New features came to the Steam controller today, which Valve details in this month's update on the peripheral.
The controller, which launched in November alongside the first Steam Machine and Steam Link device, now offers a touch menu, which allows players to consolidate their hotkeys to a single interface.
Also added is increased gyro support to make leaning easier in shooters and other games. For real-time strategy and role-playing game fans, customizable mapping comes to the trackpad in order to optimize scrolling through complex menus.
A new HUD affords a better understanding of how to operate your controller, introducing pop-ups of how button presses and other inputs correspond to the game you're playing.
Many of these and other newly implemented modes and options were integrated thanks to community response. Thanks to a suggestion from a member of popular gaming forum NeoGAF, Valve added the new mouse-like joystick feature, according to the update. This mode introduces the accuracy of a mouse to the peripheral to help manipulate cameras.
Steam users have also asked for the ability to use the controller to play games purchased on other services. The company will add the ability to program specific configurations for non-Steam games in an upcoming Steam beta client.
Still to come in a future beta client is configuration traveling, which will allow gamers to play with their controllers on their friends' PCs while holding onto their specific control schemes.
The update concludes with a bonus making-of video, which shows off just how the Steam controller is built. You can watch that up at the top.
We went hands-on with the controller, which Valve hopes to eventually let players fully design and modify themselves, and Alienware's Steam Machine in October. For more on the peripheral, see the video below from GC 2015.
