea is to jazz up the Steam Machine with a striking piece of artwork, or maybe a cover with better airflow, or Valve has even been testing a model which is an E-ink display (with bezel).

After rumors swirled that Rockstar was planning to release a remaster of Red Dead Redemption, the Grand Theft Auto developer put out a new trailer confirming that, in December, the remaster will launch on every major platform.

In a new video shared to Rockstar Games' social media channels, the developer has confirmed that Red Dead Redemption will be launching on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch 2, and Netflix Games. The confirmation comes after the ESRB gave an official rating for the title just yesterday, indicating that an announcement was right around the corner.

Additionally, rumors were circulating that a remaster for Red Dead Redemption 2 was in the works, but for now, those rumors seem misguided and were instead about the newly announced Red Dead Redemption remaster, not the second title in the franchise. However, that doesn't mean an RDR2 remaster is impossible, or isn't currently being worked on. As for the newly announced remaster, Red Dead Redemption is coming to the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S with 60FPS support, enhanced image quality, HDR support, and up to 4K resolution.

Valve could take all of the thunder away from release of Grand Theft Auto 6 with a surprise system-selling release of Half-Life 3, ready to rock on its new Steam Machine, Steam Frame VR headset, Steam Controllers, and the PC.

It was just a couple of days before Valve unleashed its new Steam hardware that super-hot rumors teased Half-Life 3 would be unveiled alongside a new VR headset and controllers this week. Fast-forward a couple of days, and Valve indeed unveils not only the new Steam Frame VR headset and Steam Controller, but a brand-new Steam Machine system.

Valve could've had a strategy of unveiling its new Steam hardware first, and then have Half-Life 3 unveiled in its own -- and probably even bigger -- event, with an imminent release on PC and VR, while being included for free with each Steam Machine and Steam Frame VR headset. Now that, would cause shockwaves for the gaming industry, and rival the future Grand Theft Auto 6 release from Rockstar... a lot of thunder stolen, especially if Valve pushes huge boundaries in Half-Life 3.

ASUS says demand for the ROG Xbox Ally X exceeds expectations--the handheld is doing so well that it could make up to $160 million revenue in the quarter.

ASUS' latest Q3 results show that Xbox's handheld aspirations are off to a good start. The Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds launched in October to strong consumer demand, ASUS says, with the higher-priced $999 Xbox Ally X being surprisingly popular. ASUS believes there's a growing market for gaming handhelds and says the Ally will remain a core part of the ROG lineup.

As far as sales go, ASUS didn't give out unit sales but the company did say it expects to make anywhere from 3-5 billion TWD ($96-160 million) from ROG Ally sales during the holiday quarter. ASUS actually expects the bottom-line sales revenue to grow to roughly $130 million as the market continues to grow and mature. Remember that this is just ASUS' share, and Xbox also gets a cut, meaning actual sales revenue for each device is higher than what's outlined here.

Valve just unleashed an entire Steam hardware platform including the new Steam Frame VR headset, with rumors that the developer is working on a native Linux-based version of Half-Life: Alyx, and optimized for the Steam Frame.

In its unveiling of the Steam Machine, Steam Frame VR headset, and new Steam Controller, Valve told Digital Foundry that: "Half-Life: Alyx is a great experience when streamed from a PC to Steam Frame, and we are looking into making it a good standalone experience as well".

Half-Life: Alyx should work on the Steam Frame when it launches, but it's an x86 game, but Valve is using an Arm-based Snapdragon processor inside of its new VR headset, unless you're streaming from your PC to the Steam Frame, using Valve's new VR headset in standalone runs the game using its on-board Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 chip, which is an Arm-based solution.

Ubisoft rings alarm bells by mysteriously delaying its earnings report and temporarily de-listing its stock.

Today, Ubisoft was supposed to reveal the results for the first half of FY2025, but the French publisher has decided to push the report back a few days.

The company issued the following announcement on its investor page: "Ubisoft announces the postponement of the release of its results for the first half of fiscal year 2025-26. Ubisoft has requested Euronext to halt trading of its shares and its bonds from the market opening on November 14, 2025, until the publication of its first-half 2025-26 results in the coming days. Ubisoft will inform the market of the date on which trading will restart."

Valve's new hardware lineup didn't include a Steam Deck 2, and that's because the tech doesn't really exist yet.

