If you’ve been running a home media server for a while, you know the tradeoffs. Plex is polished but wants an account and a subscription for the good stuff. Jellyfin is free and open, but you’ll be tweaking configs and wrangling a server. Now there’s a newcomer, Ampchor, pitching a third path: your own streaming service, with no accounts, no ads, and no tracking.

It’s still in beta, but it’s worth a close look.

What is Ampchor?

Ampchor is a desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux that scans your files and turns them into a personal streaming service. It finds posters and artwork, organizes everything, and streams it to your phone, tablet, and TV. Its tagline is “Like Netflix or Spotify, except the library is yours.”

Setup is simple. Download the app, point it at your folders, and scan a code on your phone or TV to pair it. The whole thing is meant to take under five minutes, with no server in a closet and no sign-up.

It’s more than movies and shows

This is where Ampchor stands apart. Most media servers focus on video, with music as a side feature. Ampchor treats everything as a first-class library:

• Movies, TV, and anime (anime can get its own library)
• Music with lossless FLAC, ALAC, and WAV, plus a built-in CD ripper
• Audiobooks with chapters and bookmarks
• eBooks and comics/manga (EPUB, PDF, CBZ, and more)
• Photos and home videos
• Podcasts, music videos, and short vertical videos
• Retro games with built-in emulators for 21 classic consoles, streamed to your phone

As a gamer, that last one is what caught my eye. Your ROMs get cover art and details like the rest of your library, and you can play them on your phone with a controller. That’s one app instead of three or four.

Ampchor vs. Plex vs. Jellyfin

Why Ampchor stands out

1. No accounts, no passwords. Pairing works by typing or scanning a short code shown on your computer screen. Each device generates its own key and stores it in the device’s secure storage. There’s no login to phish and no central database to hack.

2. Privacy by design. According to Ampchor, your files and watch history stay on your computer, and streams go directly between your devices rather than through a data center. The only things that leave are artwork lookups from public databases and optional anonymized crash reports, which you can turn off.

3. Free hardware transcoding. Where a device can play a file as-is, it gets the original untouched, even in 4K. When it can’t, your graphics card converts on the fly at no extra charge. That’s a feature other platforms commonly lock behind a paid tier.

4. One-time pricing. Home use is free. Remote access, sharing with family, and playing games away from home come with Ampchor Pro, a one-time $99 lifetime license with no subscription. The license key is the whole system: no account involved.

5. It does a lot in one app. Movies, music, audiobooks, books, comics, photos, and games, all under one roof, with one interface.

The honest caveats

Ampchor is new, and it shows in a few places:

• It’s in beta. The desktop and Android apps are in beta, and iOS is listed as coming.
• TV apps are mostly “coming.” Android TV, Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, and LG are all on the roadmap, not shipping.
• Pro isn’t out yet. Remote streaming is listed as coming soon.
• It’s closed source, unlike Jellyfin, and it’s from a small independent studio, so long-term support is worth watching.
• Your computer is the server. It needs to stay on for your library to be available.

Who should try it?

• Plex refugees tired of accounts and paywalled features
• Jellyfin fans who like the privacy but not the server upkeep
• Anyone who wants games, comics, and books alongside their movies and music
• Home users who mostly watch on their own network

If you need rock-solid TV apps today or a mature multi-user setup for a big household, Plex and Jellyfin are still the safer picks. But Ampchor’s mix of simplicity, privacy, and breadth is a compelling pitch, and I’ll be watching it closely as the roadmap fills in.

Want to try it? You can download it free at ampchor.com.

4A Games has locked in a release date for Metro 2039: February 4, 2027. The date arrived with a new gameplay trailer during PlayStation's September State of Play, and the studio says this is the first Metro built from the ground up for ray tracing. Here is what is known about the story, the platforms, and what to expect when the series returns.

Release Date and Platforms

Metro 2039 launches February 4, 2027. A Steam page is live for PC players, and the State of Play showcase included gameplay captured on PS5 Pro. Windows Central's roundup of the showcase lists Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC through Steam.

