Nothing confirmed directly by Valve yet, but Ars Technica just put out a report describing the project in a fair bit of detail. The first major hints that this project existed came this morning when SteamDB's creator noticed some string changes on Steam's back-end talking about "Neptune" and "SteamPal", and put two and two together. That said, it also feels pretty clear that this is what Gabe Newell meant a few weeks ago when he said that there would be more to know about Steam on consoles "by the end of the year".

It could certainly be interesting, especially given how popular indie games have been on the Switch, but I have very little faith in Valve's ability to not only finish this project, but actually market it successfully. I remember like it was yesterday when Valve announced Steam Machines and acted as though they would put consoles out of business forever, not to mention the Steam Link and Steam Controller both having fallen almost completely flat. If somehow "SteamPal" does make it to market, I won't be shocked if it ends up talked about in the same tones as Steam Machines before long.

I guess I’m just unsure what my expectations are. I can’t fathom a machine like this getting battery life long enough to make it actually useful as a handheld device.

@tunnelman: There have been a few writeups and tests of the gdp win whatever and the aya neo. Depending on TDP it can go anywhere from 1-6 hours but I want to say that the "reasonable" number put it at 3-4 hours of continuous use.

So not great, but very usable if you are on transit with a plug somewhere or are a commuter.

I'm the sucker that rebuys games I already own on steam just to have them on switch. I'm all for a handheld device that comes with my massive steam library built in.

Yo if it's a Switch-like Steam console that's a little more beefier in power, I'm sold.

I echo the OP in not having much confidence in Valve's prior hardware efforts. I bought the Steam controller, wondering if it could really cause me to abandon K+M. Turned out a big nope, and the controller sits a bit of a curiosity, unused and put away.

Seems to me Valve does this stuff because it literally has money to burn. But I cannot be a negative Nancy about future effort(s), and if this comes to fruitation and rocks on top of that, okay by me.

Hell, throw in H.L. 3, and I might show a real interest.

If an actual console named the Neptune comes out, what does that mean for the next Hyperdimension Neptunia?

My guess is the thing's main selling point is letting you play your games installed on your gaming PC remotely like the Vita did for the PS4.

@bybeach: ... Didn't Valve literally release a new Half-life game as a bundle/promo deal for the third (?) iteration of the consumer oriented VR solutions they partner with HTC for? Like, last year?

Like, the Steam Controller was weird but mostly in that "if this came out a few years earlier..." kind of way. It was amazing for early Stardew (no gamepad support) or even trying out RTSes and ARPGs. But increasingly every game just supported xinput. Also, we got Steam Input out of that which is kind of amazing

Steam Link as hardware was meh but now it is software on phones, random tv boxes, and maybe consoles if Apple loses hard enough.

And Steam Machines were a big ol' fail but also led to a lot of effort that made linux... still not good for gaming but a lot closer. And likely ties in directly to steampal

Like, yeah, Valve have money to blow and experiment. But basically everything they do is more a proof of concept to demonstrate viability of a product/concept and I would argue only the Staem Machine was a full fail... and maybe it won't be if Steampal takes off.

Not very confident. Valve made a real hash of the stream machines concept despite it seeming promising initially. The Index is impressive but incredibly expensive.

@bybeach: The Steam controller may have been discontinued after four years, but it made many older PC games accessible to more people and it's still supported to this day.

Based on the GPD and GPD-like handhelds that Linus and Austin have showcased, I like the idea of more of these products existing for the sake of me being a tech nerd. But as a consumer, not that I want one anyway since I don't need another "Switch" in my life and my Surface Book 2 is capable with less demanding games in 1080p, Valve's thing has to have a GPU in the ballpark of a mobile GTX 1650 Ti for me to be impressed.

My Switch has essentially remained permanently docked. Big TV and a Pro Controller all the way! I don't live a life that uses public transit or find myself in stretches of time where I'm away from home and also wanting to game at the same time.

No personal interest in handheld PC games but hopefully it's amazing for those who've been wanting this. Did people end up playing that Nvidia Shield a lot?

I just want steam link on switch.