Valve Steam Controller Price, Review & Demo: New Controller Looks Like Those of PlayStation and Xbox But Is Gamers' Nirvanca
On Friday, one week before the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Valve, video game and game controller creator, debuted their new Steam controller. If its name is any indication, it might just melt the competition.
Valve unleashed their design on the company's website with a side-by-side image. It was epic gamers' nirvana. Valve boasts that its new Steam controller or game-pad boasts will allow game players who use their computers to be able to move it from the PC to the living room.
The controller will feature two diamond-shaped arrays of buttons, almost identical to an Xbox or PlayStation controller, but with no touch screen, Wired reported. As a resuly, the Valve's Steam may just look like traditional game controllers.
Now here are the design specifications, as reported by JoyStiq and CNET: There is a directional pad, as well as the standard buttons: A, B, X, Y, and a protruding d-pad. There are large circular track-pads on the device; the unique circular track-pads are meant to offer players the precision and resolution of a mouse, but in a handheld way. Also added is the Steam icon button in the center of the controller, with start and select like buttons on either side, and with what appears to be stop and play icons.
Both reports indicate that this might be a prototype, but this Steam controller is significantly different from the rough cut they showed back in January. Given the feedback that Valve received last year on its previous design that had a four-pad interface, nd planned installations of LCD screens, it seems that Valve listened, and might even deliver.
At the upcoming gaming conference next week, Valve is set to debut at least "10 hand-built iterations of the updated prototype for play testing," according to CNET. Demos and an official price are expected to be announced at the conference.
Game on!