Admittedly, I am not a PC gamer. That said, you don’t have to be a gamer at all, let alone a PC gamer, to recognize that the original prototype of Valve’s console-reminiscent controller for Steam looked like an unorthodox mess. I mean, the thing makes the good ol’ N64 torture device of a controller look like a paradise for your hands.
Easily, the most glaring oddity regarding the controller was the fact that it had no analog sticks, but rather two track-pads that will apparently double as the standard thumbsticks you would find on, well, every other normal controller in existence. Being different is admirable and all, but the purpose is lost when the differences make no sense.
Today though, it appears as if Valve has regained some of their sanity, as new images of the controller, complete with one analog stick, have surfaced. Honestly, the controller still looks really weird and something I am not even a fraction behind, but at least this is confirmation that Valve has reconsidered the idiosyncratic design as their first-party Steam Machines inch closer to mass market.
What’s most important, though, is that we haven’t held the controller or played a game with it yet, so judgment must be withheld until then.