The unique game pad that will accompany some Steam Machines down the line has lost its touch screen and makes room for a more comfortable button layout. January 15, 2014 4:51 PM PST (Credit: Leszek Godlewski/Steam Database) Valve unveiled an updated design for its Steam Controler Wednesday at its annual Steam Dev Days developer's conference. Attendees of the conference, including those behind the Steam Database Twitter account, snapped shots of the new prototype and posted them online this afternoon. In removing both the center touch screen and relocating the surrounding buttons into two diamond-shaped configurations -- one a revision of the existing ABXY button layout and the other potentially a directional pad -- the new device now resembles something closer to an Xbox controller. Reportedly in place of the touch screen will be support for a way for users to move a cursor on the television by hovering their finger over a screen on the controller. Related stories: Gaming has a growing presence at CES 2014 Valve's Steam Machine lineup poses massive threat to gaming status quo Wearable tech, gaming garner early CES buzz Steam Machine scores near-perfect marks for repairability SteamOS gets official launch date: December 13 The Steam Controller will retain its unique dual-trackpad design that forgoes the use of traditional thumb sticks, and is confirmed to run on AA batteries. It's still unclear what the final version of the controller will look like as this is yet another prototype, albeit one that is farther along in its competition when compared with the those that accompanied the 300 beta prototype bundles that went out to Steam users last month. In doing both a beta test and fielding player feedback to its original design last week at CES 2014, Valve is intent on ensuring the version of hardware it will eventually ship is something both radically different, but still comfortable to use. Part of that effort means more options; Valve also announced at the conference that third-party manufacturers of Steam Machines will be able to design and market their own controllers.
The unique game pad that will accompany some Steam Machines down the line has lost its touch screen and makes room for a more comfortable button layout.
(Credit: Leszek Godlewski/Steam Database)
Valve unveiled an updated design for its Steam Controler Wednesday at its annual Steam Dev Days developer's conference. Attendees of the conference, including those behind the Steam Database Twitter account, snapped shots of the new prototype and posted them online this afternoon.
In removing both the center touch screen and relocating the surrounding buttons into two diamond-shaped configurations -- one a revision of the existing ABXY button layout and the other potentially a directional pad -- the new device now resembles something closer to an Xbox controller. Reportedly in place of the touch screen will be support for a way for users to move a cursor on the television by hovering their finger over a screen on the controller.
Related stories:
- Gaming has a growing presence at CES 2014
- Valve's Steam Machine lineup poses massive threat to gaming status quo
- Wearable tech, gaming garner early CES buzz
- Steam Machine scores near-perfect marks for repairability
- SteamOS gets official launch date: December 13
The Steam Controller will retain its unique dual-trackpad design that forgoes the use of traditional thumb sticks, and is confirmed to run on AA batteries.
It's still unclear what the final version of the controller will look like as this is yet another prototype, albeit one that is farther along in its competition when compared with the those that accompanied the 300 beta prototype bundles that went out to Steam users last month.
In doing both a beta test and fielding player feedback to its original design last week at CES 2014, Valve is intent on ensuring the version of hardware it will eventually ship is something both radically different, but still comfortable to use. Part of that effort means more options; Valve also announced at the conference that third-party manufacturers of Steam Machines will be able to design and market their own controllers.
