Is a Major and Promising Upgrade Coming to the Steam Deck?

General news News Steam Deck Steam Deck News 08/12/2024

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STEAM DECK NEWS – Valve’s portable PC could be getting a major feature boost, as Gabe Newell’s patent suggests, but it’s still a question of when we can expect the new feature…

The Steam Deck debuted two and a half years ago, in February 2022. The portable PC with Linux-based SteamOS offered a fair experience and gave a boost to competitors (Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw…). The original LCD models are now only available with 256 GB, while the OLED version offers 512 GB or 1 TB of storage space. It was hard, but a balance was found between battery life and performance. You can also stream from your PC to the device, but latency can be an issue, and that’s what Valve is working on right now…

Valve submits patent for low latency high fidelity wireless foveated transmission and rendering between a console and an HMD or handheld device
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Valve’s patent (for “dual detail encoding in a distributed system”) offers both lower latency and improved image quality between the machine running the game and the Steam Deck. It has surfaced on Reddit. Wireless data transfer is mentioned, but there is also talk of rendering between a console and a head-mounted device (Valve Index?) or handheld device (Steam Deck). This not only means that lag could be improved, but also that VR could be considered, which would make Valve’s technologically outdated machine even more powerful than its competitors.

Valve has previously talked about a standalone Steam Deck VR headset: they believe the device’s unique AMD APU would work well and be relevant to the company’s plans. Gabe Newell and his team already have experience in virtual reality, having worked on Half-Life: Alyx alongside Valve Index. So the patent could even point to a new version of the headset, creating a standalone device.

Minimal lag and easy streaming would definitely improve the Steam Ceiling, and the development around Valve Index sounds overly optimistic. But the trademark was only recently filed, so it could be a few years before anything comes of it.

Source: GameRant

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