Geekisms!

I don't even know what that thing up there is!

I mean, it supposed to be a game controller but just look at it! I guess nobody can claim that their design was copied in the creation of this beauty.

Valve this week has been revealing the results of its quest to bring the total Steam experience to the living room and it first announced the Steam OS (due out very soon) and its Steam Machines which the OS will run on. However, they felt the typical keyboard and mouse configuration wouldn't do well in the living room scenario, Plus current game controllers were too restrictive, forcing you to make compromises just to enjoy the experience. So why not revamp the current controller design and make it more suitable for a living room experience? All the accuracy & versatility of the keyboard and mouse, combined with the portability of a game controller. Add in a few more fancy bits and ends and you've got the Steam controller.

With dual clickable trackpads, a touchscreen (clickable too!) and symmetrical button placement, they claim their controller is capable of playing every game type available in the Steam store, including the ones that were not built with this controller in mind. It has a legacy mode that allows it to trick games into thinking its a keyboard and mouse. For those who will complain about the lack physical sensation when using touchpads, they've included an innovative haptic feedback system which makes use of dual linear resonant actuators (whatever those are) to deliver a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement. And that button placement, designed to allow play without removing your hands from the trackpads. You can read more about it on the announcement page.

All of this sounds pretty convincing but to me its all marketing speak until I get my hands on this baby and try a few rounds of Black Ops 2 deathmatch on this baby. I have a feeling it will do pretty well in this area but where I'm really sure there will be problems is in fighting games. I can't imagine trying to pull up M. Bison's Psycho Punisher with this controller.