All articles tagged with #valve
Valve engineer Timur Kristóf has significantly improved support for legacy AMD GCN 1.0 and 1.1 graphics cards on Linux. By transitioning these older chips from the legacy Radeon driver to the modern AMDGPU kernel driver, he enabled better performance, Vulkan support, and power management. His work, presented at XDC2026, fills a gap left by AMD's lack of focus on aging hardware, resulting in a 30% performance boost for users.
Valve's Steam Autumn Sale runs from October 1 to October 8, 2026, offering over 25,000 discounted titles. The event features steep markdowns on both legacy hits and recent AAA releases, with many major games available for under $15.
Leaks indicate Valve's next handheld will use a semi-custom AMD chip codenamed 'Gainsborough,' built on TSMC's 3nm process. The name references the original chip's Final Fantasy VII theme, suggesting a significant generational leap. While specific performance metrics are unconfirmed, the device is expected to launch in late 2027 or early 2028, with pricing likely higher than the original due to memory costs.
The Steam Autumn Sale has officially launched, offering over 44,000 games for $5 or less. The sale runs until October 8, 2026, featuring deep discounts on major titles and indie hits, serving as the third major seasonal sale of the year before the Halloween-themed Scream Sale.
William Pugh, co-designer of Stanley Parable and founder of Crows Crows Crows, revealed in an interview with PC Gamer that he has logged 1,603 hours in Valve's Dota 2, yet claims he hates the game. Pugh described his experience as fueled by rage and frustration, noting that despite the massive time investment, he never became skilled at the title. He compared the game's intense focus to solving a five-dimensional Rubik's cube, which quiets the mind but ultimately leads to anger. Pugh also criticized the toxic voice chat culture and the lack of personal fulfillment from the hours spent.
Valve released a significant update to Counter-Strike 2 on September 22, 2026, introducing a new 'Rush' game mode, visual adjustments to blood and bullet impacts, and changes to Premier map selection. Concurrently, players discovered unannounced chicken egg items in weekly care packages, which data miners link to a potential future pet system.
Scalpers are listing Steam Frame reservations on eBay at inflated prices (about $1,700 for the 256 GB kit and around $2,000 for the 1 TB kit) before Valve has shipped any units. The reservations are tied to qualifying Steam accounts and are not transferable, and while some listings have appeared or sold, there’s no confirmed sale yet. The community is reporting these listings and flagging them to Valve; eBay has removed some entries, and Valve has not publicly commented, underscoring ongoing scalper risk amid tight supply.
Valve’s SteamOS 0.3.0 for the Steam Frame is the headset’s first update since launch, delivering substantially faster charging when off or sleeping (before ~8–27 W, after update ~19–21 W start and up to 42 W under load) with a recommended 45 W+ USB-C charger. The release also improves controller tracking with active haptics, boosts stability under heavy load, fixes garbled microphone audio, and makes per‑app motion smoothing functional (and tweaks Half‑Life: Alyx). For developers, Vulkan/Mesa fixes and looser playable criteria (any resolution, not 1440p) are included. The update is available now, though US/European purchase emails began going out Sept. 18.
Valve’s Steam Frame waitlist emails have sparked a surge of overpriced eBay listings and fake reservation confirmations, as scalpers and scammers try to profit from disappointed buyers—buyers are urged to beware and verify any seller claims.
Valve releases SteamOS 0.3.0 for Steam Frame, delivering faster charging when the unit is off or sleeping, improved controller tracking with active haptics, and greater stability under load, plus a fixed microphone audio bug. The update also tweaks motion smoothing (including a Force Always-On option), adds a VR setting to dim the game when the dashboard is visible, stops Play Area bounds from auto-showing, and includes Vulkan/Mesa performance improvements; Valve also published a Getting Started page for Steam Hardware.
Valve says Steam Frame uses Half-Life: Alyx instead of a brand-new VR title to ensure compatibility with the Steam catalog and provide a strong launch experience; adapting Alyx also helped fix headset drivers and other issues, while Steam Frame is offered in 256GB ($1,059) and 1TB ($1,299) SKUs with a lottery-style pre-order.
Valve briefly considered a brand-new VR game for the Steam Frame, but prioritized getting the Steam catalog running well and making Half-Life: Alyx work natively on the headset. The Alyx work provided valuable performance and driver fixes that benefit Frame-wide compatibility, aided by foveated rendering, eye tracking, and 16GB of RAM; Valve’s Steam Frame Verified program now helps other developers optimize their titles for standalone use.
Nighthawks' developers argued Valve misread the vampire RPG as pornographic, resulting in an Adults Only label that hid the game from Steam searches and blocked regional listings. After back-and-forth, Valve reportedly removed the label, with Wadjet Eye confirming the game is on track for its Sept. 22 launch.
Valve revealed Steam Frame pricing ($1,059 for the 256GB model, $1,299 for 1TB), that Half-Life: Alyx is included as a standalone, and opened reservations via a randomized queue with a 72-hour window; the wireless SteamOS headset supports Linux/Windows via Proton and onboard tracking (no base stations), lists ~70 Steam Frame Verified titles, and offers optional accessories like the Arcturus Vision color passthrough camera ($149) and an Ergonomic Kit ($59).
Valve says Steam Deck 2 plans are unchanged despite the memory crisis, aiming for a meaningful generational performance jump rather than a small upgrade; no release date is confirmed (rumors point to 2028), and current Deck prices have risen due to RAM costs.