Pricing had not been listed in the coverage reviewed for this article, and full PC system requirements were not yet published.

A Metro Under New Rule

The setup moves the series into a darker political place. The Metro is now controlled by an authoritarian regime led by a Spartan commander known as Hunter. You play as The Stranger, who confronts Hunter over ideological differences about how the Metro should be run and where it is headed.

Built for Ray Tracing

4A says Metro 2039 runs on its proprietary engine and is the first game in the series designed around ray tracing from the start, rather than having it added later. The studio is pairing current hardware features with nearly two decades of Metro experience to push the series' bleak but detailed look.

For PC players, that is worth watching. A ray tracing first design usually means the lighting is central to the look, so expect the game to lean on modern GPUs and upscaling.

With a February 4 date set, Metro 2039 now has a clear runway for more trailers, hardware details, and preorder information. Watch for system requirements and platform confirmation from 4A Games as launch gets closer.

What do you think - are you ready to head back into the tunnels? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse launches on October 15, less than a week away. The new 2D action game stars Rose Belmont, the daughter of series hero Trevor Belmont, and sends her through Paris and into Dracula's castle in 1499. It arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a Switch version coming later in 2026. Here is what to know before launch.

Setting and Story

Belmont's Curse takes place in Paris in 1499, 23 years after the events of Castlevania III. Rose Belmont fights monsters across the city before heading into Dracula's castle, using weapons and skills that include the sacred whip Vampire Killer.

Familiar names return. The cast of characters includes Trevor Belmont, Count Dracula, Joan of Arc, Medusa, Carmilla, and Death, alongside new faces such as The Fallen and Isaac. The Japanese voice cast has been announced, with Yui Ishikawa as Rose and Ryotaro Okiayu as Trevor.

Who Is Making It

Konami is publishing the game. Evil Empire is the developer, with Motion Twin co-developing, the same pairing known for the Dead Cells ecosystem. The game is described as an exploration-based 2D action title.

Platforms and Editions

Pre-orders came with an Alucard-style costume. The Midnight Edition Bundle adds a digital sound and art gallery with 71 tracks, plus a Traverse-style costume, a Cipher-style costume, and a Family Portrait magical device.

• Launch platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam and Xbox on PC)
• Switch: Later in 2026, no date announced yet
• Release date: October 15, 2026

Belmont's Curse is Konami's next big step for a franchise fans have been waiting on for years, and launch week is close. Watch for early reviews and performance reports on PC when the game goes live on October 15, and for a Switch date later this year.

What do you think - are you excited to see a new Belmont take on Dracula? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks console gaming forum.

Nintendo closed out a packed September 9 Direct with something the Metroid faithful have been quietly waiting on since 2021: a brand new 2D entry, dated and nearly finished. Metroid Ravenous lands on Nintendo Switch 2 on January 28, 2027, picking up after Metroid Dread with a stranded Samus, a hostile moon, and a survival hook that changes how you approach every enemy on screen. It is also the first time Samus has spoken at length since Metroid: Other M in 2010, which is either the best or the worst news in the trailer depending on who you ask. Here is what Nintendo showed, what the new mechanic actually does, and what comes in the Special Edition.

What Nintendo Showed in the Reveal

The reveal trailer opens with Samus under attack from unidentified assailants and losing her ship, leaving her grounded on an alien moon with no easy way off. The tagline Nintendo hung on the whole thing is blunt: eat or be eaten.

The footage is 2D gameplay built on 3D assets, the same presentation style Dread used, but the camera is noticeably more aggressive. Cinematic pushes during Morph Ball sequences and mid-combat framing shifts suggest MercurySteam's house style carried forward rather than reset.

Key details from the trailer:

• Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, with no original Switch version announced
• Set after the events of Metroid Dread, making it the newest point on the series timeline
• Samus is fully voiced and talks throughout, not just in isolated cutscenes
• A new energy drain ability lets Samus feed on enemies to stay alive

That last point is the one worth watching. Dread built its tension around running from EMMI units that could kill you instantly. Ravenous appears to flip the relationship: enemies are not just threats, they are resources, and the trailer frames staying alive as an active hunt rather than a retreat.

