The newly unveiled Steam Controller, designed for use with a new operating system and hardware for popular online games platform Steam, features a touchscreen, dual trackpads, and perfect symmetry. (Credit: Valve Corporation)
Valve Corporation, the software company behind the Steam online game platform, has unveiled a controller designed to compliment the their new operating system and prototype hardware in a bid to compete in the valuable home-entertainment market.
Valve, maker of popular games Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Portal, made a series of announcements this week first unveiling SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system designed to work on newly-announced Steam Machines, and finally the Steam Controller.
"We set out with a singular goal: bring the Steam experience, in its entirety, into the living room," the company says on its website. "We knew how to build the user interface, we knew how to build a machine, and even an operating system."
The dual-trackpad controller features what Valve calls "a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback" thanks to the use of dual linear resonant actuators.
A touchscreen between the dual trackpads is also a clickable button, and when you touch the screen, its display will overlay the game on the television so you don't have to look down.
The controller has 16 symmetrical buttons, making it identical for right- and left-handed gamers, and Valve says half of them can be accessed without lifting the thumbs. The controller can also be used as a speaker.
The controller was designed to be compatible with the entire Steam catalogue of games. "We've fooled those older games into thinking they're being played with a keyboard and mouse, but we've designed a gamepad that's nothing like either one of those devices," Valve says.
Valve promises to break the mold of the proprietary console, saying, "the Steam Controller was designed from the ground up to be hackable."
The company also says it will "enable users to participate in all aspects of the experience, from industrial design to electrical engineering."
Valve says the controller API will be made available the same day that units are shipped to beta participants. The beta version won't have a touchscreen, however, and unlike the final version, won't be wireless.
Valve's entrance into living room gaming could disrupt major players like Microsoft's XBox and Sony's Playstation, whose hardware and subscriptions have gotten more expensive and whose game titles run $60 each.
The proven popularity of Steam's digital delivery model and open source systems leaves it up to hardware manufactures to make Steam Machines take off.
