Valve Releases Native Steam Link App For Apple's Vision Pro (macobserver.com) 24
Valve has released a native Steam Link beta for Apple Vision Pro, letting users stream their existing Steam games onto a large virtual screen in visionOS. It supports up to 4K resolution and will let you dynamically adjust the curve of the display. The Mac Observer reports: Steam Link does not support VR titles in this beta, and Valve clearly states that the app is limited to 2D game streaming, but this still opens up a large library of games that users can play on a massive virtual screen inside Vision Pro.
At the same time, Vision Pro already handles 2D media very well, and this update builds on that strength by turning the headset into a portable gaming display that connects directly to your existing setup without needing extra hardware.
You can join the Steam Link beta through TestFlight right now, and this early release shows how Apple Vision Pro continues to expand beyond media into more practical and everyday use cases like gaming.
At the same time, Vision Pro already handles 2D media very well, and this update builds on that strength by turning the headset into a portable gaming display that connects directly to your existing setup without needing extra hardware.
You can join the Steam Link beta through TestFlight right now, and this early release shows how Apple Vision Pro continues to expand beyond media into more practical and everyday use cases like gaming.
Interesting story (Score:2)
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I'm in the same boat, I just assumed it was quietly discontinued and never to be spoken of again.
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But what is this "Vision Pro" thing you keep referring to?
https://www.apple.com/apple-vi... [apple.com]
Non VR VR! (Score:2)
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right, a bummer they didn't get the VR part done in the first release.
i'm'a willin' ta betcha bottom dollah that they'll have a v2 or some update relatively soon that WILL enable full VR experience.
of course you'll have to shell out for those PSVR2 controllers from Sony, though
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VisionOS 26.4 added support for foveated streaming. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple and Steam have been working together on this.
Then again, Apple's treatment of the Vision Pro perplexes me, so who knows what Apple is doing there...
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I think Apple is trying to figure it out too, so they're just letting it be a developer's playground as in "Here's some cool hardware, now do something with it".
It's a device looking for a purpose, and Apple is just trying to see where that goes. I'm sure most of what we do with smartphones today wasn't what Jobs envisioned back for the original iPhone, so the Vision Pro is similar. Maybe hoping to see if
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That's the part that perplexes me. I can't say I have followed the Vision Pro that closely recently, but at least in the early days, it was very locked down. There are large parts of the system (sensors) that I understand are still not accessible to 3rd party apps. I remember reading several VR developers who were trying to port software from the Quest to AVP and simply couldn't.
To me it would have made sense to open it up entirely. Porn, video games, emulators, whatever!
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Cool, so people who own an apple VR headset and look at really big screens now for 2D games!
They are getting the same 3D games everything with computer display or TV is getting. About equivalent to an 80in TV.
That said, I've played some VR games on Meta headsets. Immersion can be awesome.
nice (Score:2)
I'm sure the three people who bought the vision pro will appreciate it.
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I'm sure the three people who bought the vision pro will appreciate it.
I know I do.
Like an 80in TV in the living room (Score:2)
To be fair he's a developer so he has other motives too. Like making sure his iOS apps run correctly, maybe augment them for something vision specific.
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He says it's like an 80in TV in his living room. Totally happy.
And for only triple the price!
Beats putting an 80+ inch tv in every room and the back porch and the hammock, and etc.
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I'm sure the three people who bought the vision pro will appreciate it.
I do, huge virtual high def 2D screens for entertainment is one of the use cases it absolutely excels at. For watching a movie, it's top notch.
That's not what most people think a VR/AR headset should be used for, but fuck them and the ignorant opinion they rode in on, it's amazing.
VR games are nice... but everyone plays games on 2D screens, everyone watches movies and tv shows on 2D screens. The AR pass-through and the high resolution are what make it great for virtual 2D display. That Apple hasn't worked o
And yet no more app for my TV (Score:2)
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They got rid of Steam Link for my Samsung TV, but release it for a device so few people own. WTF Valve?
Why would you use Steam Link for a TV and waste precious network bandwidth and suffer compression artifacts and lag just to avoid running an HDMI cable? Even if it is in different rooms, $90 plus a point-to-point Cat5 cable will solve the problem permanently without all the hassles associated with using software workarounds.
Steam Link makes perfect sense when you're talking about headsets that are mobile, but streaming to a fixed device like a TV set sounds like a niche use case that would be better served
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My gaming PC is on the opposite end of the house, so not only would I have to run a 50' HDMI cable, I'd need a 50' USB cable for my controller, since it can't pair over BT through the multiple walls between the couch and the PC. Believe me, I've tried :)
Ever thought about moving the gaming PC? :-)
But seriously, there are cheap wireless KVM solutions for 1080p, and slightly less cheap 4K HDMI wireless extenders. I haven't seen any 4K + USB, but they probably exist. But I'd imagine anything wireless is going to be artifacty.
If you can run a single Ethernet cable in a crawlspace or attic, you can get a KVM extender [avaccess.com] for $153, and that presumably would be a clean, near-zero-latency HDMI and USB repeater (because it's probably just a bunch of level shifters).
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LOL. Tell us you never used it without telling us. Some of us don't want to run 30m long HDMI cables from our computers down stairs to the living room. Compression artefacts? Lag? Not sure what you're talking about there. Likewise with network bandwidth given Steamlink required about 40Mbps to stably do 60fps on 1080p. If your network can't handle that then a HDMI cable isn't your concern, you probably have problems keeping the power running in your home.
Also can we briefly address the hilarity of you think
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This has nothing to do with Valve. Valve never made a Steam Link app for any TV. Samsung worked with a 3rd party to create a Steamlink app, the only part Valve did was consent to their name and logo. But an updated app is completely useless anyway. Long before Steamlink was announced as being dropped Samsung royally fucked up the ability to pair game controllers with the TV. Both Bluetooth and USB game controllers had their right analogue stick mapped to TV volume control.
So yeah Steamlink was a great thing
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Yeah but they need to convince Samsung to not be stupid first. I can only assume that Samsung was actively trying to kill the idea of gaming on their smart TV when they rolled out a firmware update that locked the analogue stick to the volume control. No amount of Valve development can fix that.
That said it is also a question of support. Samsung is just one player, release an app for Samsung and the LG owners will cry foul, do that and the Philips owners, etc. etc. They all have their own app stores, each a