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BELLEVUE, Washington -- If you want to see how Valve created its innovative new Steam Controller for PC gaming, it all starts here: with something that looks like a bar of soap.
In late October, WIRED was invited to the offices of Valve Corporation in Bellevue, outside of Seattle, for a hands-on preview of the company's plan to bring its Steam PC gaming service into the living room. It's already unveiled Big Picture, a Steam interface built for the TV. Later this year, it will beta test Steam Machines, PC gaming hardware in a living-room form factor. And to control it all, Valve has come up with the Steam Controller, which lets players control games that were meant to use a keyboard and mouse setup from the comfort of their couch, using high-resolution touch pads.
Valve product designer Greg Coomer walked us through the evolution of the controller, showing us numerous prototypes that the company cooked up over the past two years and explaining how each one led it a little bit closer to the final design. Here's what we saw.
Above: This early mockup was a first stab at the question of how to control a game that might require a 120-button keyboard in the living room: "What if we put buttons under all of your fingers?" said Coomer. While this particular form factor -- individual buttons for each finger -- didn't last, the final controller does have "back paddle" buttons that you press in this manner.
All photos: Matthew Ryan Williams/WIRED