The Voiced Samus Question

Samus talking is the detail that split the reaction online within about an hour of the Direct ending. Metroid has historically kept her quiet, and the one major exception, Other M, is the game most often cited when fans argue against giving her dialogue at all.

What Nintendo showed is narration-led rather than conversational. Samus describes her situation, her hunger, and her deteriorating condition, which reads closer to the log entries in Metroid Prime than to Other M's cutscene-heavy approach. Whether that holds across a full game is the open question, and Nintendo has not released extended gameplay yet.

Amiibo and the Special Edition

Nintendo confirmed a hardware and collectible package alongside the game, all arriving the same day.

What is launching January 28, 2027

• Metroid Ravenous on Nintendo Switch 2
• Samus amiibo, sold individually
• Chozo Statue amiibo, sold individually
• Metroid Ravenous: Special Edition, which bundles the game, a steel case, and a third Samus amiibo wearing the Metroid Suit

The Metroid Suit amiibo being exclusive to the Special Edition is the kind of decision that tends to age badly on the secondary market, so anyone who wants the full set should treat the preorder window seriously.

Metroid Ravenous is the rare Nintendo announcement that arrived with a firm date attached instead of a vague window, which suggests the game is a good deal further along than the reveal timing implies. The draining mechanic is the thing to watch between now and January, because it determines whether this is Dread with a new coat of paint or a genuine rethink of how a 2D Metroid plays. Nintendo has not confirmed when the next gameplay showcase lands, but a January release almost always means a December or early January deep dive.

Are you sold on a talking Samus, or would you rather Nintendo had kept her silent? Come argue about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Toei Animation is not remastering Dragon Ball Super so much as rebuilding it. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus premieres in Japan on Sunday, October 11, 2026, and the Super Surge trailer that dropped on September 2 shows exactly how much new material is going into what is technically a remake of a decade-old series. New cuts, redrawn animation, a restructured narrative, and a fresh set of theme songs. Here is what the project covers and why Toei is doing it this way.

What Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Actually Covers

This is an enhanced edition of the opening stretch of Dragon Ball Super, pulling together three arcs that originally ran across roughly 40 episodes in 2015 and 2016:

• The God of Destruction Beerus Saga - the anime adaptation of Battle of Gods, introducing Beerus, Whis, and Super Saiyan God
• The Golden Frieza Saga - Frieza's resurrection and the Resurrection F material
• The Universe 6 Saga - the tournament arc that introduced Hit, Cabba, and Champa

The original run of these arcs is widely considered the roughest-looking stretch of modern Dragon Ball, with animation quality that drew criticism at the time. That is a large part of the point here.

What is new

• A large volume of newly animated and redrawn cuts rather than simple upscaling
• A reconstructed narrative that tightens pacing and, per Toei, hews closer to the original manga
• Rebuilt battle sequences using current production techniques
• New theme songs: opening "ONOGAMI" by MEGATERA ZERO and ending "Kan Peki No Peki" by VK Blanka

Where This Fits in Dragon Ball's Bigger Plan

The project was confirmed at Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri, the franchise's 40th anniversary event held in Japan on January 25, 2026. That framing matters - Beerus is being positioned as the start of a longer effort rather than a one-off.

Broadcast details as they stand:

• Japanese premiere: Sunday, October 11, 2026
• Network: Fuji TV and affiliates
• Time slot: 11:15 p.m. JST
• Studio: Toei Animation
• Format: Weekly television series, not a theatrical release

Toei has also signaled that more arcs are planned to follow, which would eventually bring the same treatment to the Future Trunks and Universe Survival material. Nothing past Beerus has been dated.

North American viewers get an early look before the Japanese broadcast: a world-premiere screening is scheduled for New York Comic Con, which runs October 8 to 11 at the Javits Center.

