“Three-step” the announcement of the expansion of the universe Steam, Valve which stretched for nearly a week, finally came to an end, and the finale was the presentation is not Half-Life 3, hoped for millions of fans of the series and the game controller of its own design – Steam Controller.
According to Valve, the development of its own controller was conducted throughout the year, and the main task was to provide its full support to the entire library of Steam-games, including even the old name, which in principle are not familiar with this type of control as the game gamepad (about Valve not even refrained from boasting, “We tricked the old games. They think that you’re playing with a keyboard and a mouse”).
Not surprisingly, the result of their labors little resemblance to the traditional to the current understanding of gamepads – the main element of the Steam Controller are two circular trackpad located in the place where the current controllers are analog sticks (it looks as though they were depicted in the schematic icon in the announcement of the third day) . Valve assures us that the touch trackpads (which also act as buttons) to offer a much greater precision than conventional sticks, and that the resolution of the controller Steam comparable with the resolution of the mouse. Thus, it can be used to play all the genres, including those traditionally considered “mouse” prerogative – shooters, real time strategy, simulations, etc. (A separate item here for some reason there is Euro Truck Simulator 2 – the game is, of course, in his own very worthy, but definitely a niche – it really is so important for the audience Valve?).
However, trackpads – is not the only control that responds to touch. In the center of the controller is the touch pad (similar solution is used, by the way, in your controller, “an indie console» Ouya). It seems that with the help of Valve plans to address the issue of compatibility with old games gamepad is not familiar with such input devices, because it is the touch pad is best suited to simulate a mouse.
Among other developments, applied in the Steam Controller, Valve indicates a kind of “super-precise tactile feedback” that better conveys a sense of control than conventional vibro motors in today’s Force Feedback-gamepad.
But, of course, no gamepad, even the most revolutionary, can not do without buttons. They have Steam Controller will be as much as 16 (strange, that’s not 100 …). The buttons are arranged symmetrically (which should please the left-handed), and half of them will be available without interruption of the thumbs of trackpads.
An interesting feature of Steam Controller will be the total configuration – Steam users can create their own layout controls for different games using a special tool and share them with each other – sounds like an analogue Steam Workshop.
In this first encounter with the strategy of Steam completed, is to wait for more detailed information (by the way, to publish her promise in this group ), while it is known that the details of the prototype for SteamOS will be unveiled next week.
Well, the last announcement was a disappointment to many – people until recently were hoping for something much more loud and sensational (Half-Life 3, yes). However, it was the announcement of its own controller was actually quite logical and easily predictable – the company is developing a complete solution for migrating your Steam store into the living room, and in this situation is stupid relegated to its direct competitor, what are now automatically becomes Microsoft, is such an important element of the system, as an input device (it is, of course, on your controller, Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, which is now the de facto standard for computer games).
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