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Valve has finished its week of announcements by revealing the Steam Controller. Designed to be used with the previously revealed Steam Machines, it works with all Steam games (including those without controller support).
The controller features two trackpads, in place of analogue sticks, that have been touted as approaching the precision of a desktop mouse.
To explain its reasoning for the design, Valve highlighted the range of genres that feature on its gaming service, and those that will soon be able to be played with the Steam Controller:
“Whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse are now accessible from the sofa. RTS games. Casual, cursor-driven games. Strategy games. 4x space exploration games. A huge variety of indie games. Simulation titles. And of course, Euro Truck Simulator 2.”
Rather than follow the Xbox or PlayStation controller model, Valve is focusing on the group of games already on its service that require more accurate control. The trackpads are clickable so the entire surface doubles as a button, along with 14 other inputs. The Half-Life developer is also confident that the pads offer “far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers.”
On Wednesday Valve hinted that as well as multiple devices, there would also be a selection of controllers to choose from, so a more traditional iteration may yet come to pass. Like the Steam Machines themselves, the controller will also be ‘hackable’, allowing users to have their own say on how it functions.
A Steam Machine beta, for 300 Steam users, is planned for later this year.
Source: Steam