Why a Remake Instead of New Material

The obvious question is why Toei would spend this much on footage that already exists when Dragon Ball Daima and the Super manga have both moved the story forward.

The practical answer is that Dragon Ball Super's first arcs are the weakest entry point the franchise has. Anyone starting Super today runs straight into 40 episodes of inconsistent animation before the show finds its footing. For a franchise that depends on pulling in new viewers every few years, fixing the front door is a reasonable investment.

There is also the manga-alignment angle. Toriyama and Toyotaro's manga version of these arcs differs from the anime in several places, and a reconstructed narrative gives Toei a chance to reconcile the two into a single canonical telling.

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus starts airing October 11 on Fuji TV, with the NYCC world premiere landing a few days earlier. Whether Toei follows through on the remaining sagas will probably depend on how this first block performs, so the October ratings are worth watching if you want to know how far the project goes.

Is a redone Dragon Ball Super worth your time, or would you rather Toei spent the budget on new story? Settle it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Crunchyroll dropped its full Fall 2026 schedule on September 15, and it is one of the heaviest seasonal slates the service has ever put out: more than 40 series with dates and times attached. The headliners are The Apothecary Diaries returning for a third season, Black Clover coming back for Season 2, and a Magic Knight Rayearth revival arriving nearly 30 years after CLAMP's original adaptation. Here are the dates that matter, the returning shows worth clearing space for, and the new debuts most likely to become the season's breakout.

The Big Returns

Three of the four biggest names on the slate are continuations, and two of them have been off the air long enough that their returns are events in themselves.

• The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 premieres October 2. The season is split into two parts, with the second half held until April 2027. Akinori Fudesaka directs, with Touko Shino back on character designs. The story moves into a locust plague arc that threatens the palace with famine, which is a considerably darker turn than the court intrigue Maomao has been navigating so far.
• Black Clover Season 2 returns after an extended absence, picking the television series back up rather than continuing through films.
• Magic Knight Rayearth premieres October 7, roughly three decades after CLAMP's original anime. It follows three schoolgirls pulled from a Tokyo Tower field trip into Cephiro to answer Princess Emeraude's call. Dubs are confirmed in English, German, French, Castilian Spanish and Italian at launch.

There is also a feature-length Apothecary Diaries film scheduled for December 11, which lands right in the middle of the season's first half.

The New Debuts

Crunchyroll is pairing the returns with a healthy stack of first seasons, and a few of them have real expectations attached.

Titles to watch

• Firefly Wedding, positioned as one of the season's flagship premieres
• Overgeared, adapting the long-running Korean web novel
• PSYREN, a Weekly Shonen Jump adaptation fans have wanted for well over a decade
• The Vermilion Mask, a new original entry on the slate

PSYREN is the one with the longest tail of demand behind it. The manga wrapped in 2010 and has been on the perpetual "why has nobody animated this" list ever since.

Why the Multi-Language Push Matters

The detail buried under the title count is the dub coverage. Crunchyroll is launching Magic Knight Rayearth with five dub languages out of the gate, and the broader slate carries similar simulcast-plus-simuldub treatment across more of the lineup than in previous seasons.

That is a meaningful shift. Historically dubs trailed subs by weeks or arrived only for guaranteed hits. Fronting them on a 30 year old revival suggests Crunchyroll is betting on nostalgia titles pulling audiences who are not going to sit through subtitles to find out whether they still love a show from 1994.

Fall is usually the strongest anime season of the year and 2026 is not breaking that pattern. The Apothecary Diaries on October 2 is the safest bet on the board, Magic Knight Rayearth on October 7 is the one with the most emotional weight attached, and PSYREN is the wildcard that could end up being the season everyone talks about. Full episode times for every series are live on Crunchyroll's schedule now.

Which fall show are you actually clearing your calendar for? Make your case in the NerdBlocks forum.

