Hot off the heels of Amazon's controller making a leaked appearance and me questioning its purpose, Valve is giving us an official look at the progress of their Steam controller. A prototype image shows off the latest update on the controller, which we saw last without any of the buttons or detailing done. It looks sleek and different, with the large touchpad circles replacing traditional control sticks.
Despite its unique attributes, it does certainly share some similarities with the Xbox One controller in regards to the button design and placemnt. A circular button with the Steam logo is at the top in the center, and seems to glow white on black, just like Microsoft's controller with the 'X' logo.
The face buttons are A, B, X, and Y like the Xbox, in the same locations and colors. I will say I'm glad they didn't add yet another set of button names and are seeking some uniformity across controllers. With Nintendo and Microsoft using those letters and Sony using symbols, what set would they even come up with? Another grouping of arbitrary letters? Perhaps numbers? I think I won't be alone in having no issue with Valve copying the Xbox's button set.
There are small buttons next to the Steam logo button as well, labeled with stop and play icons. Valve has chosen to forego a directional pad for directional face buttons, which will serve the same purpose. We're not sure how the controller feels or how well the touchpads work, but it looks good so far. Here's a comparison of how far it's come since the first prototype, which had a screen.
