In Praise of the Steam Controller
When the Steam Deck was announced mid last year, the fervour and anticipation around the portable console was electric. Folks were scrambling for a chance to preorder it against the rush of scalpers looking to make a quick buck, with Valve eventually implementing a queue system to better facilitate reservations. But the demand for the Steam Deck was so great that doing so remained tricky back then— with sales for confirmed pre-orders on e-commerce sites by scalpers peaking at $5,000.
Fast forward to now, and the first iteration of the Steam Deck has been released to the wild in some regions, with the console largely well-received by reviewers across several sites. One of the most intriguing features of the console, however, are the Steam Deck’s proprietary touchpads, which can be previously found on Steam Controller, Valve’s discontinued controller for the Steam Machine. That didn’t quite take off, but the Steam Machine was part of Valve’s lofty ambitions to meld the PC and console gaming experience. That dream still continues today with the Steam Deck.
Related: Valve Announces Aperture Desk Jobs, A Free Game Set In The Portal Universe
The Steam Controller is one hell of a gadget, designed to bridge the gap between PC and console gaming. But the main issue faced by Valve is that many PC games are designed to be played with a mouse and keyboard, rather than the thumbsticks and buttons of a traditional controller. Thus the Steam Controller’s unique dual touchpad was supposed to replicate the precision of the mouse-and-keyboard setup, but without sacrificing the portability of controllers you can bring to the comforts of your living room. The idea was that you no longer need to lug your high-end mechanical keyboard and
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