Konami dropped the third main trailer for Suikoden: The Anime on September 17, and it came with the date fans of the RPG series have been waiting on. The Suikoden II adaptation premieres October 3 on Tokyo MX, and episode one is a full hour rather than the usual half. The trailer also confirmed the ending theme and gave the clearest look yet at the fracture between Riou and Jowy that drives the whole story. Here is the broadcast schedule, the music lineup, and what the footage actually shows.

Premiere Date and Broadcast Schedule

The rollout is staggered across Japanese broadcasters, which is standard for a series this size.

• October 3: Premieres on Tokyo MX at 11:30 p.m. JST, which is 10:30 a.m. EDT
• October 6 to October 9: Rolls out across 31 additional channels, including Kansai TV and BS Asahi
• Episode 1 runtime: One-hour special

Airing on 32 stations nationwide is a meaningful vote of confidence from Konami and the production committee. That is not a quiet late-night slot, that is a push.

The Music Lineup

Both theme songs are now public, and the third trailer plays both.

• Opening theme: "Kanashimi Sae Otonabite" by amazarashi
• Ending theme: "closed eye sun (feat. Honoka Takahashi)" by Koji Nakamura

amazarashi has become something of a specialist in anime openings for series with heavy political or personal stakes, which fits Suikoden II well. Koji Nakamura, formerly of Supercar, brings a much quieter, more washed-out sound to the ending, and the contrast between the two tracks in the trailer does a lot of work setting expectations for the show's tone.

What the Trailer Shows

The third trailer leans almost entirely on the relationship at the center of Suikoden II - the bond between the protagonist and Jowy Atreides, and the war that pulls them onto opposite sides of the same conflict.

Why Suikoden II is the one they adapted

Suikoden II released on the original PlayStation in 1998 and has spent the better part of three decades on lists of the best RPGs ever made. It is remembered less for its combat than for its story: two childhood friends separated by a war neither of them started, a 108-character recruitment system, and an antagonist in Luca Blight who is genuinely disturbing rather than cartoonishly evil.

Adapting that story means the anime has to handle a huge cast without the game's optional recruitment structure to lean on. The trailers so far suggest the production is narrowing focus onto the core cast rather than attempting all 108 Stars of Destiny, which is probably the right call for a television run.

The anime arrives at a good moment for the franchise. Konami has spent the past few years bringing the series back into circulation through the Suikoden I and II HD Remaster, and a well-made adaptation is the kind of thing that pulls in viewers who never touched a PlayStation in 1998. The one-hour premiere on October 3 will tell us quickly whether the production can carry the weight of the source material.

Are you going in as a Suikoden veteran or a total newcomer? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Proto Man is not a costume swap. During the Capcom Spotlight stream at Tokyo Game Show on September 16, director Shinya Ikuta and producer Hiroyuki Minamitani spent a long stretch explaining exactly how differently the Blue Bomber's brother plays in Mega Man: Dual Override, and the answer reshapes what the game actually is. Capcom also confirmed a structural change that breaks a rule the series has followed since 1987. Here is what the deep dive revealed about the two heroes, the new Custom Chip system, and the stages they will fight through when the game arrives in Spring 2027.

Two Heroes, Two Completely Different Builds

The "Dual" in the title refers to the two playable characters, and Capcom is treating that split seriously. Mega Man keeps the balanced approach fans expect, with tools that work at close range and from across the screen. Proto Man hits harder but specializes in fighting up close, which means the same stage can demand a genuinely different approach depending on who you pick.

The split runs deeper than basic attacks. The two will not grow stronger along the same path as players work through the game's Robot Masters.

How each character progresses

• Mega Man: Still earns Special Weapons from defeated Robot Masters, continuing the series' defining reward loop. Capcom said it wants each new weapon to feel like a proper payoff.
• Proto Man: Skips the Special Weapon collection entirely. He unlocks new abilities and additional shield-based actions instead, expanding what he can physically do in combat.

Ikuta said he cannot wait for fans to try the shield actions the team built for Proto Man. His Proto Buster hits hard but travels only a short distance, and the Proto Shield works on both offense and defense.

