Valve Announces The Steam Controller

As the third and final piece of an ongoing week of Steam-related gaming announcements made by Valve (the others being SteamOS and Steam Machines), the company today revealed the Steam Controller. It is designed to play all Steam games on all platforms, whether they have already been released or on the way in the future.

The Steam Controller itself looks like a Nintendo Gamecube controller, a DualShock 4 and the Xbox 360 controller all rolled into one, replacing analog sticks with dual clickable trackpads. It consists of the A,B,Y,X button scheme, a touchscreen on the front and two clickable buttons on the back. At the very bottom of the front, there are three buttons that appear to have flexible use, as the Steam Controller will be an open and hackable device. Additionally, Valve has enhanced the idea of rumble output by using weighted electro-magnets to create a better flow of vibration depending on the game’s current events.

Signups for beta testing coincide with the Steam Machines beta, so if you’re already working on those requirements you are set with the Steam Controller beta. The same day prototypes are sent out is the same day that the controller API is sent to game developers, as well.

With that, Valve has provided the full story of their vision for a new and improved Steam Living Room experience. A Linux-based operating system, new gaming machines created both in-house and with several partners, plus an intuitive, open new controller to play your games with. Now it is up for the game developers to take it from here.