Valve reveals the new Steam Controller

Written by Brandon Hofer on September 27, 2013

Steam Controller News: Valve reveals the Steam Controller and shocks everyone with the design.

Steam made their final announcement for this week and it is the Steam controller. The Steam controller is designed to work with all the games on Steam: past, present and future. Even the older titles in the catalog and the ones which were not built with controller support. The Steam controller offers a new and, in their opinion, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa.

Looking at the picture you can see that the Steam controller is drastically different than the controllers you see on the market today. The most prominent elements of the Steam controller are its two circular trackpads. Driven by the player’s thumb, each one has a high-resolution trackpad at its base. It is also clickable, allowing the entire surface to act as a button. Valve claims that the trackpads will allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers.

Valve went into further detail stating that the new Steam Controller is built around a new generation of “super-precise” haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude and direction of movement.

The Steam Controller will also feature another touch enabled surface, this one backed by a high-resolution screen. This screen allows an infinite number of discrete actions to be made available to the player, without requiring an infinite number of physical buttons. The screen itself is clickable which allows a player to touch the screen, browse available actions and then commit to the one they want. It should be noted that when a player touches the controller screen, its display is overlayed on top of the game they’re playing, allowing the player to leave their attention squarely on the action, where it belongs.

One thing that should interest the Steam community is that the Steam Controller was designed from the ground up to be hackable. Valve plans on making tools available that will enable users to participate in all aspects of the experience, from industrial design to electrical engineering.

What do you think about the Steam Controller? Tell us in the comments below.