If you are like me, you may have just been a little confused when Valve revealed the controller for their Steam Machine. As seen above, the controller features two trackpads instead of the traditional joystick and colored buttons. As someone who either sticks exclusively to console games or plays games on PC with an Xbox 360 controller, this scared me.
In order to assuage the fears of concerned gamers, Valve has released a new video showcasing just how this Steam controller will work. The company demonstrates Portal 2, Civilization V, Counter-Strike Global Offensive and Papers Please. Although the controller used in the video is not the final model, it is the same one that Steam Machine beta participants will get to use.
While it is worth noting that the titles showcased are not ones that were built with support for the controller, I’m still not exactly sold on it just yet. Most of that concern comes from the two first person shooters shown, as I think they both came across as slightly clumsy looking. Perhaps it is one of those things that is hard to properly showcase, but I think I would still prefer traditional controller or mouse and keyboard for those titles. With that said, I found that both Civilization V and Papers Please looked well suited for the Valve’s device, which should bode well for other similar games
Valve has promised that this is just the first of many upcoming demonstrations and they will be posting more videos showcasing developers playing their own titles using the controller in the near future.
The Steam Machine is currently set for release in 2014, but since we all know how Valve works, who knows for sure if we’ll get it by then.
Check out the video below and let us know what you think of the Steam controller.