PC Gaming

The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.

“Lepton is intended to help game developers bring their VR Android games to the Steam Frame,” Valve writes. “Lepton is not designed for general Android use, instead opting to keep the bare minimum functionality required to launch into games.”

If you’re looking for a GPU upgrade, but don’t want to shell out $800 or more for an RTX 5070, Newegg has the Gigabyte RX 9070 GRE, a capable card for 1440p gaming, discounted to $500 when you click “Extra discount available. Unlock it here” on the product page and then enter your email. The deal also includes Onimusha: Way of the Sword, although you’ll have to redeem the code by October 24th, 2026.

The new guides cover everything from replacing the motherboard to cleaning the heatsink, and offer a neat look at the Steam Machine’s internals.

Capcom’s getting rid of its character edit vouchers with the upcoming Ascendance expansion, so you can change your character’s appearance for free without needing workarounds. Capcom is giving players 10 free character and Palico edit vouchers to tide them over in the meantime.

I’m hopping in now to answer your questions, and I’ve got a Steam Frame on my desk to spot-check answers, too!

Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)

Wish Valve’s headset let you see your surroundings in full color instead of monochrome? In my hand is the $150 Arcturus Vision Camera, which can solve that (see images below). Need more battery and better audio? Pop the compute core into Valve’s upcoming “Enthusiast Kit” to add twin stackable magnetic batteries, premium off-ear drivers, and more.

SteamVR 2.17 adds a bunch of new features, including a quick access menu for handy settings on the VR dashboard bar, letting you access Steam achievements and notes in-game in VR, and improvements to Steam Link streaming. Check out Valve’s full patch notes to see everything new.

In an update on Steam, Ubisoft said it’s testing a new tool that keeps game features like cross-play “without requiring the Ubisoft Connect PC launcher to be installed or launched.” It’s coming to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown first, and will “roll out to more Ubisoft games on Steam in the future.”

I’m a sucker for Phanteks cases, and the company’s new EX5 has got me thinking about a new PC build. It organizes all the key components of a PC into dedicated chambers, which not only looks neat but is also great for airflow. It means ugly GPUs get hidden away, and there’s a dedicated area for all-in-one liquid coolers instead of everything packed into a glass case. The EX5 starts at $109.99 and comes in three options, with a $159.99 Plus variant bundling an all-in-one cooler and the $229.99 EX5 Max adding a 6-inch display for the cooler.

The default one shows art from games you’ve played recently, but there’s also a “retro inspired” screensaver that features a bouncing Steam logo, lol.

Some of the achievement lists include spoilers and new details for games like Persona 6 and Kingdom Hearts IV, Gematsu reports. The owner of achievement-tracking site Exophase said in a post that the leak “Seems like a possible screw up on Valve’s end, a bunch of games with achievements that should be private are accessible through the API right now and that’s why they got scanned into the site.”

007 First Light is getting a major visual overhaul next week, thanks to path tracing and DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction. Nvidia is releasing a new Game Ready driver (616.92) today that’s fully optimized for the First Light update, as well as adding support for PUBG’s DLSS Super Resolution update. The driver is also Game Ready for Active Matter, Aniimo, and Wardogs.

The latest model from OpenAI proved its mettle by tackling Valve’s iconic first-person puzzler. User cozyblaze got the AI to beat the full game in under 24 hours for less than $600! And it probably only required a small swimming pool’s worth of water to boot. There’s a video of a condensed version of the run.

Kotaku reports that players have been competing to top CS2 Tracker’s “Slurs Tracking” charts, which record tracked words in players’ chat logs. Players at the top of the charts have used offensive language in Counter-Strike 2 over 10,000 times.

In another timeline, anyhow. In court documents spotted by journalist Stephen Totilo, Bit Reactor co-founder Greg Foertsch claims he originally pitched a game set in the Titanfall universe, but Respawn asked him to make it a Star Wars game instead. Shooting clankers is great and all, but pretty please greenlight the airdropped robots, too!

Leaked photos and demo videos claim the Arcturus Vision Camera works out of the box! Plug it into the Frame’s nosebridge port, and get 5K60 10-bit HDR color plus spatial video recording. Valve isn’t offering native color passthrough to keep costs down, but looks like its passthrough partner got the greenlight! No price yet.

SteamDB, the website that tracks PC game prices, updates, and player numbers, is now part of Nexus Mods. The current owner of SteamDB, xPaw, has been looking for the right owner after “experiencing burnout with the project.” Nexus Mods says SteamDB will continue to exist separately to Nexus Mods, and “everything currently available for free will remain free.” The browser extension will continue to be maintained, and Nexus Mods is looking at exploring connecting the two communities to “see what is possible over time.”

Alongside a laptop / handheld hybrid concept, Acer is expanding its Predator Atlas line with a smaller 7-inch model. The Windows 11 handheld comes with up to an Intel Arc G3 Extreme CPU and Arc B390 GPU. It’s due in Q4, after the Atlas 8 releases this month. Pricing for both remains unknown.

Acer’s $1,199 Nitro XV275X P is coming Q1 2027, and it has some appealing specs. Its 27-inch matte IPS screen has 2,304-zone Mini LED backlighting (up to 1,400 nits), with support for 5K via HDMI 2.1, USB-C or DisplayPort 1.4 at 165Hz refresh rate and a fast 0.5-millisecond response time, or 330Hz at QHD. It seems just as good for productivity as for gaming with its 90W USB-C charging, KVM switch, and picture-in-picture settings.

Alienware has been on a tear with its recent OLEDs. Now, its next big monitor is the AW3226Q, a 4K 32-inch tandem OLED with 165Hz refresh and RGB stripe subpixels for clearer text — expected this fall for $699.99.

Jsaux is launching the S1 Pro, a small $49.99 wireless controller that can wake the Switch 2, and connect to various other platforms via Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or USB-C. It features Switch-like TMR sticks, gyro controls, and adjustable trigger throw distances. But its marquee feature is that it lets you connect two S1 Pros to a single 2.4GHz transmitter, and swap player assignments in local multiplayer games at will, so player two can jump in to help with a difficult part.

Nvidia originally announced DLSS 5 would come to as many as 16 specific games from a wide variety of studios… but at its September 3rd launch, 2K Games’ NBA 2K27 is going it alone. Probably a smart idea to see how gamers react first? These do look better than before.