This article is over 11 years old and may contain outdated information

Look at this thing!

Recommended Videos

The third and final of this week’s Steam announcements is what many of us predicted: a new input method. It’s funky looking, to say the least. The controller has dual trackpads, haptic feedback from dual linear resonant actuators, a touch screen, and physical buttons, of course. Despite how it looks, Valve says this will support the full Steam library through a legacy mode that treats the controller as a mouse and keyboard.

“Traditional gamepads force us to accept compromises,” writes the company. “We’ve made it a goal to improve upon the resolution and fidelity of input that’s possible with those devices. The Steam controller offers a new and, we believe, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa. Built with high-precision input technologies and focused on low-latency performance, the Steam controller is just what the living-room ordered.”

With this design, the intent is to make genres that were traditionally unplayable on a gamepad (or nearly so) work well, such as real-time strategy, 4X, and in-depth simulation titles. I’m eager to see what a first-person shooter would feel like on this gamepad. Forget the Steam operating system and Valve’s living-room PC plans — this is what I’m most interested in.

Update: some of our readers think it looks familiar.

Post Tag: Controllers Linux Top Stories Valve Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Join The Conversation