Oops! Didn’t think that would happen…
They say time is nothing but a circle, infinitely repeating itself. And as we see here, that’s less of a theory and more of a fact. Remember a few days before the Steam Controller? A Youtuber by the name of TechyTalkUK accidentally fat fingered a button, and uploaded his full Steam Controller review video a couple days before the embargo was lifted, revealing a bunch of new details about the controller, including the price. Someone at Linus Media Group felt inspired by this blunder and decided to do it themselves. The link to an unlisted video of ShortCircuit’s full first impressions and first 30 minutes with the Steam Frame was discovered after it was added to their AR/VR video playlist. Uh oh… The video shows Linus and his daughter unboxing the Frame, setting up, and playing around with a couple of games. Because it’s just a first impressions video and not the full review video, we don’t learn anything too new in this video. But it does reveal the price of the Ergonomic Accessories Kit, coming in at $60 USD. Unfortunately, nothing about the price of the headset itself was revealed. It was taken down after someone noticed it of course, but as with everything on the internet, it was quickly downloaded and archived. Watch the reupload here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iV5ZG6QzGkwQRMtO1_-8VCI1mriDj_ga/view
SteamVR 2.17 fully released
SteamVR 2.17, widely considered to be the version of SteamVR the Frame will ship with, has left the tar pit of the beta branch and finally crawled it’s way onto the full release! Those of you who boot up SteamVR will notice the redesigned dashboard debuted with the reveal of the Frame, as well as many other improvements to the software, streaming, and Linux support. Emphasis on the streaming improvements, it’s gotten a lot better after this update. Testing it on my Quest 2, my connection has been significantly more stable and smooth. Imagine how it’ll be on the Steam Frame with the dedicated Wi-Fi dongle! Have you been using the SteamVR beta for the past month? How have you been liking the new dashboard? Do you like it over the old one, or are there some things you miss? Read the full patch notes for SteamVR 2.17 here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/250820/view/679635225181946198
Is that… a date?
A few smart people, including SteamDB discord mod LifeisHalfLife, have been poking around at the Steam API to get it to send out template emails regarding hardware reservations and waitlist. Tricking it into thinking that you’ve placed yourself in the lottery and sending out an email when you really haven’t. They’ve gained the ability to do this recently, but it hasn’t really told us anything new so far. The date was just set to the computer default December 31, 1969. However, after a very recent package update, once done again it gives us a new date, September 17, 2026. If that lines up with the Machine’s launch timeline, and you have three days to enter the lottery, that places the Frame’s full reveal on… September 14… NEXT MONDAY?!?! No, that can’t possibly be… it’s… releasing? I don’t believe it, not for ONE SECOND! Unless…
TLDR: Linus Tech Tips unboxing channel ShortCircuit leaked a Steam Frame first impressions video, SteamVR 2.17 has fully left beta, poking around with the Steam API confirms a September 14 announcement date. The Steam Frame is still not out yet… but could it be?
Summer ends in 8 days.
The wait could end Monday.
