{"id":61471,"date":"2014-01-16T13:57:55","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T11:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=61471"},"modified":"2014-01-16T14:01:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T12:01:50","slug":"steam-controller-overhauled-ditches-touchscreen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/gadgets\/61471-steam-controller-overhauled-ditches-touchscreen","title":{"rendered":"Steam Controller overhauled, ditches touchscreen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since its announcement back in September 2013<\/a>, Valve has been iterating on their Steam controller prototype.<\/p>\n

During the Steam Dev Days 2014 conference, Valve revealed that the latest prototype version has ditched the front touchscreen, and will now feature 4 traditional face buttons and a D-pad for backwards compatibility.<\/p>\n

Breaking from convention, the Steam Controller uses touch sensitive and click-able trackpads in the place of traditional analogue sticks.<\/p>\n

The controller will use AA batteries, which means rechargeable batteries shouldn’t prove a problem. No integrated batteries or charging options have been revealed yet.<\/p>\n

Valve said that biometrics remain important to them, but the hands are not a good place to capture the biometric data. This could mean that biometric sensors won’t feature in the final Steam Controller design.<\/p>\n

The controllers have gyroscopes built-in, presumably for motion sensing games. Valve is keeping Virtual Reality applications<\/a> in mind with the Steam Controller development, an area that gyroscopic motion sensors will come in handy for gameplay.<\/p>\n

The latest Steamworks Software Developer Kit (SDK) has implemented the Steam Controller API so that developers can get prototypes working with their games.<\/p>\n

Valve says that more changes will be made to the prototype as they process feedback from the Steam Machine beta testing program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Steam controller will eventually be made available as a retail product, sold through the Steam Store, and bundled with Valve approved Steam Machines manufactured by third-parties.<\/p>\n

All previous information should hold true for now: The controller packs in sixteen buttons, including two pressable by your fingers underneath the controller.<\/p>\n

The controller\u2019s software will revert to a default setup to mimic most of the functions of a keyboard and mouse in-game and this is a customisable setting. The trackpads can accommodate either right- or left-handed mouse users.<\/p>\n

The controller is also said to be easily “hackable” and dismantled, according to Valve.<\/p>\n

Valve says that the controllers should be available at the same time as its Steam Machines (expected for a 2014 launch) and they will play nicely with Steam clients on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.<\/p>\n

Valve hasn’t issued any new concept pictures and prototype pictures, so for now we’ll have to use our imagination – as Twitterer\u00a0Leszek Godlewski<\/a> did with his mock image below.<\/p>\n

\"Steam<\/a>

Steam Controller mock image<\/p><\/div>\n

Below is an official shot of the original Steam prototype design, along with their initial proof of concept video.<\/p>\n

\"Steam<\/a>

Steam Controller – first prototype issued<\/p><\/div>\n