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A few weeks back, Valve announced the final version of the Steam Link and the long-awaited Steam Controller, along with pre-orders for both. At the time, those hoping to be early adopters could pre-order and get the hardware a few weeks early in October. However, early stock has now sold out so from this point on, all pre-orders will be for the 10th of November release date.
Valve initially announced the Steam Controller back at the end of 2013 and since then, it has been through several key iterations. If you look at the final version compared to Valve's original vision, you can see that a lot has changed, with features like the touch screen being removed and an analogue stick being added.
Right now in the UK, both the Steam Link streaming box and the Steam Controller cost £40. You can pre-order directly through Steam and then pick up at a GAME store on the day of release. Alternatively, you could order one of GAME's own bundles.
The main downside to pre-ordering is that nobody has really had any proper hands on with either the Steam Link or the Controller, aside from a few members of the press at trade shows.
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KitGuru Says: I'm looking forward to trying out the Steam Link and Controller myself, although I haven't pre-ordered either just yet. Are any of you planning to try out the Steam Link or Controller? If streaming performance is good enough then I could see myself using the Link a fair bit on my TV.
I put 5$ ea on the controler, and Link,
Im going to wait 24/48H after they arrive before I pick mine up.. That should give enough time for the users of the devices to hit the web with massive positive, or negative reviews. If things go super south for both devices Ill jsut go in and cancel.. ether way I have both devices waiting for me on day 1
I can’t see the controller being as good as a traditional controller, these silly touch controls are no match for physical buttons. Just look how tedious it is gaming on a touch screened device compared to using an xbox or ps pad, I strongly suspect this will be in a very similar position as most of it is touch controlled.
Can’t say that this would any particular improvement over my current wired 360 controller. Definitely not £40 of improvement.
i agree with you for the most part but i would like to add that it really depends on the money and time they spent on engineering the buttons.
with all the materials we have today its more about taking your time to find the right peaces rather than making something completely new.. at least when it comes to a controller.
I have read that the touch surfaces Valve developed are more advanced than your typical laptop trackpad. However when gaming, being able to feel the shape of the buttons/controls so you don’t have to take your eyes off the screen is a necessity in my opinion. I see some slight contours on the left touch pad area which I guess is to emulate a d-pad while doubling up as some other function, but I don’t think that’d be enough while gaming.
I really hope i’m wrong and the technology is a game changer, but at the moment i’m just not convinced it is anything more than a gimmicky new controller which will be either in the bargain bins 6 months after release or being sold on ebay as a collectors curiosity for way too much money.
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