STEAM CONTROLLER DROPS TOUCHSCREEN, ADDS PHYSICAL BUTTONS
This guest blog comes to us from Jenny Corteza. Jenny is an accomplished social media and design expert, and runs her own logo designing agency Delimit Design. She is also a CNN i-reporter and can be found on twitter at @jennycorteza.
Steam had nothing to prove, the way they are growing by leaps and bounds. Yet, they arrived in Las Vegas to CES 2014 to prove something. Everyone has been anticipating the steam controller unveiling and it has turned out that they revealed the 13 partners who will participate in the manufacturing in addition to their new device. You can try out the new controller in less than half an hour and you will feel you had spent an interesting half an hour.
Try Something New
The opening moments of the portal itself will have you run around in circles. You will be at a loss to know the first step to take and the consequent steps as well. However, that does not have to dampen your spirits. After all, any adventure has its fair share of impediments and obstacles. In fact, it is not an adventure but for these aspects of an adventure.
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The Need for Change
Change is in the wind for Steam Controller. Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, the two former Microsoft employees who developed the Steam Controller have gone on record via Twitter that they are going to do away with the central touchscreen. That they did this in the midst of Dev Days developer summit should be a pointer towards their resolve to do away with the touchscreen. It may be perceived that the twin trackpads will not see any change and the perception may turn out to be right. What is sure is that the touchscreen is seen as redundant. There is also the very real possibility of them detracting the players from the game. It will not do for the players to be looking at their hands instead of where the action is. The players may blame the game itself if they get slowed by their not looking at the screen and thereby slowing down the game itself. It is with this in mind probably they have decided to remove the touchscreen. The customizable controls will remain in the Gamepad’s center in any event. The players will simply start using something they call ‘ghost mode’.
Easy Operation
Some people were given access to the ghost mode some months ago in the Valve’s facility in Washington. The lucky ones feel that the new development is simple enough. It is fascinating, for sure. When your thumb is moved on the touchpad in the Steam Controller, you can simultaneously see an image resembling your thumb on the TV screen. All you need to do is press the virtual button on the screen without moving your fingers one bit from your controller.
More Changes
The change envisaged does not stop at touchpad. Valve is planning to reshape the ABXY buttons that you see into a diamond shape. This is in order to accord players compatibility with any other controller. The game that gets mentioned among others is Xbox 360 gamepad. A directional pad may be on the anvil too. The controller will be powered by AA batteries. Going by the comments flying about in Twitter by the attendees, 16 controllers can be supported by the Steam Machine.