Valve is working on a next-gen Steam Deck. That's already been confirmed. What we don't know, however, is when the Steam Deck 2 will come out. Just yesterday, Valve announced a new fleet of hardware coming in 2026, including a new Steam Machine that packs PC power in a console box. The Steam Deck 2 was missing from the new announcements because Valve isn't satisfied with the chips that are currently available--they want more horsepower for a Steam Deck successor.

In a recent interview with IGN, Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais says that the company simply wants to make a true next-gen device that one-ups the Steam Deck. So far, no current chips or technologies have been able to make that happen, but that hasn't stopped Valve from experimenting to figure out what their targets are.

Sony didn't develop or publish the new MMORPG based on the Horizon franchise, Horizon: Steel Frontiers.

Today, South Korean developer NC Soft revealed Horizon: Steel Frontiers, a new free-to-play MMORPG set in PlayStation's best-selling Horizon game series. The game has proven to be significantly controversial because Steel Frontiers is skipping PS5, instead releasing on mobile and PC.

It further turns out that Sony didn't actually make the game. Sony did license the Horizon series to NC Soft, and Guerrilla Games did coordinate with the South Korean developer, but PlayStation did not actually make the project--nor did they publish it. And, of course, Sony signed the partnership deal, so they knew Steel Frontiers wasn't coming to PS5 at launch.

Following the unveiling of the Steam Machine, the new Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame, hope for Valve's highly anticipated - and at this point mythological - Half-Life 3 has reached new heights, especially since an unannounced Valve title has been discovered.

The evidence of an unannounced Valve game in the works comes from its own website, Steam, where users can simply search for any Valve game, click the company's name, then navigate to the company's "Upcoming Releases". From here, you can notice the column to the left states there are five upcoming products, but there are only four listings within the category, suggesting Valve is still sitting on the announcement.

Given that Valve just updated its store with marketing materials for the newly announced Valve hardware, it seems unlikely that a typo on its homepage was accidental, but these things do happen. Regardless of its legitimacy, the mysterious "5" has fuelled Half-Life 3 rumors, which follow previous speculation that Valve would unveil Half-Life 3 as a system-seller for the newly announced Steam Machine. Furthermore, rumors from industry insiders stated Half-Life 3 optimization is trucking along nicely.

Red Dead Redemption has been officially rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and the Nintendo Switch 2, sparking a new fire under the rumors of a remastered version of the iconic game.

Unsurprisingly, the ESRB rated Red Dead Redemption an M for Mature 17+, writing in its description that the title contains blood, gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and the use of drugs. Additionally, the description states that players assume the role of a reformed criminal who combats a "zombie plague," which means the ESRB has also rated the Undead Nightmare expansion.

As for what this rating is for, rumors have been kicked around for quite some time about an official remaster for the original Red Dead Redemption game, which will include full optimizations for the current-gen consoles. Notably, Red Dead Redemption is available to play on the PlayStation 5, but it's the PS4 version.

Valve has unveiled the Steam Machine, a new dedicated PC system that looks and behaves like a console. Valve's announcement showcased a wide selection of features, along with a target release window, but didn't mention pricing.

However, Valve's Hardware Engineer, Yazan Aldehayyat, spoke to IGN about the upcoming PC/console hybrid and touched on what Valve is considering with price. According to the engineer, Valve believes this is the right time to release the Steam Machine, given how much it would cost someone to build a PC with similar performance and features to the hybrid device, and at the heart of the design is affordability.

Aldehayyat said that affordability is a factor Valve considers heavily every time it introduces a new piece of hardware. When it comes to the Steam Machine, it's planning to make it as affordable as possible.

One of the most iconic Valve series is undoubtedly Portal, and in an effort to pay homage to the franchise, Dbrand is releasing a skin for the newly announced Steam Machine. Introducing the Steam Machine Companion Cube.

Dbrand has announced with a new website listing the "Steam Machine Companion Cube," a new skin that is set to launch sometime in 2026 that buyers of the Valve Steam Machine can put onto their new Steam Machine.

The details for the upcoming Dbrand product are quite scarce, as the website doesn't reveal if the Companion Cube is going to be a skin or a shell. However, judging by the design, it appears to be a shell, as the above image shows two deep holes for the USB ports located on the front of the PC/console hybrid.

Valve has announced the Steam Machine, a new dedicated PC gaming rig that takes the form of a compact console and targets 4K 60FPS in most games. But how many games will this new device actually be able to play?