Stages Are Being Restructured Into Three Areas Each

This is the part that breaks tradition. Classic Mega Man games have almost always run on eight main stages, each ending in a Robot Master fight. In Dual Override, each stage instead contains three separate areas.

Capcom did not explain how those three areas are divided, only that each will be packed with different surprises. The practical effect is longer, more varied stages with room for more gameplay ideas per Robot Master, and more space for Mega Man and Proto Man to tackle the same ground in different ways.

Custom Chips and the Override System

Progression also runs through Custom Chips, equippable on both characters. Capcom confirmed there will be more than 50 of them, covering both abilities players actively trigger and passive effects that work in the background. The latest trailer showed Mega Man using Rapid Buster and Barrier, but the point is experimentation and personal builds rather than a fixed upgrade path.

Custom Chips do not replace Special Weapons for Mega Man. They sit alongside that system.

Then there is Override, the mechanic that supplies the other half of the title. Activating it powers up a character's abilities and visibly changes their appearance, and Ikuta described it as a way out when players find themselves stuck in a difficult stretch of a stage. Mega Man's powered-up state has already been shown. Proto Man's Override transformation got only a brief glimpse in the latest trailer, with Ikuta teasing that players will have to see the full version themselves.

Twinkle Girl Gave the Developers Trouble Too

Twinkle Girl, the first Robot Master revealed for the game, turned up again during the presentation. Despite a deliberately sweet design, both Ikuta and Minamitani admitted she caused them real problems during playtests.

Ikuta said the team built her to capture the satisfying essence of classic Mega Man play, where winning comes down to reading attack patterns and finding the rhythm of the fight. He eventually beat her once those patterns clicked, which is more or less the experience Capcom is expecting everyone else to have.

Mega Man: Dual Override launches in Spring 2027 for PC via Steam and Epic Games, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2, timed to the franchise's 40th anniversary. Tokyo Game Show attendees got playable demo stations this week, so hands-on impressions of the three-area stages and Proto Man's shield work should start surfacing shortly. The next thing to watch for is the rest of the Robot Master roster, since eight bosses stretched across three-area stages is a very different amount of game than the series usually ships.

What do you think - is Proto Man's shield kit enough to make you replay every stage twice? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

The highest-grossing anime film ever made is finally getting a streaming home. Netflix confirmed on September 14 that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle arrives on the service September 28, 2026 in multiple regions including the US and UK, more than 14 months after it opened in theaters. The wait has been long enough that it became a running joke among fans who already had every TV season sitting in the same app. Here is what is streaming, why it took this long, and where the trilogy goes next.

What Infinity Castle Actually Covers

The Demon Slayer TV anime ended after four seasons in 2024, and it is not coming back in episodic form. Instead, the final arc of Koyoharu Gotouge's manga is being told as a theatrical trilogy, and Infinity Castle is part one.

The setup: the Demon Slayer Corps is dropped into the heart of Muzan's shifting fortress, surrounded by demons that include the remaining members of the Upper Ranks. Tanjiro and the Hashira have to fight their way through a labyrinth that rearranges itself around them, racing attrition as much as anything else, to reach Muzan.

Studio Ufotable handled the film, and the theatrical presentation is a large part of why it performed the way it did.

The Numbers Behind the Delay

Infinity Castle opened in Japanese cinemas in July 2025 and went on to gross over $800 million worldwide. That makes it the highest-grossing Japanese film in history, and the highest-grossing anime film ever by a margin of roughly $300 million.

A run that size is exactly why the streaming window stretched out. Every season of the TV anime has been on Netflix for years, so the film landing there eventually felt inevitable, but distributors are in no hurry to move a record breaker off physical media and premium digital rental.

Netflix also posted an official teaser for the film on its Netflix Anime channel ahead of the streaming date.

Key voice cast

What Comes After

Infinity Castle is the first of three films. Ufotable has the remaining two chapters tentatively slated for 2027 and 2029, which means the full conclusion of the manga's final arc is still years out.

