Valve is making some changes to the Steam controller. Apparently, the device will lose the touch-screen in favor of physical buttons. This is a good move in my view, as a touch-screen would have been a major distraction, along with taking a toll on battery life. This move doesn’t come as a surprise though, because the Steam controller has always been a prototype that could change at any moment.

I will admit; I’m no fan of the controller since Valve chose to do away with the joysticks in favor of a touch surface. The video demonstrations showing off how this thing will work in real life situations is a complete turn off. Navigating through a game world means you’ll have to be swiping your thumb all the time, instead of just commanding a simple joystick. If you’re a person who loves to play shooters or driving games, this controller might be for you.

Then again, I have never used the thing, but sometimes things can be very obvious from mere observation.

If Valve wants to go with a touch sensitive interface for the thumbsticks, then how about making the left touchpad to a regular thumbstick and keeping the right touchpad as is. That could work, as the left section is mainly used for navigation.

[via Engadget, image via @TheIneQuation]