The Steam Machine runs Linux-based SteamOS, and with that comes a slew of great features pulled right from the Steam Deck and now available in a device that can be comfortably played in a living room on a TV or a gaming monitor. However, with SteamOS, there are also some limitations, and, unfortunately, these limitations - while hopefully temporary - will prevent many mainstream titles from being played on the Steam Machine. That limitation is the mandatory kernel-level anti-cheat for modern multiplayer titles.

At the moment, only a few kernel-level anti-cheat systems support Linux, while many extremely popular or mainstream games can't run on Linux, meaning they won't work on the Steam Machine unless the user manually installs Windows.

Valve has shaken up the gaming market with the unveiling of the Steam Machine, a dedicated PC gaming rig that is also a console.

The performance value offering of the Steam Machine is targeting the 4K 60FPS mark with FSR, and while that is very good depending on the price, we have learned the future of the Steam Machine is perhaps even more exciting. Speaking to Oliver MacKenzie from Digital Foundry, Valve software engineer on SteamOS, Pierre-Loup Griffais, said in the future we may see third-party SteamOS boxes, like the Steam Machine from different vendors with different AMD hardware inside.

This means, Valve could spawn an entire ecosystem of Steam Machines for OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to take advantage of for customization purposes. An example would be MSI or ASUS releasing their own version of the Steam Machine that would feature a different AMD hardware specification, likely beefier hardware such as an RDNA 4 GPU and 16GB of VRAM. If this is the case, the Steam Machine could well and truly become a 4K 120Hz+ gaming PC/console hybrid, especially if the third-party models swap out the HDMI 2.0 port for HDMI 2.1.

Valve has unveiled the Steam Machine, a new PC gaming and console hybrid device that is expected to be released early next year. Valve says the console is targeting 4K at 60FPS, but we have learned that it is capable of 4K at 120Hz over HDMI, albeit with some pretty big sacrifices.

Valve has marketed the Steam Machine as a device targeting 4K 60FPS, but diving into the specifications and reports surrounding the upcoming hybrid device we have learned the Steam Machine is actually capable of 4K 120Hz, whether it will actually hit 4K at 120FPS in mainstream games is another thing entirely, but at least when it comes to output, it is capable of 4K 120Hz.

Firstly, the Steam Machine comes with DisplayPort 1.4, which is capable of up to 4K 240Hz / 8K 60Hz. The Steam Machine plugged into a 4K 240Hz monitor will output at 4K 240Hz, but TVs don't have DisplayPort connectivity; they use HDMI ports. One of the biggest glaring issues with the Steam Machine is the HDMI being limited to the 2.0 specification, which means it's limited to 4K 60Hz output. This is particularly annoying considering the hardware within the Steam Machine, an AMD RDNA 3 GPU, is technically capable of 4K 120Hz output, and many modern TVs are now capable of 120Hz over HDMI 2.1.

DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation support for GeForce RTX graphics cards is coming to two PC game releases this week - Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Assetto Corsa Rally. The latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise is likely the biggest PC game launch this month, continuing its tradition of launching with support for the latest RTX technologies, including DLSS, Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex, for low-latency performance.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is also optimized to run well on a wide range of GeForce RTX hardware, with the recommended GPU being the popular GeForce RTX 3060. Full DLSS 4 support is also coming to this week's Early Access launch of 505 Games and Supernova Games Studios' Assetto Corsa Rally. Built using the latest Unreal Engine 5 tech and sporting a realistic physics engine, this is a modern rally game for racing fans yearning to make a few "easy left into easy right and then hard left" turns.

The Early Access version of the game will arrive with 10 licensed cars, four real-world rally stages, and both offline and online game modes. As a realistic racing game, it's also built for racing rig setups with three screens, so having DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation support will be key for a lot of systems hitting over 60 FPS.

Valve has just shaken up the PC and console markets with the announcement of the Steam Machine, a dedicated PC gaming rig designed to look and feel like a console.

With the announcement of the Steam Machine and two other pieces of Steam hardware, it has been revealed that media were invited to Valve to get the rundown on the upcoming hardware and to gather more details about the device that wasn't explained in the above announcement video.

Digital Foundry's Oliver MacKenzie explained in a recent video posted to the Digital Foundry YouTube channel that the Steam Machine currently doesn't have media playback capabilities on par with current-gen consoles, as the device doesn't come with native media streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. Instead, users will access all of these streaming platforms through a web browser. MacKenzie reports the Steam Machine has HDR functionality through the web browser, but the quality of that experience may not be the greatest in comparison to natively built apps.