As part of its trio of big announcements last week – which included SteamOS and Steam Machines – Valve has revealed an innovative new game controller called the Steam Controller, one that could very well change the way you play games.
Unlike more popular controller designs, the Steam Controller doesn’t utilize any sort of analog sticks. Instead, it uses a pair of dual trackpads, which sense your movement via touch. “Driven by the player’s thumbs, each one has a high-resolution trackpad as its base. It is also clickable, allowing the entire surface to act as a button. The trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers. Steam gamers, who are used to the input associated with PCs, will appreciate that the Steam Controller’s resolution approaches that of a desktop mouse,” said the announcement.
The controller also comes with a touch-screen between the trackpads, as well as built-in haptics, buttons and the ability to use shared configurations, depending on the game you’re playing. The official announcement includes a sample layout for Valve’s popular Portal 2, and how the configuration would work for it. The price, release date and other details of the controller have not yet been set.
Source: Valve