That spacing is unusual for a franchise operating at this scale, and it puts a lot of weight on how the second film performs. For anyone who skipped the theatrical run, September 28 is the first chance to catch up before the next installment starts its own marketing cycle.

Fourteen months is a long gap, but the film arriving on the same service that already hosts all four TV seasons finally makes Demon Slayer a single, complete watch in one place. If you have been holding off on the final arc because you did not want to sit in a theater for it, the wait ends September 28. The next thing to watch for is a firm date on the second Infinity Castle film, which Ufotable has only loosely pinned to 2027.

What do you think - was Infinity Castle worth the box office records, or did the theatrical hype run ahead of the film? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Valve finally put a number on the Steam Frame, and it is higher than the optimists were hoping for. Pre-orders opened September 14 for the standalone SteamOS headset at $1,059 for the 256GB model and $1,299 for the 1TB version, with a randomized reservation lottery deciding who gets into the first batch rather than who refreshed the page fastest. Reviews landed two days later and the early verdict is that the hardware mostly justifies the price. Here is the full pricing breakdown, how the reservation system works, and what the headset actually does.

Pricing and Accessories

Valve's listed prices are inclusive of VAT where applicable.

Headset

• Steam Frame 256GB: $1,059 USD / 1,529 CAD / 1,049 EUR / 889 GBP / 1,609 AUD / 4,539 PLN
• Steam Frame 1TB: $1,299 USD / 1,859 CAD / 1,279 EUR / 1,089 GBP / 1,969 AUD / 5,549 PLN

Each kit includes the Steam Frame Controllers and a Wi-Fi 6E wireless adapter for PC streaming.

First-party accessories

• Power supply: $29 USD / 49 CAD / 39 EUR / 29 GBP / 49 AUD / 139 PLN. Note that this is sold separately, not bundled.
• Ergonomic Accessories Kit: $59 USD. Includes two controller hand straps, two controller hand strap battery doors, a headset top strap, and an extended light blocker.
• Accessory Replacement Kit: $49 USD. Includes a face gasket, head cushion, and light blocker.

The separately sold power supply has drawn the most complaints, since a $1,059 device that needs a $29 add-on to charge is an awkward look.

How the Reservation Lottery Works

Valve is reusing the approach it took with Steam Machine pre-orders. Rather than first come, first served, it ran a randomized reservation lottery designed to make life harder for resellers.

Customers who wanted a shot at the first batch had to sign up for their preferred model between September 14 and September 17 at 10 AM PT. Based on the randomization, Valve emailed sign-ups later on September 17 to tell them whether they made the reservation list or landed on the waitlist. Waitlisted buyers are behind the current supply and will be notified if and when they move into the reservation queue.

Purchase emails for the first batch started going out September 18, which means the earliest units should already be arriving on doorsteps.

What the Hardware Actually Is

Steam Frame is a standalone VR headset running SteamOS, built around a Snapdragon Series 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset. That combination lets it natively run optimized VR titles and a large chunk of the Steam library of flatscreen games without a PC attached at all.

It also streams from a PC over the included Wi-Fi 6E dongle, which is where the headset gets most of its raw horsepower for demanding titles. It is the first VR headset to ship with SteamOS, and Valve has said it is open to bringing the OS to third-party headsets down the line.

One notable gap at launch: Half-Life: Alyx is getting a native standalone build for Frame, but it is not ready yet.

Valve has landed the Steam Frame in the same awkward spot the Steam Deck once occupied, which is to say a genuinely well-considered piece of hardware sold at a price that makes it an enthusiast purchase rather than a mainstream one. The reservation lottery at least means the $1,059 you pay goes to Valve instead of a scalper. Watch for the second reservation wave and for Valve's timeline on the native Alyx build, since that port is the one thing most likely to convince fence-sitters.

What do you think - is $1,059 fair for a standalone SteamOS headset, or is Valve pricing this one out of reach? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.