Valve refreshes the Steam Controller with more buttons, less touch

Scorpus

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Back when Valve unveiled the Steam Controller in September, it featured two clickable trackpads alongside a high-resolution touchscreen and a few other buttons. Originally the touchscreen was meant to give developers a way to add unique control options, such as scrolling menus or interactive maps, but it has been axed in the refreshed Controller design Valve detailed recently.

We got a rough mockup of the redesigned Steam Controller at Valve's Dev Days conference in January, and now we're seeing what the final controller should look like. The two trackpads have stayed in their original position, now complemented by a set of directional buttons and a set of function buttons similar in design to those seen on the Xbox 360's controller. The center of the Steam Controller now features a stop, play and Steam button in place of the touchscreen.

The redesign of the controller brings it more in line with traditional console controllers that we've been used to as part of the recent console generations. It also provides compatibility with some of the games available on Steam that already support Xbox 360 and other standard controllers, without developers needing to update their games.

The Steam Controller will be a critical part of Valve's Steam Machine plans, with each Machine sold including a Controller out of the box. For those that already have a perfectly good gaming system, you'll be able to purchase a Steam Controller separately through several retailers, giving you another way to play games with PC-like accuracy.

The original prototype of the Steam Controller can be seen below.

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The less touch the better in my book. Touch screen controls while they work well enough are still a pain to use since the feeling of the button is gone.
 
I don't get the point of this statement: '... giving you another way to play games with PC-like accuracy." Isn't this controller for PCs, not consoles? Wouldn't it have been more exact to say "... giving you another way to play games with mouse-and-keyboard-like accuracy"?

While I always appreciate new and innovative ways of doing things, I don't see me getting one of these unless I can get some hands-on experience first, with the games that I play. It looks like the same controls as my Xbox 360 controller, with trackpads for thumbsticks and a different layout. Then again I am not their target customer for this. My gaming PC is not going to be joined to my living room TV any time soon, so I'll stick with M+KB for the most part, with the Xbox controller for driving games and my ancient MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick for flying games.
 
I've have the MS 360 controller for PC but I just couldn't come to terms with it's silly offset analogue sticks so I tried a Logitech Rumblepad, it's was just as bad and both wound up collecting dust so it's most unlikely I'll ever waste money on another controller. If the game isn't optimized for a mouse & kbd I give it a wide berth. For driving games I still use my old Logitech G25.
 
Can't help but think that the PC is becoming a console.

It is much more correct to say the reverse is true. The current 'next gen' consoles use a very pc like architecture and many of the new features such as twitch streaming, multitasking, skype calling etc are directly influenced by what the PC has been doing for years.

Now with the arrival of the steam box, I can see why you are saying that PC is shifting towards a console, but small Home theater PC's are nothing new. IMHO they are just using the word console to make the transition easier since pc gaming has a negative connotation sometimes such as how complicated/expensive people think it is. To me a console is a locked down piece of specialized hardware which is literally the opposite directions of where things are going
 
I was on the fence, but now I'm practically in line. Anything under $70 u.s would be a no brainier for me at this point
 
I play some PC games with the 360 controller. Not nearly as accurate, but with my arthritis it is much easier. Wish they would hurry up with this and I hope it is as good as I want it to be. Getting my butt handed to me in Titanfall, but Kb/M is not longer an option for me. Still gaming and having fun tho!
 
More battery life with out the LCD. Touch would have been nice, but the touch pads should be enough for scrolling menus... on the main display. Having to transmit video back to the controller probably consumed a lot more power and was not worth it.

I cannot wait till they are on sale. No one snag a release date? Probably they will announce more details at GDC (hopes) - if not then, than E3.
 
Definitely a lot more sexy. Love the polished plastic look.

The shoulder buttons look a bit bigger. Little confused why they haven't used a d-pad for the directions controls. D-pads are better suited for fighting games and controlling menus.

If taking out the LCD screen improves battery life - even better! But there is plenty of room for improvement.

Can't expect them to get it right first time... I remember my first PC controller was a MS Sidewinder... and that was awful.
 
Looks much better I am a big racing gamer so having a good controller is key. ironically there are like no racing games on steam os yet.
 
Well what's the point now? It's just another controller with a slightly different grip, and replaces joysticks with trackpad. Why not just make the controller modular and allow people to choose?

I still think trackpads will fail.
 
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